I haven’t been reading as much as I normally do or would like, but I fully intend to read as many of these as possible this month
Finishing Off
Diary of a Young Naturalist – Dara McAnulty
A Tall History of Sugar Curdella Forbes
Vickery’s Folk Flora – Roy Vickery
Lands Of Lost Borders – Kate Harris
Hollow Places – Christopher Hadley
Lotharingia – Simon Winder
Review Copies
American Dirt – Jeanie Cummins (wavering on this one a little with all the publicity about this)
A Good Neighbourhood – Therese Anne Fowler
Mother: A Memoir – Nicholas Royle
The Dictatorship Syndrome – Alaa Al Aswany
The Birds They Sang – Stanisław Łubieński
The Bystander Effect – Catherine A. Sanderson
The Many Lives of Carbon – Dag Olav Hessen, Tr. Kerri Pierce
30-Second Elements – Eric Scerri
Elementary – James M. Russell
The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers – Moritz Thomsen
The Book of Puka-Puka: A Lone Trader in the South Pacific Robert – Dean Frisbie
The House of Islam – Ed Husain
Blue Mind: How Water Makes You Happier, More Connected and Better at What You Do – Wallace J. Nichols
When the Rivers Run Dry: Water – The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century – Fred Pearce
The Glass Woman – Caroline Lea
Sunfall – Jim Al-Khalili
Library Books
The Stonemason – Andrew Ziminski
Sea People – Christina Thompson
The Way To The Sea – Caroline Crampton
A Beginner’s Guide To Japan – Pico Iyer
Pie Fidelity – Pete Brown
The Bells of Old Tokyo – Anna Sherman
Challenge Books
Unseen Academicals – Terry Pratchett
Herbaceous – Paul Evans
Own Books
Emperors, Admirals and Chimney Sweepers – Peter Marren
Water and Sky – Neil Sentance
Ridge and Furrow – Neil Sentance
Poetry
The Mizzy – Paul Farley
White Light White Peak – Simon Corble
Science Fiction
I ended up reading Agency last month so this is still on the list:
One Way – S.J. Morden
I read American Dirt before everything kicked off and really enjoyed it. I think the key is to just think of it as a thriller with timely elements and (if you can) avoid engaging about the issues of cultural appropriation and publishing politics. A Good Neighbourhood was also really good, though I’m surprised Fowler hasn’t come in for the same kind of criticism Cummins did considering that she writes about the experience of African Americans. Neither necessarily strikes me as your kind of book, but all you can do is give them a go!
They are not really my thing, but I was sent them, so there is a certain amount of obligation. Isn’t a lot of fiction cultural appropriation though?
Are the review books feeling a bit overwhelming at the moment? I was a bit horrified when I took a proper look at my NetGalley list! Some good reads in here I’m sure. Happy May!
Always! Hence why I have made the decision to not request almost any this year and either buy them, get them from the library or just read the multitude of books I have around the house.