Summer Reads - Books We Can't Put Down
Unmissable books this summer worth adding to your reading list
Whether you are looking forward to a week spent in the sun, a short city break or a weekend off at home planned this summer, you'll no doubt want a few good books to see you through! From gripping thrillers to tender love stories, here are our favourite books to pack this summer!
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Butter - Asako Yuzuki
This vivid, offbeat and unsettling exploration of obsession, misogyny and human connection has made Butter a Japanese Cult Classic!
This searing novel tells the story of Gourmet Chef Manako Kajii who sits in a Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen. Said to have seduced the men with her delicious home cooking, the case captures the nation's imagination, despite kajii's refusal to talk to the press. That is, until tenacious journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for Kajii's recipe for beef stew. What started as journalistic research with the aim of softening the accused to reveal her story, soon becomes something more, and with each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body. Might Rika and Kajii have more in common than she once thought?
One thing is for sure - this is one book you'll devour whole!
Plaything - Bea Setton
Just how far would you go to satiate your desire for knowledge?
Following on from her darkly entertaining novel Berlin, Bea Setton offers a slow drip-feed of apprehension and unease in her latest book release, Plaything.
Centered around the halls of Cambridge University, the story follows Anna - a razor sharp PhD student with her whole life ahead of her. She's the top of her class and surrounded by great friends, but something just isn't quite right. She has fallen for the handsome and enigmatic Caden. But soon, her desire to really get to know him - to truly get under his skin - becomes overpowering.
As their lives become more entangled, her obsession with Caden and his ever-present ex-girlfriend reaches fever pitch.
Utterly gripping and explosive, this novel swells towards a delectably unpredictable climax, leaving the reader feeling like Setton's very own plaything!
The Coin - Yasmin Zaher
A brilliantly audacious book that follows a wealthy Palestinian woman who appears to have it all - she's beautiful and impeccably put together but beneath the smile and polished facade is a woman who struggles with her ideal self. Everything she wants, everything she strives for is beyond her grasp - her homeland exists only in her memory, her inheritance is inaccessible and her attempt to thrive in America seems doomed from the get-go.
In New York, she strives to create a life and put down roots - teaching at a school for underprivileged boys, but her eccentric methods are as dizzying as they are delightful, raising more than a few eyebrows! As America stifles her, she befriends a homeless swindler and finds herself embroiled in an all too tempting pyramid scheme reselling Hermès Birkin bags! Energized by her newfound sense of self-possession, she pounds the streets of New York wearing a 'violent' and 'sexual' perfume, while clutching her Birkin bag - a symbol of power that thrillingly transforms her into an object of desire, if only for a moment.
A hypnotic debut novel that tells the tale of one woman's unravelling in the city that never sleeps!
Blue Sisters - Coco Mellors
From the author of best-seller Frankenstein & Cleopatra, comes this exceptional book examining the intricacies of human connection and love.
Blue Sisters tells the story of three brilliant - and brilliantly different - sisters as they return to their family home in New York from their respective lives in Paris, London and LA in the wake of the death of their much beloved fourth sister. As they are reunited in the midst of coping with the terrible loss, they are forced to navigate addiction, grief and ambition to learn what it takes to fall in love with life again.
Described by The Independent as a 'must for your summer reading list', Mellor's attention to detail is meticulous as she creates characters so real they could walk right off the page, with incredible and deeply moving dialogue.
Annie Bot - Sierra Greer
A provocative and perceptive book, Greer's chillingly prescient debut tackles the complexities of artificial intelligence whilst exploring issues of trust, intimacy, power and autonomy.
Human in every way that matters, Annie is a robot, created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug. She's playful and eager to please, has dinner ready for him every night, wears all the outfits he buys for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his every whim.
She’s trying really hard. She's also learning. And as Annie grows more self-aware, she begins to chafe against the parameters of her life: the days and weeks spent confined to the apartment, the fitness regimens designed to keep her body toned and shave inches off her waist.
Worst of all are Doug’s unpredictable mood swings and the way he has the ability to punish her without even raising his voice. Soon she begins to ask herself if love, or indeed consent, is possible when one person has control over the other. For Annie has been happy with Doug, and anxiously miserable, but she has never been free.
Find out more about this book here
Talking at Night - Claire Daverley
With shades of Sally Rooney's Normal People, Talking at Night is a stunningly tender love story reminding us just how all-consuming and transformative first love can be.
Will and Rosie meet as teenagers. Opposites in just about every way - she overthinks everything; he is her twin brother's wild and unpredictable friend. But somehow, over secret walks home and hushed, late-night phone calls, they become each other's something.
They are destined to be each other's great love, until, one day, tragedy strikes, and their future together is shattered. What do you do when the one person you should forget is the one you just can't let go?
A devastating but entirely beautiful novel with characters that feel so achingly real.
The Tidal Year - Freya Bromley
A compelling read about one woman's journey through grief and the loss of her brother.
Still searching for a way to fill the empty space left by her brother's death, Freya embarks on a journey of swimming every tidal pool in Britain in a year with her friend Miri. It's an adventure which takes them from hidden pools in Polperro to the quarry lagoon of Abereiddi. With every swim and every stranger, the challenge becomes more than just a way to explore the enigmatic coast, and a way of finding herself closer to the memories of her brother.
The Tidal Year is a true story about the healing power of wild swimming and the space it creates for sisterhood amidst reflection and hope.
Will you be adding any of these books to your reading lists this summer? If you do read any of the books above, let us know and of course, if you have any book recommendations for us, we would love to hear about them! In the meantime, why not have a browse of some of the lovely books we have in stock here at Biscuit - from coffee table books, to cookbooks, colouring books and children's books!
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