Category: Book Musings (Page 3 of 29)

Blogging

As I have said before, I have always tended to think of myself as a reader who blogs rather than just a book blogger. This is shaping how I blogged last year and even more so in this coming year. I will be scaling back the number of books that I will be reading and reviewing this year because of a mini-family crisis that needs some of my attention.

I am still here and still blogging. I am reviewing a bit less than before, but I am endeavouring to get through my review backlist. However, that might take some time… I have a series of blog posts about bookish related this for this year ( I was aiming for one a month, but only have eight ideas at the moment!)

 

Books

Review Books

I am forever grateful for every single review copy that I receive. I am making a concerted plan to work through all of the review books that I have been sent and much reducing the number that I request still further. That said, I would be delighted to receive some of the books that were on my anticipated list…

I feel that the advent of TikToc means that some of what I am doing and reading will be seen as unfashionable and not hip. I don’t really mind; I am going to keep reading the books I want to do and helping the small publishers that still send me books by supporting them where ever I can.

 

My Own Books

I have been cataloguing the books that I have in the past few months, and have found several duplicates, some of which I have passed on and others will be given away on social media channels occasionally. I have passed 2000 books so far and have a growing list of books that I want to read and pass on.

I have been cataloging my books this year and have passed on the last of the duplicate this week. I have a lot to read that I don’t want to keep so there will be more being passed on to others.

 

Library Books

I have managed to reduce the number of books that I have out from the library and on one card even got down to half full! But I know that I can do better on this and I am aiming to have only one shelf of library books. I am not that far off achieving this.

I have only got 33 books out across both cards now so it is coming down steadily. Won’t stop using the library though, they are still a key resource in this day and age.

 

Reading Plans

I am fairly happy with the mix of books that I am reading at the moment. I feel that I got the balance right between travel writing and natural history books last year, but as these make up the bulk of my collection, then I want to read more of them. I also want to read more science fiction and fiction, because, hey, why not? I also have some other intentions detailed below, that whilst not set in stone, I would like to achieve.

Still fairly happy with this mix.

 

Female Authors

I am going to keep my target of reading women authors at 40% for 2024.

And I achieved it!

 

BAME Authors

I had my target set to 12 last year and I am going to set the same again for 2024. Slowly more BAME authors are being commissioned in the genres that I like reading, but it is sadly too few still.

I read 14 in the end. I have changed from BAME to P of C, though I may revise that to ethnic minority as that seems to be what the official guidance now recommends. Any thoughts?

 

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Aiming again to average at least one a month for this. Science fiction is good for expanding the mind and as Terry Pratchett says: Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can.

Didn’t quite make this as I had only read 10 by the end of the year.

 

Fiction

I don’t read or buy a huge amount of fiction, but I do have a lot around that I have acquired or been sent. This year I am going to make an effort to read at least one fiction book a month. I probably won’t review them, but it depends on the book.

My target was 12 for 2024, but read 34 in the end!

 

Poetry

I am aiming to read one poetry book a month this year.

Met this target too.

 

Photobooks

I have bought an awful lot of art & photobooks in the past two years and I want to read some of these books next year. Aiming to read at least around six of these in 2024.

Er. One. Oops!

 

Literary Awards

Last year I was a bit better at reading some of the shortlisted books from my favourite prizes (as usual). I did manage to read some from the minor prizes too, but still have a long list of books that I haven’t quite got to read yet… The same list of prizes from last year:

Wainwright

Stanford

Royal Society

Baillie Gifford

Arthur C Clarke

I would like to read some of the winners from other prizes too, including:

The Republic Of Consciousness Prize

Rathbones Folio Prize

Women’s Prize for Fiction

Jhalak Prize

The Portico Prize

I have all bar the winner of the 2024 Dolman travel award books and Read eight of the twelve longlisted Wainwright prize. Didn’t really read many outside of those two prizes

 

Challenges

I quite like book challenges. It is a way of finding new books that you might not have come across before to fit a particular brief. It kind of follows my philosophy of reading widely and reading deeply.

The World From My Armchair Challenge

My ongoing challenge is to read a travel book set in or that passes through every country, sea and ocean in the world. I did really badly at this last year as I only read one book (!!!) for the challenge. Aiming to read at least twelve for this and there will be an update on a blog post sometime in February.

Nature Challenge

There is no challenge this year for the Nature group that I am in so I will roll over the books that I didn’t read to this years reading to complete it.

20 Books of Summer

This is run by the blogger, Cathy of 746 books. I normally sign up to read 20 books and will do so again this summer. Last year was the first time I completed it too!

Completed this. In November. Oops!

