Halfman, Halfbook

September 2024 Review

04/10/2024 / / 2 Comments

Where on earth did September go? Answers on a postcard, please! Even though it whizzed by, it was a good reading month with another five-star read right at the end. I didn’t by as many as I have done on previous months either so that is a small victory that I will take!

 

Books Read

Children of the Volcano – Ros Belford – 4 Stars

The Gun Seller – Hugh Lawrie – 2.5 Stars

Selling Manhattan – Carol Ann Duffy – 3 Stars

The Volunteers: A Memoir of Conservation, Companionship and Community – Carol Donaldson – 4 Stars

Discovering Timber-framed Buildings – Richard Harris – 3 Stars

Salacious Sussex – Viv Croot – 3 Stars

The Haunted Places of Hampshire – Ian Fox – 3 Stars

The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami – 3

Vagabond: A Hiker’s Homage to Rural Spain – Mark Eveleigh – 4 Stars

Heart Of Darkness – Joseph Conrad – 2 Stars

Late Light: Finding Home In The West Country – Michael Malay – 4.5 Stars

Uprooting: From The Caribbean To The Countryside: Finding Home In An English Country Garden – Marchelle Farrell – 4 Stars

Dispersals: On Plants, Borders And Belonging – Jessica J Lee – 4 Stars

 

Book(s) Of The Month

Tender Maps: Travels in Search of the Emotions of Place – Alice Maddicott – 5 Stars

 

Top Genres

Fiction – 30

Travel – 26

Natural History – 13

Poetry – 9

Memoir – 7

Science Fiction – 6

Miscellaneous – 4

Food & Drink – 3

Humour – 3

History – 3

 

Top Publishers

Bloomsbury – 7

Vintage – 5

Canongate – 4

Picador – 4

Summersdale – 4

Eland – 3

Faber & Faber – 3

Saraband – 3

Penguin Classics – 3

September Books – 2

 

Review Copies Received

In Search of the Perfect Peach: Why Flavour Holds the Answer to Fixing Our Food System – Franco Fubini

Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind: In Pursuit of Remarkable Mushrooms – Richard Fortey

Prisoners of Geography: The Quiz Book: How Much Do You Really Know About the World? – Tim Marshall

 

Library Books Checked Out

Tender Maps: Travels in Search of the Emotions of Place – Alice Maddicott

Dispersals: On Plants, Borders And Belonging – Jessica J Lee

Uprooting: From The Caribbean To The Tountryside: Finding Home In An English Country Garden – Marchelle Farrell

Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain – Corrine Fowler

 

Books Bought

La Vie: A Year In Rural France – John Lewis-Stempel

Cacophony Of Bone – Kerri Ní Dochartaigh

The Ongoing Moment – Geoff Dyer

Provence – John Flower & Charlie Waite

The Virago Book of Women Gardeners – Deborah Kellaway (Ed)

Return to Paris: A Memoir With Recipes – Colette Rossant

A Tourist in the Arab Spring – Tom Chesshyre

Abroad in Japan: Ten Years In The Land Of The Rising Sun – Chris Broad

Land of the Turquoise Mountains: Journeys Across Iran – Cyrus Massoudi

Sport – Dennis Brailsford

Blackmoor Vale Childhood – Hilary Townsend (Signed)

The New Granta Book of Travel – Liz Jobey (Ed)

The Common Reader – Alan Bennett (Signed)

All At Sea: One man. One bathtub. One very bad idea. – Tim FitzHigham

Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall – Anna Funder (Signed)

A Siberian Winter’s Tale: Cycling to the Edge of Insanity and the End of the World – Helen Lloyd

Too Late To Turn Back: Barbara And Graham Greene In Liberia – Barbara Greene

A Tourist in the Arab Spring – Tom Chesshyre

Megalithic Tombs and Long Barrows in Britain – Frances Lynch

The Downhill Hiking Club: A Short Walk Across The Lebanon – Dom Joly

Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey – Felicity Cloake (Signed)

 

So are there any from that list that you have read, or now seeing them, now want to read? Let me know in the comments below.

