Polska by Zuza Zak
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton It’s no secret that I have a weakness for cookbooks, I love them, love the way that they give me a window into other worlds of…
The Book of Haps edited by Kate Davies and Jen Arnall-Culliford
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I’m a little late to the party as far as the knitting revival goes, but better late than never. I grew up in Shetland at a…
Pride And Pudding by Regula Ysewijn
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Sometimes I wonder if my cookbook habit is getting out of control, and in my darkest moments I’ll even question how many of them a person…
Before Lunch & Northbridge Rectory by Angela Thirkell
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton My first brush with Thirkell was at least a decade ago, courtesy of an old Penguin edition of The Brandons picked up in a second hand bookshop because…
Earth by Émile Zola
Translated by Brian Nelson and Julie Rose Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Regular readers of my blog might remember that I set myself the task of reading through Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series…
The Roar of Morning by Tip Marugg
Translated by Paul Vincent Reviewed by Karen Langley Silvio Alberto ‘Tip’ Marugg is an author new to me, and one who has quite a small body of work. Of Dutch-Antillean…
Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I do love the British Library Crime Classics series. It feels like it goes from strength to strength, or maybe it’s that this past year’s offerings…
The House of Elrig by Gavin Maxwell
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I discovered Gavin Maxwell’s books when newly exiled from a rural Scottish childhood. The first of his books that I found was Harpoon at a Venture. Drawn…
The Oxford Companion to Wine 4th Edition by Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton It was reading Jancis Robinson’s Confessions of a Wine Lover which initially pushed me to learn more about wine, and the second edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine that…
60 Degrees North by Malachy Tallack
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton When I first read about 60 Degrees North in Polygon’s book list back in the spring I was intrigued. I recognised Malachy Tallack’s name from various sources but…
Game by Tim Maddams
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I love the River Cottage handbooks, really truly deeply love them. Individually they are all excellent stand alone cookbooks and field guides put together they open…
Waverley by Walter Scott
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Waverley has been on my ‘ought to read’ list for longer than I care to remember, so when Shiny New Books asked me to read a new…
Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville
Review by Hayley Anderton When I started reading this book I was a little ambivalent about it. I was attracted by the promise of a fairy tale but also wary…
The Whirlpool by George Gissing
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton No matter how many classics I read it never fails to surprise me how little people, or even society, seem to change. The realism of The Whirlpool reminded…
A Bird in the Hand by Diana Henry
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Chicken recipes for every day and every mood. Chicken is hard to avoid these days. When I was a child it was a once a week…
Pure Juliet by Stella Gibbons
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I was aware that Vintage were publishing some newly discovered Stella Gibbons novels, but until Simon asked me to read Pure Juliet for Shiny New Books I hadn’t…
Marmalade: A Bittersweet Cookbook by Sarah Randall
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton There is a not very scientific argument that claims that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year. Not for me…
The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson, ed. Tom Jaine
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton My best friend and I met through books; she was running a discount bookshop that I used to shop in, after a while she gave me…
The New Sylva, A Discourse of Forest and Orchard Trees for the Twenty-First Century, by Gabriel Hemery and Sarah Simblet
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton When Shiny New Books asked me if I’d like to review The New Sylva I thought it sounded interesting. When it arrived I thought it looked interesting and…
The Blue Room by Hanne Ørstavik
Translated by Deborah Dawkin Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I read the press release for The Blue Room (published in Norwegian in 1999, and now published by Periene Press in a translation by…
Books That Changed the World by Andrew Taylor
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton The 50 most influential books in human history? There is a definite place in my life for books about books and I’m fond of a good…