Anna Campbell

March 2022

Recommended Reading – Nonfiction

More book recommendations today, because let’s face it, we’re all here because we’re readers!

Today, I’m going to talk about some of the wonderful nonfiction I’ve recently read and enjoyed and that I think you might enjoy too.

I’m going to start Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker. What a marvelous book for the insomniacs among us – and definitely not because it’s boring and likely to send you to sleep.

Worldwide, people currently aren’t getting enough sleep and it’s affecting our health and mental wellbeing. Matthew Walker is a world-renowned sleep specialist who delves into how our sleep patterns have changed over the years and how we can get back into much more beneficial habits.

I found this book utterly fascinating, partly because I’ve never been a good sleeper. It was so interesting to delve into the reasons why that might be! The irony is that I stayed up late a couple of nights reading this, so it really didn’t help me to sleep at all!

This is one of those wonderful scientific books that manages to convey complex information in such a way that the non-specialist reader can enjoy it and follow the arguments (when it comes to science, I’m definitely a non-specialist!). One of my favorite parts of this book is the bit at the end which gives some great ideas for helping you to get your Zzzzs every day.

The next book I’m going to recommend is The Library Book by Susan Orlean. This one is a feast for book nerds out there. OK, I’ll admit it, that includes moi.

It starts with a mysterious and still unsolved crime in 1986 when someone set fire to the Los Angeles Public Library (may the fleas of a thousand camels infest their armpits, whoever they are!). The damage was catastrophic and heartbreaking, especially if you’re a book lover.

As we follow the serpentine investigation into this event, Susan Orlean gives us a potted history of libraries through history and a description of what goes on in a modern library. Libraries have always been information hubs, but new technology has transformed their functions in ways that would astonish the people who frequented the Great Library of Alexandria (another wonderful library tragically lost to fire back in the 5th century).

The Library Book is full of fascinating characters and intrigue and mystery, fit to rival a suspense thriller. I couldn’t put it down!

My final book recommendation this month is a real treat, even if you’re not interested in pianos or Siberia (I can’t imagine who that could be!). The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts is one of those books that conveys a whole world through what would seem to be a very narrow aperture.

In the 19th century, the Russians were mad on piano music and no house was considered truly civilized unless it had a piano in it. Wealthy Russians thought nothing of spending a fortune on magnificent grand pianos from Steinway or Bechstein and as Russian dominion extended east with the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the pianos went across to the Pacific with the people.

This book gives you a history of Russia since the days of Catherine the Great via the author’s search for the famous pianos that belonged to people like Chopin and the last Tsar and his family. If you pick up this book, you’ll discover tragedy and comedy and heartbreaking love stories and triumph and disaster. And above all, music. As someone who loves music probably even more than I love reading (now, that’s saying something), I found this story incredibly moving. It talks about how beauty can inspire in the toughest of circumstances.

I loved all three of these books, but The Lost Pianos of Siberia is the one that’s stayed with me. Even if it sounds a bit too far off the beaten track for you (well, Siberia IS off the beaten track!), I really recommend that you give it a go.