Jackie's 2024 Challenge

Welcome to my 2024 Category Challenge thread! My name is Jackie, I live in Scotland and work as a research nurse, and I also dabble with creative writing (including publishing my first book in 2023). I think this is my 9th year in the Category Challenge group. I enjoy the book chat and always get hit with more great books to read thanks to all your recommendations. My reading skews very heavily towards narrative non-fiction, but I do try to read at least a little bit of fiction too!

I’m using the same categories as always, with only a couple of slight differences. I’m combining my vintage fiction (published 1900-1968) and ancient fiction (published pre-1900) categories, as they’re both very small, and I’m adding a new category of books I’ve started for previous challenges but never got round to finishing, so hopefully I’ll finally be able to put a few of those back on the shelves finished this year! As long as I end the year with at least one book in each category I’ll be happy that my challenge is complete.

1. Central & Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union

I lived, worked and studied in Romania and Moldova for a while back in the ever-dim and retreating past (first as an English teacher, and more recently doing my PhD research), and although much of my regional reading probably relates to Romania, I have books relating to many of the countries of the region. This is where they'll go!

1. John Reed - Ten Days that Shook the World. Finished 25.1.24. 2.5/5.

2. Non-fiction (general)

A catch-all category for my non-fiction which doesn't fall into any of the more specific categories.

1. Chris van Tulleken - Ultra-Processed People. Finished 10.2.24. 4.5/5.
2. Elif Shafak - How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division. Finished 29.2.24. 4/5.
3. Professor Sue Black - All That Remains: A Life in Death. Finished 15.3.24. 4.5/5.
4. Noam Chomsky - Who Rules the World?. Finished 24.4.24. 3/5.

3. Contemporary fiction (1969-present)

The dates aren't completely random - this category is for fiction contemporary with me, so published from the year of my birth to the present.

1. Mark Stay - The Holly King. Finished 13.3.24. 4.5/5.

4. Sexual/reproductive health & rights; gender; sexuality; parenting; children

Books relating to my academic and research interests (although not necessarily either academic or serious research books!).

1. Katy Hessel - The Story of Art Without Men. Finished 12.2.24. 5/5.

5. Celtic

I love living in Scotland, and this category is for all books relating to the Celtic lands (Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man, Cornwall, Brittany).

1. Frank Rennie - The Changing Outer Hebrides. Finished 25.2.24. 3.5/5.

6. Vintage (1900-1969) and Ancient (pre-1900) fiction

Two categories I've struggled with in the past, so I'm combining them in the hope that I'll manage at least one in 2024!

1. Goscinny & Uderzo - Asterix Gladiateur. Finished 18.2.24. 3/5.

6a. Poetry

I don't read much poetry, but when I do I always remember I don't have a category for them! So here's one just for poetry.

7. Academic

More general academic books I've picked up over the years. I still enjoy reading them and learning, even though I'm not working in academia any more.

1. Dr Margot Singer & Dr Nicole Walker (eds) - Bending Genre: Essays on Creative Nonfiction, 2nd edition. Finished 7.4.24. 3/5.
2. Theresa Lillis & Mary Jane Curry - Academic Writing in a Global Context. Finished 8.4.24. 3.5/5.

8. Biography; autobiography; memoir; true story

Aren't people fascinating?!

1. Andrew Cotter - Olive, Mabel & Me. Finished 11.4.24. 4/5.
2. Michael Rosen - Getting Better: Life lessons on going under, getting over it, and getting through it. Finished 15.4.24. 4.5/5.

9. I've started so I'll finish

This is for some of the books I've started (usually for various reading challenges) in previous years, but never got round to finishing. Hopefully some of them will finally get read this year!

1. Andrew Shaffer - Hope Never Dies. Finished 2.1.24. 4/5.

10. Travel

Who doesn't love armchair travelling?

1. David Clensy - Walking the White Horses: Wiltshire's White Horse Trail on Foot. Finished 5.1.24. 4/5.

11. Religious

Mainly related to Christianity, but not exclusively.

1. Andrew Rumsey - Strangely Warmed. Finished 30.3.24. 4/5.

12. Nature, environment, landscape, place

I'll continue to try and read a book a month in this category. Definitely my literary happy place!

1. Stephen Moss - The Twelve Birds of Christmas. Finished 5.1.24. 3.5/5.
2. Aaron Reynolds - Effin' Birds. Finished 5.1.24. 4/5.
3. Jennifer Ackerman - The Genius of Birds. Finished 6.1.24. 4.5/5.
4. Angela Harding - A Year Unfolding. Finished 12.1.24. 4.5/5.
5. Ed Yong - An Immense World. Finished 18.1.24. 4.5/5.
6. Jonathan Franzen - The End of the End of the Earth: Essays. Finished 26.1.24. 3.5/5.
7. ed. Nancy Campbell - Nature Tales for Winter Nights. Finished 30.1.24. 4/5.
8. Camille T. Dungy - Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden. Finished 17.2.24. 5/5.
9. Kenneth Libbrecht & Rachel Wing - The Snowflake: Winter's Frozen Artistry. Finished 18.3.24. 3.5/5.
10. Tony Angell - The House of Owls. Finished 23.3.24. 3.5/5.
11. Richard Milne - Rhododendron. Finished 12.4.24. 3/5.
12. Andrew D. Blechman - Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird. Finished 29.4.24. 3.5/5.