 

Other Bookish Stuff

Cataloguing Books

I have started cataloguing my books now. I have catalogued five bookcases and have five more to go, plus the piles that are scattered hither and thither around the house. So far I have 2150 books and actual shelf locations for about half of them. In the end, I decided on a spreadsheet rather than using an app. I have found several duplicates and these have been passed on. Around 10% of my collection is signed too, I hadn’t realised that I had so many books scribbled in by the author.

I am still going on this. It was quite eye-opening just how many books I have and have been reliable informed that I have to get rid of some!!

 

Spreadsheets

I wrote about this back in 2023 here. I have now made further refinements and will write another post about these changes later in the year. So far these changes seem to be an improvement on what I have used up until now.

I have refined what I am doing on this and it is working much better, I have the notes to type up soon for a blog post for the part 2.

 

Bookshelves

I wrote a blog post showing all my shelves here. I have drawn up a plan for what genre of books that I want on which shelf, and this will be implemented following me reading a clearing out a fair number of books. There will be a mid-stage post later in the year when I have made significant progress on tiding up!

This might happen. Depends on how tidy I can get them!

 

How are we finished with that year already? I was just getting the hang of it. Anyway, here is what I read in December:

 

Books Read

An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding – Eoghan Daltun – 4 Stars

Oaklore – Jules Acton – 4 Stars

Foothold – Pam Zinnemann-Hope – 3 Stars

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow – Natasha Pulley – 2.5 Stars

Cornish Horrors: Tales from the Land’s End – Ed. Joan Passey – 3 Stars

The Masquerades of Spring – Ben Aaronovitch – 3.5 Stars

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics – Tim Marshall – 3.5 Stars

A Year Of Garden Bees & Bugs: 52 stories of intriguing insects – Dominic Couzens & Gail Ashton – 4 Stars

Prisoners of Geography: The Quiz Book: How Much Do You Really Know About the World? – Tim Marshall – 3.5 Stars

Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year – Ed. Jane McMorland Hunter – 3.5 Stars

 

Book(s) Of The Month

The Heart Of The Woods – Wyl Menmuir – 5 Stars

 

Top Genres

Fiction – 34

Travel – 30

Natural History – 18

Poetry – 12

Memoir – 9

Science Fiction – 8

Science – 5

Miscellaneous – 4

History – 4

Food & Drink – 3

 

Top Publishers

Bloomsbury – 8

Elliott & Thompson – 5

Eland – 5

Vintage – 5

Summersdale – 4

Faber & Faber – 4

Picador – 4

Canongate – 4

Penguin Classics – 3

Orbit – 3

 

Review Copies Received

A Quiet Evening – Norman Lewis

The Haunted Vintage – Marjorie Bowen

Summoned to the Séance: Spirit Tales from Beyond the Veil – Emily Vincent

 

Library Books Checked Out

A Tree A Day – Amy-Jane Beer

 

Books Bought

Transit Of Venus: Travels In The Pacific – Julian Evans

The Pharaoh’s Shadow: Travels In Ancient And Modern Egypt – Anthony Sattin

The Undefeated – George Paloczi-Horvath

The Place of Tides – James Rebanks (Signed)

On the Shadow Tracks: A Journey through Occupied Myanmar – Clare Hammond

Stormforce, an Otter’s Tal – David Chaffe (Signed)

Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams – Ian Marchant

Woodsman: Living In A Wood In The 21st Century – Ben Law

The New English Landscape – Ken Worpole

Ghost Milk: Calling Time on the Grand Project – Iain Sinclair

A House in Sicily – Daphne Phelps

Blue Highways: A Journey into America – William Least Heat-Moon

Heida – Steinunn Sigurðardóttir

In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor – Deborah Devonshire, Patrick Leigh Fermor & Charlotte Mosley (Ed)

Designing Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – Paul Kidby

Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France – Helen Martin

Hermit Of Peking: The Hidden Life Of Sir Edmund Backhouse – Hugh Trevor-Roper

Dawdling Through The Danube – Edward Enfield

 

I have been told that I need to clear some books too 🙁

 

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.

Of all the 150 books that I have read in 2024, these are the ones that had covers that I liked the most. They are in no particular order and my favourite is at the bottom.

