Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Moby Dick is the story of Captain Ahab’s quest to avenge the whale that ‘reaped’ his leg. The quest is an obsession and the novel is a diabolical study of how a man becomes a fanatic.

But it is also a hymn to democracy. Bent as the crew is on Ahab’s appalling crusade, it is equally the image of a co-operative community at work: all hands dependent on all hands, each individual responsible for the security of each.

Among the crew is Ishmael, the novel’s narrator, ordinary sailor, and extraordinary reader. Digressive, allusive, vulgar, transcendent, the story Ishmael tells is above all an education:

in the practice of whaling, in the art of writing. Expanding to equal his ‘mighty theme’ – not only the whale but all things sublime – Melville breathes in the world’s great literature. Moby Dick is the greatest novel ever written by an American.

Bonkers: A Real Mum's Hilariously Honest tales of Motherhood, Mayhem and Mental Health - Olivia Siegl

‘You see, pre-motherhood I had this image of the sort of motherhood I was going to have. Happy, confident and in total control, breezing through my perfect new mum life, clad in white linen with a smiley easy-going baby attached to my hip. But then, something happened.’

This book is about bathing in the crazy, dirty, hilarious, bonkers truth about motherhood.

It’s about being brave.

It’s about empowering each other; talking about the times we get it wrong, our mental health, our worries about being perfect. It’s about admitting that we all need a little help.

For every mum out there feeling lost in the wilderness. For every mum feeling pressure to be perfect. For every mum questioning if they are good enough. You are magnificent.

The Russia House - John Le Carre

Barley Blair is not a Service man: he is a small-time publisher, a self-destructive soul whose only loves are whisky and jazz. But it was Barley who, one drunken night at a dacha in Peredelkino during the Moscow Book Fair, was befriended by a high-ranking Soviet scientist who could be the greatest asset to the West since perestroika began, and made a promise. Nearly a year later, his drunken promise returns to haunt him. A reluctant Barley is quickly trained by British Intelligence and sent to Moscow to liaise with a go-between, the beautiful Katya. Both are lonely and disillusioned. Each is increasingly certain that if the human race is to have any future, all must betray their countries ...

In his first post-glasnost spy novel, le Carré captures the effect of a slow and uncertain thaw on ordinary people and on the shadowy puppet-masters who command them.

The Wife Between Us - Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.

It’s about a jealous wife, obsessed with her replacement.

It’s about a younger woman set to marry the man she loves.

The first wife seems like a disaster; her replacement is the perfect woman.

You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships.

You will be wrong.

Chickenhawk - Robert Mason

A former Army helicopter pilot describes his experiences during a year's tour in Vietnam, offering an extraordinary portrait of the terror, banality, stupidity, and waste of war