Hooray - welcome to my thread!

Good luck with your 2024 reading. I always come here to get my hit of non-fiction!

I've starred your thread and look forward to following along! I always see so many interesting books on your threads that I would never come across otherwise.

Good luck with your reading in 2024. I have recently starting reading biographies and memoirs again, so looking forward to your reads in that category.

Enjoy your reading in 2024. I'll enjoy following along and taking BBs, especially from >13 Jackie_K:.

>10 Jackie_K: Good luck with this category. I also have quite a few of these and am contemplating Hamnet for the third time. It's tricky when you've read half a book and put it aside. Do you start again from the beginning?

I hope you have a good reading year, Jackie. And, like others said, I'm looking forward to some BBs from you.

Hello Jackie! I like your categories and I think I'm going to pick up quite a few recommendations :-)

>15 Tess_W: >16 MissBrangwen: >17 lowelibrary: >18 VivienneR: >19 pamelad: >20 dudes22: >21 susanj67: Thank you so much for your first visit :) I am looking forward to getting stuck into next year's reading, without hopefully leaving too many books this year that could fit in my >10 Jackie_K: category!

Have a great reading year, Jackie, and good luck with your >10 Jackie_K: category!

Great idea to dedicate a category to books you started but never finished! I need one for books I earmarked for previous challenges but never even started. Have fun reading in 2024!

I'm your bookish opposite (in that I read almost exclusively fiction), but I am trying to read more nonfiction in 2024 so I will definitely be using your thread for recs!

>23 MissWatson: >24 rabbitprincess: That category seems to have hit a nerve with quite a few people! It's nice to know I'm not the only one guilty of overcommitting to challenges then not finishing every book.

>25 christina_reads: You're very welcome, I hope I can give you some good ideas!

It's great to see you set up for 2024. You appear to be the non-fiction guru for many of us and I am looking forward to seeing where you head this year!

Wishing you a great reading year in 24! I'll be following along.

I'll be following along in 2024, Jackie. I like the idea of the "I've started so I'll finish" category. I might borrow that one!

>27 DeltaQueen50: Not sure about guru, I just seem to have found my lane and settled comfortably in it :)
>28 clue: Thank you very much! I have high hopes!
>29 charl08: I have so many of those I really thought I needed to do something about it!

I've also just added a new category, 6a, for poetry. I don't read tons of poetry, but whenever I do I realise I don't have a category for it, so it usually ends up in general non-fiction. No longer! :)

Happy new year, Jackie.
Looking forward to your non-fiction reading for another year.

>31 Helenliz: Thank you, happy new year to you too Helen!

Category: I've started so I'll finish



A good way to start the new reading year, finishing a book I started in 2023 for the GeoCAT. Hope Never Dies is the first of two books by Andrew Shaffer riffing on the relationship between Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and sees them as amateur sleuths investigating the death of a railroad conductor known to Joe Biden from his years travelling from Wilmington to Washington DC, and unearthing way more than they'd bargained for, with almost everybody not who they seemed at first. I really enjoyed this book, it was silly, but with just the right amount of reference to politics (really not very much at all) to elevate it. Lots of fun. 4/5.

>32 Jackie_K: I agree, this was silly fun :) There's a sequel, but I haven't read it.

>2 Jackie_K: Very interested in this topic. I want to read more about Eastern Europe. Will also come in handy when reading for Eurovisionathon later in the year.

>33 rabbitprincess: I bought the sequel at the same time as this one, but I'm saving it for when I need another dose of silly fun!

>34 JayneCM: Eurovision is great for stimulating interest in eastern Europe. They are obsessed with Eurovision over there! I follow media accounts from Romania and Moldova, and the amount of discussion of performances, who gave points to whom, etc, is something else!

>35 Jackie_K: Moldova's entry for 2022 was so much fun! Eurovision is just such an out there, totally entertaining time. I love it!

>36 JayneCM: Quite a few of them have been pretty wild!

Category: Nature, Environment, Landscape and Place
January RandomKIT: Early Birds



Stephen Moss's The Twelve Birds of Christmas is a look at twelve British birds and their link to the Twelve Days of Christmas carol (some links are more tenuous than others, but his theory that the carol is actually about 12 birds is as plausible, and proveable, as any other theory about what it's about!). As well as information about the birds he also outlines folk myths and cultural beliefs about them, and examples where they've appeared in literature. He also talks about their ongoing fortunes given changing habitats and climate change. A nice light read, which I read a chapter a day of from 25 Dec to today. 3.5/5.