 

Another year, and the hope and possibilities of another large pile of books to read. I am doing things a little differently this year, even though I will still publish a monthly TBR a lot of what I am going to be reading I have already chosen on a planning matrix that I have developed to ensure that I include books that meet the plans that I had written about in my intentions here. If you like to see that, let me know & I can email you a link to the file

 

Daily Books

A Tree A Day – Amy-Jane Beer

An Insect a Day: Bees, Bugs, And Pollinators For Every Day Of The Year – Dominic Couzens & Gail Ashton

 

Review Books

Polar Horrors: Strange Tales from the World’s Ends – John Miller (Ed)

While the Earth Holds its Breath: Embracing The Winter Season – Helen Moat

Handbook of Mammals of Madagascar Hardcover – Nick Garbutt

From Utmost East to Utmost West: My Life Of Exploration And Adventure – John Blashford-Snell

To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope – Jeanne Marie Laskas

21 Lessons for the 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari

A Quiet Evening – Norman Lewis

 

Standford

Wild Twin – Jeff Young

The Place of Tides – James Rebanks

On the Shadow Tracks: A Journey through Occupied Myanmar – Clare Hammond

Slow Trains To Istanbul – Tom Chesshyre

 

Themed Reads

Mountain Modern: Contemporary Homes in High Places – Dominic Bradbury

Iconicon: A Journey Around The Landmark Buildings Of Contemporary Britain – John Grindrod

Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation – Edward Glaeser, David Cutler

 

Clearance

Growing Old Disgracefully – Silvey-Jex

 

Library

The Story of Silbury Hill – Jim Leary & David Field

The Stirrings: A Memoir In Northern Time – Catherine Taylor

Weathering – Ruth Allen

 

Bookclub

The Twelve Days of Murder – Andreina Cordani

 

Poetry

milk and honey – Rupi Kaur

 

Are there any from the list above that you’ve read or like the look of? Let me know in the comments below

Five years ago I wrote a blog post as a response to yet another book list that the great and the good in the literary world insist are the books that everyone should read. That post is here.  I thought that after five years I needed to add to that list of books that I have discovered and read in that time.

My previous list has generally been received well, bar one person who though my fiction choices were not worthy of being on my list. And that kind of proved the point of what I was trying to do, we select the culture that we want to consume, be it books, films, art and theatre. Having it imposed on us, by someone who thinks that their opinions and choices are more worthy than your own, is just utterly wrong.

Revisiting it was also prompted by the New Time posting their 100 Best Books of the 21st Century earlier this year, their post is here

These were chosen by 503 authors, primarily novelists , with a little assistance from the NYT staff. The fill list is heavily biased towards novels and it gives you the option of selecting the books that you have read in the past or are on your TBR. Here are mine:

    

As you can see, I haven’t read that many and haven’t got plans to read many more…

I thought the same when I read the BBC list five years ago that made me write the blog post: I am not sure how some of these books got there. It feels like people want to be seen to be reading the books that they feel should be seen reading, rather than being passionate about them.

I have come to the conclusion that forging my own reading path is the way to go. I have read enough books over the years to know what I want to read, but it is always good to push the boundaries. I chose books based on a number of factors, who wrote it, what genre it is, the subject matter, does the premise of the story look interesting and even did the cover made me want to pick it up. Very rarely do I read a terrible book, however, not all of the books I pick up, I like, and it is almost always because it didn’t work for me.

If people come along for the walk with me and discover new things for themselves then that is great. And that is the fundamental point here; the books I have listed below are those that I have loved for a variety of reasons, that at the time I read them meant a lot to me. Not everyone will have the same opinion on these books, and I am not going to insist people read them. However, if you are looking for a recommendation for a book from a particular genre, I hope that you find one from the list below to try.

 

So here they are:

Art

Feather, Leaf, Bark & Stone by Jackie Morris

Ravilious: Wood Engravings by James Russell

England on Fire: A Visual Journey through Albion’s Psychic Landscape by Stephen Ellcock& Mat Osman

 

Biography

Tales From The Life Of Bruce Wannell: Adventurer, Linguist, Orientalist by Ed. Barnaby Rogerson & Rose Baring

The Swimmer: The Wild Life Of Roger Deakin by Patrick Barkham

 

Books

The Book Collectors of Daraya: A Band of Syrian Rebels, Their Underground Library, and the Stories that Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui

The Bookseller’s Tale by Martin Latham

White Spines: Confessions Of A Book Collector by Nicholas Royle

Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive’s Tour Of The Bookshops Of Britain by Robin Ince

Dark, Salt, Clear: Life in a Cornish Fishing Village by Lamorna Ash

 

Dorset

Real Dorset by Jon Woolcott

Lost Dorset: The Towns by David Burnett

 

Economics

Moneyland: Why Thieves and Crooks Now Rule the World and How to Take It Back by Oliver Bullough

 

Environmental

The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables For A Planet In Crisis by Amitav Ghosh

Rebirding: Rewilding Britain and Its Birds by Benedict MacDonald

Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide by Bill McGuire

Silent Earth: Averting The Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson

Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval by Gaia Vince

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

Fire, Storm & Flood: The Violence of Climate Change by James Dyke

Irreplaceable: The Fight To Save Our Wild Places by Julian Hoffman

 

