No matter fact or fiction, reading is a hobby that is good for people of all ages, but especially those in later life.
From boosting brain power to reducing stress, reading is a pastime that’s not just enjoyable but also beneficial for your health. Read all about the many benefits here. Read on to find out our top 10 recommended books to keep your brain healthy and entertained through the winter months.
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Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand
Finding Freedom goes beyond the headlines to reveal unknown details of Prince Harry and Meghan’s life together, dispelling the many rumours and misconceptions that plague the couple on both sides of the pond. As members of the select group of reporters that cover the British Royal Family and their engagements, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand have witnessed the young couple’s lives as few outsiders can.
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The Little Book of Senior Moments by Freddie Green
…you decide it's time to pull up your socks, and realise you forgot to put any on. If this sounds all too familiar, then this book will have you in stitches!
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The Shopkeeper’s Daughter by Lily Baxter
Set in June 1944, The Shopkeeper's Daughter is based on the life of Ginnie Travis. Ginnie is working in her father's furniture shop, when the continued bombing raids and her sister Shirley's untimely pregnancy force the two girls to go and stay with their aunt in Shropshire. After falling in love, Ginnie discovers her loved has a fiancé and ends the relationship.
Then news of their father's death in an air raid reaches them. With the family left almost penniless and Shirley and her child to provide for, Ginnie is responsible for them all. And when the shop comes under threat, she is even more determined to make it succeed and build a new life for herself and her family.
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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The famous Nightingale tells a tale of two sisters who despite their differences, have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Viann finds herself isolated, so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her. The sister’s relationship is tested beyond belief – this book is sure to leave you breathless.
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A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots – neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.
But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so? In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...
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Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that one of the children will not survive the week.
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The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago, a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucia. Santiago feels that there is more to life than his humble home and his flock. One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way, the things he sees and the wisdom he learns are life-changing.
With Paulo Coelho’s visionary blend of spirituality, magical realism and folklore, The Alchemist is a story with the power to inspire nations and change people’s lives.
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Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Mary Anning may be young and uneducated, but she has “the eye”. Scouring the windswept Jurassic coast near Lyme Regis, she find the fossils nobody else can, making discoveries that will shake the scientific world of the early 19th century. But science is a male-dominated arena, and there are many who disapprove…
She finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot: unmarried, middle-aged and middle class, and a fellow fossil enthusiast. If they can weather differences in their age and standing, and overcome professional envy, will true friendship prove the rarest find of all?
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Penguin’s Poems for Life by Laura Barber
Taking its inspiration from Shakespeare’s idea of the “seven ages” of a human life, this new anthology brings together the best-loved poems in English to inspire, comfort and delight readers for a lifetime.
Ranging from Chaucer to Carol Ann Duffy, via Shakespeare, Keats, and Lemn Sissay, this book offers something for each of those moments in life – whether falling in love, finding your first grey hair or saying your final goodbyes – when only a poem will do.
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Prime of Life by P.D. Bekendam
Prime of Life tells the story of Ben, a previous cardiothoracic surgeon before he suddenly abandoned his career and became a janitor at a retirement facility. Now, other than dealing with minor problems such as an unhealthy obsession with prime numbers, an inept boss, and a feud between two cantankerous retirees, he lives a relatively stress- free life. There is even hope for romance when an attractive podiatrist shows an interest in him. But it is not long before his past catches up with him and his carefully protected world begins to unravel.