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Architecture, Homes & Gardens Ecology & Environment, Natural World Non Fiction

The Future of Gardens by Mark Lane

Review by Annabel Melville House’s ‘Futures’ series are short pocket-sized paperbacks that explore their subjects in essay format. I’ve previously reviewed two others for Shiny – The Future of Trust…

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Shiny New Books May 15, 2025
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen by Rory Muir

Reviewed by Harriet A few months after Pride and Prejudice was published,  Jane Austen visited her brother Henry in London. The opening words of Rory Muir’s book might lead the…

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Shiny New Books May 13, 2025
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Art & Design, Craft & Photography Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gaugin by Sue Prideaux

Reviewed by Harriet Before I started this very interesting and comprehensive book, I probably knew as much about Gauguin as most people. I’d seen countless reproductions of his powerful, imaginative…

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Shiny New Books May 1, 2025
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers Toward Truth, Healing, and Repair, by Hilary Giovale

Review by Liz Dexter I was immersed in a white settler myth that had always allowed me to perceive them [her ancestors] as innocent bystanders rather than oppressors. I’ve been…

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Shiny New Books April 29, 2025
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Lit Crit Non Fiction

Emile Zola: Writing Modern Life by Rachel Bowlby

Reviewed by Karen Langley The My Reading series from Oxford University Press takes as its premise that the best book recommendations come from someone who cares for the work in…

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Shiny New Books April 22, 2025
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

The Golden Road by William Dalrymple

Reviewed by Harriet India has always had a great attraction for me. I didn’t manage to go there until I was in my thirties, but I’ve visited countless times since…

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Shiny New Books April 8, 2025
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

EL CID: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Mercenary, by Nora Berend

Review by Michael Eaude Exposing Fake History – FRANCO’S MURDEROUS FANTASIES El Cid is a legendary hero, a fearsome warrior who decisively defeated the Moors in the fight for a…

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Shiny New Books March 27, 2025
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Tracker by Alexis Wright

Review by Liz Dexter, 25 March 2025 In his life, he had made space for himself in the world of those who enjoyed the highest influence in Australia, as he…

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Shiny New Books March 25, 2025
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction Translated

A Man of Few Words by Carlo Greppi

Translated by Howard Curtis Review by Karen Langley, 6 Mar 2025 Italian author and chemist Primo Levi is possibly one of the best-known commentators on the Holocaust; he began writing…

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Shiny New Books March 6, 2025
2 1396 10
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Architecture, Homes & Gardens Books About Books, Publishing Non Fiction

Lonely Planet: Hidden Libraries by‎ D.C. Helmuth

Review by Liz Dexter This attractive and heavily illustrated book covers fifty unusual libraries from around the world. Informative and rich, it celebrates libraries of all kinds, from mobile ones…

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Shiny New Books February 25, 2025
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

Colette, My Literary Mother by Michèle Roberts

Reviewed by Victoria Best, 13 Feb 2025 Colette is, I think, a very special writer. She writes with such beguiling charm, such seductive cleverness that she gets under your skin….

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Shiny New Books February 13, 2025
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Myths & Legends, Fairytale Non Fiction

Otherworld: Nine Tales of Wonder and Romance from Medieval Ireland, by Lisa M. Bitel

Review by Helen Parry A king’s son pines for a beautiful woman who only he can see. A god’s jealous wife turns a princess into a puddle of water, which…

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Shiny New Books February 11, 2025
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Linguistics Non Fiction

Gobsmacked!: The British Invasion of American English by Ben Yagoda

Reviewed by Harriet, 30 January 2025 Smog sounds American as American as can be, and that was certainly the case when Joni Mitchell, in her song “Woodstock”, declared, “I have…

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Shiny New Books January 30, 2025
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Books About Books, Publishing Non Fiction Playscripts & Screenplays

Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers by Darren Freebury-Jones

Reviewed by Harriet, 7 Jan 2025 When I was young, I spent several summers in Stratford-upon-Avon. My parents were working at the theatre there, so I was fortunate to be…

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Shiny New Books January 7, 2025
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Out of the Darkness: The Germans 1942-2022 – by Frank Trentmann

Review by Liz Dexter Over the course of the last eighty years, Germany has gone through a remarkable moral and material regeneration. The two have pulled the country in opposite…

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Shiny New Books December 5, 2024
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Anthology Fiction Humour

Dickens: The Funny Bits, compiled by R.J. Cruikshank

Review by Karen Langley Victorian novelist Charles Dickens is an iconic figure; known for his chunky novels, filled with vivid characters, social commentary and campaigning, he’s also occasionally dismissed because…

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Shiny New Books November 5, 2024
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Ecology & Environment, Natural World Non Fiction

This Volcanic Isle: The Violent Processes that Forged the British Landscape, by Robert Muir-Wood

Review by Liz Dexter We now realize that throughout the past 66 million years, this land has been far from quiescent. It has been split by magma-filled cracks, wracked by…

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Shiny New Books October 29, 2024
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Ecology & Environment, Natural World Non Fiction

Birds, Beasts and Bedlam: Turning My Farm into an Ark for Lost Species by Ben Gow

Review by Liz Dexter If you wish to bludgeon badgers or beavers or remove peregrine falcons and hen harrier chicks from their nests, a way can be found. If you…

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Shiny New Books October 22, 2024
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Art & Design, Craft & Photography Non Fiction

Material: The Art of Handcrafting Beautiful Objects in a Digital Age by Nick Kary

Review by Frances Spurrier Kary starts his book by saying that he wants to help understand the relationship we all have fashioning our lives within the material structure of the…

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Shiny New Books October 8, 2024
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Art & Design, Craft & Photography Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction Uncategorized

Portrait of the Art Dealer as a Young Man: New York in the Sixties, by Michael Findlay

Review by Annabel My fascination with the 1960s (the decade in which I was a child), will never die. Add in the world of art and a New York setting…

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Shiny New Books October 3, 2024
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BookBuzz Books into Film Entertainment, Media

Book to Screen: In Development, 2024 and Beyond

By Arti After looking at forthcoming releases in my last post, we turn to books that are being adapted and are currently in development or in production. James (2024) by Percival Everett…

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Shiny New Books October 1, 2024
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Ecology & Environment, Natural World Non Fiction

The Ghost Lake by Wendy Pratt

Review by Peter Reason Ghost Lake is a paleolithic, extinct lake that lies between the Yorkshire Wolds and Scarborough. In prehistoric times it was a real lake, the centre of…

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Shiny New Books September 24, 2024
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation by Emily van Duyne

Written by Victoria Best There’s a lot going on in Emily van Duyne’s intriguingly hybrid work on Sylvia Plath, a book that has its feet in scholarship and its head…

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Shiny New Books September 19, 2024
3 1398 2
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

The King’s Loot: The Greatest Royal Jewellery Heist in History by Richard Wallace

Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long   It is always misleading to read the serialisation of a book in the newspapers. The paper in question will always focus on the more sensational aspects…

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Shiny New Books August 22, 2024
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