By Joni BoydFriday 27 Dec 2024Hope Book ClubBooksReading Time: 6 minutes
We’ve been looking forward to this all year – the chance to catch up on our reading.
Key Points
- No matter how enticing social media or Netflix or the latest podcast ep might be, we can’t go past a good book!
- There’s no denying it – Hopelanders love a good book.
- Whether you listen to audiobooks, read on a device or prefer hard copy, we’re all on the hunt for the just-right summer read.
There’s no denying it – Hopelanders love a good book.
No matter how enticing social media or Netflix or the latest podcast ep might be, we can’t go past a good book!
Whether you listen to audiobooks, read on a device or prefer hard copy, we’re all on the hunt for the just-right summer read.
So, here’s what we’ll be reading this Summer.
Account Manager El’s favourite 2024 read …
The Ledge, by Christian White
When human remains are discovered in a forest, police are baffled, the locals are shocked and one group of old friends starts to panic.
Their long-held secret is about to be uncovered.
It all began in 1999 when sixteen-year-old Aaron ran away from home, drawing his friends into an unforeseeable chain of events that no one escaped from unscathed.
In The Ledge, past and present run breathlessly parallel, leading to a climax that will change everything you thought you knew.
This is a mind-bending new novel from the master of the unexpected.
Hope Afternoon’s Laura Bennett is currently reading…
Death Comes to Marlow, by Robert Thorogood
It’s been an enjoyable and murder-free time for Judith, Suzie and Becks – AKA the Marlow Murder Club – since the events of last year.
The most exciting thing on the horizon is the upcoming wedding of Marlow grandee, Sir Peter Bailey, to his nurse, Jenny Page.
Sir Peter is having a party at his grand mansion on the river Thames the day before the wedding, and Judith and Co. are looking forward to a bit of free champagne.
There’s no denying it – Hopelanders love a good book.
But during the soiree, there’s a crash from inside the house, and when the Marlow Murder Club rush to investigate, they are shocked to find the groom-to-be crushed to death in his study.
The study was locked from the inside, so the police don’t consider the death suspicious. But Judith disagrees. As far as she’s concerned, Peter was murdered!
And it’s up to the Marlow Murder Club to find the killer before he or she strikes again…
Account Manager Gayle is currently reading…
Powerful Thinking, by Joyce Meyer
Joyce Meyer has a knack for coining phrases-her fans call them Joyceisms-and one of her best loved is “Where the mind goes, the man follows.”
This was the basis for Battlefield of the Mind, and in her latest book, Meyer provides “power thoughts,” bringing the reader to a new level of ability to use the mind as a tool to achievement.
In ‘Power Thoughts’, she outlines a flexible program to turn thoughts into habits, and habits into success.
IT Support Manager Jay is looking forward to reading…
The Hardest Geezer, by Russ Cook
10,000 miles. 16 countries. 352 days.
Hardest Geezer, Russ Cook, is the first person to run the entire length of Africa.
From his starting point in Cape Agulhas, South Africa, through sandstorms in the Sahara Desert, rainforests, mountain ranges and long empty roads stretched out for miles in front of him, Russ ran the equivalent of 386 marathons finally crossing the finish line in Tunisia 50 weeks later.
Attempted kidnaps, being held at gunpoint in an armed robbery and the whole challenge left hanging in the balance when he was denied the right to cross Algeria, Russ never once contemplated giving up.
Whether you listen to audiobooks, read on a device or prefer hard copy, we’re all on the hunt for the just-right summer read.
When he crossed the finish line in Ras Angela, he did so with the eyes of the world on him.
Africa may have been his most physical challenge yet but it certainly wasn’t his first: he’s broken the record for the fastest car-pulling marathon and been buried alive for a week with nothing but water and a camera to record the experience.
In Hardest Geezer: Running Africa, Russ Cook shares how he turned his life around to face these challenges and shares his motivations and tales of incredible determination, sheer grit and endurance.
‘You get one chance at life. Go and have a stab at it.’
Digital Media Coordinator Joni is looking forward to reading…
Pictures of You, by Emma Grey
The heartbreaking new novel from the Australian author who has won hearts the world over, for fans of David Nicholls and Jojo Moyes.
They say you never forget your first love. But what if you do?
Evie Hudson should be grieving her dead husband, but since the car crash that claimed his life, she can’t remember him at all.
The only person who can help her piece her past together is her high-school best friend, Drew Kennedy.
When snippets of her memory start falling into place, she wonders exactly how she ended up in a life that couldn’t be further from the one she dreamed of.
This time around, she’s seeing all the things she missed … and the picture isn’t pretty.
Office Administrator Elinor is looking forward to reading…
I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You, by Miranda Hart
Packed with hard-won wisdoms and gentle truths, this is Miranda’s honest exploration of the lessons she has learned on her journey from illness to recovery
Hello to you, I am with news.
I have a new book.
Basically, I have had an unexpectedly difficult decade – there have been surprising joys, but also challenging lows.
I shall be honest about those, because what I discovered in the difficult times were my, what I call, treasures.
No matter how enticing social media or Netflix or the latest podcast ep might be, we can’t go past a good book!
Practical tools, values, ways, answers researched from some great scientists, neuroscientists, therapists, sociologists (all the ‘ists’) out there, that have led to a sense of freedom, joy, peace and physical recovery I never would have thought possible.
If you fancy having a read, then I hope my story might help your story.
Rest assured there are funny stories along the way.
Oh, and I couldn’t possibly say if there is a love story in it . . . (There is – shush) Exciting.
Work Experience Student Scarlett’s favourite 2024 read is…
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
In a house haunted by memories, the past is everywhere…
As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house, Wuthering Heights.
It is a place he will never forget.
There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young.
How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge – and continues to torment those in the present.
How love can transgress authority, convention, even death.
And she’s looking forward to reading…
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina is a novel of unparalleled richness and complexity, set against the backdrop of Russian high society.
Tolstoy charts the course of the doomed love affair between Anna, a beautiful married woman, and Count Vronsky, a wealthy army officer who pursues Anna after becoming infatuated with her at a ball.
Although she initially resists his charms Anna eventually succumbs, falling passionately in love and setting in motion a chain of events that lead to her downfall.
In this extraordinary novel Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together the lives of dozens of characters, while evoking a love so strong that those who experience it are prepared to die for it.
Happy reading!
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