Looking for books to read or recommend? Here are our favourites for this month:
The Reset: Ideas to Change How We Work and Live by Elizabeth Uviebinené
Being busy isn’t an identity. Perks aren’t office culture. Profit isn’t all we want from business. Loneliness shouldn’t happen in a community. Inequality isn’t inevitable in a city. We can all shape society.
From the award-winning author and Financial Times columnist Elizabeth Uviebinené, The Reset is a fundamental rethink of how we work and live. Some people seek purpose in work. Others see work as a tool to live with purpose outside of work. Following the radical shift of 2020, The Reset explores our relationship with work, and how it impacts our lives. If we want to reset how we work as individuals, we’re going to need to reset the work culture we exist in, the businesses we work for, the communities we’re a part of, the cities we live in, and the society we can shape. We can’t just rethink one strand of society; we need to rethink everything together.
This is a short, digestible book for people who want to work and live better. The Reset addresses our urge to work differently and in a way that suits more parts of our lives. It’s optimistic, positive, and provocative, offering fresh perspectives on the way we live now, and a punchy idea for how we might live in the future. So what’s possible now that would have seemed impossible before?
Promising reviews:
‘At a time when many of us are reconsidering our work/life balance in the long-term, it’s an illuminating read.’ – Cosmopolitan
‘The Reset is a provocative guide to how we fit into an ecosystem.’ – Financial Times
My Dad is a Grizzly Bear by Swapna Haddow (author) and Dapo Adeola (illustrator)
Shhh. Beware. My dad is a grizzly bear.
In this family, it’s just possible that Dad is a grizzly bear . . . He has fuzzy fur, enormous paws and loves the outdoors. He sleeps a lot even in the cinema and when he’s awake, he’s always hungry, usually eating up all the honey. What else could Dad be? But sometimes, when it’s scary at night, a lovely big bear hug is just what is needed.
This is a playful, warm and funny debut picture book written by Swapna Haddow, author of the Dave Pigeon series, and illustrated by Dapo Adeola, author of Look Up!, following a boy with a wild imagination and his lively family.
Dream Country by Ashaye Brown
Theo, Tores, and Fanta are three sibling deities: the triplet gods of Sleep, Dreams, and Nightmares. They have been kept apart since they were children, and are trapped in their own territories behind impassable gates of Horn and Ivory, each of them under suspicion for the murder of their mother, the Night. But when a mortal with impossible abilities enters the world, the uneasy peace between their realms is fractured.
This thrilling YA fantasy is a rich interweaving of Kenyan, Grecian and Brazilian mythology and cultural reference which will keep the reader guessing throughout.
In Black and White: A Young Barrister’s Story of Race and Class in a Broken Justice System by Alexandra Wilson
In her debut book, In Black and White, Alexandra Wilson describes what it is like as a junior criminal and family law barrister navigating a world and a set of rules designed by a privileged few.
Recreating tense courtroom scenes, the heart-breaking meetings with teenage clients and the moments of frustration and triumph In Black and White shows how it feels to defend someone who hates the colour of your skin, or someone you suspect is guilty. We see what it is like for children coerced into county line drug deals and the damage that can be caused when we criminalise teenagers.
Alexandra Wilson’’s account of what she has witnessed as a young mixed-race barrister is in equal parts shocking, compelling, confounding, and powerful.
The Dark Lady by Akala
A pickpocket with an exceptional gift. A prisoner of extraordinary value. An orphan haunted by dreams of the mysterious Dark Lady. Henry is an orphan, an outsider, a thief. He is also a fifteen-year-old invested with magical powers.
This brilliant and at times brutal debut YA novel by Akala will have you hooked as you are hurled into a time when London stank and boys like Henry were forced to find their own route through the tangled streets and out the other side.
The first in a magical realist series set in Shakespearean London and written with the kind of lyrical dexterity and power that one would expect from Akala, painting an uncompromising picture of street life in Renaissance England. The Dark Lady will enthuse and entertain teenagers and young adults, showing that reading is a true super-power.
Promising review:
‘Powerful … The kind of disruptive, aggressive intellect that a new generation is closely watching‘ – The Guardian
All the books mentioned in this list are available from Hive and other online retailers and bookstores.