Themes we've explored
In between seasons on The Queen's Reading Room, we pick a theme to explore in greater detail.
Diaries and diarists
June 2023 - July 2023
Plays and playwrights
March 2023 - April 2023
A Very Christie Christmas
December 2022 - January 2023
A Christmas Carol
December 2021 - January 2022
Food writing
September 2021 - October 2021
The Little Library Cookbook
By Kate Young
Publish Date: 2017
Drawing from her favourite works of fiction, Kate Young has compiled over 100 mouthwatering recipes for all meals, from breakfast to dessert. Inspired by classics such as Paddington Bear, The Great Gatsby, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, and…
A Half Baked Idea
By Olivia Potts
Publish Date: 2019 Awards: 2020 Debut Food Book of the Year - Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards
Profoundly hit by the death of her mother, Olivia decides, afer five years practicing law as a criminal barrister, to abandon her career and enroll in the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary arts institute. Coping with grief and loss, Olivia…
A Book Of Food
By P Morton Shand
Publish Date: 1927
The book is not conceived as a cookery book, but rather an exploration of gastronomy, culinary practices, facts and information about food and cooking. A fascinating journey from flavours to the influences of the Industrial Revolution on English cuisine, to…
The Year Of Eating Dangerously
By Tom Parker Bowles
Publish Date: 2007
Filled with childhood memories, scientific facts, trips to exotic markets, and fascinating stories, the book is a culinary adventure across the globe. Eating foods that most deem 'too dangerous', Tom Parker Bowles asks us to rethink what we consider acceptable…
His Majesty recommends
June 2021 - July 2021
Lustrum
By Robert Harris
Recommended by: His Majesty King Charles III
Publish Date: 2009
The second instalment in the trilogy dedicated to Cicero, Lustrum follows immediately from Imperium. The book starts at the beginning of Cicero's consulship and ends with his exile, narrating the power struggles of the late Roman republic from the perspective…
Travels With Myself And Another
By Martha Gellhorn
Recommended by: His Majesty King Charles III
Publish Date: 1978
The book is an account of Martha Gellhorn's "best horror journeys", including in war-torn China and the Caribbean, the Soviet Union, Africa, and the Red Sea. These adventurous expeditions, punctuated by narrow rescues and escapes, are written with surprising humour…
Napoleon
By Adam Zamoyski
Recommended by: His Majesty King Charles III
Publish Date: 2018
Zamoyski investigates the rise and fall of one of the greatest political figures in modern history. In this landmark biography, Napoleon is a man, ambitious and tragic, the architect of his own fortune as well as his demise. Through the…
The Battle Of The Atlantic
By Jonathan Dimbleby
Recommended by: His Majesty King Charles III
Publish Date: 2016
The book tackles the events related to the dramatic Battle of the Atlantic, the longest military campaign of WW2, which ran from 1939 until Germany surrendered in 1945. The conflict over the dominion of the sea was crucial to Britain's…
Along the Enchanted Way
By William Blacker
Recommended by: His Majesty King Charles III
Publish Date: 2009
As he arrives in Romania after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, William Blacker finds a medieval world he thought was lost forever. The charm of life in the Carpathian mountains and the Saxon villages is so irresistible…
Children's Classics
March 2021 - April 2021
The Children Of The New Forest
By Frederick Marryat
Publish Date: 1847
Children's book. When King Charles I is defeated in the civil war in 1647, four children find themselves orphans after the death of their father, Colonel Beverley. Saved by a local verderer, the children are hidden in a cottage in…
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone
By J. K. Rowling
Publish Date: 1997 Awards: 1998 British Book Awards - Children’s Book of the Year
Children's book. The seven books of the saga tell the story of young Harry Potter, who, on his eleventh birthday, discovers he is a wizard and is sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The saga follows Harry, accompanied…
The Explorer
By Katherine Rundell
Publish Date: 2017 Awards: 2017 Costa Book Awards Children's Award
Children's book. Fred has always dreamed of becoming an explorer. As he crosses the Amazon forest on a tiny plane, he wishes he could be there making great discoveries. When the plane crashes, he finds himself, alongside three other children,…