Simon Mayo's Books Of 2020

It's no secret that Simon Mayo is a huge book fan. An avid reader, Simon is also an author and hosts Scala Radio's weekly book club every Thursday where he speaks to authors about their new releases - and asks for their favourite Classical pieces!

Reading offers escapism and has this year helped a great many people. Simon Mayo has chosen his favourite picks from this year for Scala Radio listeners and why he loves them! In no particular order...

Adam Kucharski - The Rules of Contagion

This book is all about how new mathematical research and approaches are transforming what we know about contagion. The book from epidemiologist Adam Kucharski reveals the revolutionary initiatives that helped tackle gun violence in Chicago to the truth behind the spread of fake news!

Simon says: 'I mean, if there was ever a time to have written a book about contagion…Adam’s timing was perfect and terrible all at the same time. An essential read.'

Buy Adam Kucharski's The Rules of Contagion

Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet

Winning the Women's Prize for Fiction this year, Hamnet is a fictional account of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age 11 in 1596. A profoundly moving account of grief, family and genius in an era where life was ever precarious. It won the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Simon says: 'Maggie is such a great story teller and here she imagines the short life of William Shakespeare’s son Hamnet and the effect it had on some of the greatest plays ever written.'

Buy Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet

Paul Anthony Jones - The Cabinet of Calm

This book has been designed to be picked up whenever you need a moment of serenity. Covering all manner of emotions, you can select the one you are feeling and this book will pair it with a matching linguistic remedy, soothing words for troubled times.

Simon says: 'Precisely the book you need for 2020 and (hopefully not much of) 2021. Proper words, healing words, magic words. Full title is The Cabinet of Calm:Words for Worrying Times. Buy for your friends, keep one for yourself.'

Buy Paul Anthony Jones The Cabinet of Calm

Patrick Ness - Burn

Set in an alternate 1950s America where dragons double as farmhands and sinister conspiracies spread like wildfire, Burn is a story of friendship and bravery in a world on the brink of its own destruction.

Simon says: 'Revenge, redemption, the Cold War and dragons. Another great tale from the master with the best opening line of any book this year…'

“On a cold Sunday evening in early 1957, Sarah Dewhurst waited with her father in the parking lot of the Chevron Gas Station for the dragon he’d hired to help on the farm.”

Buy Patrick Ness' Burn

Rumaan Alam - Leave The World Behind

An impossibly compelling literary thriller about the world we live in now, Rumaan Alam's novel covers the complexities of parenthood, race and class, exploring how our closest bonds are reshaped in moments of crisis and how the most terrifying situations are never far from the truth.

Simon says: 'Brilliant post-apocalypse, state-of-the-world tale, with a side bar of class, race and parenting. Hooked? I certainly was.'

Buy Rumaan Alam's Leave the World Behind

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