Come Amazon Prime Day, these are the books we’re hoping to snap up

Upon its release last year, Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss became a staple of the poolside and the morning commute. As well as being nominated for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, it also secured the top spot in our round-up of the best fiction books of 2021. The story centres around Martha who, as she is approaching 40, is left by her husband, unable to get pregnant, surrounded by a largely mad family and worse of all, is beset by an often debilitating mental illness.

“It sounds like a truly awful misery read, yet it’s the funniest book of the year, with the most recognisable characters,” said our reviewer.  Dark, funny and moving in equal measures, Mason “has written a debut novel of such spark that you’re aware, right from the first pages, that you’re reading something very special.”

Taking the top spot in our guide to the best non-fiction books of 2021, Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland is part memoir, part journalistic enquiry and part commentary on reassessing our colonial past. The book “achieves the crucial distinction of being important without being inaccessible,” according to our reviewer. Its deep dive into the British Empire and its legacy provides much-needed insight into our country’s history and its racism.

Being both a journalist and avid social media user, “Sanghera has had plenty of experience of reader blindness over Britain’s non-white citizens, and their distaste for America and its racist history, despite the British Empire being ‘one of the biggest white supremacist enterprises in the history of humanity.’”

A page-turner that’s just as thought-provoking as it is seeped in satire, this buzzy debut was another one of our favourite fiction books of 2021. Nella is an enthusiastic and hardworking editorial assistant at one of America’s most esteemed publishing houses. As the only Black employee, 26-year-old Nella is pleased when another Black woman, Hazel, joins as an assistant. But soon, things get complicated as mysterious notes telling her to quit her job are left on Nella’s desk.

Our reviewer said: “This novel more than stands alone, but also makes for thoughtful reading in the wake of how the British publishing industry closed ranks around the author Kate Clanchy after she falsely accused readers of making up racist quotes in her book, and laid into three writers of colour who had noted Clanchy’s wrongdoing.”

Prepping for summer dinner parties? You need Anna Jone’s cookbook in your culinary arsenal. The best overall in our round-up of the best sustainable cookbooks, our tester said it’s an “inspiring and thoughtful recipe collection that’s gentle in its meat-free stance.” Designed for the modern home cook, the dishes “avoid fuss and complexity and embrace speed and ease.” The budget-friendly recipes are paired with gorgeous photography.  “You’d never guess these dishes were so low maintenance – and your dinner guests won’t, either,” said our writer.

A memoir that feels like an extraordinary work of fiction, Lemn Sissay’s My Name is Why recounts how the poet found out, aged 17, that he had been living under a false name in a foster family and various care homes his whole childhood. He learns his real name, his British and Ethiopian roots and how his mother had been pleading for him to be returned to him since birth. An abridged version took the top spot in our round-up of the best quick reads, with our reviewer praising the “heartrendingly honest and lyrical account of his early life.”

A fiery read for the poolside, Erica Jong’s trailblazing novel was a defining book of second-wave feminism. Embracing the sexual revolution of the 1970s, the story follows 29-year-old poet Isadora who is bored after five years of marriage. As such, she decides to ditch her husband during a work conference in Vienna and embark on a solo-trip through Europe in search of the perfect, no-strings attached fling. Earning a spot in our round-up of the best feminist books, our reviewer called it “witty, brazen and liberating”. The controversial bestseller was one of the first novels to discuss “women’s intellectualism and sexuality together.”

A rollicking read, Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? is penned by the writer who found viral fame on Twitter when he detailed how he once met the president of Ireland while on ketamine. O’Reilly’s memoir about growing up in a grief-stricken house in the Nineties in rural Derry took a spot in our round-up of the best non-fiction books of 2021. “Gloriously well-written and funny,” O’Reilly recounts life with his widowed father and ten siblings. “Fans of Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls will be brought in by its similar setting, but O’Reilly’s writing will keep them entranced,” said our reviewer.

One of our favourite psychological thrillers, Donna Tart’s The Secret History is a cult classic for good reason – keeping you gripped until the very last page. The story centres around a group of clever misfits at an elite New England college, who allow newbie Richard into the clique despite his lower-class family status. A chain of events leads to the death of a classmate and when fingers start pointing, the novel “explores the psychological consequences of hiding a terrible secret.”

Marian Keyes’s moving, funny and comforting books are a firm fixture of many holiday reading lists. And Rachel’s Holiday is often selected by her fans as one of her best, with heroine Rachel’s appeal instantly noticeable. “What begins as a pitch-perfect, bitingly funny romantic comedy quickly becomes dark, profound, heart breaking... and then light again,” our reviewer said. Despite touching on themes of addiction and recovery, Keyes’ comic tone shines throughout, and “the prose itself is propulsive”.