‘Switch off,’ they say when you go on holiday and then they give you an epic reading list of books about your day job.
Not in this blog post there isn’t. The only doctorate you should be studying for in your deckchair in Weston-super-Mare, Barry Island, Portrush or Troon is that of eating ice cream and playing crazy golf.
Here’s a book list of recommendations crowdsourced from the Public Sector Comms Headspace. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.
It’s split between fiction and non-fiction.
None of these are about PR and comms.That’s why they are on the list.
Non-fiction
PIER REVIEW by Jon Bounds and Danny Smith
“Two friends from Birmingham decide to settle an argument on which is the best pier by visiting them all. Part travel book and part history. This is THE book to read in a deckchair eating an ice cream.” – Dan Slee
DON’T STOP THE MUSIC by Justin Lewis
“This is absolutely brilliant for reading all at once, or dipping in and out of.” – Claire Anne Hall
ROAR by Sam Quek
“I recommend for anyone that has an interest in sport. It’s inspiring and demonstrates throughout that sport is about much more than just participating, being good or even winning. It teaches discipline, hard work, resilience, team work, determination and so much more.” – Laura Beale
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE by Bill Bryson
“A book based on his travels in Europe and it’s a sometimes laugh out loud read. So it’s an especially good choice if you have an European destination in mind.” – Vicky Croughan.
HOW LABOUR WINS by Douglas Beattie
“Really fascinating, neutral, and well-written, analysing Labour’s successes and failures at general election and putting them into context with what else was going on at the time. There’s even a chapter on this year’s win.” – Liz Wotsit
FEET IN THE CLOUDS: A TALE OF FELL RUNNING AND OBSESSION by Richard Askwith
“Man gets obsessed with fell running, writes best book ever on fell running, which fell runners love, too.” – David Sawyer
RIDING THE WAVES by Jane McDonald
“For a more lighthearted read try Riding the Waves by Jane McDonald. This is an incredible tale of determination and self reliance and Jane being Jane it’s also funny. Top Yorkshire lass.” – Josephine Graham
MY MESS IS A BIT OF A LIFE by Georgia Pritchett
“If you want to laugh: My Mess Is A Bit Of A Life by Georgia Pritchett.” – Abbie Thomas
ALL THESE YEARS by Mark Lewisohn
“This has been out a decade or more but is the book I most enjoyed reading in 2024. A readable detailed story of the first years of The Beatles that ends in 1962. Essential.” – Dan Slee
BALL OF FIRE by Fred Trueman
“When I was a kid I was the most voracious reader ever and was at the local library at least once a week getting my quota and my Mom and Dad’s too, which were mostly sporting biographies and autobiographies. It’s because of the latter that I know more about cricket and snooker players of the 1970s than I’ve known of either since because I’d read their books when I’d read mine. Find yourself Freddie Trueman’s Ball of Fire autobiography and immerse yourself in a different world.”
Fiction
THE SATSUMA COMPLEX – Bob Mortimer
“Simple, light and laugh out loud funny.” – Shane Space.
FIVE DECEMBERS by James Kestrel nominated by Nick Lakeman
“A hard-boiled detective novel set during in the Pacific during WW2 with characters who you genuinely miss like a good friend once the book finishes.”
SMALL WORLDS by Caleb Azumah Nelson
“Incredible, really moving with a lyrical writing but in a way that absorbs you. My favourite reads of the year when it was released. Nice and short too.” – Michelle McVeigh
I AM PILGRIM by Terry Hayes
“A total brain switch-off holiday thriller.” – Danielle Mason
WHY MOMMY DRINKS by Gill Sims
“For pure entertainment, I love the Why Mummy Drinks series by Gill Sims. Something about the busy working mum frustrated by a husband who thinks a lasagne is a quick dinner chimes with me for some reason.” – Ruth Fry
THE MANCHESTER MAN by G. Linneaus Banks
“As a chronic and uncurable Mancunian, I must recommend The Manchester Man by Mrs G. Linnæus Banks. Its a tale of rags to riches, set in the context of some of the real events of the world’s first industrial city. Its the ultimate place narrative.”
IN MEMORIUM by Alive Winn
“Having never read a book about war I found this so moving and as much as war is depressing it is ultimately a love story)” – Ghazala Begum.
ITCH by Simon Mayo
“It’s a ‘children’s’ book, but actually just a really well-written good read.” – Heather Pearton
THE MARRIAGE by Maggie O’Farell
“Fantastic – evocative story of the doomed wife of an aristocrat in renaissance Italy.” – Danielle Mason
REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby can Pelt
“It’s a family mystery centred on loss and reconnection, with three narrators, one is the sassiest octopus you’ll ever know.” – Laura Sanders
Picture credit: Seaside cuisine by Richard Croft used under a creative commons licence.
