An interview I did with Stuart from Always TrustIn Books for Non-Fiction November:
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Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kapka Kassabova now lives in Scotland and before that resided in New Zealand, but she was not born in these places. Twenty-five years ago she left Bulgaria as a teenager and in this book she returns to her home country. In her childhood, the border between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece was part of the Iron Curtain. A few miles from where she played on the beach was the physical barrier, an electric fence whose sharpest barbs were directed at the real enemy; its own people. It had the reputation of being an easier point to cross over to the West than further North and therefore the woods and valleys crawled with soldiers and spies after those people seeking freedom.
The recent past is just a small part of the long history of this region. Kassabova travels around the region talking to border guards, fire walkers and treasure hunters as well as meeting the disposed and displaced who have made their way from Iraq and Syria. These refugees have walked away from the horrors of war with only the clothes on their back in search of freedom and a new life. There is much more to this landscape that the modern borders sit uncomfortably on top of. Peeling back the layers of past in the dense forests, she travels to springs that have deep pagan roots and are still considered to have healing qualities and visits tombs that add an ancient dimension to the land.
‘It is not for everyone’, Nevzat agreed, but I could see that he loved these villages. He and Mr Karadeniz resonated with the ruinous beauty of this landscape. Because they were its children.
This book is primarily about people of the region as well as the places they inhabit. Kassabova meets and speaks to the people in villages who are seeing their populations plummet and the buildings crumble around them. However, this is not just about those that live in the region; but she is prepared to share a coffee or a meal with those that are waiting before passing through to other places, shining a light on the current refugee crisis that is prompting the rise of nationalism in Europe. Most impressive though is Kassabova’s writing; it is elegant and lyrical with a beautiful haunting melancholy about it, immersing you, the reader, in the landscape. Just, quite a wonderful book really. 4.5 stars
The Islamic Enlightenment: The Modern Struggle Between Faith and Reason by Christopher De Bellaigue
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
In these frankly, traumatic times where various parties are taking more umbrage at each other’s point of view and the language is becoming more provocative one of the accusations levelled against the Muslim world is that they are failing to adapt to a modern world and modernise their culture. This has not always been the case though, as back in the nineteenth century the Muslim world embraced change and modern practices, medicine and universal suffrage. In this book on the Islamic Enlightenment, de Bellaigue goes back over 200 years to take us through the history of the region and the politicians, scientists and writers who have been key to driving the change in the region.
This is not a book you can rush, as de Bellaigue takes enormous pains to find the movers and shakers who drove through the change in this Muslim world and tell their story. It is full of complex tales and he is equally critical of the Muslim countries and of the Western states that carved up the region for their own ends whilst using the local political leaders to continue to oppress the populace. The amount of research that has gone into this makes for incredibly dense prose and I found it quite challenging to read. I also felt that sometimes the narrative of the stories of the people got lost in the detail. Will probably become a standard text in its time, but it is possible more for the specialist rather than the general reader.
As it is #NonFictionNovember I’d thought that I would do a Giveaway
I have a set of all three of the books by the late great Roger Deakin. He was a writer, environmentalist and founder of Common Ground. Waterlog is considered the book that sparked the interest in Wild Swimming. He is a beautiful writer with a keen sense of observation of the world around him.
They are second hand and are in good condition. This is a UK only giveaway. Just comment below and I will choose an entrant randomly next Friday Evening around 9pm
Intriguing Book post from the lovely Oliva at Quercus
Zoology by Gillian Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Zoology is a collection of poems that is deeply rooted in the countryside and the seasons. Beginning with Missing, there are mini collections of poems on Hafod Y Llan, museums and other taken from over the course of a year. The collection ends with an eulogy to a variety of friends and fellow poets. Particular favourites include Last Gather, Silent and River.
After frozen ground, a loosening / After silence, birdsong, a beginning / Earth’s skin pricks with growth
This is the second of Gillian Clarke’s poetry collections that I have read in as many weeks, having been recommended to me by a and artist on twitter. She draws deep from her childhood and the natural world to form the words, there are themes that run back and forwards throughout the book. For some, this might be repetitive, but I liked the way that it reinforces the way that the seasons repeat without fail every year. I think this was even better than Five Fields.
Maybe good men will again come to power, truth speak / And words have meaning again
The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There have always been apparitions on the tube, faces on the other side of the window alongside yours, momentary glimpses into another world were enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Just recently, however, there has been a proliferation of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these spirits are really starting to scare people. The only people in the Metropolitan Police that can deal with this are the Special Assessment Unit a.k.a. The Folly, so Peter Grant is despatched along with Jaget Kumar from the British Transport Police to suffer the perils of the rush hour and to find out what has spooked the ghosts.
