Guest post by Henry Young.
September has arrived, back to life, back to reality!
Congratulations to everybody who has been taking part in the Summer Reading Challenge! This summer over 6,935 children have challenged themselves to read six books!
Throughout East Sussex, young people have visited the library and participated in dance duets, Lego workshops, archery, and fencing! If you haven’t collected your prizes yet there is still time, just pop into your local library.
If you want your child to receive their certificate in school, then log in to their library account and fill in the details.
With the new school year comes even more book recommendations from our library service…
Top Fiction: ‘The Mystery of Yew Tree House’ Lesley Thomson 
Lesley is among the authors visiting our libraries as part of our Season of crime.
The Mystery of Yew Tree House is two stories set in the same house, on the Sussex Coast: one set in WWII the other in the present day. Thomson is very good at switching between eerie and sinister and then cosy and amusing. A fun book with quite a few twists and turns and a very entertaining take on a murder mystery (like Cluedo!).
Reserve the pBook of ‘The Mystery of Yew Tree House’.
Top Non Fiction: ‘Living Autobiography Series’ Deborah Levy
Things I Don’t Want to Know, The Cost of Living and Real Estate. In this three-part memoir, Deborah ponders ‘What if a woman is the main character in her own story?’
She uses Orwell, De Beauvoir and Woolf as jumping-off points for her own observations, mixed in with vignettes of a writer’s life. Big Ideas nestles with little ones. She also has a wonderful light touch as she tackles grief, Apartheid (she grew up in South Africa), rich male authors and the cold snail-infested shed she rents to write in.
(Interesting fact: after these books she was invited to write in Derek Jarman’s house in Dungeness!)
Audio: ‘Help’ Simon Amstell
A mixture of warts-and-all memoir, self-help manual and narcissistic navel gazing! He wrings belly laughs from the most harrowing of anecdotes about sexuality, loneliness, relationships, family, frailty and personal discovery.
I’m not a huge fan of Simon’s comedy but was recommended the audiobook – on Libby – by a friend. Not sure if this would work as an actual book – but the audio is hilarious, shocking, funny and sad. Highly recommended.
Listen to the eAudio of ‘Help’.
Children’s Fiction: ‘Stink’ Jenny McLachlan
Danny absolutely does not believe in fairies, so is astounded when he accidentally summons Stink, a feisty green fairy, who causes havoc wherever she goes. Stink promises to return to Fairyland and leave Danny in peace if he helps her earn enough money to buy some state-of-the-art Silver Bullet wings.
This is a really silly, diary story full of pictures, for fans of Jeff Kinney’s Wimpey Kid or Tom Gates by Liz Pichon.
Children’s non fiction: ‘Amazing octopus creature from an unknown world’ by Michael Stavaric and Michele Ganser
What do ocean and space have in common? How did octopuses and humans evolve? What exactly are cephalopods – and why do they have such a funny name? Octopuses are the oldest and most intelligent creatures on our planet, true aliens whose abilities amaze us. Michael Stavaric and Michele Ganser have created a non-fiction book full of surprising twists and turns that offer much more than just imparting knowledge.
Reserve the pbook of ‘Amazing octopus creature from an unknown world’.
Let us know what you’re currently reading in the comments below or whether you’ve read any of the book recommendations above!
Missed last month’s Get In Our Good Books? Catch up with our Good Books from August!