Category: Travel



I got a pdf copy of David Clensy's Walking the White Horses: Wiltshire's White Horse Trail on Foot from the November LT Early Reviewer programme. Thanks to the author for the copy of the book.

This book charts the journey of the author and his 10 year old son Charlie as they walk (in stages, not all in one go) the 93 mile long White Horse Trail to see all 8 of Wiltshire's white horses, those visually arresting figures carved into chalk hills. The book also finishes with a quick trip to the Uffington White Horse, the daddy of them all, although that is in Oxfordshire so is an extra bonus rather than part of the trail itself.

To start with I wasn't sure if this was narrative non-fiction or a travel guide, but once I got into the swing of the prose that didn't matter so much (I'd say having finished it that it's kind of both). He details both the routes that he took and the history of the area and the chalk figures themselves, and throws in snippets of conversations and nature along the way. I think I would have preferred the photos to appear as and when the areas they depicted were being described, rather than in a couple of blocks of several photos, but that's a minor personal preference.

Having a child of the same age as Charlie, it was fun seeing things through his eyes too; I must admit certain bits of their conversations were very familiar! (what is it about wanting your own YouTube channel?!). I suspect Charlie moaned much less than my 10yo would have though!

I think this would be a nice book to read if you are walking the trail - each section doesn't take very long to read, so it would be good to read at the beginning or end of the section you were walking. 4/5.

>38 Jackie_K: I am glad you chose to read The Twelve Birds of Christmas during the period ending with Twelfth Night.

>38 Jackie_K: Walking The White Horses is on Kindle Unlimited so I had it on my KU reading list. I must admit, I did not know that there was more than one white horse so I am interested to read more.

>38 Jackie_K: The Twelve Birds of Christmas has such a beautiful cover!

>39 lowelibrary: It was a nice way to spend the Christmas period!

>40 JayneCM: There are actually loads - everyone knows about the Uffington white horse, but there are lots, and not just in southern England. Check out this wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_figure

>41 MissBrangwen: Yes, I loved it! That's the good thing about having a thing for nature-related books, the chances of gorgeous covers are very good!

What a good start to the year, Jackie! I used to *love* those memes of Obama and Biden, so I must look out for Hope Never Dies :-) And I also had no idea there was more than one white horse!

>38 Jackie_K: The 12 Birds of Christmas, definitely a BB for me!

>43 susanj67: I loved those memes too! There seemed to be a genuine friendship and respect there. And yes, there are 16 white horses in the UK, apparently! Plus various other geoglyphs (*gives Cerne Abbas giant the side eye*).

>44 Tess_W: It's a lovely easy read, Tess, I liked it a lot.

Continuing the bird theme:

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place
January RandomKIT: Early Birds



Disclaimer: this book is absolutely not for anyone who hates swearing.

For everyone else, prepare to laugh like a drain (I did, and for the most part I'm not a big fan of swearing). Line drawings of birds, accompanied by sweary statements purporting to be what that particular bird is thinking, is pretty much the entire premise of Effin' Birds by Aaron Reynolds. I even laughed at the book dedication ("To my mother in law, who does not believe that this is an acceptable way to make a living"). So many of these reminded me of people and situations that I know (I'm really tempted to check out their merch store for next year's Christmas presents for a couple of colleagues). Obviously this book isn't literary greatness, but it did make me laugh which I appreciate at this dull start to the year. 4/5.

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place
January RandomKIT: Early Birds



My first library book of the year is Jennifer Ackerman's The Genius of Birds. I really enjoyed this one - looking at the science behind what makes birds the amazing creatures they are. Topics included communication, navigation, social organisation, and ability to adapt to novel situations. I tell you what, I'm never going to hear "bird brain" as an insult again, they're amazing! 4.5/5.

>45 Jackie_K: Taking a BB for Effin' Birds. It sounds like a light hilarious read.

>46 lowelibrary: it is, but don't say I didn't warn you about the swearing! (to be fair, there's a big clue in the title!) 😁

>47 Jackie_K: I grew up as a military brat. Swearing is part of our love language.

>48 lowelibrary: Excellent! (also, you'd love Scotland. It's love language *and* punctuation)

>45 Jackie_K: Effin' Birds is hilarious! My favourite designs are this one and this one. (I own them as stickers but would absolutely love a mug of the second design.)

>50 rabbitprincess: Haha - this is the one I'd have as a poster in my office: https://www.effinbirds.com/products/too-old-mug Oh, and this one too: https://www.effinbirds.com/products/more-meetings-mug

>38 Jackie_K: I lived not far from the Uffington white horse when my kids were small and it was a great place to go in the summer and fly kites. Our house was along the Ridgeway, another old road, and so on more than one occasion I ended up ferrying walkers down the hill into Wantage when they twisted an ankle or were disheartened by rain. Also, the Uffington country fair was fantastic, with all the breeds of giant horses since that area is all, appropriately enough, horse country.

