Books we've read and think you should too.
Selected by the Bookshop
The most comprehensive representation of our ‘Staff Recommendations’ bay at Bury Place.
Recommended by Gayle
‘If you read The Iliad and your main thought was “I wish it read a bit more like YA romance,” The Song of Achilles is for you. Sexy ancient Greek fan fic FTW.’
Recommended by Gayle
‘Long out of print, and now available again in this glorious facsimile of the 1966 original, Nairn’s London is a funny, angry, stirring tour of London’s architecture. Fifty years old, and still one of the best books on London going. (And very good on pubs as well.)’
Recommended by Gayle
‘This dark, funny, heartbreaking feminist cult classic is a joy to read – even if the fact that so much of it is still relevant after nearly 50 years is kind of depressing. If you like The Dud Avocado or Valley of the Dolls, get involved, you’re going to love it.’
Recommended by Gayle
‘Not a day goes past that I don't shake a fist at the sky and cry in despair, “When will Claire-Louise Bennett publish something new?!” Until my cries are answered, I'll make do with rereading Pond, Bennett's wildly brilliant and totally unique collection of stories following one woman living alone in the Irish countryside. EDIT: Claire-Louise Bennett has now written another book, and it’s better than I dreamt it could be.’
Recommended by Gayle
‘A totally joyful experience from start to finish, and full of delicious food to boot (Laurie Colwin was also a food writer) – like a gentler, happier companion to Nora Ephron’s Heartburn. I defy you not to fall in love with each and every character in this book.’
Recommended by Gayle
‘Finally I have something to recommend when people ask for a funny book! Heartburn is properly hilarious, like a 200 page stand up set, except less mean, and with more food.’
Recommended by Natalia
‘Surprisingly sarcastic and moving story revolving around 21 characters, whose thoughts and lives span from the historical moments of their lives and the moral decisions they make – from pre-occupied Poland to the tragedy of the Nazi invasion in Warsaw to the convulsion of Europe in the post-war years – the reader will know throughout who survives or who perishes, questioning their moral or immoral conscious about the roles they have played.
At the centre of it all is the planned rescue of Mrs Seidenman, who during the war has survived by passing as the widow of a Polish Officer but is arrested after a Polish informant hands her over to the police.’
Recommended by Caleb
‘Not only one of the best children’s books ever but one of the best books about London, following in the footsteps of Ackroyd, Sinclair, Moorcock and Moore. A magic spell that makes a case for all books to be illustrated, just as Blake dreamt.’
Recommended by Liv
‘My Search for Warren Harding is an absolute romp. Plunket chronicles Elliot Weiner’s calamitous quest to get hold of President Warren Harding’s correspondence to his mistress Rebecca Kinney. Only one thing stands in his way – the wizened and unyeilding Kinney herself . . . Desperately funny, wickedly cruel and thoroughly mischievous – the most fun I have had with a novel for a long time.’
From the publisher:
A second collection from one of the most distinctive and original voices to have emerged in recent years, Zaffar Kunial.Zaffar Kunial is a proven master of taking things apart, polishing the fugitive parts of single words, of a sound, a…
From the publisher:
It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place. Despite her fierce friendships, she's always felt this way, and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn't appeal to her at all. Not even…
From the publisher:
'A gothic fairy tale, sublime in its creepiness' Florence WelchWhen Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel stranded on the ocean…
Recommended by David
‘Nearly 30 years after publication this iconic work of gay fiction has lost not a shred of its strangeness, rigour or hallucinatory brilliance. Neil Bartlett provides a new intro.’
Recommended by John
‘One of the most joyful novels I know. Impossibly buoyant and fragile: sunshine, spring, the Italian riviera.’
Recommended by John
’Marvellous combination of travelogue and history of artisan paper making; unexpectedly fascinating and full of colour, excitement and larger-than-life characters.’