October 2024 TBR

01/10/2024 / / 2 Comments

I have a much shorter TBR this month as I have 30 books to get me to my Good Reads target of 150. Or just over 10 a month. It means that I can get to some of the chunkier books that are on my TBR now.  So here they all are:

 

Still Reading

Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year – Ed. Jane McMorland Hunter

A Cloud a Day – Gavin Pretor-Pinney

A Year Of Garden Bees & Bugs: 52 stories of intriguing insects – Dominic Couzens & Gail Ashton

Citadel – Kate Mosse

 

Challenge Books

Seveneves – Neal Stephenson

 

Review Books

Empordan Scafarlata – Adrià Pujol Cruells Tr. Douglas Suttle

The Border – A Journey Around Russia: Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, … Finland, Norway and the Northeast

Passage – Erika Fatland Tr. Kari Dickson

Brazilian Adventure – Peter Fleming

Prisoners of Geography: The Quiz Book: How Much Do You Really Know About the World? – Tim Marshall

 

Library Books

The Rosewater Redemption – Tade Thompson

All My Wild Mothers: A Memoir Of Motherhood, Loss And An Apothecary Garden – Victoria Bennet

Island to Island : From Somerset to Seychelles – Sally Mills

Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain – Corrine Fowler

 

Other Books

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics – Tim Marshall

 

Poetry

Still Life in Milford: Poems – Thomas Lynch

 

Seaglass by Kathryn Tann

27/09/2024 / / 4 Comments

5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

I haven’t found much seaglass recently when wandering along the beach. When we were in Sardinia a few years ago, I found loads on the beaches there and brought them home. I love its pale, jewel-like qualities, the razor-sharp edges of the glass rubbed smooth by its passage through the ocean.

Even though I found a lot in Sardinia, there was never enough to fill an old-style sweet jar, unlike Kathryn Tann. It is one of her favourite possessions, containing memories of the beaches that she has visited and the jangle of the glass in her pocket as she left the rubbly beach with her most recent finds.

It is the essay on her seaglass that starts this frankly magnificent collection of essays and other fragments of Tann’s writing. She has deftly woven a mix of memoir, family history, nature writing and even a little travel writing.

This smorgasbord of writing, some longer pieces, some only a page and others only a paragraph and about a variety of subjects from the perfect gravy, swimming and even dance. These fragments of her life have been picked up and poured carefully into this book.

You could read the pages of a book under this moon. Everything is sepia; the grass is bleached, the dark sea silver-plated, reversing the whole scene’s shadows like a negative photo reel.

I loved this book. The prose is sparse and measured and she writes each piece from her heart. I am not sure who her literary influences are, but she is the closest author that I have read to Kathleen Jamie. This is a truly wonderful book and I can’t wait to read more from her.

Brandy Sour by Constantia Soteriou, Translated by Lina Protopapa

25/09/2024 / / 0 Comments

3.5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

The completion of the Ledra Palace Hotel was the moment that Cyprus felt that it had joined the modern world. But this was early in the 1050s and the peaceful island life they had enjoyed up until now was about to change forever.

It begins with a King. A mere King of the once magnificent country, Egypt. He has booked an entire floor at the hotel so he can contemplate his troubles in relative peace. He heads down to the bar and asks the barman to make him a drink that doesn’t look alcoholic. The barman makes him a brandy sour. It is a sweet and sour drink that fits his mood perfectly.

There is a sherbet for a young lady, a photographer chooses a beer, Jasmin tea for a poet and the maitre’d of the hotel chooses a coffee. The guerrilla fighter selects a VSOP brandy and this is the first hint in the book that this is also an account of the conflict played out on this Mediterranean island that would split it in two and cause untold suffering and misery for the population.

This is a subtle book that reveals the horrors of strife and conflict. Each chapter has a person at its heart and they select a drink that is suited to their particular circumstances.

I liked the way that the book dealt with this. What starts of as an idyllic place slowly descends into strife, the desires of the characters and the drinks that they choose change. The life they once had has gone and their despondency as life crashes down around them is evident from the prose. It shows how quickly that the life that you know can unravel with conflict. Well worth reading.

 

Vagabond by Mark Eveleigh

19/09/2024 / / 2 Comments

Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for Vagabond by Mark Eveleigh and published by Summersdale.

About the Book

This incredible true story of one man’s 1,225-km hike across the Iberian Peninsula is a celebration of rural Spain along the road less travelled.

Inspired by a nomadic “vagabundo” he met decades ago, travel writer Mark Eveleigh eschews the fast pace of modern life and sets off on a solo hike 1,225 km across the Iberian Peninsula – from Gibraltar in the far south to Estaca de Bares, Spain’s most northerly tip – carrying just a backpack and a hammock.
Hiking through sleepy siesta-hour plazas, shady cork forests and heat-shimmering plains, the hours would be long, dusty and hot. But, as Mark passes through the many small villages and communities en route, his trek comes to be characterized most of all by the sharing of stories, the true kindness of strangers, and the unbridled freedom of the open road.

