The Seaside Library

Author: Fredrik Backman Acquired in: July 2022 I'm a fan of Fredrik Backman's books. Subtle humour, a tear or two, Ikea meatball fanatics, police silently hating their jobs, grandparent-child dream teams, hostages rallying for their incarcerator - love it. To this hodgepodge pile I've happily added A Man Called Ove, a book about a sad old man who cares little for anybody's sympathy. Ove is a stickler for principles. He drives only a Saab, does his own house and car repairs, distrusts technology, hates bureaucrats and goes to work without fail, even on the day after his wife's funeral. Emotions confused him and he found work to help him understand or often, repress the intangible. Losing his job was the final straw that sent him into a depressed spiral leading him to decide to kill himself. To his eternal chagrin, a riotous Swedish-Iranian family who introduces themselves to the neighbourhood by mowing down Ove's mailbox have other plans. Being taciturn meant

Author: Isabel Allende Acquired in: October 2021 Some of the best literature ever to grace our libraries was spawned by wars and the ensuing trauma. Memorials and remembrance days are the only things those born in peacetime have to remind themselves of life-altering moments of the past. Is it, then, possible for us to fathom how deep are the wounds inflicted by bereavement and suffering? This is where books like  A Long Petal of the Sea  become important - they take us back in time to relive life as it once was, in this case, amid national turmoil and partisan conflict.  Isabel Allende is no stranger to displacement. The coup orchestrated by Auguste Pinochet in 1973 toppled the Chilean government and lead to the death of the former president Salvador Allende, spelling disaster for leftist sympathisers and relatives of the late president, including Isabel's family. Narrowly escaping the gallows, Allende made Venezuela her refuge for more than a decade before settling in California. 

1. The Dragon Republic 2. Atomic Habits 3. A Man Called Ove 4. The Eye of the World 5. Bring Up the Bodies 6. Beartown 7. Us Against You 8. Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Author: Louisa May Alcott Acquired in: September 2010 Little Women  made Louisa May Alcott a legendary figure in English literature, but her writing talent cannot be defined by this book alone. Apart from the popular series featuring the March sisters, she has numerous other pieces, including poetry, novels and short stories to her credit. Though relatively unknown, the short stories in this anthology— The Quiet Little Woman ,  Tilly’s Christmas  and  Rosa’s Tale —number among the beautiful short stories that Alcott fans would love.  This short book contains three heartwarming Christmas stories about the little virtues that give this beautiful day a deeper meaning.  The Quiet Little Woman  is a story about Patty, a lonely orphan who wishes with all her heart that a good family would take her in, even if only as a helper. When the jovial Murrays adopt her, she works hard to show her gratitude but realises that their appreciation is just not the same as filial love. Luckily, you can alwa

Author: RF Kuang Acquired in: September 2021 In a volatile world, if a girl, sick to the heart of the wrongs done to her, can channel her hurt into flames, will she give in to a dangerous deity who offers to make her pain disappear or rein in her anguish but burn herself?  As an orphan in the impoverished town of Tikany, Fang Runin or Rin doesn’t have many choices other than to work like a slave for her foster parents, the Fangs, and handle the running of the Fangs’ opium business. When the family decides to marry her off to a much older customs official in return for protection for their drug trade, Rin decides to take matters into her own hands. Her only hope, she decides, is Sinegard – the capital city of the Nikara Empire and the home of the pearl of military institutions. But the way leading to it isn’t easy, nor is what comes after. Sinegard may seem like salvation to Rin, but within those gilded walls are secrets which could be her doom or the key to saving a crumbling Nikan. Ni