August 2025 Review

Well that was quite a month in lots of ways… See Books Bought at the end to see why. I did manage to read 14 in the end as we had lots going on at home, include my daughters major surgery and making the decision that we need to move house for various reasons. Anyway, you’re here for the books and this is what I read last month:

 

Books Read

Sixty Harvests Left: How to Reach a Nature-Friendly Future – Philip Lymbery – Environmental – 4 Stars

The Man Who Planted Trees – Jean Giono, Harry Brockway (Ill) & Aline Giono – Fiction – 3 Stars

A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow Us – Poppy Okotcha – Gardening – 3 Stars

What Is Your Cat Really Thinking? – Sophie Johnson & Danny Cameron – Humour – 2.5 Stars

Trees In Winter – Richard Shimell – Memoir – 4 Stars

Our Oaken Bones: Reviving A Family, A Farm And Britain’s Ancient Rainforests – Merlin Hanbury-Tenison – Natural History – 3.5 Stars

Neurodivergent, By Nature: Why Biodiversity Needs Neurodiversity – Joe Harkness – Navigation – 4 Stars

Abandoned Churches: Unclaimed Places of Worship – Francis Meslet – Photography – 3.5 Stars

The Peace Of Wild Things – Wendell Berry – Poetry – 3 Stars

The Three Body Problem – Ci Xin Liu – Science Fiction – 3.5 Stars

A Second Chance at Eden – Peter F. Hamilton – Science Fiction – 3.5 Stars

The Postal Paths: Rediscovering Britain’s Forgotten Routes – And The People Who Walked Them – Alan Cleaver – Social History – 4 Stars

 

Book(s) Of The Month

Under A Metal Sky: A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder – Philip Marsden – Geology – 4.5 Stars

The Laundromat: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite – Jake Bernstein – True Crime – 4.5 Stars

 

Top Genres

Travel – 17

Fiction – 10

Natural History – 10

Poetry – 8

Science Fiction – 7

 

Top Publishers

Faber & Faber – 7

Picador – 4

Simon & Schuster – 4

Canongate – 4

Bloomsbury – 4

Eland – 4

 

Review Copies Received

Little Ruins – Manni Coe

 

Library Books Checked Out

Night Train To Odesa: Covering The Human Cost of Russia’s War – Jen Stout

A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow Us – Poppy Okotcha

Postal Paths: Rediscovering Britain’s Forgotten Routes – And The People Who Walked Them – Alan Cleaver

Church Going: A Stonemason’s Guide To The Churches Of The British Isles – Andrew Ziminski

Landscape, Monuments and Society: The Prehistory of Cranborne Chase – “John Barrett, Richard J. Bradley & Martin T. Green (Ed)”

 

Books Bought (Or Sent by Friends)

As I have said elsewhere, I am trying to buy fewer books. So I will give totals of l the number of books that enter my house and those that leave permanently. These are the figures for June:

August Books in: 13

August Books out: 229 (The books leaving the house were sold, returned to the library or passed on to friends or charity. I am aiming for this number to be higher than the one above!!!). I kept these below:

Spring – Michael Morpurgo

Slow Boat to Uragruy – Andrew Tunstall

 

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.

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2 Comments

  1. Walking Away

    All the best to your daughter and her recovery

    • Paul

      Thank you!

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