>45 Jackie_K: I'm a fan of the artist, so my daughter got me a signed day-by-day calendar with an entirely in keeping message from Reynolds for my birthday. I also have a mug, which I have to remember to not get out when my father comes over.

>49 Jackie_K: I love Scottish men, does that count? If I had a bucket list Scotland would be on it, I have Scottish ancestry.

If the book is as funny as the merch, I will love it. Unfortunately, my library (in the bible belt) does not have it. On to the Thingaversary wishlist, it goes.

>52 RidgewayGirl: Those chalk downs and ancient ways are such an atmospheric and beautiful part of England. I'd love to explore it more.

>53 lowelibrary: I hate to break it to you, but I have to tell you that they're not all Jamie from Outlander...!

Category: Nature, environment, landscape and place



A Year Unfolding by printmaker Angela Harding is a GORGEOUS coffee table book. She's perhaps best well known as the cover artist for Raynor Winn's books (most well-known being The Salt Path), but she also does magazine commissions, plus lots of merch (we had a beautiful Advent calendar of hers a couple of years ago). The book consists mostly of pictures inspired by the nature around her home, or in places that she has visited on her and her husband's travels on his sailing boat, plus text explaining some of the pictures. It is organised by season - early spring, spring, early summer, summer, autumn, winter - and is just lovely, one of those books you just want to stroke. She has such a distinctive style, and captures the feeling of the landscape and the characters of the animals and birds she portrays so well. 4.5/5.

> I have never seen Outlander, I was thinking more of Gerard Butler or Sean Connery, although most of them are probably Alan Cummings or Craig Ferguson.

>54 Jackie_K: That looks lovely! I had her wall calendar for 2023 in my office but couldn't find one half-price (or any price) at Waterstones this time. Outrageous!

>55 lowelibrary: Well, I was thinking more of Rab C Nesbitt (a cultural reference I suspect may not have crossed the Pond)...

>56 susanj67: It really was. Gentle and beautiful, which frankly is a good thing in these less than ideal times.

>45 Jackie_K: Sounds just what I need this winter! :-) I look forward to following a number of your categories this year. I bought your book last year, but saved it to begin in January. I love it...one bite at time during January. I plan to read it year round. Lovely writing and takes me right away from my present into a vision of your world!
I was finally able to create a thread that I will do my best to maintain this year. https://www.librarything.com/topic/357398#8369531

>58 beebeereads: Oh thank you - you have no idea how much of a boost that has given me! I really hope you enjoy it, and that it gives you a bit of respite reading about someone else's reality. I was really moved that you are choosing to read it over an entire year (some people might think that's a bit too much of me, haha).

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place
January PrizeCAT: Longstanding Prize (Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize winner 2023)



Something which I've often wondered, watching the birds and other critters that hang around my garden, is how they see and experience the world, and how different it must be from my own experience. This is basically the premise of Ed Yong's An Immense World, which looks at the science around animal senses - not just vision, hearing, etc, but also things like echolocation, experiences of pain, magnetoreception. I basically spent the last week and a half reading this book and having my mind blown. The world is so complex, and strange, and experienced so differently by so many different creatures, it's fascinating. An excellent read. 4.5/5.

>60 Jackie_K: I was given this recently, I hope to get to it soon. I haven't read anything but very good reviews

>61 clue: I found that even though the science he's discussing is amazing and complex, it was written in such an accessible way that I never felt like it was beyond me. I think that's the mark of a really good writer.

>60 Jackie_K: - I'll take a BB for this.

>60 Jackie_K: I listened to this one and I need to listen to it again. It was so dense with information and told in such an approachable way.

>63 dudes22: It's a good one!
>64 RidgewayGirl: Yes, I found that I wasn't blinded by the science at all - that's a real gift, to be able to communicate such complex ideas in such an accessible way!

>54 Jackie_K: Ooh, putting this straight on my to buy list. I love her art.

>60 Jackie_K: Another one that was on my 2023 to read list, but is still unread. I am very much looking forward to your future reads in your nature, environment, landscape, place category. I try to read the Book Naturalists Book Club picks throughout the year but I cannot always get them in Australia.

>66 JayneCM: Thank you for alerting me to that book club, I didn't know about it before but I bet I'll pick up plenty of BBs there!

Category: Central & Eastern Europe; former Soviet Union



Ten Days that Shook the World is an eyewitness account by American socialist journalist John Reed of the events of the early days of the Russian Revolution in November 1917. His position as sympathetic journalist meant that he had a front row seat in a number of important meetings and congresses, and he was able to see lots of the movers and shakers in action at the very birth of the Soviet Union.