Fantasy

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett

The Shepherds Crown by Terry Pratchett

Seriously Funny: The Endlessly Quotable Terry Pratchett by Terry Pratchett

 

Fiction

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

London Incognita by Gary Budden

Fox Fires by Wyl Menmuir

 

Food & Drink

Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino

 

Gardening

Grounding: Finding Home In A Garden by Lulah Ellender

 

History

Mudlarking: Lost And Found On The River Thames by Lara Maiklem

London Clay: Journeys into the Deep City by Tom Chivers

Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain by Corrine Fowler

 

Landscape

Unofficial Britain: Journeys Through Unexpected Places by Gareth E. Rees

Field Notes: Walking The Territory by Maxim Peter Griffin

The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us by Nick Hayes

Wild Service: A Culture Of Connection And Care by Nick Hayes (Ed)

Where: Life and Death In the Shropshire Hills by Simon Moreton

 

Media

The Age of Static: How TV Explains Modern Britain by Phil Harrison

 

Memoir

Two Lights: Walking through Landscapes of Loss and Life by James Roberts

Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadowplay by Jeff Young

Seaglass: Essays, Moments and Reflections by Kathryn Tann

Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh

Spring Rain by Marc Hamer

Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir Of Poverty, Nature And Resilience by Natasha Carthew

Water and Sky: Voices from the Riverside by Neil Sentance

Rural: The Lives Of The Working Class Countryside by Rebecca Smith

 

Mental Health

How To Be Sad: Everything I’ve Learned About Getting Happier, By Being Sad, Better by Helen Russell

 

Miscellaneous

Music To Eat Cake By: Essays on Birds, Words and Everything in Between by Lev Parikian

The Notebook: A History Of Thinking On Paper by Ronald Allen

 

Natural History

Singing Like Larks: A Celebration Of Birds In Folk Songs by Andrew Millham

Orchard: A Year In England’s Eden by Benedict MacDonald & Nicholas Gates

On Gallows Down: A Memoir by Nicola Chester

Wild About Dorset: The Nature Diary of a West Country Parish by Brian Jackman

The Screaming Sky by Charles Foster

The Book Of Pebbles: From Prehistory To The Pet Shop Boys by Christopher Stocks

Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty

The New Wild by Fred Pearce

The Lost Rainforests Of Britain by Guy Shrubsole

Rock Pool: Extraordinary Encounters Between the Tides by Heather Buttivant

Cull of the Wild: Killing in the Name of Conservation by Hugh Warwick

Much Ado About Mothing: A Year Intoxicated By Britain’s Rare And Remarkable Moths by James Lowen

Cairn by Kathleen Jamie

The Language of Trees: How Trees Make Our World, Change Our Minds and Rewild Our Lives by Katie Holten

Into The Tangled Bank: In Which Our Author Ventures Outdoors to Consider the British in Nature by Lev Parikian

Light Rains Sometimes Fall: A British Year Through Japan’s 72 Ancient Seasons by Lev Parikian

The Lost Orchards: Redicovering The Forgotten Cider Apples Of Dorset by Liz Copas & Nick Poole

The Circling Sky: On Nature and Belonging in an English Forest by Neil Ansell

Emperors, Admirals and Chimney Sweepers: The Naming of Butterflies and Moths by Peter Marren

Living with Trees: A Common Ground Handbook by Robin Walter

Shearwater: A Bird, an Ocean, and a Long Way Home by Roger Morgan-Grenville

Restoring The Wild: Sixty Years of Rewilding Our Skies, Woods and Waterways by Roy Dennis

Vickery’s Folk Flora: An A-Z of the Folklore and Uses of British and Irish Plants by Roy Vickery

Skylarks With Rosie: A Somerset Spring by Stephen Moss

Nests by Susan Ogilvy

Greenery by Tim Dee

The Draw Of The Sea by Wyl Menmuir

Late Light: Finding Home In The West Country by Michael Malay

 

Poetry

Springlines: Exploring Hidden and Mysterious Bodies of Water by Clare Best and Mary Anne Aytoun-Ellis

The Heeding by Rob Cowen & Nick Hayes

 

Prehistory

Grounded: A Journey Into The Landscapes Of Our Ancestors by James Canton

 

Science

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias In A World Designed For Men by Caroline Criado-Perez

Taking Flight: A Celebration Of The Miraculous Phenomenon Of Flight by Lev Parikian

A Natural History Of The Future: What The Laws Of Biology Tell Us About The Destiny Of The Human Species by Rob Dunn

Science Fiction

Doggerland by Ben Smith

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill

Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Before Mars by Emma Newman

Atlas Alone by Emma Newman

Under The Blue by Oana Aristide

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson

 

Social History

The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save it by Stuart Maconie

 

Sport

Where There’s A Will by Emily Chappell

 

