News

1 June 2015

Get Back Into Reading

Get Back Into Reading

Better Reading’s Cheryl Akle will be on Mornings with Linda Mottram (ABC 702)  to inspire any lapsed bookworms back into the reading habit.

If you love books but haven’t been able to find anything that grabs you lately – or if you’ve never been able to get into a regular reading habit – Cheryl recommends six must-read titles that we guarantee will rekindle your passion for books.

And we are so confident that these books will get people reading, if you choose one, read it, and aren’t inspired, go to our Facebook page to let us know why, and we’ll give you another recommendation, personally selected by Cheryl.

We’ve selected six very different but compelling titles, so tune into ABC 702 at 10.40am, Tuesday June 2, to find out why Cheryl thinks these books will open your eyes to what you’ve been missing and kickstart your reading habit:

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Farm by Tom Rob Smith

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Personal by Lee Child

The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion

Life or Death by Michael Robotham

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              Publisher details

              The Farm
              Author
              Tom Rob Smith
              Publisher
              Simon and Schuster
              Genres
              Crime Fiction, Thriller
              Released
              03 February, 2014
              ISBN
              9781847396754

              Buy now

              Synopsis

              Daniel believed that his parents were enjoying a peaceful retirement on a remote farm in Sweden. But with a single phone call, everything changes.Your mother…she’s not well, his father tells him. She’s been imagining things – terrible, terrible things. She’s had a psychotic breakdown, and been committed to a mental hospital.Before Daniel can board a plane to Sweden, his mother calls: Everything that man has told you is a lie. I’m not mad… I need the police… Meet me at Heathrow.Caught between his parents, and unsure of who to believe or trust, Daniel becomes his mother’s unwilling judge and jury as she tells him an urgent tale of secrets, of lies, of a crime and a conspiracy that implicates his own father. “It is so good, in fact, that you will finish it quickly and then be jealous of anyone who hasn’t read it yet.” - The Independent“An absorbing, unsettling, multilayered novel…beautifully crafted, its effect enhanced by the author’s admission that his own family faced a similar experience.” - The Times “This is a neatly plotted book full of stories within stories, which gradually unravel to confound our expectations.” - The Guardian "Smith does an expert job of putting readers into the narrator's uncomfortable shoes." - New York Post"Is there anything more innerving than the realization that you can't trust your own mother? Maybe the realization that you can't trust your father either. That's the killer premise of The Farm." - New York Times Book Review

              Publisher details

              Still Alice
              Author
              Lisa Genova
              Publisher
              Simon and Schuster
              Genre
              Fiction
              Released
              01 January, 2009
              ISBN
              9781471149061

              Buy now

              Synopsis

              In Lisa Genova’s extraordinary New York Times bestselling novel, an accomplished woman slowly loses her thoughts and memories to Alzheimer’s disease—only to discover that each day brings a new way of living and loving.Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring, and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what it’s like to literally lose your mind...
              #36 in Australia's Top 100 2016

              Publisher details

              Life or Death
              Author
              Michael Robotham
              Publisher
              Hachette
              Genres
              Crime Fiction, Thriller
              Released
              07 August, 2014
              ISBN
              9780751552911

              Buy now

              Synopsis

              Why would a man escape from prison the day before he's due to be released?Audie Palmer has spent a decade in prison for an armed robbery in which four people died, including two of the gang. Seven million dollars has never been recovered and everybody believes that Audie knows where the money is. For ten years he has been beaten, stabbed, throttled and threatened almost daily by prison guards, inmates and criminal gangs, who all want to answer this same question, but suddenly Audie vanishes, the day before he's due to be released. Everybody wants to find Audie, but he's not running. Instead he's trying to save a life . . . and not just his own.

              Publisher details

              The Light Between Oceans
              Author
              M.L. Stedman
              Publisher
              Random House
              Genre
              Fiction
              Released
              31 July, 2012
              ISBN
              9781742755717

              Buy now

              Synopsis

              In 1926, Tom and Isabel Sherbourne are the solitary residents of Janus Rock, an isolated lighthouse in the ocean off the coast of western Australia. When a dinghy washes ashore carrying a dead man and a newborn baby, duty says they should report it. But what if they kept the child?This heartbreaking debut is a story of dilemmas, responsibilities and consequences, of how people can make the wrong decision for the right reasons – and how they learn to live with their actions.Winner of the 2013 ABIA awards for Best Newcomer, Best Literary Novel and Book of the Year#32 in  Australia's Top 100 Favourite Homegrown Reads#10 in Australia's Top 100 2016

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              1. Narelle Everingham says:
                2 June 2015 at 6:15 pm

                I heard the interview this morning & loved it. Just finished reading ‘ The Rosie Project’ & loved the book so I look forward to trying some of the other recommendations.
                The comment was made during the interview that the format isn’t important, but the storyline is ( or words to that effect.) My 13 year old son is not a reader, but I have kept the love of story alive by directing him to audiobooks. Now, I’m getting a lot of criticism from sources because he still wants me to read to him & he lacks confidence to read for himself. Ultimately, do you think I have done the right thing? He has heard a wide range of age appropriate books in this way & I’m a former English teacher.
                Narelle Everingham.

                Reply
                • Better Reading says:
                  9 June 2015 at 11:36 am

                  Hi Narelle,
                  Thank you very much for your comment. We have replied to you by email, in order to dedicate enough space to our response to you.
                  – The BR Team

                  Reply