Recounting Mark’s fascinating nomadic journey through Spain’s least-visited region, Extremadura, Vagabond is a homage to the disappearing lifestyle of the vagabundo, as well as a celebration of rural Spain and its forgotten communities. It reminds us of the value of slowing down and finding connection with others, and the beauty that can be found in taking life one step at a time.

About the Author

British writer Mark Eveleigh bases himself between Bali and South Africa when he’s not chasing travel stories for the likes of the BBC, CNN, National Geographic Traveller and The Telegraph. He spent 16 years living in Spain and returned recently to fulfil his ambition to hike coast-to-coast – the long way – across the country with a backpack and his trusty hammock.

My Review

People have been walking across Spain for hundreds of years. The vast majority are following the well trodden pilgrim trails to add meaning to their personal faith; the Camino de Santiago is probably the best known of them.

Eveleigh wants to walk through Spain, but not on a pilgrimage. He is partly inspired by Laurie Lee but mostly by a nomadic vagabundo he met a number of years ago on a train, This man followed the same route that took him through the same towns and villages every two years.

Eveleigh has just passed his 5oth and felt the urge to travel again. He heads back to Spain where he spent 20 years of his life. He chose his route from Gibraltar to Estach de Bares and decided to walk over the summer when the daylight hours were the longest. He was going to go super lightweight with a hammock to sleep in and a plastic cover should there be any rain.

It felt a bit reckless but it was something that he needed to get out of his system.

Passing through the border between Gibraltar and Spain gave the first Brexit benefit as he now had to have his passport stamped. It would be 1.5 million steps before he would see the sea again. The walk out of Gibraltar felt uphill for the first 100 Km. One of his first mornings in Spain he wakes in his hammock that is tied between two olive trees and all he can hear is the sounds of bells and goats bleating.

Some of the distances that he undertakes each day are huge, he mentions reaching 43 km on some days and at one point in the book he says that he has walked nine marathons in eleven days. These long hikes each day mean that even the top notch boots he has can’t stop the plethora of blisters on both feet. Couple that with walking through one of the hottest summers on record in Europe, where the temperatures would kill thousands.

He had a routine of walking early in the morning, finding shade in the hottest part of the day, and walking later into the evening. The search for water would be constant. He finds some amazing places to each for what sounds like pennies, but often turns up just as they have stopped serving food for the day!

I really liked this book. Eveleigh is a generous man taking time to find out a little of the people he meets and places he passes through. I don’t think he slowed down for this walk at all; he was covering huge distances each day on his trek. I liked his minimal approach so he could get as close to the hobo lifestyle as he could, but he did have the luxury of a bank card, which most hobo’s wouldn’t have. IT is quite amusing in parts, I particularly thought his account of being caught singing in the middle of the road by a peloton was hilarious. Well worth reading.

Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour

Buy this at your local independent bookshop. If you’re not sure where your nearest is then you can find one here

My thanks to Anne from Random Tours for the copy of the book to read.

Some other books on Spain I can recommend:

Slow Trains Around Spain by Tom Chesshyre
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee
As I Walked Out Through Spain in Search of Laurie Lee by P. D. Murphy
My Midsummer Morning: Rediscovering a Life of Adventure by Alastair Humphreys

Utter, Earth by Issac Yuen

17/09/2024 / / 0 Comments

4 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

If you are anything like me and have grown up (or allegedly grown up that is), with David Attenborough’s marvellous and sometimes magical documentaries on the world we live in, then you will probably be fascinated by the natural world like me. There are hundreds of books out there on nature and they vary from detailed academic tomes to books that tell a more personal story and how people have discovered how nature is a crutch that they have come to rely on.

And then there is this book, Utter, Earth.

It is unlike any other natural history book that I have ever read. It is a series of tongue-in-cheek essays about all manner of subjects from the naming of your progeny, to what happens when you rub a freshly plucked parrot with a poison frog, what the difference is between shoals and schools and which beetle can survive being run over. I particularly liked the final section of the book where Yuen expands his thoughts on all sorts of living creatures.

