Books

Martin Lewis has shared his favourite book and it’s a popular title many are familiar with. The well-known financial expert and founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, is known for his advice on money matters and helping people make informed decisions.But beyond his financial knowledge, Martin has spoken about his love for the fantasy genre and once named Game of Thrones as one of his favourite reads. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin is a book that became even more popular after it was adapted into a hit television series. Despite being set in a fantastical world filled with dragons, magic, and ancient lore, the novel is rooted in human behaviour - greed, ambition, loyalty and betrayal.Martin Lewis’s appreciation for the novel shows that even the most rational minds can enjoy stories of ...

Douglas Murray, the conservative commentator and international best-selling author, has penned some big-hitting books over the past few years.From The Strange Death of Europe to The Madness of Crowds and The War on the West, The Spectator columnist uses his sharp wit to dissect the political and social issues of the day.His latest book focuses on the October 7 attacks and their aftermath in the Israel-Hamas War with on-the-ground reporting from the region.Titled On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West, Murray's new work “confronts what he views as the most pressing issue of our time: why Western support of the Palestinian cause is ultimately playing into the hands of a much more dangerous force.”The Amazon synopsis continues: “On Democracies and Death Cu...

Andy Weir is one of the most recognisable names in modern science fiction. Known for his ability to blend hard science with fast-paced storytelling, Weir rose to fame with his self-published debut The Martian in 2011, which was later adapted into a major film starring Matt Damon.A former computer programmer, Weir brings a technical precision to his writing that has earned him a devoted following among science and space enthusiasts. His work often features isolated protagonists, survival scenarios, and inventive problem-solving, all grounded in realistic science.From bestselling novels to short fiction and graphic novels, Weir has produced a varied catalogue that spans space survival epics, lunar thrillers, philosophical short stories, and imaginative crossovers.Here, we rank his top 10 ...

A new suspenseful thriller included on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited plan is making waves online, with fans praising it as “harrowing and graphic”.From the number 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter, After That Night is the 11th instalment of the The Will Trent Series.It follows medical examiner Sara Linton's life is thrown into turmoil when a brutal attack on a young woman, Dani Cooper, eerily resembles the assault she suffered fifteen years prior.Sara, now engaged and working to rebuild her life, is compelled to revisit her past trauma as GBI Special Agent Will Trent investigates Dani's case.The investigation reveals a connection between the two attacks, forcing Sara to confront her own demons and the lingering shadows of that fateful night.The novel explores the themes of h...

Starting the Chronicles of Narnia can be somewhat confusing, with fans of the series arguing about the correct order to read them. This is because the published order of the books and the chronological order of events are not quite the same. While the first published Narnia book was the ever-popular The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, if following Narnian chronology, you should actually start with The Magician’s Nephew, which was published five years later.Recent editions of the books have been published in chronological order, with HarperCollins's numbered editions placing The Magician's Nephew as number one and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as number two in the series. However, there are still those who prefer to read in the published order.However, in 1957, a fan wrote to C...

Richard Osman has sold millions of copies of The Thursday Murder Club series, and become one of the UK’s most reliably gripping storytellers.But when he appeared on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show in 2024, Richard couldn’t stop talking about someone else’s writing: (Suede's bassist and his brother) Mat Osman's.Specifically, The Ghost Theatre, a fever-dream of a novel set in Elizabethan London, filled with rooftop chases, bird worshippers, and a dangerously intoxicating underground theatre troupe. And according to Richard, it’s one of the most captivating books he’s ever read.“It’s so brilliant,” he told Evans. “It couldn’t be more different from my books - but I’ll tell you the way in which it’s similar is you just cannot stop turning the pages.”Set in 1601, The Ghost Theatre imagines a ...

Elton John is a big fan of books and has shared a memoir that he particularly enjoyed. On journalist and campaigner Charlie Gilmour’s memoir Featherhood, John said: “Nothing I read this year touched me as deeply or profoundly.”Charlie Gilmour is the adopted son of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Polly Samson, who is also a writer. Charlie was famously arrested and imprisoned after being photographed swinging from the Cenotaph during the student protests in 2010. A synopsis, as per Weidenfeld and Nicolson, reads: “It is a story about repetition across generations and birds that run in the blood; about a terror of repeating the sins of the father and a desire to build a nest of one’s own.“It is a story about change – from wild to tame; from sanity to madness; from life to death to birth; ...

We may only be in April, but the calibre of books on offer this year will leave you spoilt for choice.There is one clear frontrunner however, and that is Dream Count, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.It is her first novel in 10 years since Americanah, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 2013. Dream Count is heading up the book charts and comes as the most recommended book of the year so far, according to the Independent and Waterstones.Published by Fourth Estate, the book offers four stories in one – although the individual stories could easily stand alone as their own books. Each follows a different woman’s journey through life, however they overlap and are richly marbled throughout the novel with the Nigerian author leaving no room for plot holes.The book is set...

Known for her incredibly popular romantic series A Court of Thorns and Roses, author Sarah J. Maas has sold over 40 million copies of her books worldwide. She has also written multiple fantasy series and has cultivated a rather dedicated fan base. But like many authors, when not writing, she likes to read.Back in 2017, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the website Goodreads, Maas revealed her top ten books, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of her picks were fantasy reads. Topping the list was 1996's The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, the first book in the popular Queen's Thief series, which only concluded in 2020, 24 years after the publication of the first book.The Thief tells the story of master thief Eugenides who, after landing himself in the King of Attolia's dungeons, i...

Richard Osman is best known for cracking the crime fiction charts, but it turns out he's just as big a fan of the genre when he’s not writing it.The Thursday Murder Club author, who has sold millions of books worldwide, opened up about his all-time literary favourite during an appearance on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 in December 2021.Osman, who was a regular fixture on TV screens for years thanks to shows like Pointless, spoke candidly about his love of reading, how he approaches storytelling, and the comforting role books play in his life - and, of course, followed the show's structure of choosing his eight songs he couldn't live without.But when it came to narrowing down a single volume to take with him to a desert island, he admitted he couldn’t help himself - and ended up tu...