Summer’s Lease by Thom Eagle
Review by Hayley Anderton I’ve heard universally good things about Thom Eagle’s first book, First, Catch and it has a clutch of awards to back up the word of mouth….
Root Stem Leaf Flower by Gill Meller
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Whilst writing this I’m still officially in full lockdown in Leicester. I don’t know what it’s like on the outside, but the pattern of my days…
Into the Tangled Bank by Lev Parikian
Review by Liz Dexter Lev Parikian is a conductor and, more recently, a birdwatcher, and you might have seen or read his book on birds, Why do Birds Suddenly Disappear?…
Biography & Memoir, Diaries
Ecology & Environment, Natural World
Mind and Body, Medicine, Psychology
Non Fiction
Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster When the Wainwright Prize longlists (for writing on UK nature and global conservation themes) were announced in early June, Dara McAnulty broke two records as the…
I Remember by Georges Perec
Introduced, Translated, Annotated, Edited and Indexed by Philip Terry and David Bellos Reviewed by Karen Langley Regular readers of Shiny New Books may recall the Bookbuzz piece earlier this year…
Sensuous Knowledge: A black feminist approach for everyone by Minna Salami
Review by Peter Reason Minna Salami is a Nigerian and Finnish social critic, founder of the MsAfropolitan blog, who draws on Africa-centric and feminist perspectives to offer a more inclusive…
James and Nora: A Portrait of a Marriage by Edna O’Brien
Review by Rob Spence Last year, Weidenfeld and Nicholson reissued Edna O’Brien’s 1999 biography of Joyce, an entertainingly idiosyncratic volume, which is reviewed here. Now, the same publishers have revived…
Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation by Alex Wiltshire and John Short
Reviewed by Liz Dexter Being born in the early 70s, I reached the age where we develop interests just as the first cheaper home computers were coming in – the…
Ecology & Environment, Natural World
Mind and Body, Medicine, Psychology
Non Fiction
Science & Technology
Wayfinding by Michael Bond
Review by Terence Jagger I found this book absolutely fascinating. I have always been fairly confident in my abilities as a navigator (though with occasional disasters) but I have always…
The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans by David Abulafia
Review by Liz Dexter The reason this book is in the news now is that it has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize (more on the shortlist here). I…
Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years, ed. Catrin Jones and Chris Stephens
Review by Liz Dexter Grayson Perry has achieved the status of National Treasure in the hearts and minds of a large proportion of the British public, writing and broadcasting on…
Greenery: Journeys in Springtime by Tim Dee (2020)
Review by Rebecca Foster From the Cape of Good Hope to the Arctic Circle, Dee tracks the spring as it travels north. From first glimpse to last gasp, moving between…
Art & Design, Craft & Photography
Ecology & Environment, Natural World
Non Fiction
Travel & the World
Tracks: Walking the Ancient Landscapes of Britain by Philip Hughes
Softback review by Liz Dexter This quietly stunning book will appeal to anyone interested in art, landscape, walking, geology, geography, maps and ancient monuments. Deceptively simple paintings reveal both the…
Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils by David Farrier
Review by Peter Reason In 2013, a spring storm uncovered, on the shores of Norfolk, the oldest traces of humanity discovered outside Africa: fossil footprints made by early humans 850,000…
Well-kept Secrets: The Story of William Wordsworth by Andrew Wordsworth
Reviewed by Harriet As I’m sure you’ve noticed, this year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wordsworth, one of England’s most celebrated poets, much loved by many (apart,…
Diary Of A Foreigner In Paris, by Curzio Malaparte
Translated by Stephen Twilley Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies An adjective frequently applied to Curzio Malaparte is ‘colourful’. To the Cambridge dictionary it means ‘vivid, rich, or distinctive in character’, and…
Oats in the North Wheat from the South by Regula Ysewijn
Review by Hayley Anderton I know it’s not the easiest time to get baking supplies, or books, or enough exercise to work off the baking that you can do, but…
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
Review by Liz Dexter First of all a caveat, in case any keen-eyed reader finds my name in the acknowledgements: I did work on this book in my professional capacity,…
‘Not’ the Wellcome Prize Blog Tour 2020 #2 – Galileo’s Error by Philip Goff
The Wellcome Book Prize is on hiatus this year – we really hope it’ll return in 2021 as this unique prize, which celebrates literature with health, illness and medicine themes,…
‘Not’ the Wellcome Prize Blog Tour 2020 #1 – Vagina A Re-Education by Lynn Enright
The Wellcome Book Prize is on hiatus this year – we really hope it’ll return in 2021 as this unique prize, which celebrates literature with health, illness and medicine themes,…
Let’s Talk: How English Conversation Works by David Crystal
Review by Liz Dexter “What makes a successful conversation?” is a question David Crystal considers asking people in his new book – and, well, how would you answer that question?…
Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Back in early March, just before literary events started being cancelled due to coronavirus, I had the good fortune to see Lucy Jones at Hungerford Town…
The Birds They Sang: Birds and People in Life and Art by Stanisław Łubieński
Translated from Polish by Bill Johnston Review by Peter Reason Stanisław Łubieński first began observing birds in childhood through Soviet binoculars. Later, he took his hobby to a more serious…
A Bite of the Apple by Lennie Goodings
Review by Simon There’s a certain variety of person who can always spot a bottle-green spine at a hundred paces, and has faced the agonising decision about whether to shelve…