World Book Day 2020
World Book Day 2020
5.3.20
For all the parents out there who have sent their children off to school this morning in ever-more wild and wonderful (and expensive?!) costumes, you will be fully aware that today is World Book Day.
For the rest of the population, World Book Day will hopefully be more about actually reading books and less about having to think up last minute elaborate outfits.
So, to honour the true purpose behind world book day we thought we’d ask some of our team about their favourite books…and look at the best interiors in which to read them!
Alysha Davies, interior designer
One of our wonderful designers and responsible for the likes of Skeel Library and Royal Hill Park show homes, Alysha says she can’t narrow down to one recent favourite read, so she has given us three!
“If you’re looking for a house related one, I read ‘The Dutch House’ earlier this year and LOVED IT! It’s about the relationship between brother and sister, set in the most beautifully described house which has a ball room on like the 3rd floor and a window seat in one of the bedrooms. Just dream house!”
The Dtch House by Ann Patchett, published by Bloomsbury
“I also just finished reading ‘Dear Edward’ which devastated me, it’s about a 12 year old boy who’s the lone survivor on a plane crash where he loses his whole family. Very sad but really good!”
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano, published by Penguin Random House
“And a highlight of last year for me was a book called ‘Bottled Goods’ – a short novella told in various forms (such as letters to santa, lists and poems) set in the communist era in Romania with a bit of a magical twist. Very short read, recommend it to anyone!!”
Bottled Goods by Sophie Van Llewyn, published by Fairlight Books
nicola sayers, Operations Manager
Nicola’s New Year’s Resolution was to read a book a month for the year, so she has started with the following recommendations for others to try and keep up with her!
She says, “I have just finished ‘Perfume’ by Patrick Suskind. I read it after watching the documentary on Michael Hutchence over Christmas. He became obsessed with it and travelled to the south of France to visit where it is set.”
Perfume by Patrick Suskind, published by Penguin Random House
“Now I’m reading another upbeat one….I literally can’t put it down, it is really really intense and isn’t scary but makes you feel uneasy the entire time. It’s about to be made in to a film on Netflix…not sure I’ll be able to handle that.”
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
“Last year I went through a phase of reading horror/ thrillers written in the 60’s/ 70’s. Especially books that have been turned in to films, my favourite’s were ‘Jaws’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. It was crazy how differently relationships, gender and race were portrayed and how badly they translate in to todays society.”
Jaws by Peter Benchley, published by Penguin Random House
Jessica Bell, Interior designer
Jess offers us a recommendation of a non-fiction Good Read with a book called ‘It’s Not Always Depression’, by Hilary Jacobs Hendel, which sells itself as a book outlining an “accessible psychotherapy to put us back in touch with our emotions”.
Rebecca Hunt, Owner and Director
“I read constantly, I can’t go to bed without a few pages of a book, and I inevitably fall asleep with the book landing on my face! I love all sorts of books, from thrillers to chick-lit and everything in between. I am even reading loads of teen fiction so that I can encourage my teenage son to give certain books a try. He has recently started on Stephen King novels and has just read ‘Christine’ when I challenged him not to be at least slightly scared by a book about a bright red car (which I agree doesn’t sound like the most intimidating premise). He wasn’t scared at all, I think the 21st century teenager has slightly different sensibilities than those I had at 14!”
“I love all Margaret Atwood’s books, but ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and the recently published, and long awaited ‘The Testaments’ are definitely among my favourites. Read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ first if you haven’t already and then go onto this one, an un-put-downable book for me!”
“As a self confessed book-addict I am slightly embarrassed to say that I have never got all the way through a single Harry Potter book, but give me J K Rowling in the form of Robert Gilbraith and I can lose myself for hours. The last one in the series, ‘Lethal White’, is a great read.”
Lethal White by Robert Gilbraith aka J K Rowling
“Much as I love Tilda Swinton, this is a case where the book packs a massively more impactful punch than the subsequent movie. Read ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’ if you have children. Or actually, don’t. You’ll never give your son a Nerf gun again.”
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
“And finally, in honour of my wonderful children’s passion for reading (even my dyslexic ten year old) here’s a book that will that will have you emotionally entangled the whole way through and properly crying at the end, but not at the parts that you would expect to be crying at!”
My Sister Lives On the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher
And now, because we are an interior design company, any excuse to post some images of the perfect interiors to sit in and read this wonderful selection of books!
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