Recommend a book!
Have you just read a fantastic book that you're dying to tell everyone about? Perhaps you've got a favourite novel that you reach for time and time again? Share your thoughts with other library users!
Making your recommendation
Fill in a Book Recommendation Card in your local library or email your recommendation to promotions@richmond.gov.uk.
Tell us the title and author of the book you would like to recommend, and a short summary of why you would like to recommend it. Your recommendation may be displayed on a Book Recommendation Board in your local library or on this webpage.
Keep an eye on this page - we will post a selection of your recommendations as we receive them!
Your recommendations
Tears of the Desert by Halima Bashir & Damien Lewis
"It begins with a description of life in Darfur before the troubles, which is very beautiful to read, but then follows one lady Doctor’s experience of torture as the crisis evolves, her escape to Britain and a thought-provoking description of her difficulty in gaining asylum. It is an easy book to read except when tears blind one to the page, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in keeping abreast of the international situation and our own part in affecting what happens."
Poseidon's Gold by Lyndsey Davis
"This is an entertaining and enjoyable read, full of atmosphere and very informative."
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
"It is a splendid work. A gradual build to a great finish. A side of India you do not normally read about."
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz
"I started this book and could not put it down. Mysterious, magical and when I finished it, I started it again! If you like this try Hunting Midnight by Richard Zimler as well. These are definitely in my top 10."
Hunting Midnight by Richard Zimler
"As an avid reader I would recommend this book to anyone. Gripping from the first page to the last. One of my favourites along with Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks."
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
"I learned more about the First World War than I had ever known. Absolutely fabulous book and everyone should read it. Moving, powerful and it completely opened my eyes to the lives of those brave men who went to war."
Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett
"A beautifully researched historical novel, built around two famous paintings by Hans Holbein and an absolutely compulsive read. I was so sorry when I finished reading it. The writing is economic and very painterly in its description. The figure of Thomas Moore, his household and the narrator, his ward, the ‘unknown woman’ really gains ones interest and sympathy. Holbein himself really comes to life."
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
"Fantastically written, very horrific in parts, but still beautiful language. Brings to life the time of slavery and the utter hopelessness as well as hopefulness. The characters in it will remain in my mind for a long time."
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
"Beautifully told, elegant yet with an economy of language; this reminds me not to feel sorry for myself or let problems get blown out of proportion."
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
"...a chilling impression of the paranoia that gripped ordinary citizens under the Nazi regime at the beginning of the war."
The Fear: The Last Days of Robert Mugabe by Peter Godwin
"A brilliant insight into the mind and method of Robert Mugabe as he tries to cling to power in Zimbabwe."
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
"Intimate and intense, the characters are complex and not just black and white."