Despite the first two chapters being taken up with explanations of who's who, and the various different groups and parties involved, there were simply so many different groups that it was really hard to keep straight in my mind who was affiliated with which group. My other overwhelming feeling as I read (not helped by the poor formatting of this particular ebook edition) was that although the undoubted confusion of the times was really well conveyed, with meeting after congress after meeting after congress, this pivotal event in world history still ended up coming across as, well, a bit boring. In all honesty, although this of course has value as an eyewitness account, for a more exciting and thorough exploration of these events I'd suggest reading China Mieville's October: The Story of the Russian Revolution instead. 2.5/5.

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place
January RandomKIT: Early Birds



My second library book of the year is a collection of essays by Jonathan Franzen, The End of the End of the Earth: Essays. A lot of the essays are about birds (he is an avid birder) or the environment more generally, but also weave in elements of memoir and more general reflections. The writing is really good, but for the most part I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being held at arm's length by the author. Having said that, the longest essay, for which the collection is named, was really fantastic (an account of a cruise to Antarctica, memories of his late uncle, and reflections on his family history), and I really wished that I'd felt more immersed in the other essays too. 3.5/5.

>67 Jackie_K: Oh my, I've slated Ten Days to read this year. I also have Mieville's book on my shelf!

>68 Tess_W: If you are just going to prioritise one, I'd definitely go for the Mieville.

>69 Jackie_K: Thanks, I will do that!

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place



Nature Tales for Winter Nights, edited by Nancy Campbell, is an anthology of fiction, non-fiction and poetry relating to winter and nature, with authors as diverse as Kenneth Graham, John Clare, Susan Fenimore Cooper, and Tove Jansson. As is always the case with anthologies some pieces grabbed me more than others, but overall this is a strong anthology (and it also definitely wins the Gorgeous Cover of the Month award). My favourites were by Damien Le Bas, Marchelle Farrell, Tim Dee, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, and Sarah Thomas, but honestly, the one piece that stopped me in my tracks was the very first one, a single, heartbreaking sentence by Anne Frank. 4/5.

>71 Jackie_K: - Your thread is so dangerous - another BB for me.

>71 Jackie_K: I really love that cover! Adding this to The List.

>72 dudes22: >73 Crazymamie: I've worked my magic again! The cover is lovely, isn't it?

By the way, Crazymamie, I've tried and failed to locate your thread, do you have one in this group? Or is my eyesight even more middle-aged than I thought?!

>74 Jackie_K: crazymamie's thread is https://www.librarything.com/topic/357382

I read more fiction than nonfiction, but all of your bird books got me, and the Ed Yong one too. I read his I Contain Multitudes a few years ago and it was very good too. Also, the website for Effin Birds is just dangerous. I'm way too tempted to buy a few mugs and casually wield them at appropriate times during work meetings... so... thanks? I guess?

>75 lowelibrary: Thank you!
>76 antqueen: You're welcome! :D I've got an eye on some mugs for me and a couple of my colleagues. Work meetings are the perfect place to passive-aggressively raise some of those pictures to the screen :)

>60 Jackie_K: My library has this so I’ve made a note of it.

>71 Jackie_K: Wow, what a beautiful cover indeed! It makes you want to cuddle up on the sofa on a crisp winter day and dive into the book. I've placed it on my ever-growing wishlist.

It's just as well I had the library catalogue open while I was reading your thread, Jackie! There are so many lovely temptations. I've reserved the Ed Yong :-)

>80 susanj67: #sorrynotsorry ;)

Category: Non-fiction (general)



Ultra-Processed People by TV (and real!) doctor Chris van Tulleken is a hugely readable and frankly scary look at what we are eating and how it is affecting our bodies. The focus is on ultra-processed food, and I learnt loads. Mostly that quite a lot of what I eat is pretty gross. This was my favourite quote from the book:

...if you're wondering whether something might be UPF, it's probably a good rule of thumb that if any of the ingredients can also be found in your deodorant or your enema, then it probably is.

A helpful and accessible read which I hope will help me make more informed choices. 4.5/5.

>82 Jackie_K: I am taking a BB for this one. I eat way too much-processed food.

>83 lowelibrary: It's almost impossible not to, it seems.

Category: Sexual/reproductive health & rights; gender; sexuality; parenting; children
February Non-Fiction Challenge: Women's Work



Katy Hessel's The Story of Art Without Men is a fantastic and beautiful book, charting the history of art exclusively through women artists, from the Renaissance to the present day. Having been so accustomed at only (or mostly) seeing art by male artists in museums and galleries around the world, this overview of women artists is long overdue. The book covers both traditional painting but also textiles, photography, film and performance art. I am ashamed of how few of these amazing artists I'd heard of before, but I now have a huge list of artists whose work I want to explore more. It is amazing how many women did manage to produce such fantastic work, given the institutional and societal barriers put up against their participation in art. With a picture on nearly every page, this book is a stunning introduction to many many talented women artists, and I thought it was terrific. 5/5.

