World Book Day (April 23) is a celebration of reading and publishing – two things we love dearly at Lift Education.
To mark the occasion, we’ve put together a list of books we love. From all-time favourites and recent stand-outs to the books that have taken up residence on our bedside tables, here are 15 worthy reads.
Take a look at our picks and see if any of them tickle your fancy. Then pour yourself a cuppa and enjoy!
Lift Ed’s picks for World Book Day
(and why you should add them to your bookshelf)
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
I love reading because it can transport me to another world. This haunting, heartbreaking story is one of my recent favorites because it does just that. A Thousand Splendid Suns took me to Afghanistan and is the kind of book that is sometimes painful to read, yet impossible to put down. The story stayed with me for a long time and changed the way I looked at my own world. Saj Sivers - I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
I’m halfway through this – it’s a great thriller and it’s making me stay up way too late! Esther Chua - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
This is the wonderful story of twin brothers orphaned at birth. Set in Ethiopia, on the brink of its revolution, this story deals with their coming of age. One of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. Virginia Sanders - Over My Dead Body by June Opie
I’m reading this memoir aloud to my 10-year-old daughter. It was first published in 1957 (and it shows!) and shares the author’s experience of eighteen months in a hospital in Britain with Polio, including many months in an iron lung – only being able to blink one eye. More than anything, it’s a fascinating snapshot of how hospitals of the time operated. Starchy sister, bottom-slapping doctors … great stuff! Susan Paris - Behind the Door: The Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Story by Mandy Wiener
I was fascinated with all the evidence put forward and the workings of the courtroom. Kelly Watson - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
I was a kid in the 50s and 60s: anti-establishmentarianism was at its peak and British comedy said it best (think Goon Show, Spike Milligan, Peter Cook, and Monty Python). Until Joseph Heller! When the black comedy and weird fiction of Catch 22 came along, I was hooked. It’s satire and history in one fantastic package – I’ve never forgotten the characters. Neale Pitches - When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi
Although fiction, this book is giving me a real insight into the backgrounds, challenges, hopes, dreams and nightmares of refugees. It’s a great read! Meryl-Lynn Pluck
- How Music Works by David Byrne
How Music Works was one of the more memorable books I read last year. David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) mixes up autobiography with his thoughts about the nature of music and creativity and about recording, performing, and being involved in the music business. As a part-time musician myself, I found it really fascinating. It’s divided into what the author says are designed as stand-alone chapters on different topics, so you can dip in and out of it if you wish, but I just read it straight through from cover to cover. David Chadwick - Inside the O’Brien’s by Lisa Genova
I read Inside the O’Brien’s last year while we were developing an article on Huntington’s Disease – the author also wrote Still Alice about Alzheimer’s. It’s about a Boston cop diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease. It follows his progress, the family reaction when they learn that it is genetic, and how each of them cope with this. A brilliant insight into living with, and coping with adversity. Peggy Nesbitt - The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
This very funny collection of short stories reads like Dr Seuss covering George Orwell. Phil is a “slightly bitter nobody” who uses confusing phrases and overblown compliments, and the events are hilarious, abhorrent, poignant, and pathetic. It leaves you scratching your head and wondering how on earth you should react – just the kind of book I love! Isaac Snoswell - Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
Carrie Brownstein’s band, Sleater Kinney, is one of my favourite bands. This was a compelling read, illuminating the shrewd and sensitive person behind Carrie’s fierce band personality. Simon Waterfield - The Commissario Ricciardi series by Maurizio de Giovanni
If you are a fan of Italian crime fiction, you’ll love Commissario Ricciardi! I’m working my way through this series – they’re set in Naples in the 1930s as the Black Shirts are coming to power, and they are the next best thing to an actual time machine. Start with I Will Have Vengeance: The Winter of Commissario Ricciardi and, from there, proceed (if you dare) to Blood Curse. Not to be missed! Don Long - Important Artefacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton
Important Artifacts charts the course of a fictional relationship – in the form of an auction sales catalogue. It’s comprised entirely of photographs of 325 auction lots of physical memorabilia from Lenore and Henry’s relationship with accompanying captions. It’s up to the reader to use the catalogued artifacts to piece together the story of Lenore and Henry and their love affair (“an email address scribbled on a paper napkin marks an incipient attraction, homemade jam suggests domestic nirvana and a telephone number for a therapist signals trouble”). Captivatingly clever. I was hooked. Claire Gibb - Wonder by RJ Palacio
I read recently that 80% of YA fiction is “bought by the simply A”. I’m one of those A (although I was gifted this book). I love young adult novels – and this is one of the best. It’s well written and engaging, and as heartbreaking as it is funny. An easy read to curl up with over the weekend! Keri Trim - The City and The City by China Mieville
This is a sci-fi novel dressed up as a police procedural. It lulls you into a false sense of security (a body is found, the police begin their investigation) before ankle-tapping you in the final lines of chapter one with a comment (made almost in passing) that instigates a hundred pages of thoroughly enjoyable confusion as the case progresses around you and this strangest of settings is revealed. I love Mieville’s work, and this book is the perfect example of his skill as an author, his imagination and ability to construct utterly novel worlds and his confidence in letting the reader figure out for themselves what on earth is going on. Brain explodingly good. Stephen Minchin
Read anything good lately that you can recommend us? Let us know!