September is almost here: the month of back to school, fashion week – and the bookworm.
What better time than now to pick up the growing pile ‘To Be Reads’ that has been dutifully carted around and unpacked on bedside tables during summer escapes, only to be repacked – untouched – at the end of the trip, the attention inevitably diverted to an azure-blue swimming pool or some other distraction.
At Heywood Hill, the Mayfair bookshop where I work and which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, there is a certain feeling in the air as patrons return, refreshed from their sun-scorched sojourns, ready to immerse themselves in this cosiness of an autumnal reading list.
From the front line to the front row: the remarkable rise of Burberry's most famous coat – as seen on cover star Caitríona Balfe in the October issue
So, this month, let’s attempt to follow in the footsteps of literary tastemakers like Queen Camilla, Ivy Freeman-Attwood, Ruby Lyn and Dua Lipa, who even met her now husband Calum Turner while reading the same book. Insufferably ‘meet-cute’ of them.
Here are a few of the best books set to dominate book club conversation this autumn:
For those whose summer reading list has remained stubbornly untouched, Deborah Levy’s My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein is the perfect place to start. Short and sharp, it follows Levy as she spends a year in Paris imagining, and immersing herself in, the world of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas and the extraordinary circle of artists and writers who surrounded them.
Even though it’s a novel, it’s also part memoir, part literary biography and part love letter to Paris, making it the sort of book you can dip into for ten minutes and suddenly realise you’ve read half of it. In other words: completely ideal for those who insist they simply don’t have the time to read.
Follows David, a man who has elected to fly to Switzerland for assisted dying, after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The book is written in third person, but feels suspiciously first-person. Paragraphs jump between time and place, without context or explanation, really immersing you in David’s deteriorating mind. The timing only spans a couple of weeks, as you follow David’s last visits to some of the important people in his life.
I would say it’s more heartwrenching than heartbreaking; there’s something very thought-provoking yet deeply unsettling about being trapped in this fragmented view of a person’s present life. I would suggest you arm yourself with a box of tissues before embarking on this journey, it really is a roller-coaster. N.B – this is the best book I've read so far this year.
London Falling has been taking the reading world by storm, and with good reason. I love a non-fiction book that makes me forget I’m reading a true story, and this is exactly that: intensely gripping, fascinating and full of the kind of details that make you look at London slightly differently afterwards.
It feels particularly compelling to read if you’re a Londoner, as it opens your eyes to a totally different side of the Big Smoke. A good reminder that, no matter how well you think you know this city, there’s always another behind the grand facades.
An incredible debut novel, this is one of the most unique books I’ve read this year. Longlisted for the Booker Prize, May We Feed the King is a fantastic blend of imagination, engrossing story-telling, and historical fiction. Following a slightly neurotic woman with a secret troubled past, you’re drawn into her unconventional world of set dressing historical houses. Utterly absorbing, read with caution on the tube, you may be so enthralled you’ll miss your stop.
With a book such as this, that makes you question what’s real and what’s not, it makes for an excellent choice for any book club – there is more than enough to talk about when you’re finished.
For those who would rather spend September in a country house than on the London Underground, I would suggest Henrietta by Sophie Irwin.
Written in the spirit of a Georgette Heyer novel, it is perfect for readers who like their romance with a little wit, their drama with a little scandal, and their books with a healthy dose of old-fashioned charm. Loveable characters, and a twist at the end – what more could you want?! In my opinion, Irwin really did Heyer justice with this one.
If you saw yourself immersed in the world of the Bridgerton Ton, this book is for you.
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