>84 Jackie_K: Added to the WL! It sounds like an excellent book.

>84 Jackie_K: Thank you! I had not heard about this but on my TBR it goes. In fact I am placing a hold on it right now.

>85 MissBrangwen: >86 beebeereads: I'm sure you'll both like it! I thought it was excellent.

>82 Jackie_K: That is exactly why I took to growing/processing/canning most of my food! However, my two nemesis: Diet Coke and McDonald's French fries! I indulge in the Diet Coke daily but the fried maybe 1-2 times per year.

>88 Tess_W: I hope to do much the same when I retire! I'm lucky in that even though I am a child of the 1970s I never liked the taste of Coke, or really any fizzy drinks, so I mainly just drink plain water. I have plenty of other edible vices, but I'm glad that I never got the fizzy drink bug!

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place



I know it's still very early in the year, but I have to say that if Camille T Dungy's wonderful memoir Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden isn't my book of the year by the end of the year, then future me has a phenomenal reading treat in store in 2024! What a beautiful book this is (and check out that gorgeous cover!). The book details the author's ongoing attempts to fill her garden with plants and flowers native to the area (Colorado), but is so much more than that. She wrote much of it during the 2020 lockdowns while she also homeschooled her daughter (I think this is one reason why I loved this book so much, as my own book is about my garden during 2020 lockdowns while we homeschooled our daughter - who I think is a couple of years younger). It was also the summer of the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among many others, and the tail end of the Trump presidency, so her experiences living as a black woman and black family in a predominantly white neighbourhood, as well as her family's wider history of being black in America, are threaded throughout the narrative. This is a stunning book which will stay with me a long time. I loved everything about it. 5/5.

>89 Jackie_K: And another BB! I don't know when I'll be ready to read about the pandemic, but this book, along with yours, will be essential reading for me then.

>89 Jackie_K: - I'll be taking a BB for this too.

>90 MissBrangwen: Thank you Mirjam! Both books will be there when you're ready for them, and I hope they both feed your soul as they have mine.

>91 dudes22: It's a good one Betty, I'm sure you'll like it!

Category: Vintage (1900-1968) and ancient (pre-1900 fiction)



Asterix Gladiateur by Goscinny & Uderzo is one of the earliest of the Asterix books, and I read it in the original French (which I suspect means that I missed a few in-jokes - I'll look out for the English translation). Cacophanix the bard (Assurancetourix in French) is kidnapped and taken to Rome as a gift for Caesar. Asterix and Obelix go to Rome to rescue him, and the usual fights and silliness ensue. 3/5.

>89 Jackie_K: I put this on my list, I definately want to read it but it will be awhile. Luckily my library has it!

>89 Jackie_K: Good to hear you loved this one! It is on my list to source as a read for The Book Naturalists Book Club but I have not been able to find it in Australia yet - my library doesn't have it and it is too expensive to purchase here. The paperback will be released here in August, so I may purchase it then.

>94 clue: >95 JayneCM: I'm sure you'll enjoy it when you get to it!

Category: Celtic
February PrizeCAT: A Prize from your own Country



The Changing Outer Hebrides: Galson and the meaning of place by Frank Rennie is a look, over deep time, at a small corner of the isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, the township of Galson, considering the geological record, flora and fauna, and social and political history and prehistory of the area. I found the first half of the book a bit dry, but once he got to more recent history - from the Clearances to the present day - it became much more interesting. It certainly made an area, which to the outsider might seem pretty bleak and lifeless, come alive with vast and fascinating history and ongoing life. This book won the 2020 Highland Book Prize. 3.5/5.

I've added a couple to the wishlist here (thank you!) and am reminded that I need to pick up the Hessel again. I do like her podcast: so many fascinating voices, most of whom are new to me. I would love to get to the Hebrides: one day!

>97 charl08: You're welcome! I thought about subscribing to that podcast, but I subscribe to so many I struggle to listen to everything I want to! Maybe I'll give one episode a go and then get hooked...

Category: Non-fiction (general)



Elif Shafak's short book How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division is another library book, I'm quite impressed with some of the non-fiction our library is acquiring recently! Really this was preaching to the choir, in that she is talking about fostering empathy, in order to counteract anxiety, anger and apathy, and promote democracy and optimism for the future. My favourite quote: "Knowledge requires reading. Books. In-depth analyses. Investigative journalism. Then there is wisdom, which conects the mind and the heart, activates emotional intelligence, expands empathy. For that we need stories and storytelling." Can't really disagree with that. 4/5.

>98 Jackie_K: This is already on my WL, and after reading your quote, I think I should get to it rather sooner than later!

Jackie, I hope you're having a great book-y weekend :-)

Apologies for abandoning the thread temporarily - I was reading, and do now have a couple of books to report.