Technology

This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends: The Cyber Weapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth

 

Travel

Notes from the Cévennes: Half a Lifetime in Provincial France by Adam Thorpe

Local: A Search for Nearby Nature and Wildness by Alastair Humphreys

The Bells of Old Tokyo: Travels in Japanese Time by Anna Sherman

Red Sands: Reportage and Recipes Through Central Asia, from Hinterland to Heartland by Caroline Eden

The Frayed Atlantic Edge: A Historian’s Journey from Shetland to the Channel by David Gange

Life At Full Tilt: The Selected Writings of Dervla Murphy by Dervla Murphy, Ed. Ethel Crowley

Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World by Elspeth Beard

Between The Chalk And The Sea: A Journey On Foot Into The Past by Gail Simmons

Sunken Lands: A Journey Through Flooded Kingdoms and Lost Worlds by Gareth E. Rees

Warriors: Life And Death Among The Somalis by Gerald Hanley

The Lost Paths: A History Of How We Walk From Here To There by Jack Cornish

Water Ways: A Thousand Miles Along Britain’s Canals by Jasper Winn

The Gardens of Mars: Madagascar, an Island Story by John Gimlette

La Vie: A Year In Rural France by John Lewis-Stempel

To The Lake: A Balkan Journey Of War And Peace by Kapka Kassabova

Among Muslims by Kathleen Jamie

Bitter Lemons of Cyprus by Lawrence Durrell

The Serpent Coiled in Naples by Marius Kociejowski

Summer In The Islands: An Italian Odyssey by Matthew Fort

Gathering Carrageen by Monica Connell

The Way Of The World: Two Men In A Car From Geneva To The Khyber Pass by Nicolas Bouvier, Translated By Robyn Marsack

Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwi

Naples ’44: An Intelligence Officer in the Italian Labyrinth by Norman Lewis

Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece by Patrick Leigh Fermor

Smelling the Breezes: A Journey through the High Lebanon in 1957 by Ralph Izzard & Molly Izzard

Cut Stones and Crossroads: A Journey in the Two Worlds of Peru by Ronald Wright

The Ravens Nest by Sarah Thomas

Signs of Life: To the Ends of the Earth with a Doctor by Stephen Fabes

The Granite Kingdom: A Cornish Journey by Tim Hannigan

Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000-Mile Adventure on 52 Rides by Tom Chesshyre

High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest In Russia’s Haunted Hinterland by Tom Parfitt

One Place De L’Eglise: A Year Or Two In A French Village by Trevor Dolby

Tender Maps: Travels in Search of the Emotions of Place by Alice Maddicott

 

Woodlands

Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree: Getting To Know Trees Through The Language Of Scent by David George Haskell

As usual, I have scoured the catalogues for all the books that pique my attention I only managed to find 16 catalogues this time, so this may be updated as the others are published. So without further ado, here are my picks from all the books being published next year :

 

Allen & Unwin

Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See – Bianca Bosker

The Meaning of Beer: How our pursuit of the perfect pint built the world – Jonny Garrett

 

Atlantic Books

Conspiracyland: My Journey with Trolls, True Believers and the New Information War – Marianna Spring

Patriarchy Inc.: Exposing Inequality at Work and Why Men Still Rule – Cordelia Fine

Rare Tongues: A Journey Through the Languages of the World – Lorna Gibb

Lost Boys: Undercover Adventures in Modern Masculinity – James Bloodworth

Super Natural: How Life Thrives in Extraordinary Places – Alex Riley

 

Bodley Head

The Technological Republic: The Crisis of Technology and the West – Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska

TheAICon: Exposing the Myth, the Hype and the Harm of AI – Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna

Earth, Wind and Fire: How Trees Mastered the Elements and Conquered the World – Harriet Rix

The Roma: A Travelling History – Madeline Potter

 

Canongate

The Bright Side: Why Optimists Have the Power to Change the World – Sumit-Paul Choudhury

Let the Light Pour In – Lemn Sissay

The Secret Painter – Joe Tucker

A History of Women in 101 Objects: A Walk Through Female History – Annabelle Hirsch

Renaturing: Small Ways to Wild the World – James Canton

Overnight: Journeys, Conversations and Stories After Dark – Dan Richards

Hark: How Women Listen – Alice Vincent

Nature’s Genius: Evolution’s Lessons for a Better World – David Farrier

Homework: A Memoir – Geoff Dyer

 

Chatto & Windus

The Drowned Places Diving in Search of Atlantis – Damian Le Bas

The Big Hop: The First Non-stop Flight Across the Atlantic Ocean and Into the Future – David Rooney

 

Doubleday

A Training School for Elephants – Sophy Roberts

 