Recommended by Gayle
‘I can’t tell you how tenderly I – a person who spends much of their time going to the BFI alone – feel about Jeremy Cooper’s Brian, a novel about a man who spends all his time going to the BFI alone. A love letter to the BFI and to London! To small, quiet lives made expansive by access to film and art! To friendship and community!’
Recommended by Victoria
‘The story of Atlas – carrying the weight of the world – retold, funnily, slightly irreverently. Makes you ask yourself whether you really need to carry the world on your shoulders...’
Recommended by Jimmy
‘A brilliant and satirical retelling of the Theseus myth, Fran Ross’s only novel centres on Oreo and her journey to find her father. Funny and affecting, this is a real jem.’
Recommended by Victoria
‘Bachmann – one of Austria’s greatest twentieth century writers – died fifty years ago, and yet her only completed novel Malina is as relevant as ever: a woman, a successful writer using her sense of humour to deal with memories of war and violence, and the two mediocre men in her life.’
Recommended by Claire
‘90s L.A. and a queer drug-addicted woman’s repeated failed attempts at self-improvement in the middle of the apocalypse. OR How I Learnt to Love Matt Dillon and Stop Worrying About the Bomb.’
Recommended by David
‘On the face of it, it’s a book about hoverflies. In fact, it’s a digressive masterpiece about love, death and nature by one of Europe’s finest writers.’
Recommended by David
‘The strange and wonderful landscapes of northern England are stripped of their beauty and imbued with new grandeur in M. John Harrison’s strange and wonderful study of obsession.’
Recommended by David
‘From the austerity of post-war Britain to the glitz of Hollywood – a dark and funny tale of murder, fraud and literary imposters featuring Orwell, Capote, Vidal and Baldwin. Perfect queer reading for the summer.’
Recommended by Jimmy
Funny, sad, shocking, even controversial, Box Hill is a gripping read from start to unconventional finish.
Recommended by Anya
’Persepolis, a graphic memoir written by Marjane Satrapi, is a coming of age story about a young girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. This beautifully illustrated book retells her experience of living in a country undergoing significant political and cultural shifts.’
From the publisher:
Everyone needs to love and be loved-even men. But to know love, men must be able to look at the ways that patriarchal culture keeps them from knowing themselves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving.In The Will to Change,…
Recommended by John's daughter:
‘Don't Trust Fish! is a hilarious, well illustrated book where you even learn about animals (don't trust fish 😞).’
Recommended by John
‘J.G. Farrell’s masterpiece, the second in his loose trilogy about the decline of the British Empire, tells the story of the British community of the small town of Krishnapur under siege in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and their eventual collapse and retreat. Harrowing in places, it is also extremely funny, and nobody who has encountered his cast of brilliantly-drawn characters is likely to forget them.’
Recommended by Liv:
AN APPARTMENT ON URANUS is a book that has lived alongside me for a number of years; one which I have bestowed upon all of my friends and one which I continue to return to time and time again. In this collection of essays, Paul B. Preciado dreams of an apartment on Uranus - a place in which he can live free and aslant from the world. It is as much a document of Preciado's personal transition as it is a political document; devastating as it is hopeful; the most urgent manifesto and the most tender lover letter.
Recommended by Claire
‘The Martin Beck series comprises 10 separate mysteries, all threaded together with the story arc of Detective Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm police. Written between 1965 and 1976 they are dark, gritty and – in the best possible way – very slow. The writing duo, married couple Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, have produced not just a series of great reads but an important social commentary on Swedish society at the time. They are considered the inspiration for the modern Scandi Noir. Start with Roseanna and work your way through.’
Recommended by Liv
’I think that Vigdis Hjorth is one of the very best contemporary novelists. I would strongly advise picking up any of her books – although If Only is a good place to start. Only Hjorth could write about such a torrid and ruinous love affair and have me quite so invested.’
Recommended by David
One of several masterpieces to have emerged from the tragedy of Ukraine: moving and extraordinary.
