Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 02 This year marks the Publishers Association’s 125th anniversary. In honour of our quasquicentennial, we are delighted to present a Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians that celebrates the capacity for books to educate, inspire and entertain. All the following titles have been nominated by MPs, Peers, publishers and journalists as their recommended read for the Summer Recess. We are very grateful to the parliamentarians who made submissions, with particular thanks to Nickie Aiken MP for her ongoing support for this project. Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 03 The Rt Hon Tobias Lord Tyler The Rt Hon Alister Jack MP Ellwood MP Agent Sonya Secretary of State for Scotland Chair, Select Committee on Defence Ben Macintyre Churchill’s Ministry of 2034 Ungentlemanly Warfare Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot The Rt Hon Sir Ed Davey MP Giles Milton Ackerman Leader of the Liberal Democrats Uncomfortably close to where things Baroness Bonham Carter An Extra Pair of Hands may go! Kate Mosse Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Culture, Media A wonderfully candid exploration of Simon Baynes MP and Sport what’s it like caring for a loved one: A Bookshop in Algiers the love and joy, but also the many Crow Lake Kaouther Adimi sacrifices, challenges and frustrations Mary Lawson that are often hidden from view. Tim Farron MP Mims Davies MP Brendan Clarke-Smith MP Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs State for Employment, Department APPG for Publishing Death and the Chevalier for Work and Pensions Full Time: The Secret Life Of A Single Thread Tony Cascarino Robin Blake Tracy Chevalier Paul Kimmage The Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP Ian Murray MP The Rt Hon Dr Therese Coffey MP Secretary of State for Education Shadow Secretary of State for All Quiet on the Western Front Scotland Secretary of State for Work and Erich Remarque A Song for the Dark Times Pensions Ian Rankin Bad Blood:Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup John Carreyou Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 04 The Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP The Rt Hon Robert The Rt Hon Nigel Evans MP Buckland QC MP Secretary of State for Northern Second Deputy Chairman of Ways Ireland Lord Chancellor and Secretary of and Means and Deputy Speaker Excalibur State for Justice God Save La France Bernard Cornwell Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Stephen Clarke Diaries (Volume 1): 1918-38 It encapsulates the irritants and Edited by Simon Heffer Rachel Reeves MP delights of both France and the French, England and the English to a beautiful rich degree that you find Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Maclean MP Fantastically Great Women Who yourself nodding and laughing at both. Worked Wonders Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Kate Pankhurst State, Department for Transport Anonymous French Exit A really wonderful children’s book that Greater: Britain after the Storm can show young girls – including my Patrick deWitt Penny Mordaunt and Chris Lewis own daughter – what women can As a frequent practitioner of the French achieve, from Nasa scientists to hot-air Exit myself, I loved and laughed all balloonists. the way through this light novel. Jason Groves Daily Mail Carolyn Harris MP Anonymous Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Deputy Leader, Welsh Labour Girl, Woman, Other Artemis Fowl Bernardine Evaristo Just a great read – life, love and politics in 1960s Nigeria, with the Eoin Colfer thrum of the grisly Biafran War Christine Jardine MP getting louder by the chapter. Ruth Edwards MP Liberal Democrat Spokesperson How to Avoid A Climate Disaster Alistair Carmichael MP for Treasury Bill Gates Hamnet Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Very clear breakdown of the problems Maggie O’Farrell Home Affairs of climate change and technology In a Veil of Mist driven ideas for how we solve them. Donald S. Murray Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 05 Kate Green OBE MP Stephen Lotinga Nadhim Zahawi MP Shadow Secretary of State for Chief Executive, Publishers Parliamentary Under Secretary of Education Association State for Business, Industry and for Hamnet Klara and the Sun COVID Vaccine Deployment Maggie O’Farrell Kazuo Ishiguro How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom A beautifully written story with An exquisitely written book from one Matt Ridley a poignant timeliness as we live of the world’s greatest authors, which through our own plague years. will make you ask questions about science, AI, and genetic enhancement, The Rt Hon Nick Thomas- Adrian Wooldridge but most of all about the nature of human emotions. Symonds MP The Economist Shadow Home Secretary The Aristocracy of Talent Jonathan Reynolds MP In Place of Fear Adrian Wooldridge Aneurin Bevan Shadow Secretary of State for Work A history and defence of the and Pensions It is the finest exposition of socialism meritocratic idea, at a time when it is ever written. coming in for