October 15, 2020 Kitted Out: Style and Youth Culture in the Second World War by Caroline Young Reviewed by Liz Dexter This extremely well-researched and authoritative book takes us through the Second World War, in the UK, the US, the Far…
October 13, 2020 Spoon-Fed by Tim Spector Reviewed by Annabel Kings College Hospital-based Professor Tim Spector’s name is, I hope, becoming more widely known in the UK since the pandemic began….
October 6, 2020 Knitting From Fair Isle by Mati Ventrillon Reviewed by Hayley Anderton There are a few new knitting books, annuals, or journals in the offing that deal with Fair Isle or Shetland…
September 24, 2020 Unofficial Britain: Journeys Through Unexpected Places by Gareth E. Rees Reviewed by Liz Dexter Opening notably and powerfully with a description of travelling through a traditional countryside location, innocent dry stone walls at first,…
September 24, 2020 Treasure Islands by Alec Crawford Review by Hayley Anderton The cover of this book is attractive, and the tag line ‘True Tales of a Shipwreck Hunter’ might always have…
September 21, 2020 Journey through a Tragicomic Century: The Absurd Life of Hasso Grabner by Francis Nenik Translated by Katy Derbyshire Reviewed by Eleanor Updegraff This September sees the launch of V&Q Books, a brand-new publishing imprint with the mission of…
September 17, 2020 Horse Crazy: The Story of a Woman and a World in Love with an Animal by Sarah Maslin Nir Review by Liz Dexter Sarah Maslin Nir is a staff reporter for the New York Times who, by her own admission, has sought out…
September 15, 2020 Riders on the Storm: The climate crisis and the survival of being by Alastair McIntosh Review by Peter Reason Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish Quaker, peace, community and environmental writer and campaigner, maybe best described as a spiritual activist….
September 8, 2020 The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes Reviewed by Liz Dexter A book that is in turns entertaining, lyrical and shocking, you won’t think about the countryside – or the rivers…
September 3, 2020 King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes Translated by Frank Wynne Reviewed by Annabel I write from the realms of the ugly, for the ugly, the old, the bull dykes, the…
September 3, 2020 Entangled Life: How fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futures by Merlin Sheldrake Review by Peter Reason Entangled Lives by Merlin Sheldrake has been greeted with much enthusiasm, not least by Robert Macfarlane in the New Yorker….
August 27, 2020 The Changing Mind by Daniel Levitin Reviewed by Terence Jagger This is a wonderful book, and the real title is the sub-title: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to Ageing Well. It is…
August 27, 2020 Antlers of Water: Writing on the Nature and Environment of Scotland, edited by Kathleen Jamie Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Ever since I read Findings sometime around a decade ago I’ve viewed anything with Kathleen Jamie’s name attached to it…
August 20, 2020 The Oxford Illustrated History of the Book, ed. James Raven Reviewed by Liz Dexter As you would expect from an Oxford Illustrated History of … this is a sumptuous production, world-wide in scope and…
August 18, 2020 Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules Reviewed by Hayley Anderton At the risk of speaking to soon lockdown finally seems to be lifting in Leicester just in time to catch…
August 11, 2020 Cover by Peter Mendelsund Reviewed by Harriet Ed’s Note: Six years after its publication in hardback, Mendelsund’s Cover gets a paperback release, so we are reposting Harriet’s original…
August 4, 2020 Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Natasha Trethewey is an English professor and former U.S. Poet Laureate familiar to me from Native Guard (2006), her third…
July 30, 2020 Grayson Perry by Jacky Klein & Grayson Perry Reviewed by Liz Dexter This sumptuous book, that has a lot of content, in terms of both text and image, is a real treat…
July 28, 2020 Three Wainwright Prize Nominees: Books by Patrick Barkham, Patrick Laurie & Jini Reddy Reviewed by Rebecca Foster The Wainwright Prize longlists for writing on UK nature and global conservation themes were announced in early June and will…
July 28, 2020 Notes From An Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell Review by Annabel O’Connell is an Irish journalist who won the Wellcome Book Prize for his previous title, To Be a Machine (which I…
July 23, 2020 Jane Austen: Writing, Society, Politics by Tom Keymer Reviewed by Harriet Today, Jane Austen is regarded as one of the most important writers in the English language, often spoken of in the…
July 21, 2020 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…
July 14, 2020 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,…
July 9, 2020 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…
July 2, 2020 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…
