To celebrate World Book Day, our Library team have recommended their favourite books in the YSJ collection. 

‘A long way to a small angry planet’ – Becky Chambers 813.6/CHA

“This story follows the crew of the spaceship the Wayfarer as they complete their missions, but the focus is really on the characters, and the relationship between our protagonist, new recruit Rosemary and the rest of the crew. This book is excellent escapism – a heart-warming story of found family in the depths of space.” –  Emily

‘Getting Things Done: the art of stress-free productivity’ – David Allen 658.4093/ALL

“Direct advice with practical methods to reduce your stress at work. GTD has significantly improved my work life, not by making me hyper productive but by reducing my stress. Just using Next Action or the flowchart helps immediately. Look up GTD online for loads of advice, plus it integrates well with bullet journaling too.” – Jon

‘One Day’ – David Nicholls 823.92/NIC

“A remarkable tale of two people both together and apart, the joys, pitfalls, mundanities and highs of life in your 20s and 30s. The only book I’ve ever read where I had to read the final lines of a chapter twice and still couldn’t quite believe it.” – Jonathan

‘The Boer War‘ – Thomas Pakenham 968.04/PAK

“So good, I’ve read it three times (over the course of many years). A brilliant account of how politics leads to war and how the outcome is rarely straightforward.” – Gary

‘Being Ecological’ – Timothy Morton 577.01/MOR

“A weird and wonderful little book all about how we as humans conceive of our place within the natural world, and how, perhaps, we have got it all wrong. It delighted me as much as it confused me and I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I’d finished it.” – Cathy

‘A Manual for Cleaning Women’ – Lucia Berlin 813.54/BER

“I have never known people or places like those depicted in her stories, and I probably never will. But something inside me says, yes, I know you, and her works tell me how a life sometimes glows in a dusty coin laundry, on a bus, or in a dim hospital corridor at midnight while no one knows, and how we are all, fundamentally, absolutely alone.” – Megumi

‘Ghostland’ – Edward Parnell 133.10941/PAR

“A mixture of memoir and travel writing that follows the author across the British Isles, visiting locations from some of Britain’s eeriest film and literature and exploring the stories that are remembered by these places, all while addressing his own past and loss. This book is an excellent toe-dip into British horror and folklore, situated in the specific places (which you can visit!) that give these stories such a haunting atmosphere. Besides, the bibliography is the perfect to-read and to-watch list for anyone interested in British Folk Horror.” – Lowen