Beyond singing, Dua Lipa also loves reading; here are titles from her bookshelf

With her third concert in the city in November 2024 multiple Grammy Awardwinner and Albanian British singersongwriter Dua Lipa had us under her spell Few people know that she also runs a podcast called Dua Lipa At Your Service and a book club Service95 The pop star curates a book each month and invites authors for an indepth conversation about itDua Lipa and author Paul Murray in conversation PICS COURTESYYOUTUBE WIKIMEDIA COMMONSThey reflect on incidents or triggers that led to the writing of their books and the forms that these narratives ultimately came to take For instance Ocean Vuong shares why he chose a fragmentary epistolary style for his novel They also discuss how literature allows space and an opportunity for writers and readers to inquire into questions that donrsquot find easy answers 1 The Bee Sting by Paul MurrayThe songstressrsquo selection for this month is the Bookershortlisted novel about a prosperous family living in Ireland undergoing financial distress after the Great Recession Dickie Barnes has a hard time at his garage with car dealerships Meanwhile his wife Imelda decides to put her familyrsquos possessions on sale online Their children Cassie and PJ have troubles of their own with toxic friendships and bullies The novel is humorous and moving in equal measure2 Pachinko by Min Jin LeeMin Jin LeeDivided into three sections the novel traces the story of Korean immigrants in Japan between 1910 and 1969 While the first section takes place in Yeongdo Korea the second and third dive deep into the heart of Japan The lives of Hoonie a Korean fishermanrsquos only surviving son Sunja his daughter and Noa and Mozasu Sunjarsquos sons take us into pachinko parlours and restaurants that serve kimchi The book was adapted as a TV series to reflect its central theme of discrimination3 The Vanishing Half by Brit BennettBrit BennettIdentical twins Desiree and Stella live in a fictional town in Louisiana where residents are lightskinned AfricanAmericans The sisters bear witness to a lynching in their family as well as sexual abuse Their experiences compel them to leave the town and follow different paths The novel traces the consequences of a sisterrsquos decision to pass off as white They manifest not only in her life but also spill into that of the next generation 4 Trust by Hernan DiazHernan DiazThe Pulitzer Prizewinning novel by the ArgentineAmerican writer centres around the lives of four narrators each narrating their story in four different formats a novel within the novel a historical document a memoir and a diary Set during the 1920s Wall Street Crash in the United States of America aka The Great Crash it is a story primarily about capital and power but also about truth The protagonists make frequent entrances and exits in each otherrsquos narratives5 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga TokarczukOlga TokarczukThe Nobel Prize awardeersquos novel drags us to the rural Polish villages where men are getting murdered Janina Duszejko tasks herself with finding who the murderer is The novel carries echoes of William Blakersquos poetry from where the title comes from Tokarczuk propels us towards thinking about the rights of animals and interrogating who decides the worthy survivor between animals and humansAvailable All leading bookstores and estores