Book club

bookclub

Welcome to Menopause Life’s summer book club. We hope you enjoyed some of our Spring recommendations. Here at Menopause Experts, we are looking forward to some warm summer days, there’s nothing nicer than sitting under a parasol or in the shade of a tree, being in nature and absorbed in a good book.

Thank you to Paula from Waterstones for her help with compiling this list

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus

‘Your ability to change everything, including yourself, starts here’ – Elizabeth Zott

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out there is no such thing. It’s the early 60s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel prize-nominated grudge holder who falls in love with, of all things, her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Follow Elizabeth’s journey from chemist to single mother and reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show! It turns out Elizabeth isn’t just teaching women to cook, she’s daring them to change the status quo! Meet the uncompromising, unconventional Elizabeth Zott.

Run Rose Run

by Dolly Parton and James Patterson The country music legend and the bestselling crime writer join forces to craft an unputdownable thriller of glamourous dreams and deadly pasts as a young singer determines to make it big in Nashville. A thriller about a young singersongwriter on the rise and on the run and determined to do whatever it takes to survive.

Every song tells a story. She’s a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her. She’s also on the run. Find a future, lose a past. Nashville is where she’s come to claim her destiny. It’s also where the darkness she’s fled might find her and destroy her. Run, Rose, Run is a novel glittering with danger and desire. ONE DAY I SHALL ASTONISH THE WORLD

by Nina Stibbe

From the author of Reasons to be Cheerful, comes a story about the ebb and flow of female friendship over half a lifetime. A funny perceptive meditation on marriage and middle age, as Susan begins to question the merits of her 20-year relationship with Roy and questions whether she has made the right choices about life, love, work and most importantly friendship. „Funny, charming, odd-in-the-best-way and gorgeously uplifting! A delight from start to finish” – Marion Keyes

SPRING CANNOT BE CANCELLED

by David Hockney & Martin Gayford The iconic octogenarian artist holds forth about life, art and the upside of lockdown in his rustic Normandy farmhouse in a series of candid, insightful conversations with his longtime friend and collaborator, the art critic Martin Gayford. “I intend to carry on with my work, which I now see as very important. We have lost touch with nature rather foolishly as we are a part of it, not outside it” – David Hockney. David, on turning eighty sought out rustic tranquillity for the first time, a place to watch the sunset and the change of the seasons, a place to live a life of simple pleasures, undisturbed and undistracted, a place to keep the madness of the world at bay. So, when covid and lockdown struck, it made little difference to life in the centuries-old Normandy farmhouse, where Hockney set up a studio a year before in time to paint the arrival of spring. In fact, he relished his enforced isolation as an opportunity for a greater devotion to his work.

Spring Cannot Be Cancelled is an uplifting manifesto that affirms arts’ capacity to divert and inspire. He is utterly absorbed by his four acres of northern France and by the themes that have fascinated him for decades, light, colour, space, perception, water, and trees. He has much to teach us, not only about how to see but about how we live.

QUEEN OF OUR TIMES By Robert Hardman

The definitive new biography of Her Majesty The Queen by one of Britain’s leading royal authorities. With original new insights from those who know her best, new interviews with world leaders and access to unseen papers, Robert Hardman explores the full, astonishing life of our longest-reigning monarch, in this compellingly authoritative yet intimate biography. Queen of Our Times is a mustread study of dynastic survival and renewal, spanning abdication, war, romance, danger and tragedy. It is a compelling portrait of a leader who remains as intriguing today as the day she came to the throne aged twenty-five. ‚This is a beautifully crafted, deeply informed and rounded portrait of the gold standard monarch and the age to which she has given her name. Queen of Our Times has depth, feel and insight in abundance’ - historian, Peter Hennessy

BEST WELLBEING BOOKS

Mental Health

THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE By Bessel van der Kolk

The effects of trauma can be devastating for sufferers, their families and future generations. Here, one of the world’s experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for treatment, moving away from standard talking and drug therapies and towards an alternative approach that heals the mind, brain and body. “A gripping bestseller about where trauma goes, and its disastrous effects on both individuals and societies. Deeply interesting – Times “Everyone should read this book” – Nigella Lawson BREATH: THE NEW SCIENCE OF A LOST ART By James Nester

Breath explores how the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly over the past several hundred thousand years and is now suffering a list of maladies – snoring, sleep apnea, asthma, autoimmune disease – because of it. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. “Full of dazzling revelations” – Dr. Rangan Chatterjee “If there’s one book you read this year, make it this one” – Chris Evans “I highly recommend this book” – Wim Hof

Nutrition

EAST By Meera Sodha

Having featured the benefits of plantbased food in this edition, whether you are already vegan or veggie or simply want to eat more delicious meat-free meals, this book features 120 easy and delicious Asian-inspired recipes. Featured are brand new recipes inspired by Asian cuisine, from India to Indonesia, Singapore to Japan, by way of China, Thailand and Vietnam.

With 120 practical and mouth-watering recipes, learn how to make: Roasted paneer aloo gobi, for a quick Monday night dinner. Caramelised onion and chilli ramen, straight from the store cupboard. The Sodha family masala omelette, to serve up a home-made brunch. Salted miso brownies, as a sweet treat.

There are seasonal specialities, warming noodles and curries, tofu and rice dishes as well as salads, sides and sweets, all practical and surprisingly easy to make, and bursting with exciting flavours.

We would love to hear from you and don’t forget to send us your recommendations for new and old favourites. Please send to editor@menopauseexperts.com