I really enjoyed the wired and strangely engaging read on the natural world. It is full of wry and humorous observations on the quirks and wonders on this planet we are on. Reading this is a easy way to collect the weird and wonderful facts that you can drop into conversations when people are least expecting it! It’s a great book.

Human Origins by Sarah Wild

12/09/2024 / / 3 Comments

3.5 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.

Humanity is very much the dominant species on this pale blue dot. This dominance means that we have the ability to change and dominate almost everything that we choose to, though we are helpless when nature really gets going.

So how did Homo Sapiens end up as this tour de force? Of all of the hominid species, why did we survive? It is these questions and many others that Sarah Wild sets about trying to answer in this book. Even though we share 98% of our DNA with chimps and some other primates, how we got down the family tree from them to us is a long and complicated path. There are numerous other hominid species that have been found all over the world, though most early species were discovered in Africa.

Working out where they fit in the timeline is helped by the modern dating techniques that they can use, the big puzzle is working out how they are all related or not as the case may be. It is a puzzle that has been keeping scientists busy for years and every time they think they are a little closer to answering some of the questions, new bones are discovered and the picture becomes a little more complicated.

I thought that this was a fascinating story of our past. I also like that nothing in this story is clear cut and that as scientists look at our DNA there are the echoes of past species, neanderthal and Denisovan in particular. This is a snapshot of where scientists are, in tracing our shared history, in the time it took to write this book, more bone discoveries had been made that further complicated the picture. I thought that this book was definitely worth reading.

The Volunteers by Carol Donaldson

10/09/2024 / / 6 Comments

Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for The Volunteers by Carol Donaldson and published by Summersdale.

About the Book

When Carol’s world suddenly unravels, leaving her single and jobless, she stumbles upon an unexpected opportunity: leading a ragtag team of countryside conservation volunteers. At first glance, the prospect of nurturing Britain’s diverse wildlife in the great outdoors seems like a dream come true. However, reality paints a different picture: her office is a ramshackle porta- cabin overrun with mice and plagued by leaky ceilings, and the volunteers are far from impressed with her lack of practical skills.
Despite this rocky beginning, Carol gradually earns the respect of her eclectic group of volunteers, forging a tight-knit community that will grow to become essential to each member. This diverse group spans generations, from twenty-somethings to septuagenarians, with each of them looking to get something different out of volunteering, whether it’s a sense of purpose, a fresh start in life or a tick on their community service form. They also bring their unique quirks and life experiences to the mix.
Volunteer days soon evolve into the highlight of Carol’s week, as they bond over their love of nature, mental health battles, and the desire for companionship. As they work together outdoors, the team discover a simple yet powerful recipe for self-confidence, improved well- being and a newfound perspective on life’s challenges. This journey not only brings solace and new joys to Carol’s weeks, but eventually it helps her move on with her life, too.
The Volunteers is a heartwarming tale that celebrates the redemptive force of the woods and wildlife. It underscores the universal need for belonging and illustrates how, even in the most unexpected places, we can find a community to call our own.

About the Author

Carol Donaldson is a writer and naturalist. Originally from Essex, she has worked for many of Britain’s best wildlife charities and currently works as a freelance ecologist advising farmers across Kent and Essex to restore wetlands and rivers and manage land for waders. Her first book, On the Marshes, was published by Little Toller in 2017. She is a regular contributor to the Guardian travel pages and was BBC Wildlife Magazine’s Travel Writer of the Year in 2011. Carol lives in a very old and slightly crumbling house in Kent and enjoys wild swimming and dancing the Argentine Tango.

My Review

Donaldson’s plans had come to an abrupt end one Christmas Eve when she found out about her partner’s affair. He unkindly told her that it had been over for ages, but didn’t even think that it might have been the right thing to do and mention it to her before…

To add to her woes was her employment situation. It was a massive blow to her self-confidence and she was unsure of the route to take. She was sitting counting geese, a little freelance work that she had picked up, when her phone rang, It was the guy who had interviewed her last week and her was offering her the job. The money wasn’t what she was hoping for, but he wasn’t going to budge on that, but it was something. She accepted.

Her main task in the new position would be to manage the volunteers for the Kingsdown Partnership. The people would be looking after the habitats on council-owned land. She would be working out of a pretty dilapidated set of portacabins that leaked a lot and had a bit of a problem with mice.

The people that she was responsible for were a motley crew. They came from a range of different backgrounds. A lot of them were troubled in some way or other, with their own backstories and often a lot of baggage. However, this new role was a steep learning curve.