Duckworth

Catastrophe Ethics: How to be Good in a World Gone Bad – Travis Rieder

Standard Deviations: The truth about flawed statistics, AI and Big Data – Gary Smith

In Green: Two Horses, Two Strangers, 2,000 Miles from Mountain to Sea – Louis D. Hall

Understorey: A Year Among Weeds – Anna Chapman Parker

 

Elliott & Thompson

Mother Animal – Helen Jukes

Pathfinding: On Walking and Motherhood – Kerri Andrews

Lifelines: Finding a Home in the Mountains of Greece – Julian Hoffman

Nature Needs You: The Fight to Save Our Swifts – Hannah Bourne-Taylor

Ctrl+Alt+Chaos: How Teenage Hackers Hijack the Internet – Joe Tidy

 

Eland

A Quiet Evening – Norman Lewis

 

Europa Editions

The Passenger: Thailand – Various

The Passenger: Naples – Various

 

Faber & Faber

Your Life is Manufactured – Tim Minshall

The Lost Folk – Lally MacBeth

Nature Matters – Mona Arshi and Karen McCarthy Woolf

Dwell – Simon Armitage

 

Fern Press

Speaking in Tongues – J M Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos

 

Gollancz

Frankenstein Rex – Adam Roberts

T B C – Ben Aaronovitch

 

Granta

Under A Metal Sky – Philip Marsden

No Straight Road Takes You There – Rebecca Solnit

 

Grove

Searches – Vauhini Vara

What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World’s Ocean – Helen Scales

 

Hamish Hamilton

Is A River Alive? – Robert Macfarlane

 

Head of Zeus

A Life in 50 Books – Anthony Cheetham

Steel River: Walking the Tees – A Journey Through Nature in a Human World – Steve Nicholls

Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy – Phil Tinline

Picks and Shovels – Cory Doctorow

Bee Speaker – Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

Hurst

Ransom War – Max Smeets

Rebooting A Nation – Joel Burke

 

Jonathan Cape

Midden Witch – Fiona Benson

 

Little Toller

The English Path by Kim Taplin

Angels in the Cellar by Peter Hahn

 

Profile Books

Your Right to Protest Understand It, Use It – Christian Weaver

My Head For A Tree: The Extraordinary Story of the Bishnoi, the World’s First Eco-Warriors – Martin Goodman

The Meteorites: Encounters with Outer Space and Deep Time – Helen Gordon

Larry: A New Biography of Lawrence Durrell, 1912–47 – Michael Haag

Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World – Anne-Laure Le Cunff

Out of this World – and into the Next Notes from a Physicist on Space Exploration – Adriana Marais

The Illegals: Russia’s Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West – Shaun Walker

Extractive Capitalism: How Commodities and Cronyism Drive the Global Economy – Laleh Khalili

Land of Shifting Sands: A New History of the Sahara – Judith Scheele

Unequal: The Maths of When Things Do and Don’t Add Up – Eugenia Cheng

 

Reaktion Books

Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact – Keith Cooper

Rough Music: Folk Customs, Transgression and Alternative Britain – Liz Williams

Ghosts, Trolls and the Hidden People: An Anthology of Icelandic Folk Legends – Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir

The Green Fuse: Essays in Making Sense of Gardens – Peter Dale

Lost Animals, Disappearing Worlds: Stories of Extinction – Barbara Allen

Transatlantic Drift: The Ebb and Flow of Dance Music – Katie Milestone and Simon A. Morrison

Delicioso: A History of Food in Spain – María José Sevilla

Al Dente: A History of Food in Italy – Fabio Parasecoli

Future Cities: Architecture and the Ima – Paul Dobraszczyk

 

Square Peg

Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives – Lucy Mangan

 

Summersdale

Land Beneath the Waves – Nic Wilson

 

W&N

Motherland – Luke Pepera

Threads of Empire – Dorothy Armstrong

38 Londres Street – Philippe Sands

 

There are some really good books coming out and if I had to say which one I am most excited about it would have to be Robert Macfarlane’s.

Is there any here that you like the look of? Or are there any that I have missed that you think I should know about? Let me know in the comments below.

