Lucy Gilmore’s The Lonely Hearts Book Club is a heartwarming tale that celebrates the power of literature to connect and heal. When a bunch of mismatched individuals form an unexpectedly strong bond through a book club, the result is a celebration of the magic of books and the sense of community they can foster.

At the heart of this story is Arthur, an externally gruff and solitary senior who is a regular at the library. When he suddenly stops showing up, librarian Sloane discovers him in need and rallies a group of unlikely companions to offer their support.

“Hearing Sloane and Arthur talk about books was like listening to a song in another language. The message didn’t always make it through, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the melody.”

Beyond its touching themes, The Lonely Hearts Book Club offers plenty of humor, heart, and moments of genuine emotion. The novel’s multiple perspectives provide a rich and immersive experience, allowing readers to connect with each character. If you’re a book lover seeking a heartwarming and inspiring story, The Lonely Hearts Book Club is an absolute must-read.

Depicting the process of bookbinding in rich detail, The Bookbinder of Jericho emphasises the importance of books. Working in the bookbindery at Oxford University Press to sort and sew, Peggy develops a love for reading and gradually begins collecting the works that would otherwise be discarded because of printing errors. 

Underscoring the invaluable worth of knowledge and the detrimental consequences of its loss or concealment, Peggy navigates love, loss, and loyalty during the tumultuous war-stricken era. And through her experiences, readers gain a nuanced understanding of the sacrifices made by individuals to preserve knowledge and the enduring importance of books.    

“Reading was such a quiet activity, and the reader in their parlour or leaning against the trunk of a tree would never imagine all the hands their book had been through, all the folding and cutting and beating it had endured. They would never guess how noisy and smelly the life of that book had been before it was put in their hands.”

Much like Peggy and Maude’s houseboat, overflowing with misprinted yet treasured books, The Bookbinder of Jericho is a literary treasure trove, brimming with a passionate love for the written word. It is a novel that will undoubtedly find a cherished place in the hearts of book lovers.

In the context of ancient Egyptian culture, the Book of Two Ways wasn’t a book at all. Instead, it was a collection of spells and illustrations inscribed on the interiors of coffins and tomb walls. Dating back to the Middle Kingdom, the Book of Two Ways was essentially a map for the deceased’s journey to the afterlife, detailing two possible routes: a land route depicted in black and a water route depicted in blue. Both of these routes posed several challenges in the form of monsters and infernos that the deceased had to overcome.

On the other hand, Jodi Picoult’s The Book of Two Ways is Dawn’s journey of wondering what her life would have been like if she had become an Egyptologist as she had initially planned instead of becoming a death doula. Fifteen years after leaving her research in Egypt behind, Dawn has built a life with a loving husband and a teenage daughter. Not straying too far from the Coffin Texts that assisted the deceased, Dawn’s work as a death doula allows her to offer solace and guidance to her terminally ill clients as they confront the inevitable.

Yet, Dawn’s seemingly perfect life begins to crumble as she confronts growing tension with her husband and the self-image issues of her daughter. As if that weren’t enough, her new client, with a past that feels ripped from the pages of her own, throws Dawn’s carefully constructed world into chaos.