Abigail, Peter’s cousin has started turning up to the Folly and as she is showing potential for magical things, Nightingale takes it upon himself to train her as well. There is the possibility that a new River God has turned up, but as he is very young, Peter needs Beverly to come and see him, they form an instant bond and surprise the older couple looking after him as they vanish in the river. As they close in on the reason that the ghosts are agitated, the search takes on a new urgency when they realise that someone may be in danger and they are fast running out of time.
This is a really good novella that slots into the fantastic Rivers of London Series. Written with the same humour and wit as the previous ones it fills in more detail to the characters of Grant and Nightingale as well as introducing Abigale for the first time. It was nice to see Nightingales’ play a larger part in this as he has always been in the shadow of Grant to a certain extent. If it had one flaw, it is way too short; but it was great to see that there is book seven coming next year. 4.5 stars
Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us by David A. Neiwert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Intelligence is not a trait solely linked to humans, it is present across the whole animal kingdom. Some of the mammals with the highest intellect are the cetaceans, in particular dolphins and Killer Whales. Better known as the Orca, these beautiful creatures have been tormented and persecuted by us for a long time, but things are changing as we learn more about their amazing abilities. It was known that they travel around in small family pods, but it has only recently been discovered that there are several sub-species of orca. Each of these sub-species has developed their own language and culture, have astonishing echolocation and form lifelong bonds.
In the wild they are ruthless hunters, they have developed sophisticated hunting techniques for a particular prey. For example orca in one part of the world will eat fish, they have a penchant for salmon and in other parts of the wild, they hunt seals, seabirds and even moose. Yet they are gentle and kind with there being almost no known incidents of people being killed in the wild. There have been a few deaths, but these have happened in places where they have been held captive. There is a large chapter on those orcas that have been taken from the wild and held in captivity; holding a creature as magnificent as this in a concrete tank is equally cruel and unnecessary.
This is a fascinating book on these awesome creatures. Neiwert clearly explains the latest research and explores the myths and legends associated with them, as well as information on the perilous state that they are in because of our scant concern for the environment. There are some heart-stopping and wondrous moments he has experienced with them whilst bobbing around in his kayak in the ocean near his home. It is a thoroughly enjoyable book on these stunning whales.
Have got three through the post this week, one from Granta & one from Hodder Non Fiction
My House of Sky is a book that I contributed to the crowdfunding with and Little Toller sent it this week
Well that was a busy month, didn’t seem to stop around the house, but we now have finished three rooms downstairs and have stripped the hall and I an half through the lounge. This didn’t leave much time for reading though, so only managed to read 14 in the end.
And here they all are:
I managed to read two fiction books this month, Exit West, one on the shortlist for the Booker Prize. I have read others of Mohsin Hamid so had high hopes for this one. It was good, as he is addressing the reasons behind emigration and the problems associated with people living in a strange city, but there were certain elements that I thought jarred with the rest of the book. He Said, She Said was a domestic psychological thriller, that was reasonable, but had the odd implausible moment, but it was fast-paced and twisty.
My least favourite books this month were travel and both about Russia, Molotov’s Magic Lantern was about Rachel Polonsky’s time spent in Moscow in the apartment block that Vyacheslav Molotov had lived in and there were the remenants of his library there. The Second was Black Dragon River, where Dominic Ziegler travels down the river Amur that is the border between China and Russia. Both have their fascinating points, but they were very heavy on the history of Russia in my opinion.
Read two books that had a title beginning The Secret Life of… The first was The Secret Life of the Cow published by Faber. It was a reprint of the book by Rosamund Young and was a fascinating little story of her farm and the cows and other animals growing up on it. The other was The Secret Life of the owl by the very talented and twice winner of the Wainwright Price, John Lewis-Stempel. A delightful book on the owls around his farm and the wider landscape with the quality of prose that I have come to expect from John, and a fine addition to my growing library of natural history books.
Read three books on the UK this month, the first of which was Watling Street where John Higgs follows the path of the ancient road that stretches from London all the way to North Wales. Along it he re-discoveres the long history and contemplates the state of modern Britain post Brexit. The second was by Charlie Pye-Smith as he travelled back and forwards talking to those responsible for growing our food. The final one was Ancient Wonderings by James Canton. In this he travels to various Neolithic sites in search of the traces that are still left over. It is a really interesting read and it shows that the more we find out the less we know of their lives.
Read my third book from the Baillie Gifford shortlist, The Odyssey. It is a touching story of a father and son as they look at the life lessons from this epic tale and the author learns more of what made his father the man that he was. I was on the blog tour for The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities by Paul Anthony Jones another fine book on forgotten words from our language, with a word for each day. Really good and a must read for any etmologists.
Finally two natural history books, Wonderland, where Stephen Moss and Brett Westwood take us through every day in the year with animals, birds, plants, trees, moths and all sorts of other things to see in the natural world. A really wonderful book, and one I will be buying in paperback. The final book was As Kingfishers Catch fire by Alex Preston and some stunning illustrations by Neil Gower. This is an utterly beautiful thing to hold and was my book of the month too.
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