I read eleven books last month, lower than normal, but it has kept me on my end-of-year target. No five-star books this month, so I have selected the best four-star from the ones that I read. I thought that I had bought less than normal, but it turns out that I hadn’t…

 

Books Read

North – Seamus Heaney – 4 Stars

Seveneves – Neal Stephenson – 3.5 Stars

The Station – Athos: Treasures and Men – Robert Byron – 3.5 Stars

The Secret Life of the Mountain Hare – Andy Howard – 4 Stars

The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring – Gary Russell – 4 Stars

The Long Unwinding Road: A Journey Through the Heart of Wales – Marc P. Jones – 4 Stars

The Whalebone Theatre – Joanna Quinn – 3.5 Stars

Blue Machine: How The Ocean Shapes Our World – Helen Czerski – 4 Stars

Blue Mind: How Water Makes You Happier, More Connected and Better at What You Do – Wallace J. Nichols – 3.5 Stars

A Cloud a Day – Gavin Pretor-Pinney – 4 Stars

 

Book(s) Of The Month

Bloom: From Food to Fuel, the Epic Story of How Algae Can Save Our World – Ruth Kassinger – 4 Stars

 

Top Genres

Fiction – 33

Travel – 30

Natural History – 14

Poetry – 11

Memoir – 9

Science Fiction – 8

Science – 4

History – 4

Miscellaneous – 4

Humour – 3

 

Top Publishers

Bloomsbury – 7

Eland – 5

Vintage – 5

Picador – 4

Summersdale – 4

Faber & Faber – 4

Canongate – 4

Saraband – 3

Orion – 3

Orbit – 3

 

Review Copies Received

The Company of Owls – Polly Atkin

Oaklore – Jules Acton

An Insect a Day: Bees, Bugs, And Pollinators For Every Day Of The Year – Dominic Couzens & Gail Ashton

Three-Quarters Of A Footprint: Travels in South India – Joe Roberts

On This Holy Island: A Modern Pilgrimage Across Britain – Oliver Smith

While the Earth Holds its Breath: Embracing The Winter Season – Helen Moat

 

Library Books Checked Out

The Masquerades of Spring – Ben Aaronovitch

The Ponies At The Edge Of The World: A Story of Hope and Belonging in Shetland – Catherine Munroe

 

Books Bought

Turkiye: Cycling Through a Country’s First Century – Julian Sayarer

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow – Natasha Pulley

Wild Twin – Jeff Young (Signed)

The Secret Life of the Mountain Hare – Andy Howard

The Art of The Fellowship of the Ring – Gary Russell

The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific – Brandon Presser

The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names – John Wright (Signed)

Aeneid Book VI – Virgil, Seamus Heaney (Tr)

Homecoming – Melissa Harrison (Signed)

Walking the Himalayas – Levison Wood (Signed)

C’est La Folie – Michael Wright (Signed)

Celtic Britain – Lloyd Laing

Autumn – Martin Maudsley & Sarah Acton

Coast & Sea – Sarah Welton

A Gleaming Landscape: A Hundred Years of the Guardian’s Country Diary – Martin Wainwright (Ed)

The Marmalade Diaries: The True Story of an Odd Couple – Ben Aitken

Bothy: In Search of Simple Shelter – Kat Hill (Signed)

Erebus – Michael Palin

The Lost Rainforests of Britain – Guy Shrubsole

The Last Grain Race – Eric Newby

Flavours Rosello – Pino Iacaruso (Signed)

Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (Tr)

 

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.

 

My final TBR of 2024. That year has passed in a blur really but somehow I have made it to the end. The end of my 150 book challenge for Good Reads is in sight too as I have just finished my 138th book of 150. Almost there. I know there are more than 12 books below, I tend to complete my challenge and then make a start on the chunkier books that are taking up lots of shelf space on my TBR with the intention of finishing them in January. Is that cheating for annual challenges? I don’t think so. What do you think?  There are a few must-reads this month including Oaklore and The Lost Future of Pepperharrow. Anyway, here they are:

 

Daily & Weekly Books

Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year – Jane McMorland Hunter (Ed)

A Cloud a Day – Gavin Pretor-Pinney

A Year Of Garden Bees & Bugs: 52 Stories Of Intriguing Insects – Dominic Couzens & Gail Ashton

 

Blog Tour

Oaklore – Jules Acton

 

Review Books

The Heart Of The Woods – Wyl Menmuir

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

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics – Tim Marshall

Prisoners of Geography: The Quiz Book: How Much Do You Really Know About the World? – Tim Marshall

Cornish Horrors: Tales from the Land’s End – Ed. Joan Passey

Hunt for the Shadow Wolf: The Lost History of Wolves in Britain and the Myths and Stories That Surround Them – Derek Gow

While the Earth Holds its Breath: Embracing The Winter Season – Helen Moat

Polar Horrors: Strange Tales from the World’s Ends – Ed. John Miller

Handbook of Mammals of Madagascar – Nick Garbutt

From Utmost East to Utmost West: My Life Of Exploration And Adventure – John Blashford-Snell

 

Library Books

An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding – Eoghan Daltun

Iconicon: A Journey Around The Landmark Buildings Of Contemporary Britain – John Grindrod

 

A Present For Someone Else

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow – Natasha Pulley

(Doesn’t everyone read books before they wrap them up?)