>99 MissBrangwen: It's short and sweet, I hope you like it!
>100 susanj67: Thank you, the bookiness is ongoing, see below :)

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)



The Holly King is the fourth in Mark Stay's Witches of Woodville series, and I do think the series is just going from strength to strength. In this one, just before Christmas 1940, the wood sees the return of the ancient demigod the Holly King who looks to reclaim his ancient territory, which has been inconveniently built on by pesky humans who've forgotten all about how they used to worship and serve him. A village son also returns, traumatised by the failed Allied action in Dunkirk, and barely keeping a grip on reality. Can Faye, Mrs Teach and Miss Charlotte protect the villagers from their biggest threat yet? 4.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
March Non-Fiction Challenge: Forensic Sciences



Professor Sue Black is arguably the UK's leading forensic anthropologist, and in All that Remains: A Life in Death, she writes of both some of the cases she has been involved in (including the 2004 tsunami, and early 2000s Kosovo), and a discussion about death which is both personal and philosophical. The first half of the book feels more memoir-like for the most part, but the second half is much more focused on the actual cases. Because of the nature of the subject, some of the material is very distressing (and also gross: I had my resting "eeewww" face throughout the section detailing what happens when bodies decompose). However, it is always immensely readable and fascinating. 4.5/5.

>101 Jackie_K: I am happy to see that The Witches of Woodville continues is such a good way!

>102 MissBrangwen: Indeed it does! I think there's another one being published later this year, which I'm happy about now that I've caught up with them all.

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place



The Snowflake: Winter's Frozen Artistry by Kenneth Libbrecht and Rachel Wing is an easy to read book with beautiful photographs about how snowflakes form and the beautiful forms they can take. Even though I only read this in ebook format, the photos were clear enough that I didn't feel like I missed out (usually if I read a book with photos I want a paper copy). The science was explained in an easy to understand way. The final chapter, about snowflake photography, was just gloriously nerdy. 3.5/5.

>101 Jackie_K: Guess I will finally have to purchase this one. Glowing rec by both ridgeway girl and yourself!

>101 Jackie_K: I've just reserved The Crow Folk so I can start this series!

>104 Tess_W: Aha, I'm in good company then!
>105 susanj67: I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place
March RandomKIT: World Wildlife Day



Naturalist and artist Tony Angell's The House of Owls is part natural history of the nineteen species of North American owls, and part account of the owls to which he's lived in close proximity, thanks mostly to a nest box he constructed and put up in a tree by his home, which housed western screech owls for 25 years, and also owls he's rescued/rehabilitated back to the wild. It's illustrated by his own artwork too.

I particularly liked the first chapter, about the screech owls in the nestbox. Much of the rest was a little dry, and I would have liked more of his personal 'up close' observations. But it's certainly a good introductionn to a wonderful bunch of birds. 3.5/5.

Category: Religious



The book I've read specifically for Lent this year is a reread, last read 9 years ago: Andrew Rumsey's Strangely Warmed: Reflections on God, Life and Bric-a-Brac. Andrew was the vicar of the church I used to attend in London and is a wonderful man and fantastic priest (he is now a bishop). This book is a selection of 40 short pieces, some humorous, some serious, of church and Christian life and the quirky and faintly ridiculous culture (especially in its British and Anglican incarnation) that goes along with it. I enjoyed revisiting this book very much. 4/5.

A couple of academic books have got the brain cells lurching about this past week:

Category: Academic



Bending Genre: Essays on Creative Nonfiction, 2nd edition, edited by Dr Margot Singer & Dr Nicole Walker, is a textbook for creative nonfiction students and writers, particularly looking at how the traditional literary essay, memoir and journalism can be disrupted to promote creativity and resistance, and looking at ethical issues around truth- and story-telling. A couple of the essays - the ones by Elena Passarello and Mary Capello spring to mind - were worth the price of the book in themselves, and many of the others were interesting and got me thinking, and I now have a good long list of essays that the various contributors discussed that I want to check out. I have to say, though, there were several chapters here which were so far into Pseud's Corner that I struggled to finish them, and reminded me of some of my less positive memories of academia! Overall 3/5, but the two mentioned essays were 5* reads for sure.

Category: Academic



Theresa Lillis' and Mary Jane Curry's Academic Writing in a Global Context is an interesting look at the politics of academic publishing in English for scholars whose first language isn't English, and who are based in countries that aren't part of the Anglophone mainstream (in this particular case, academics from Spain, Portugal, Slovakia and Hungary). It details the findings from a lengthy research project with many academics from each of the four countries, exploring how and why they choose whether to write for local or international publications, the meanings for them of publishing in English, and the barriers and gatekeepers which ultimately decide who gets published where and why. The last two chapters in particular I found really interesting, although as this was published in 2010 it is perhaps easy for me with the benefit of hindsight to take issue with the idealistic promotion of the then relatively new concept of open-access publishing (in the intervening years it seems to me there are as many barriers and gatekeepers, and financial constraints, in open-access as there are in traditional academic publishing). There is still a lot relevant here though, and having been out of academia for the last decade I'd be interested to see if the participants in this study and the authors feel that anything has changed or improved. 3.5/5.

