Blink and February has gone. I didn’t feel as long as January did. I think that the lengthening days helps. This time of year always makes me think of one of my favourite Kathleen Jamie quote:
Every year, in the third week of February, there is a day, or more usually a run of days, when one can say for sure that the light is back. Some juncture has been reached and the light spills into the world from a sun suddenly higher in the sky.
And it is true. You can sense the days getting longer, but then all of a sudden the days seem full of light and the promise of summer. If you haven’t read her books by the way, you really should do so. Anyway, you’re hopefully here about the books. Here is my totally ambitious plan for the books that I am intending on reading in March. I have split them into categories as usual, it helps me get my head around all the books that I am wanting to read.
Finishing Off (Still!)
The Marsh Arabs – Wilfred Theisger
Mrs Moreau’s Warbler How Birds Got Their Names – Stephen Moss
Lotharingia: A Personal History Of Europe’s Lost Country – Simon Winder
A Reed Shaken By The Wind: Travels Among The Marsh Arabs Of Iraq – Gavin Maxwell
Return To The Marshes – Gavin Young
BLOG TOUR
The Notebook – Tom Cox
Review Copies
Wyntertide – Andrew Caldecot
In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate The World – Simon Garfield
Stroke: A 5% Chance of Survival – Ricky Monhan Brown
The First of Everything: A History of Human Invention, Innovation and Discovery – Stewart Ross
Behind the Enigma: The Authorized History of GCHQ, Britain’s Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency – John Ferris
Astral Travel – Elizabeth Baines
The Germans and Europe: A Personal Frontline History -Peter Millar
Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society – Ronald J. Deibert
Britain Alone: The Path from Suez to Brexit – Philip Stephens
Like Fado – Graham Mort
Million-Story City: The Undiscovered Writings of Marcus Preece – Marcus Preece (Malu Halasa & Aura Saxén Editors)
How to be Sad: Everything I’ve learned about getting happier, by being sad, better – Helen Russell
Touring the Land of the Dead – Maki Kashimada Tr. Haydn Trowell
Barn Club: A Tale of Forgotten Elm Trees, Traditional Craft and Community Spirit – Robert Somerville
The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st-Century Technology? – Tracey Follows
Finding True North: The Healing Power of Place – Linda Gask
Hyphens Hashtags*: *The stories behind the symbols on our keyboard – Claire Cock-Starkey
Library
A Beginner’s Guide To Japan: Observations And Provocations – Pico Iyer
Constellations: Reflections From Life – Sinéad Gleeson
The Bells of Old Tokyo: Travels in Japanese Time – Anna Sherman
Everybody Lies: What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are – Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Road Trip – Paul Theroux
Books to Clear
Our Kind of Traitor- John Le Carré
Symbols: A Universal Language- Joseph Piercy
So Long, See You Tomorrow- William Maxwell
Poetry
Desert Air: Arabia, Deserts And The Orient Of The Imagination- Ed. Barnaby Rogerson
Springlines – Clare Best and Mary Anne Aytoun-Ellis
Challenge Books
From Rome to San Marino: A Walk in the Steps of Garibaldi- Oliver Knox
Hokkaido Highway Blues- Will Ferguson
Stanford Award
Without Ever Reaching the Summit- Paolo Cognetti
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
Shadow City: A Woman Walks Kabul- Taran Khan
Travelling While Black- Nanjala Nyabola
Owls of the Eastern Ice: The Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl- Jonathan C. Slaght
Science Fiction
None this month; have you not seen all the books above ^^^
That is quite some list. There are a moderate number of shorter books, which will help, but still…
That is one helluva list!
Probably too ambitious, but does give me the option to pick and chose a bit.
I’m juggling a lot of reading at the moment too but nothing compared to you! A beta read, and have two other books on my radar at the moment. Reviews to come after my book launch.
I have always read a lot, but have now reached the level where I can read and do other things too. It isn’t the easiest time at the moment, what with Covid, politics etc etc etc…
Big list! I have Hyphens and Hashtags, too (reviewing it for Shiny) and I will be most interested in your review of Travelling While Black. Happy reading!
Thank you, Liz. It is big (probably too big). I need to spend less time on social media and more time reading!