Pick of the Month

Book to Film Adaptations

In collaboration with Broadway Cinema & Theatre, delve into the best literary film adaptations. Why not read the book and then go and see the film?

• The Odyssey by Homer - The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature.
• The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton - Joe, Beth and Frannie find the Enchanted Wood on the doorstep of their new home, and when they discover the Faraway Tree they fall into all sorts of adventures!
• Emma by Jane Austen - Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others.
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day - A brand-new compact edition spotlighting one of the most celebrated modern chapters in Spider-Man's history!

• Land Beneath the Waves by Nic Wilson - A moving, honest and revealing memoir of living with chronic illness, and an examination of the ways a relationship with the natural world can affect us, from local debut author and nature writer Nic Wilson.
• On Gallows Down by Nicola Chester - From the girl catching the eye of the ‘peace women’ of Greenham Common to the young woman protesting the loss of ancient and beloved trees, and as a mother raising a family in tied and tenanted farm cottages on grand, country estates, this is the story of how Nicola came to write – as a means of protest.
• Drystone: A Life Rebuilt by Kristie De Garis - When Kristie moved to rural Scotland, she hoped to find peace. Instead, in the space and silence, she was forced to confront everything she had tried to escape. Then, in the land around her – and in the slow, stubborn craft of drystone walling – she began to see a different life. One that was quiet, deliberate, and her own.
• The Flow by Amy-Jane Beer - On New Year's Day 2012, Amy-Jane Beer's beloved friend Kate set out with a group of others to kayak the River Rawthey in Cumbria. Kate never came home, and her death left her devoted family and friends bereft and unmoored. Returning to visit the Rawthey years later, Amy realises how much she misses the connection to the natural world she always felt when on or close to rivers, and so begins a new phase of exploration.

Refugee Week

To celebrate Refugee Week, each of these books provides an insight to destigmatise the rhetoric around immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

• Alpha, Adijan to Gare du Nord by Bessora and Barroux - A powerful graphic novel depicting Alpha’s arduous journey leaving the Ivory Coast to follow his wife and child, with the intention to reunite at Paris’ Gare du Nord.
• Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah - Caught in the middle of a dangerous conflict between Ethiopia and Eritea, Alem's father brings him to England to escape the dangers at home. At first, Alem is delighted to be having a holiday with his dad, until he wakes up one morning to find his father has left him in England alone. Borrow online.
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri - Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. Borrow online.
• The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon - Moses Aloetta arrives at Waterloo station with other hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies, ready to start fresh in 1950s London. Instead of a prosperous future in the "glitter-city", they have to face the harsh realities of living hand to mouth, of racism, of bone-chilling weather and bleak prospects. YouTube audiobook.

Pride Month Graphic Novels

• Bloom by Kevin Panetta - Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easy going guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it.
• Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh - Clementine is a junior in high school who seems 'normal' enough. When her openly gay best friend takes her to a gay bar, she becomes captivated by Emma, a punkish, confident girl with blue hair, an event that leads Clementine to discover new aspects of herself.
• Welcome to St Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure by Lewis Hancox - Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realise this... but she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point.
• Stone Fruit by Lee Lai - Bron and Ray are a queer couple who enjoy their role as the fun weirdo aunties to Ray’s niece, six-year-old Nessie. Their playdates are little oases of wildness, joy, and ease in all three of their lives, which ping-pong between familial tensions and deep-seated personal stumbling blocks.