 

Poetry

Foothold – Pam Zinnemann-Hope

 

So, are there any books that you like the look of or have read before? Let me know in the comments below

October is one of those funny months. It is the longest, only by an hour mind, and the darker evenings should mean that I can more read. But this month I didn’t. I only read 10 books in October, but a couple of them,, (and a half) were seriously chunky books. There were the books that I did read:

 

Books Read

Citadel – Kate Mosse – 3 Stars

Still Life in Milford: Poems – Thomas Lynch – 3 Stars

Brazilian Adventure – Peter Fleming – 4 Stars

All My Wild Mothers: A Memoir Of Motherhood, Loss And An Apothecary Garden – Victoria Bennet – 4 Stars

Empordan Scafarlata – Adrià Pujol Cruells Tr. Douglas Suttle – 3 Stars

The Rosewater Redemption – Tade Thompson – 4.5 Stars

Hagstone – Sinéad Gleeson – 3.5 Stars

Island to Island: From Somerset to Seychelles – Sally Mills – 4 Stars

Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments Into Extraordinary Results – Shane Parrish – 2.5 Stars

 

Book(s) Of The Month

Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain – Corrine Fowler – 5 Stars

 

Top Genres

Fiction – 32

Travel – 28

Natural History – 13

Poetry – 10

Memoir – 9

Science Fiction – 7

Miscellaneous – 4

History – 4

Food & Drink – 3

Humour – 3

 

Top Publishers

Bloomsbury – 7

Vintage – 5

Picador – 4

Eland – 4

Canongate – 4

Summersdale – 4

Faber & Faber – 3

Jonathan Cape – 3

Orbit – 3

Orion – 3

 

Review Copies Received

Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen – Edward Parnell (Ed)

The Weird Tales of Dorothy K Haynes – Dorothy K. Haynes

The Haunted Trail: Classic Tales of the Rambling Weird – Weird Walk (Ed)

 

Library Books Checked Out

It’s A Gas: The Magnificent And Elusive Elements That Expand Our World – Mark Miodownik

An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding – Eoghan Daltun

Tickbox – David Boyle

Hagstone – Sinéad Gleeson

 

Books Bought

Band on the Bus: Around the World in a Double-Decker – Richard King (Signed)

One Thousand Feasts – Nigel Slater (Signed)

England: A Natural History – John Lewis-Stempel (Signed)

Airplane Mode: Travels in the Ruins of Tourism – Shahnaz Habib

Notebook – Tom Cox (Signed)

Talking to the Neighbours: Conversations in a Country Parish – Ronald Blythe

Lost To The Sea: A Journey Round The Edges Of Britain And Ireland – Lisa Woollett

Back Door to Byzantium: To the Black Sea by the Great Rivers of Europe – Bill & Laurel Cooper

The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson

Dorset Witches – Rodney Legg & Olive Knott

Dorset Ghost Stories – Richard Holland

The Story of a Non-marrying Man and Other Stories – Doris Lessing

The Wisdom of Sheep & Other Animals: Observations from a Family Farm – Rosamud Young

Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown – Shaun Bythell (Signed)

Island Of The Colour Blind And Cycad Island – Oliver Sacks

Wainwright’s TV Walks – Alfred Wainwright

 

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.

The clock changing always feels like a momentous part of each year. Now the nights are darker and the opportunity to stay in to read is welcome. This month’s TBR is shorter than some I have earlier in the year, and feels manageable. I only have one library book on this month’s list; in October I ended up reading two books that others had reserved that weren’t on the original plan!

 

Still Reading

Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year – Jane McMorland Hunter (Ed)

A Cloud a Day – Gavin Pretor-Pinney

A Year Of Garden Bees & Bugs: 52 Stories Of Intriguing Insects – Dominic Couzens & Gail Ashton

Seveneves – Neal Stephenson

 

Review Books

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 & Kari Dickson (Tr)

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics – Tim Marshall

Prisoners of Geography: The Quiz Book: How Much Do You Really Know About the World? – Tim Marshall

The Station – Athos: Treasures and Men – Robert Byron

Bloom: From Food to Fuel, the Epic Story of How Algae Can Save Our World – Ruth Kassinger

Books Cornish Horrors: Tales from the Land’s End – Joan Passey (Ed)

Blue Mind: How Water Makes You Happier, More Connected and Better at What You Do – Wallace J. Nichols

Hunt for the Shadow Wolf: The Lost History of Wolves in Britain and the Myths and Stories That Surround Them – Derek Gow

The Long Unwinding Road: A Journey Through the Heart of Wales – Marc P. Jones

 

Library Books

Iconicon: A Journey Around The Landmark Buildings Of Contemporary Britain – John Grindrod

 

Poetry

North – Seamus Heaney