But they were a good bunch and mostly all seemed to get along. They could teach her as much as she could teach them. They didn’t take long to accept her. They had particular skills they were good at and she had to learn who was best at doing what task. That balance of skills and working with each other’s strengths and weaknesses meant they grew stronger and could support each other through the ups and downs of modern life.

What wasn’t helping her was her new boss… He wants her to clear her to-do list each month but is continually adding things to it without caring how long things take and not realising that it is an almost impossible task to do everything. As the portacabin collapses around them, it all comes to a head one day and she is signed off for two weeks.

Donaldson doesn’t know if she will have a job at the end. And if she doesn’t she is really going to miss her team of volunteers.

This is a touching story of a bunch of people from a diverse range of backgrounds coming together for society and the natural world and most importantly for each other. It is a story about friendships, companionship and mutual support and is full of life’s joys and tragedies. It will make you smile and maybe cry a little as you read it. I really liked it and can thoroughly recommend it.

Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour

Buy this at your local independent bookshop. If you’re not sure where your nearest is then you can find one here

My thanks to Anne of Random Things Tours for the copy of the book to read.

August 2024 Review

05/09/2024 / / 5 Comments

August came and went fairly quickly, helped by a few days off at the beginning in Paris and then a long bank holiday weekend at the end. I managed to cross a few more of my TBR too, 13 this month and I am on target to reach my Good Reads total too. I am most of the way through my 20 Books of Summer Challenge and I read five towards that in August. One five star in August, all about notebooks.

Books Read

Music for Torching – A.M. Homes – Fiction – 2 Stars

Labyrinth (Languedoc, #1) – Kate Mosse – Fiction – 3 Stars

Sepulchre (Languedoc, #2) – Kate Mosse – Fiction – 3 Stars

Five Rivers Met On A Wooded Plane – Barney Norris – Fiction – 3 Stars

The Mask of Dimitrios – Eric Ambler – Fiction – 4 Stars

How to Adult: An Illustrated Guide – Stephen Wildish – Humour – 2 Stars

The Railway Man – Eric Lomax – Memoir – 3 Stars

Be a Birder: The Joy Of Birdwatching And How To Get Started – Hamza Yassin – Natural History – 3 Stars

Blossomise – Simon Armitage & Angela Harding – Poetry – 3.5 Stars

Orbital – Samantha Harvey – Science Fiction – 2.5 Stars

Teatime at Peggy’s: A Glimpse of Anglo-India – Clare Jenkins and Stephen McClarence – Travel – 4 Stars

All Boats Are Sinking: Navigating Life, Love and Locks on a Narrowboat – Hannah Pierce – Travel – 4 Stars

 

Book(s) Of The Month

The Notebook: A History Of Thinking On Paper – Ronald Allen – Miscellaneous – 5 Stars

 

Top Genres

Fiction – 27

Travel – 23

Natural History – 11

Poetry – 8

Memoir – 7

Science Fiction – 6

Humour – 3

History – 3

Miscellaneous – 2

Food – 2

Top Publishers

Bloomsbury – 7

Vintage – 4

Picador – 4

Saraband – 3

Eland – 3

Faber & Faber – 3

Canongate – 3

Salt – 2

Penguin Classics – 2

Jonathan Cape – 2

 

Review Copies Received

The Volunteers: A Memoir of Conservation, Companionship and Community – Carol Donaldson

All Boats Are Sinking: Navigating Life, Love and Locks on a Narrowboat – Hannah Pierce

Vagabond: A Hiker’s Homage to Rural Spain – Mark Eveleigh

On the Narrow Road to the Deep North: Journey into a Lost Japan – Lesley Chan Downer

 

Library Books Checked Out

Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments Into Extraordinary Results – Shane Parrish

 

Books Bought

1983 – Tom Cox (Signed)

Good Vibrations: Coast to Coast by Harley – Tom Cunliffe (Signed)

Rare Singles – Benjamin Myers (Signed)

Enchantment – Katherine May (Signed)

The Cruel Way – Ella Maillart

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan – Isabella L. Bird

The Yangtze Valley and Beyond – Isabella L. Bird

The Border – Erika Fatland

The Art of Discworld – Paul Kidby

Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather: The Illustrated Screenplay – Vadim Jean & Terry Pratchett

A Green and Pleasant Land: How England’s Gardeners Fought the Second World War – Ursula Buchan

