What do book lovers have queued up on their nightstands and ready to read before lights-out? We asked one of them, and here’s what she said.
Susan Lewis:
I am a two-books-to-bed sort of person. This means I listen to one while in the bathroom winding down and carrying out all the end-of-the-day sort of stuff. I then settle down with another book once I’m all pyjama-ed up and ready to take the journey into sleep.
My audiobook of choice right now is The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce. Both story and narration are so enchanting that it’s actually hard to break away from it. An absolute must for anyone who loves music (is there anyone who doesn’t?). The quirkiness of the characters, the comedy, quiet passion, and varied trips down memory lane transport you completely from the stresses and demands of the day. And the lyrical prose has rhythm all its own. It’s a beautiful love story with so much tenderness at its heart that I’m going to miss it a lot when I reach the end. I might even listen to it all over again.
The book that is currently accompanying me to the pillow is The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. One of my great loves in reading is being taken to places and cultures I’ve never experienced and having my mind and heart opened in ways I might not have expected. While I was prepared to be moved by this story, having already heard so much about it, I didn’t realize it was going to affect me quite so deeply.
I am already fully engaged with the twins, the setting, and the promise of so much more to come. In places — and there are many — the words are so beautifully crafted that a single sentence reads like a story in itself. There is still a way for me to go with this book, but I know from the many reviews that it’s going to be a memorable and worthwhile journey that will stay with me for a long time to come.
Lucky for me, I’m about to take a few days off, so I don’t think it’s going to remain just a bedtime read.
Susan Lewis is the internationally bestselling author of more than 40 books across the genres of family drama, thriller, suspense, and crime. Her latest novel is My Lies, Your Lies. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol during the 1960s. Following periods of living in Los Angeles and the South of France, she currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband, James, stepsons Michael and Luke, and mischievous dogs Coco and Lulu.