Recommended by David
Greek Tragedy meets contemporary fiction – a superb debut novel from a name to watch.
Recommended by Gayle
‘Two things I’m largely against: 1) endless retellings of Shakespeare plays, and 2) being made to care deeply about coked-up aristocrats, but in both cases, I have been forced to make an exception for Allen Bratton’s Henry Henry. A retelling of the Henriad that brings Prince Hal, Henry, Falstaff et al to 21st century London; it’s very funny, until it’s suddenly completely devastating. Worth breaking your own rules for!’
Recommended by Anya
‘Weasels in the Attic explores themes of masculinity and marriage in contemporary Japan, weaving together three interconnected stories that follow old friends at different points in their lives. The characters find themselves in unsettling, almost dreamlike situations – moments that push them towards uncomfortable truths. This surreal novella is full of intrigue, and has a banging cover.’
Recommended by Anya
This is one of the best surrealist novels out there. The narrator is entranced by a woman named Nadja, a typical parisian ‘flâneuse’, free-spirited and eccentric. Throughout their brief affair, we follow Nadja and the narrator as they walk the streets of Paris in a dreamlike state. This book is abstract and a bit weird but in all the right ways. Most importantly it is a love letter to city.
Recommended by Rachael
‘O Caledonia!’s Janet is a classic comic heroine, in that she is also a classic tragic heroine: lonely, unloved, overlooked, and yet somehow staunchly herself throughout. And who that self is is truly splendid: imaginative, spiky, bookish, fiercely intelligent, and completely socially unaware. Her family despise her – her mother Vera finds even the sight of Janet reading ‘peculiarly irritating’. Her schoolmates make use of her intelligence to cheat on their homework and laugh at her ‘exaggerated stories of her incompetence in every aspect of the day's routine, and the dire consequences it provoked’, while also preferring to avoid spending any actual time with her. We know from the start how Janet will end the novel – dead in her mother’s black lace evening dress, twisted on the stone staircase in the dilapidated castle in which her family live and run a boarding school – and by the end we’ll know how and why she got there, but all the real fun is in the journey the novel takes us on through 'l’étouffoir familial', the family suffocation chamber (Proust by way of Janet).’
Recommended by Liv:
'One of my favourite 'short bangers'. Santiago Nasar is brutally murdered outside of his front door and everyone - including Nasar - knew it was going to happen. 27 years later, a man arrives in the town to 'put the broken mirror of memory back together'. This is a who-dunnit in reverse; a moral tale; a cracking read'
Recommended by Jimmy
Like the bookseller recommending it, a gay classic from the ‘80s, still readable and relevant today.
Recommended by David
‘Tabucchi’s tragic novel, set in Portugal during the Salazar dictatorship raises, in deceptively simple prose, profound questions around the subjects of resistance, heroism, and the peculiar nature of courage.’
Recommended by Anya
‘Tokyo Express is a short banger, thrilling and beautifully written. If you love trains and the inner workings of public transport, this is the book for you. The investigation spans across multiple Japanese regions and follows a suspicious love suicide which may or may not have been a calculated crime.’
Recommended by Jimmy
‘A lyrical and evocative look at traditional Japanese aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows contains the most beautiful description of a toilet you will ever read.’
Recommended by Claire
‘For Tove Jansson, love and work were inseperable - her emotional life was crucial to her creativity. 2014 would have been her centenary year and this book is one of its highlights, full of beautiful, inimitable illustrations, unseen sketches and a photo of her feeding a seagull on page 278.’
Recommended by John
‘Raunchy 21st century Virginia Woolf with an unforgettable narrator, finding the numinous in small quotidian rituals. My favourite debut novel for ages and ages.’
Recommended by Jimmy
‘A funny and touching account of the nomadic life of a family in exile from Nazi Germany. Told through the eyes of the young girl Kully, it is more relevant now than ever.’
