Some of Claire's favourite books from across the shop.
Recommended by Claire:
‘The Odyssey! Mrs. Beeton! Refusing the recipe! Tomato sauce! Winnicott’s sausage! Small Fires from Vittles co-editor Rebecca May Johnson is an inventive, capacious, radical and – most importantly – generous book. Gorgeous!’
Recommended by Claire
‘Babel-17 is a sci-fi novel concerned with language, and specifically the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. It is serious and philosophical, but still a visually rich big space romp. Read everything you can by Sam Delaney!’
Recommended by Claire
‘Jefferson turns her typically elegant scrutiny towards a cultural icon, a life the whole world thinks it already knows, in this short, brilliant book. I cannot think who could have done this better.’
Recommended by Claire
‘I owe all of my wit and comedic skills to this book, given to me at a very impressionable age, and I will not stop recommending it until we have a nation of mini Tommy Coopers. This is an absolute hoot and full of all the classics.’
Recommended by Claire
‘The Martin Beck series comprises 10 separate mysteries, all threaded together with the story arc of Detective Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm police. Written between 1965 and 1976 they are dark, gritty and – in the best possible way – very slow. The writing duo, married couple Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, have produced not just a series of great reads but an important social commentary on Swedish society at the time. They are considered the inspiration for the modern Scandi Noir. Start with Roseanna and work your way through.’
Recommended by Claire
‘Some things I have learnt from Afterglow by Eileen Myles: 1) Rosie the pitbull wrote virtually every poem by Eileen Myles from 1990 to 2006; 2) Puppets and dogs may be colluding to overthrow the human race; 3) Eileen Myles has reinvented the memoir format and it is wild.’
Recommended by Claire
‘90s L.A. and a queer drug-addicted woman’s repeated failed attempts at self-improvement in the middle of the apocalypse. OR How I Learnt to Love Matt Dillon and Stop Worrying About the Bomb.’
Recommended by Claire
‘For Tove Jansson, love and work were inseperable - her emotional life was crucial to her creativity. 2014 would have been her centenary year and this book is one of its highlights, full of beautiful, inimitable illustrations, unseen sketches and a photo of her feeding a seagull on page 278.’
Recommended by Claire
‘If you, like me, feel you don't know nearly enough about queer theory but you want to, then Queer: A Graphic History is a serious but accessible introduction; ideal for knowing your Ahmeds from your Butlers.’
Latest booklists
Latest booklists
