July 2023 Review

I am very late in posting this as I have been away to Jersey and came back last weekend. And then have been busy doing lots of other things this week.

Anyway, July was a good reading month, with two books making my book of the month

Books Read

Circles And Tangents: Art In The Shadow Of Cranborne Chase – Vivienne Mary Light – 4 Stars

The Bedlam Stacks – Natasha Pulley – 2 Stars

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street – Natasha Pulley – 3 Stars

Don’t Look Now – Daphne du Maurier – 2 Stars

One August Night – Victoria Hislop – 2.5 Stars

The Last Dance And Other Stories – Victoria Hislop – 2.5 Stars

Blood Storm – Colin Forbes – 3 Stars

The Mermaid of Black Conch – Monique Roffey – 3.5 Stars

Himself – Jess Kidd – 3.5 Stars

Elowen: A Story of Grief and Love – William Henry Searle – 4 Stars

A Trillion Trees: How We Can Reforest Our World – Fred Pearce – 3.5 Stars

Out For Air – Olly Todd – 3 Stars

We, Robots: Staying Human In The Age Of Big Data – Curtis White – 2.5 Stars

Venice: The Lion, The City And The Water – Cees Nooteboom – 4 Stars

 

Book(s) Of The Month

La Vie: A Year In Rural France – John Lewis-Stempel – 4.5 Stars

The Swimmer: The Wild Life Of Roger Deakin – Patrick Barkham – 5 Stars

 

Top Genres

Fiction – 18

Natural History – 15

Travel – 15

Poetry – 10

Memoir – 8

History – 6

Science Fiction – 6

Fantasy – 5

Art – 3

Photography – 3

 

Top Publishers

Faber & Faber – 8

Bloomsbury – 5

Penguin – 4

Little Toller – 4

Simon & Schuster – 4

Monoray – 3

Chatto & Windus – 3

William Collins – 3

Doubleday – 3

Michael Joseph – 3

 

Review Copies Received

Walking The Wharfe: An Ode to a Yorkshire River – Johno Ellison

A Fenland Garden: Creating a haven for people, plants and wildlife in the Lincolnshire Fens – Francis Pryor

The Uncanny Gastronomic: Strange Tales of the Edible Weird – Ed. Zara-Louise Stubbs

Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny – Ed. Fiona Snailham

 

Library Books Checked Out

A Flat Place: A Memoir – Noreen Masud

Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, And Why It Matters – Oliver Franklin-Wallis

One Midsummer’s Day: Swifts And The Story Of Life On Earth – Mark Cocker

The Invention Of Essex: The Making Of An English County – Tim Burrows

Borderland: A Journey Through The History Of Ukraine – Anna Reid

Some Of Us Just Fall: On Nature And Not Getting Better – Polly Atkin

Ravenous: How To Get Ourselves And Our Planet Into Shape – Henry Dimbleby

The Only Gaijin In The Village – Iain Maloney

One Thousand Shades Of Green: A Year In Search Of Britain’S Wild Plants – Mike Dilger

Where The Seals Sing – Susan Richardson

Footprints in the Woods: The Secret Life of Forest and Riverbank – John Lister-Kaye

 

Books Bought

Wayfinding: The Art And Science Of How We Find And Lose Our Way – Michael Bond

One More Croissant for the Road – Felicity Cloake (Signed)

Tojours Provence – Peter Mayle (Signed)

Treacle Walker – Alan Garner

Gone Bones – Margaret Atwood (Signed)

Bridges – David McFetrich & Jo Parsons

Harry Mount’s Odyssey: Ancient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus – Harry Mount

The Heavens – Sandra Newman

Follow This Thread: A Maze Book to Get Lost In – Henry Eliot

From Yukon to Yucatan: A Journey of Discovery in the Footsteps of America’s First Travellers – Irwin Allan Sealy

Farming – J.H. Bettey

The Gallows Pole – Benjamin Myers

Bitter Lemons – Lawrence Durrell

Motoring With Mohammed: Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea – Eric Hansen

A Shepherd’s Life – W. H. Hudson

Against Straight Lines: Alone in Labrador – Robert Perkins

The Old Stones: A Field Guide to the Megalithic Sites of Britain and Ireland – Andy Burnham

A Far Country: Travels in Ethiopia – Philip Marsden-Smedley

Raven Seek Thy Brother – Gavin Maxwell

The Lonely Planet Travel Anthology – Lonely Planet

An Introduction to William Barnes – Douglas Ashdown

Setting the Poem to Words – David Hart

The Skin Spinners: Poems – Joan Aiken

 

Are there any from that list that you may have read or having now seen, would like to read at some point? Let me know what you read above in July in the comments below.

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4 Comments

  1. Liz Dexter

    I’m glad the book on Deakin is good as I like both him and Barkham. And the Essex one piques my curiosity for work reasons if nothing else!

    • Paul

      I was really good. I am just reading the Essex book at the moment and enjoying it

  2. kaggsysbookishramblings

    Ah, Lewis-Stempel! Just discovered him myself – really need to explore more, don’t I?

    • Paul

      So many book, so little time. He is a great author

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