Drip, drip, drop little April snow flurries! Spring isn’t quite here but our April reading picks are. This month we travel. We go around the world with special stops in Italy and Brighton. Through time to Edwardian London. And through the years with our favourite rock’n’roll stars. These books are all available digitally but, huzzah, our libraries are open once again and your friendly local librarians are ready to help.
Top non-fiction, chosen by Chaz: Uncommon people : the rise and fall of the rock stars by David Hepworth. 
Although this book is non-fiction it reads easily, there are bite size chapters making it very accessible. It is full of alternative insights into the lives of various rock’n’roll stars, Janis Joplin, Ian Dury, David Bowie to name a few. Giving a year by year commentary on the way music and the people who made it shaped our lives. Humour exudes from every page, while telling us facts and anecdotes often about artists we may not normally associate with the mainstream.
An added bonus is that after each chapter there is a playlist for that year.
Find the Pbook here
Top fiction, chosen by Tania: I’m not scared by Niccolo Ammaniti 
This book allows you to enter the world of childhood again through the eyes of Michele a nine-year-old, during a heatwave in a small village set in Southern Italy. It is remarkable how Ammaniti is able to write so authentically from the perspective of a child. Once you start reading this book you will be unable to put it down, the heat and a lost world rise from the pages full of brutality, compassion and love and you are there, experiencing the terrifying events that eventually tears the closed community apart and Michele, although his life is irrevocably altered, survives.
Read the Ebook here
Top audio book, chosen by Library Customer, AM: Need You Dead by Peter James 
When a body is found in a Brighton bathtub Superintendent Roy Grace (TV’s John Simm) is called to the scene. What starts as a gripping, thoroughly researched and fascinating crime drama turns into a twisty cat and mouse hunt, with shocking results.
I wanted to thank you for your audiobook service. I’m 70 years old and I’ve used your audiobooks since they were on tape, through CD, but online is the best! Loads of books, easy to use. Thank you!
Find the Pbook here
Read the Ebook here
Listen to the E-audio here
Top children’s fiction, chosen by Emily: Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare 
The beginning of an exciting new trilogy in the Shadowhunter’s universe. Set in the Edwardian era this book is a gripping read with danger and romance.
Join Cordelia in a world of Ballrooms and Demons as she comes to London to find a way to secure her families future but when something unknown starts attacking London, the Shadowhunter’s seem to be powerless to stop it and with the number of injured rising can Cordelia and her friends find the cause and a cure before it is too late?
Find the Pbook here
Read the Ebook here
Top children’s non-fiction, chosen by Deedee: Welcome to our world by Moira Butterfield 
This is a lovely book full of fun and colourful illustrations and interesting facts that will help children learn about other people’s lives all over the world.
Ultimately, its message is that although there may be differences in what we eat for breakfast, what we wear, the language we speak and what we celebrate that in many ways our lives are in fact very similar.
An excellent book to teach your children about accepting other people and their beliefs and celebrating diversity.
Find the Pbook here
Have you read any of the books featured this month? If so we’d love to hear what you thought! Leave your reviews in the comments below. Missed March book reviews? Catch up on them here.
You can find out more about libraries in East Sussex by visiting the East Sussex County Council website.
