Best Book Recommendations

Camilla Wynne, Founder and Owner, Preservation Society

 100% my favorite books right now are the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante. The first is My Brilliant Friend. Each book is better than the last, and they are so incredibly engrossing. It’s a deeply insightful portrait of female friendship in a time of great change: honest, raw, intelligent and beautiful

Lucy Baum, Founder and Owner, Lucy Baum Photography
I’m currently reading the second novel in the series Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, named Hollow City.  I learned of it when someone posted a video on Facebook of the search for the house that is featured in the first book. The author teamed up with an urban explorer in Belgium to find the location for the filming of the movie.  I was drawn to the series as I’m a fan of dark stories, find inspiration of our history through abandoned and interesting places and love the author’s use of photographs to complement the writing. I found the story to be very original with a compelling set of characters. It drew me right in, which is a rush that I love with a good book.  True to how my husband describes my reading habits (I eat books), I devoured the first novel within about a day (and into the night – another good sign!!).

 

 Noémie Vaillancourt, Designer and Founder, Noémiah

Retraite by Renaud Jean

Je recommande ce recueil de nouvelles, non seulement parce que c’est mon copain qui l’a écrit, mais aussi parce que c’est joliment écrit, doux amer et drôle à la fois./I’m recommending this collection of stories not just because it was my boyfriend who wrote it but also because it’s beautifully written, bittersweet and funny.

Ana Duque, Real Estate Broker, Duque Simms Team – Sutton
I am one of those people who are in the process of reading 7+ books at any given time. I often have two novels, one recipe book, 2 business books and 2 self improvement books by my bed.

The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
Super insightful and full of practical tools to take control of things we find difficult to change. It has the right mix of science and storytelling to explain how habits work and how to change them. My first success: Getting into the habit of getting up at 5:30 AM by choice, to take time for myself (meditation/yoga/reading) before everybody else is up. The positive impact on every aspect of my life is tremendous. Bonus: Having tools to help my 10 year old establish better habits for herself.

Food wise, I have really enjoyed the recipe books by Yotam Ottolenghi. I discovered him with Plenty and I have to say his books have opened our culinary world to explo
re and discover different flavours: Sumac, Za’atar, using yogurt as a sauce… the chickpea soup in Plenty – although long to make – is absolutely sensational.

The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel J. SiegelI wish I had read this 10 years ago (I have a 10 year-old and an almost 4 year-old) — This book is full of simple wisdom; it provides keys to communicate successfully with your children and help them navigate the world at any age; but the strategies this books provides will also be helpful when communicating with your spouse… or just about anyone else! Again, a perfect combination of science and storytelling

My husband and I are really passionate about coffee. He is very interested in roasting and we discovered this beautiful book with a lovely story at a coffee shop in Little Burgundy, where we live. The Blue Bottle Craft Of Coffee by James Freeman – We are always fascinated by people leaving successful careers to follow their dreams, and this California roaster did just that. His wife’s recipes are at the end of the book (she’s a pastry chef) and a good friend had the chance to taste both their coffee and their waffles and he came back raving about them.

Thank-you ladies for your advice!

 

Do you have any books you’d like to recommend?