>109 Jackie_K: I'm taking a note of the book on Academic Writing. My sister is working on a paper with this theme and it may interest her, even if it's a bit old.

>110 MissWatson: I hope she can find it and that it is helpful. It's an important subject, that's for sure.

Category: Biography; autobiography; memoir; true story



One of the joys of lockdown was discovering the antics of Olive & Mabel, the two dogs belonging to UK sports commentator Andrew Cotter. A video where he commentated on them doing normal dog stuff (in the absence of any sporting events to commentate on) went viral, and Olive and Mabel became doggie superstars. Olive, Mabel & Me is the story of that time, and the backstory of childhood family dogs, getting the girls before viral stardom, and generally why owning dogs is excellent. This was a delightful and thoroughly heartwarming book - I listened to the audiobook, but also have a hardback copy so could enjoy the lovely pictures of the two girls too. 4/5.

Category: Nature; environment; landscape; place



Richard Milne's Rhododendron is a short book which packs in a lot of information about the shrub that seems to divide opinion like no other. The early chapters about history and taxonomy were a bit dry, but I must admit I did find the chapter entirely about R. ponticum (which is the variety which is running rampant throughout the UK and Ireland) really thought-provoking. 3/5.

>111 Jackie_K: - I've added this to my audio list for the library. Sounds fun.

>113 dudes22: It's lovely in audio, Betty. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Category: Biography; autobiography; memoir; true stories



I started poet, broadcaster and national treasure Michael Rosen's Getting Better: Life Lessons on going under, getting over it, and getting through it thinking it was his memoir from covid (he caught covid very early on in the pandemic and spent 6 weeks in hospital, over a month of that in an induced coma), but that's another book (Many Different Kinds of Love). This is a memoir which looks not only at his experience of covid, but also a decade plus lost to undiagnosed hypothyroidism in his 20s and 30s, the death of his 19 year old son, the discovery of relatives who were killed in the Holocaust, amongst other things. The book focuses on how he dealt with these experiences of trauma and grief, and what has helped him to live well again. Despite the subject matter, he has a light touch which makes him a fine companion, and I found this very moving but also very relatable. 4.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
April Non-Fiction Challenge: Globalisation



Well, what a thoroughly depressing book Who Rules the World? by Noam Chomsky is. It's an expose of American geopolitical hypocrisy and dominance, and he is equally scathing of both major political parties and their policies (which gives me at least some confidence in the overall analysis).

I did have to take points off though for the many times he used Russian/Soviet and Russia/USSR interchangeably. I can't tell you how much that annoys me, and "the world's greatest public intellectual" (according to the quote on the front cover) really should know better. 3/5.

>116 Jackie_K: Ha! The world's greatest public intellectual? That must have been written by himself. In the U.S, amongst intellectuals, he is mostly known as a socialist, linguist, and philosopher. As to the scathing of both political parties, I'm amazed he had the "nerve" to do it, but I most heartily concur! "The truth is often ignored." I'm paraphrasing Huxley, I believe. As to the USSR/Russia, I agree, he should have known better! (I make my college freshman memorize 1922-1991, and they are tested on it, practical application of course. For example, true/false: In 1936, Joseph Stalin began a series of show trials in Russia)

>117 Tess_W: It's actually a quote from an Observer review, but I don't suppose he objected to having it on the front cover!

The other thing he managed in this book, which I thought was pretty impressive, was to make Adam Smith sound like a raving leftie. That's quite the achievement.

>118 Jackie_K: Wow to Smith

>119 Tess_W: I know, it really was something!

Category: Nature, environment, landscape, place
April RandomKIT: Enchanting Garden Visitors



Andrew D. Blechman's Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird is both an interesting look at the birds themselves, and how perceptions of them have changed over time (from 'Dove of Peace' to 'rats with wings'), and also an account of the humans who are obsessed with them. He spends time with dedicated pigeon breeders and racers, attends a pigeon shooting club, meets people who are dedicated to saving pigeons from inhumane extermination methods, and even attempts to get an interview with surprise pigeon-fancier, Mike Tyson. It's a bird which is the subject of some surprisingly obsessive behaviour, which at times made me feel quite uncomfortable. I'm not quite sure why - possibly because as an outsider, it felt to me like the people he interviewed were so obsessive as to be not quite in touch with reality, and I felt like I was intruding (even though his accounts and interviews for the most part didn't feel particularly intrusive). I'm definitely glad I read this though, as it was a window into a world that you couldn't make up. 3.5/5.