As much as I like the two bank holidays in May, I do wish they’d move one to another month. July, for example. Anyway, it does give more time for reading, well it would of if we hadn’t been away both weekends, flat viewing for my daughter who is starting a Phd in October and then away in the Cotswolds for the MiL’s 80th birthday. That said, I did manage to read 14 books:
Books Read
The Atlas of Unusual Borders: Discover Intriguing Boundaries, Territories and Geographical Curiosities– Zoran Nikolić
Banksy: Wall & Piece – Banksy – 3.5 Stars
Behavioural Economics Saved My Dog: Life Advice For The Imperfect Human – Dan Ariely – 3 Stars
Tideways and Byways in Essex and Suffolk – Archie White – 3.5 Stars
Positive Linking: How Networks Can Revolutionise Your World – Paul Ormerod – 3 Stars
The Corn Bride – Mark Stay – 4 Stars
Fair Rosaline – Natasha Solomons – 2 Stars
Welcome To Paradise – Mahi Binebine & Lulu Norman (Tr) – 4 Stars
The Antidote: Happiness For People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking – Oliver Burkeman – 3 Stars
The Orchid Outlaw: On A Mission To Save Britain’s Rarest Flowers – Ben Jacob – 3.5 Stars
Raw – Patience Agbabi – 3 Stars
Stone Will Answer: A Journey Guided by Craft, Myth and Geology – Beatrice Searle – 2.5 Stars
Cocaine Train: Tracing My Bloodline Through Colombia – Stephen Smith – 4 Stars
Book(s) Of The Month
We Came By Sea – Horatio Clare – 5 Stars
Top Genres
Travel – 15
Fiction – 8
Natural History – 7
Poetry – 5
Photography – 5
Top Publishers
Faber & Faber
Eland
Oneworld
Picador
Simon & Schuster
Review Copies Received
Medusa: A Novel of Mystery, Ecstasy and Strange Horror – E. H. Visiak
Spores of Doom: Dank Tales of the Fungal Weird – Aaron Worth (Ed)
The Whispers of Rock – Anjana Khatwa
Neurodivergent, By Nature: Why Biodiversity Needs Neurodiversity – Joe Harkness
Library Books Checked Out
Cabin: How To Build A Retreat In The Wilderness And Learn To Live With Nature – Will Jones
The Shipping Forecast – Meg Clothier
The Antidote: Happiness For People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking – Oliver Burkeman
The Corn Bride – Mark Stay
The Drowned Places: Diving In Search O\f Atlantis – Damian le Bas
Normally Weird And Weirdly Normal: My Adventures In Neurodiversity – Robin Ince
Renaturing: Small Ways To Wild The World – James Canton
The Anechoic Chamber And Other Weird Tales – Will Wiles
What The Wild Sea Can Be: The Future Of The World’s Ocean – Helen Scales
The North Road – Rob Cowen
Meditations For Mortals: Four Weeks To Embrace Your Limitations And Make Time For What Counts – Oliver Burkeman
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 May:
May Books in: 43
May Books out: 52 (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:
Is a River Alive? – Robert Macfarlane (signed)
36 Islands: In Search Of The Hidden Wonders Of The Lake District And A Few Other Things Too – Robert Twigger
The Meteorites: Encounters with Outer Space & Deep Time – Helen Gordon
I Bought a Mountain – Thomas Firbank
The Desert And The Sown – Gertrude Bell
Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers – Emma Smith
Wildly Different: How Five Women Reclaimed Nature In A Man’s World – Sarah Lonsdale
Ulverton – Adam Thorpe
The Hunt for the Golden Mole: All Creatures Great & Small and Why They Matter – Richard Girling
The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe – Douglas Rogers
A Venetian Bestiary – Jan Morris
Antlers of Water: Writing on the Nature and Environment of Scotland – Kathleen Jamie (Ed.)
A Year in the New Forest – Pete Gilbert, Zac Gilbert & Hugh Lohan (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.
Well done with your books in: books out ratio!
Thank you, Elle!
Nice ratio! Do you find yourself rushing to Oxfam Books to donate at the end of the month to make it come out? I’m so glad of your influence with this as the Piles are reducing nicely both in my study and the paperback shelves upstairs! The North Road is the one of these I fancy – and I’d like to hear what you thought of The Orchid Outlaw as I’ve read that.
Thank you, Liz. I sold 30 odd books last month plus returned a box full (plus extras) to Sarah’s aunt. You managed to comment on this post ok then?
Aha! I haven’t got as far as selling them! And yes, indeed, but I can’t remember whether I tried to reply on this one or the other one first!