Our Flowstars are some of the most avid readers you’ll meet. Head of PR Caroline Smith, for example, quite happily reads two books a day when she’s relaxing at home!
We did a quick scout around to find out which books we read during 2019 are worth sharing. Here are a dozen to whet your appetite this holiday:
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
I watched the movie a few years ago and stumbled across the book earlier this year. I loved the movie, but the book was even better. It’s not exactly a happy novel, but it’s one of those books that makes you feel something. To me it’s important to feel. – Je-Mé Amelia Kruger-Baartjes, intern
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This book has stayed with me months after reading it. Evocative, stirring, clever and so real. – Tiffany Turkington, MD
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant is not your usual heroine. At 30, she’s socially awkward, set in her ways and often at the mercy of her emotionally manipulative “Mummy”. Put simply, she’s just weird and often exasperating. But before you realise it, she’ll have crept into your heart and head and you will find it hard to put the book down until you’ve figured out whether she is, in fact, fine. She made me think about how we often judge people on superficial interactions without knowing what lies beneath. – Edwina van der Burg, head of content
Koors by Deon Meyer
I read strictly for fun. I read fast-paced but good crime fiction. I don’t dally in the serious stuff and avoid those high-brow tomes that get spoken about in hushed tones in the intellectual circles frequented by my terribly, terribly erudite children and friends. For me, it’s pot-boilers and page-turners all the way. Without shame. This year I read Koors by Deon Meyer. Yes. In Afrikaans. I far prefer Meyer in Afrikaans. And I also read a whole heap of Lee Child, Gregg Hurwitz and Jo Nesbo. Those (naturally) In English. Fun all the way. – Allison Macdonald, PR
Bookworm by Lucy Mangan
Bookworm is a memoir of childhood reading by Lucy Mangan, which was just instant nostalgia as it plunged me back into my favourite books from my childhood and made me remember my bookworm days, when I wasn’t restricted to 27 books in a year, but sometimes read two in a day. – Caroline Smith, head of PR
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
This book was interesting as it tells the history behind shoe manufacturer Nike. – Mucha Madavo, content
Momo by Michael Ende
Too many books to mention by name, but Momo is by the same author who wrote The Neverending Story and is always a great reread. It remains profound in its simplicity. – Edwin Reichel, PR
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
In contrast to the title, the book did come to me by chance – as a recommendation by the members of my book club. It’s the fictional account of Kingsley Ibe, the celebrated eldest son of a morally upstanding Nigerian family. As an engineering graduate, Kingsley is expected to have great career prospects that will enable him to educate his younger siblings and look after his parents in their old age. But life has other plans and we’re taken on a journey as he gets sucked into the seedy underbelly of the infamous 411 internet scam world. I loved the book because it dealt with an old subject in a witty and engaging way and offered a perspective from the “other side”. – Edwina van der Burg, head of content
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Seeing the Obama family’s time in the White House through Michelle Obama’s eyes was fascinating! – Nadia Moore, content
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
GoodReads puts it better than I can: “Under the streets of London there’s a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.” – Hannah Nefdt, developer
Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard
I read 27 books this year, according to GoodReads. My favourite is this book that I read in preparation for my trip to Italy in 2019. – Caroline Smith, head of PR
Start With Why by Simon Sinek
This is a book about leadership. I enjoyed the author’s approach to being a leader and how leadership should be undertaken. – Mucha Madavo, content
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This is a book about love, black women’s hair, emigration, hair, loss, hair ... it’s a great read, a tender love story and – for me – it was the moment I truly understood why my black sisters can be so focused on their hair. Books are supposed to transport you into another person’s life – or another world entirely – and this one did it in a way in which I felt totally comfortable and “in my skin” being a black woman for a bit. That’s the mark of a great book! – Sue Blaine, content