Recommended by Charlie
‘The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas is a deceptively simple novel of immense power. In spare and beautiful prose, Vesaas evokes the icy Norwegian landscape and the uncertainty and longing of the young girls Siss and Unn, whose intense friendship has devastating consequences. It is a remarkable book – profound, disturbing, unforgettable.’
Recommended by John
‘If you haven’t read a James Baldwin yet, here’s a good one to start with. He's as good as everyone says he is – one of the best prose stylists of the twentieth century – sensuous, sinuous and unforgettable.’
From the publisher:
All Tom’s friends really are superheroes. Tom even married a superhero, the Perfectionist. But at their wedding the Perfectionist is hypnotized by her ex, Hypno, to believe that Tom is invisible.Nothing he does can make her see him.…
Recommended by Caleb
’Still, for my money, Fitzcarraldo’s best title, Hurricane Season is a brutal dismantling of magic. Wands become brambles, hexes become chalk, superstition is revealed to be prejudice. Unforgettable.’
Recommended by Gayle
‘One of the most perfect short novels I’ve ever read. Helen Garner vividly depicts the gentle implosion of the Fox family – from shabby domestic bliss to disaster (and back again) – in 150 pages of brilliantly spare prose.’
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Recommended by Natalia
‘One crime, four witnesses. Set in Oxford in the 1660s, this is my all time favourite crime thriller.’
Recommended by Liv:
‘A.M. Homes is a master of the contemporary Great American Novel. May We Be Forgiven follows the breakdown of a family against a bleak rendering of modern life. It’s a desperately good read – dark, comical and absurdist. I don’t know why there isn’t more hype for Homes.’
Recommended by Claire
Moomins Adventures Book 1 is a delight. This collection of original comic strips are funny, socially conscious and just plain daft, and the Family Moomintroll are great company. Keep a copy by the bed! Give it to all your friends! Then get book 2!!!
Recommended by Jimmy
A perfect novella, short & captivating, it reads like a vivid dream.
Recommended by Claire
‘I owe all of my wit and comedic skills to this book, given to me at a very impressionable age, and I will not stop recommending it until we have a nation of mini Tommy Coopers. This is an absolute hoot and full of all the classics.’
Recommended by Saff
’A lonely housewife falls in love with an amphibious sea monster, Larry – an escaped science experiment. For lovers of David Lynch, Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood, this eerie, witty and profound novel is an unputdownable feminist masterpiece.’
Recommended by Saff
’An absolute page turner. This novel follows a Russian conscript attempting to desert the army. All action is confined to a single train journey...’
Recommended by David
‘In Nabokov’s “most perfect novel”, the action takes place between a poem and its commentary. An unforgettable masterpiece.’
Recommended by David
‘Hapless bookseller Dennis stumbles upon a book that should not exist and is let into an alternative London. A brilliant and very funny evocation of London in the 1950s and an exploration of its occult history.’
Recommended by Caleb
‘This has been my pocket companion ever since it was gifted to me. Each entry has that uncanny ability to describe exactly what you’re going through at that moment. It’s the ultimate self-help book for self-help haters and a perfect gift for the creative in your life – or anyone for that matter.’
Recommended by Saff
‘This might be a perfect novel. Some would call this a psychological horror, I might call it a thriller... of sorts. Read it – you’ll see what I mean.’
Recommended by David
‘First published in 1989, Annie Dillard’s reflections on the craft have been an inspiration to writers for nearly 40 years.’
Recommended by Liv
‘A chance sighting of an old friend prompts the narrator to untangle and reconstruct the tragedies that marred his past and the regret that has haunted him since. Although this book centres around a murder, there’s no mystery, no triumphant resolution and no personal revelation. It is a book about memory, a cast of deeply flawed characters. A musing on – and a mastery of – storytelling.’
Recommended by Claire
‘Babel-17 is a sci-fi novel concerned with language, and specifically the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. It is serious and philosophical, but still a visually rich big space romp. Read everything you can by Sam Delaney!’
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