unprecedented criticism Home Truths Liam Halligan The Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP The Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP The best book I have come across on the UK’s housing crisis – essential reading. Secretary of State for Health and Chair, Select Committee on Social Care Education Lord Sharkey Destined for War The Silmarillion Graham Allison J. R. R. Tolkien How Will Capitalism End? Wolfgang Streeck Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 06 Stephen Bush Theo Clarke MP Baroness Rebuck DBE New Statesman Leadership in Turbulent Times Vice-Chair, APPG for Publishing & The Glass Hotel Doris Kearns Goodwin Penguin Random House UK Emily St, John Mandel Sylvia Pankhurst The Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP Rachel Holmes Anneliese Dodds MP Sylvia is much less known than Chair, Select Committee on Women her mother, Emmeline, and sister, and Equalities Labour Party Chair Christabel, but she was the most More Than a Woman Kleptopia revolutionary of them all – a brave Caitlin Moran political activist, artist, writer Tom Burgis and editor. To give every man an insight. A set of rollercoaster stories, all the more astonishing (and disturbing) The Rt Hon Boris Johnson because they are all true, based on Maeve Dunne dogged and insightful investigative MP journalism by Burgis. Public Affairs & Policy Manager, Publishers Association Prime Minister Wendy Chamberlain MP Mouth Full of Blood Scoop Toni Morrison Evelyn Waugh Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Ladder of Years Chris Bryant MP Anne Tyler Quentin Letts Who hasn’t thought, for a moment, Parliamentary Sketchwriter Chair, Select Committees on Standards and on Privileges what it might be like to just walk Pilgrims away from their life – Tyler’s Shuggie Bain Matthew Kneale characters, are as always, real Douglas Stuart and true to themselves. Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 07 Bridget Phillipson MP Lord Rennard Flick Drummond MP Shadow Chief Secretary to the The Anglo Saxons The God of Small Things Treasury Marc Morris Arundhati Roy Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart The Rt Hon Stephen Timms Alicia Kearns MP MP The Pillars of the Earth Preet Kaur Gill MP Chair, Select Committee on Work Ken Follett Shadow Secretary of State for and Pensions International Development The Anglo-Saxons Greg Smith MP Siddhartha Marc Morris The Road to Serfdom Hermann Hesse Nickie Aiken MP F. A. Hayek Lord Razzall Jews Don’t Count Still Life David Baddiel The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP Louise Penny A thought provoking and brave look Secretary of State for Transport at how anti-Semitism has become The Years of Lyndon Johnson an ignored and even accepted form Robert Caro Daniel Conway of racism. The best, most comprehensive and Director of External Affairs, most significant political biography Publishers Association Sally-Ann Hart MP ever written. The Act of Living The Choice Frank Tallis Edith Eger The Rt Hon Oliver Dowden Abundantly relevant and beautifully written to boot, Tallis explores how the CBE MP pyschotherapeutic tradition can help us Katherine Fletcher MP Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, live our lives. The Code Book Media and Sport Hons and Rebels Simon Singh Jessica Mitford Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 08 The Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Anonymous John Nicolson MP Hoyle MP The Five: The Untold Lives of the SNP Spokesperson for Digital, Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Speaker of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport The Prime Ministers Hallie Rubenhold The Testaments Steve Richards Margaret Atwood This book is a thoughtful analysis of The Rt Hon Dame Eleanor Winner of the Booker Prize in 2019. leaders over the last 60 years. Richards Laing DBE MP For anyone who has been gripped by cites the multi-dimensional qualities the dystopian world of Gilead, this that he thinks make for a successful Chairman, Ways and Means and will bring yet more chilling encounters PM – from having an ability to show, Deputy Speaker from an author who so presciently rather than tell, to being nimble, The Strike Series coined the phrase “false news”. with a good sense of humour and Robert Galbraith terminology voters can relate to. At the same time, he also says they need to Fascinating, compelling and absolutely William Wragg MP have widespread appeal and be able to absorbing. Perfect for getting lost in whilst on holiday. Chair, Select Committee on Public manage an often-divided party – in Administration and Constitutional other words, quite a tall order. Affairs Tom Tugendhat MBE MP The Way We Live Now Baroness Thomas Chair, Select Committee on Foreign Anthony Trollope Where the Crawdads Sing Affairs Delia Owens The Unravelling Emma Sky Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 09 Andrew Lewer MBE MP Baroness Grender Julian Knight MP Chair, APPG for Publishing Liberal Democrat Lords Chair, Select Committee on Digital, The Life of Samuel Johnson Spokesperson for Housing Culture, Media and Sportditor.