Nature Obscura: A City’s Hidden Natural World – Kelly Brenner

Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog: Sniffing Out the Perfect Plot in Provence – Jamie Ivey

Turn Right at Istanbul: A Walk on the Gallipoli Peninsula – Tony Wright

Recipes from an Old Farmhouse – Alison Uttley

A House Somewhere: Tales of Life Abroad – Don George & Anthony Sattin (Ed)

The Secret Country: More Mysterious Britain – Janet & Colin Bord

The Stone Tide: Adventures At The End Of The World – Gareth E. Rees

West with the Light: My Life in Nature – Brian Jackman

On The Shores Of the Mediterranean – Eric Newby

The Wind In My Wheels – Josie Dew (Signed)

Venice – James Morris

The Broken Book – Fiona Farrell

The Illustrated Woman – Helen Mort

Forecast” A Diary Of The Lost Seasons – Joe Shute

Arabia: A Journey through the Heart of the Middle East – Levison Wood (Signed)

A Box Full of Spirits: Adventures of a film-maker in Africa – Leslie Woodhead

Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back – An Illustrated Guide – Isabella Tree & Angela Harding

Why We Travel: A Journey Into Human Motivation – Ash Bhardwaj

Gods, Ghosts, & Ancestors: Folk Religion in A Taiwanese Village – David K. Jordan

Philip K. Dick: In His Own Words – Philip K. Dick & Gregg Rickman

 

So are there any from that list that you have read, or now seeing them, now want to read? Let me know in the comments below.

 

September 2024 TBR

03/09/2024 / / 2 Comments

A little late posting this as I have a blog tour post yesterday and tend not to post over the weekend at the moment, still a stupidly long TBR, but am on the lat five of my 20 Books of Summer Challenge, two of which are huge, hence three very short books being included!

Still Reading

Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year – Ed. Jane McMorland Hunter

A Cloud a Day – Gavin Pretor-Pinney

A Year Of Garden Bees & Bugs: 52 stories of intriguing insects – Dominic Couzens & Gail Ashton

Citadel (Languedoc, #3) – Kate Mosse

Children of the Volcano – Ros Belford

 

Blog Tours

The Volunteers: A Memoir of Conservation, Companionship and Community – Carol Donaldson

All Boats Are Sinking: Navigating Life, Love and Locks on a Narrowboat – Hannah Pierce

Vagabond: A Hiker’s Homage to Rural Spain – Mark Eveleigh

 

Challenge Books

Citadel (Languedoc, #3) – Kate Mosse

The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami

The Gun Seller – Hugh Lawrie

Heart Of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

Seveneves – Neal Stephenson

 

Review Books

Bloom: From Food to Fuel, the Epic Story of How Algae Can Save Our World – Ruth Kassinger

Blue Mind: How Water Makes You Happier, More Connected and Better at What You Do – Wallace J. Nichols

The House Divided: Sunni, Shia and the Making of the Middle East – Barnaby Rogerson

Cornish Horrors: Tales from the Land’s End – Ed. Joan Passey

Scenes from Prehistoric Life: From the Ice Age to the coming of the Romans – Francis Pryor

Hunt for the Shadow Wolf: The Lost History of Wolves in Britain and the Myths and Stories That Surround Them – Derek Gow

The Long Unwinding Road: A Journey Through the Heart of Wales – Marc P. Jones

Hedgelands: A Wild Wander Around Britain’s Greatest Habitat – Christopher Hart

Brazilian Adventure – Peter Fleming

The Station – Athos: Treasures and Men – Robert Byron

One Fine Day: A Journey Through English Time – Ian Marchant

Slow Trains To Istanbul – Tom Chesshyre

A Ride Across America – Simon Parker

 

Library Books

How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything – Mike Berners-Lee

The Rosewater Redemption – Tade Thompson

Stone Will Answer: A Journey Guided by Craft, Myth and Geology – Beatrice Searle

Weathering – Ruth Allen

Sticky: The Secret Science of Surfaces – Laurie Winkless

All My Wild Mothers: A Memoir Of Motherhood, Loss And An Apothecary Garden – Victoria Bennet

 

Other Books

Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop? – Chris van Tulleken

The Haunted Places of Hampshire – Ian Fox

Salacious Sussex – Viv Croot

Discovering Timber-framed Buildings – Richard Harris

 

Poetry

Selling Manhattan – Carol Ann Duffy

 

Are there any that take your fancy from that list? Let me know in the comments below.

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