My favourite reads so far this year

Five titles to add to your summer reading list

Photo by Radu Marcusu on Unsplash

If you’re looking for recommendations for your summer reading list, here are the books I’ve most enjoyed so far this year. Some of them were published this year, while others have been out a while. But all are books I genuinely loved. Plus, there’s a chance to win a book.

You Are Here, David Nicholls

I’m a fan of David Nicholls. I loved One Day and Us and just adored Sweet Sorrow, so I’ve been looking forward to the release of his latest book, You Are Here. It’s been four years since Sweet Sorrow was published, so it’s been quite a wait. Definitely worth it, though. You Are Here was warm, funny and romantic. I loved the story and the characters.

Here’s the blurb.  

Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way

Marnie is stuck.

Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that often feels like it's passing her by.

Michael is coming undone.

Reeling from his wife's departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship.

But can they survive the journey?

A new love story by beloved bestseller David Nicholls, You Are Here is a novel of first encounters, second chances and finding the way home.

Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld

I thought this book was superb, a real masterclass in writing. I didn’t want it to end. Sally Milz is an amazing character and one who stayed with me for a long time after I’d read the last page.

Life is (not)* a Romantic Comedy...

After a series of heartbreaks, Sally Milz - successful script writer for a legendary late-night TV comedy show - has long abandoned the search for love.

But when her friend and fellow writer begins to date a glamorous actress, he joins the growing club of interesting but average-looking men who get romantically involved with accomplished, beautiful women.

Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch, poking fun at this 'social rule'. The reverse never happens for a woman.

Then Sally meets Noah, a pop idol with a reputation for dating models. But this isn't a romantic comedy - it's real life.

Would someone like him ever date someone like her?

The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak

This is the first book I’ve read from Elif Shafak and it will not be the last. I took The Island of Missing Trees with me on a trip to London and kept breaking off from it to tell my husband how good it was and how much I was enjoying it.

For Valentine’s Day, he then bought me four books from her backlist. I’m saving them to take with me on holiday this summer and very much looking forward to reading them.

Here’s the blurb for The Island of Missing Trees. And if you would like to win a copy, I’m doing a special giveaway to subscribers of Midlife Without a Map (details below).

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home.

It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic, chilli peppers and wild herbs. This is where one can find the best food in town, the best music, the best wine. But there is something else to the place: it makes one forget, even if for just a few hours, the world outside and its immoderate sorrows.

In the centre of the tavern, growing through a cavity in the roof, is a fig tree. This tree will witness their hushed, happy meetings, their silent, surreptitious departures; and the tree will be there when the war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to rubble, when the teenagers vanish and break apart.

Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis has never visited the island where her parents were born. Desperate for answers, she seeks to untangle years of secrets, separation and silence. The only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a Ficus Carica growing in the back garden of their home.

Newborn, Kerry Hudson

Kerry Hudson is known for her powerful writing about growing up in poverty. Her first memoir, Lowborn, tells her emotional story of growing up and getting away. In her second memoir, Newborn, she asks: what next, after a childhood like hers?

I really admire Kerry. I’ve read her fiction, nonfiction and journalism, and recommend all of her work. I was so pleased to meet her recently at an event in Sheffield. She is currently working on a psychological thriller and a travel book. I can’t wait to read both.

Here’s the blurb.

In Newborn, prizewinning writer Kerry Hudson navigates trying to build a nourishing, safe and loving family - without a blueprint to work from

Kerry Hudson is celebrated for her emotionally and politically powerful writing about growing up in poverty. Her books and journalism have changed the conversation and touched countless lives.

In this new book she asks: what next, after a childhood like hers? What hope is there of creating a different life for herself, let alone future generations? We see how Kerry found love, what it took to decide to start a family of her own and how fragile every step of the journey towards parenthood was. All along the way, she faces obstacles that would test the strongest foundations, from struggles with fertility to being locked down in a Prague maternity hospital to a marriage in crisis. But over and over again, her love, hope, fight -- and determination to break patterns and give her son a different life -- win through and light her path.

Newborn is a beautiful, empowering memoir about creating a family in the midst of chaos, and learning new ways to find happiness. It continues the journey Kerry started in her bestselling memoir Lowborn, illuminating her experiences of becoming a mother, reshaping her future and reclaiming her identity.

Two Women Walk into a Bar, Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild, is one of my favourite memoirs, so I was excited to read Two Women Walk into a Bar, a short piece about her relationship with her mother-in-law. I thought it was wonderful. If you’d like to read it, it’s available as an ebook.

Twenty-one years after Cheryl Strayed set off on the Pacific Crest Trail to heal from the death of her beloved mother, Cheryl’s mother-in-law, Joan, is given weeks to live. As she and her husband help see Joan through her final days, Cheryl reckons with their complicated relationship, determined to connect with a woman who both showed her love and (sometimes hilariously) held her at a distance. Cheryl reflects on their two decades together as she comes to a deeper understanding of the secrets and sorrows in Joan’s complicated past. At Joan’s bedside, it’s time to contemplate the challenges they’ve faced, to accept their differences, and to find some healing in goodbye.

Book giveaway

I would love to gift a reader of my Substack, Midlife Without a Map, a copy of The Island of Missing Trees. I think it’s a perfect read to take away on holiday with you.

To enter, comment below, letting me know the best book you’ve read so far this year. Please comment before 6pm on Friday 7 June 2024, which is when I will put the names into a hat and draw a winner at random.

Good luck!

Liz x