We’ve partnered with Mandy of the locally owned, indie Bookety Book Books to bring you monthly reviews and books that should move straight to the top of your reading list. Take a look at her picks for your February list below…
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Our February Bookety Club pick is Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. 1981 in Glasgow and Shuggie’s mum, Agnes, is feeling the weight of a husband who has abandoned her, her increasing alcohol addiction and trying to care for her children, all while being stuck in a decimated mining town. Winner of the 2020 Booker Prize, Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain lays bare the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is the story of light skinned black identical twins, Stella and Desiree, whose lives end up taking very different paths after fleeing their small hometown of Mallard, Louisiana, at the age of 16 for new prospects.This book is ultimately an exploration of the binary, not just of race but of class, gender, and identity.It is beautifully written, the character development is rich and the questions it asks its readers are critical. Basically yes, this book deserves every bit of hype it is getting!
Featuring on Pandora Sykes top debuts of 2021, and newly released in New Zealand, Aftershocks is a truly harrowing memoir from a fresh new talent in writing. When Nadia Owusu was two years old her mother abandoned her and her baby sister and fled from Tanzania back to the US. When she was thirteen her beloved Ghanaian father died of cancer. She and her sister were left alone, with a stepmother they didn’t like, adrift. Aftershocks is the account of how she hauled herself out of the wreckage. It is the intimate story behind the news of immigration and division dominating contemporary politics.
Bookety Book Books is a locally-owned, online indie bookshop. It’s THE book club of book clubs – a virtual sanctuary for the book-obsessed. Chosen to challenge and inspire, move and to shake, their collection of books are exclusively superb, but inclusively selected from a wide and wonderfully diverse range of authors from home and abroad. No need to leave your happy reading place, Bookety Book Books will deliver in smart and sustainable packaging straight to your door.
We are delighted to be collaborating with Mandy the founder of Bookety Book Books to bring our followers a regular reading list feature. Happy reading everyone!
Visit the Bookety Book Books website HERE and their instagram HERE
