Welcome to the first edition of our FGRLS book club, in which we share with you the best books written by female authors, every month. Although March is meant to bring Spring, the British weather is making it pretty impossible for anything to be springing right now, so what better excuse to bunker down with a cup of tea (or large glass of wine amiright?) and tuck into a new page turner. In this month’s edition we bring you novels that will have you snorting with laughter on your commute, self helps that will feed your soul and heart-warming tales that will leave you feeling a little bit sunnier on the coldest of March days.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – By Gail Honeyman
Already boasting such accolades as the Costa First Novel Book Award winner 2017 and debut Sunday Times Bestseller, Gail Honeyman is topping every must read list this year. Set in Glasgow, our female protagonist, Eleanor Oliphant, leads a simple life. A 30-year-old accountant, who wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. When a small act of kindness changes the world Eleanor knows around her, she must learn to navigate the change. The result is heart-warming, comfortably familiar and unexpectedly funny. Honeyman writes with wit, quiet warmth and empathy, and we can’t wait to read more.
Eat Up: Food, Appetite and Eating What You Want – By Ruby Tandoh
Of Bake Off fame, Ruby Tandoh has since been trail blazing the way for a new foodie voice of a generation, and her latest work is a breath of fresh air in a crowded climate. Whilst our social feeds are constantly being bombarded with clean eating rituals, raw diet recipes and guilt food shaming, Ruby offers a simplistic and genius alternative of intuitive eating. Celebrating the fun and pleasure of food, Ruby arms you against the fad diets, food crazes and bad science that can make eating guilt-laden and expensive. Filled with straight-talking, sympathetic advice on everything from mental health to recipe ideas and shopping tips, this is a book that clears away the fog, to help you fall back in love with food.
The Keeper of Lost Things – By Ruth Hogan
Engrossing, clever and moving, Ruth Hogan showcases her charming storytelling in this cosy novel. An endearingly original tale, the story follows Laura, the assistant of a celebrated author in his final years, who has spent half his life collecting lost objects, trying to atone for a promise broken many years before. Realising he is running out of time, he leaves his house and all its lost treasures to Laura, the only person he believes he can trust to fulfil his legacy and reunite the thousands of objects he has accumulated, with their rightful owners. What follows is a series of unforeseen repercussions and the most serendipitous run of encounters. Hailed as the feel good novel of the year in 2017, this book will leave you smiling.
Everything I know about Love – By Dolly Alderton
My Instagram and twitter has been full of people pouring over and praising this courageously honest biography from 29-year-old journalist and former Sunday Times dating columnist Dolly Alderton. Documenting her life up until now, through sex, heartaches, awful landlords, finding a job and ultimately wrestling with a constant fear of self-sabotage, Dolly is engaging, hilarious and basically, just like us. This powerful debut is a magical mix of wit, series of lists, personal stories, satirical observations and dollops of hilarity that will resonate with every woman in her coming of age journey, as treacherous as it maybe. We recommend reading in an open space so you can snort laugh loudly at the heart warming familiarity of every word.
The Cows – By Dawn O’Porter
A Sunday times best seller, the debut novel by seriously funny and frank Scottish writer, presenter and journalist, is firmly on our reading list this month. “Women don’t have to fall into stereotypes”, is a tag line we can get behind and what follows is laugh-out-loud funny, brazen and full of relatable anecdotes. Following the story of three strangers living their own lives as best as they can, through modern day strife and society screaming at them to live their lives a certain way, it’s hard for these women to like what they see in the mirror. However, when an extraordinary event ties invisible bonds of friendship between them, one woman’s catastrophe becomes another’s inspiration, and a life lesson to all. The Cow is a powerful novel about three women – judging each other, but also themselves.
How to be a Grown Up – By Daisy Buchanan
A must read for every 20-something that is attempting to make sense of what the fuck it means to be a woman in 2018. Feeling lost or anxious about adulthood and everything that is supposedly goes along with it? Buchanan’s book is smart, funny and above all supportive on every page. An award winning journalist and Grazia agony Aunt, Daisy is well equipped to ever so gently hold your hand through those crushing hangovers, when you want to cry into a bowl of cereal, every green-eyed Instagram scroll and each time you have questioned how on earth you’re supposed to navigate this difficult decade. Packed full of hilarious quips, genuine helpful advice and empowering confidence, through her words Daisy manages to feel like you have an older sister telling you not to worry, you’re doing pretty amazing.
Do let us know if you have any suggestions that we should be adding to next month’s edition or if you have ready any of the above. We’ll be looking at the hashtag #FGRLSBOOKCLUB on twitter – Let’s talk books!
