PA releases summer reading list for parliamentarians including Little Women and The Handmaid's Tale

The Publishers Association (PA) has released its annual summer reading list for parliamentarians, featuring Louise May Alcott’s Little Women, Booker-longlisted The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed (Viking) and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Vintage).  

This year’s list is linked to the #BookThatMadeMe campaign, which celebrates books that have had a positive personal impact. 

The idea behind the campaign is to highlight the power reading has to inspire and influence people throughout life and the personal value of books. Titles included in the list have been highlighted by MPs and peers as books that have helped make them the person they are today. 

Contributors to the book list include Mark Drakeford, Stephen Timms, Sarah Champion, Sarah Olney, Andrew Lewer, Robert Halfon, Rachel Maclean, Nickie Aiken, Mims Davies, Alison Thewliss and Rachel Reeves. 

Other nominated books include The Gruffalo  by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Macmillan Children’s Books), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garbriel Garcia Marquez, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy and Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (W H Allen), 

Dan Conway, chief executive of the PA, said: “We are delighted to share this year’s list of recommendations, themed around our #BookThatMadeMe campaign. There are some really interesting selections, classic and contemporary books from a range of genres that bring to life the personal value of books and the role they can play in shaping people. As we enter the summer holidays and many people may be able to find more time to read, we’d love everyone to share a book that made them." 

You can read the complete Summer Reading List for Parliamentarians 2022 here.