I read a lot of non-fiction books this year – regular visitors to the blog will know that I love history, popular culture, books about books, feminism and biography in particular.
So while I cannot possibly say I’ve read a huge variety of the fabulous non-fiction books published this year, I have found some real gems. In true ‘Top of the Pops’ style (yes, I am of that vintage!), here’s my countdown of the best in 2020’s non-fiction books from number 10 to 1…
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10 – ‘The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders’ by Ben Aitken
If someone had told me that one of my favourite books of the year would be about a young man going on Shearings coach tours, I’m not sure I’d have believed you! Still, this is a witty, warm and wise story about Aitken’s travels with the older generation and is more focused on interesting people-watching than any real travel narrative. You can read my full review here.
I also read Aitken’s ‘A Chip Shop in Poznan’, an engaging tale of his year in Poland just as Brexit-fever took hold of Britain.
9 – ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by Katy Brand
Having been raised on the glorious 1964 film of ‘Mary Poppins’, this book was a fabulously comfortable and engaging read. Brand is clearly a Poppins-obsessive and it is something I both recognise and respect! This book is packed with nostalgia, interesting facts and witty analysis. You can read my review here.
If this one floats your boat, Brand’s book about Dirty Dancing is also well worth a read (‘I Carried a Watermelon’).
8 – ‘Essex Girls: For Profane and Opinionated Women Everywhere’ by Sarah Perry
This is a brilliant re-evaluation of the stereotype of the Essex girl and a celebration of ‘profane and opinionated women’ through history. As a Southend-born and long-term Chelmsford resident, this one struck a chord with me. You can read my full review here.
7 – ‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith
I love a book about Shakespeare and I’ve read a lot! What I loved about this one was the fact that it contained so many new things that I hadn’t really thought about before, even for the plays that I consider that I know really well. You can read my review here.
If this is your thing, I can also recommend Kathryn Harkup’s ‘Death by Shakespeare’, a fascinating look at the deaths in Shakespeare from a scientific perspective. Dark but absolutely engrossing! (review here)
6 – ‘How Love Actually Ruined Christmas (or Colourful Narcotics)’ by Gary Raymond
A late entry into my favourites list but this one is hilarious! I am really not a fan of the film ‘Love Actually’ at all and I really enjoyed Raymond’s scene-by-scene evisceration of it. Thoughtfully-written and genuinely enlightening…and did I mention very, very funny?! You can read my full review here.
5 – ‘Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen’ by Greg Jenner
This is a thoroughly enjoyable jaunt through the culture of celebrity. Jenner, who was historian for the BBC’s excellent ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series, is an engaging guide and brings together stories that are funny, interesting and also occasionally tragic. You can read my review here.
If you like the look of this, I can also recommend Jenner’s first book, ‘A Million Years in A Day’, a book focusing on the history of the things we do every day.
4 – ‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights’ by Helen Lewis
This is a history of feminism, but with a difference – it focused on the lesser-known figures and events so that it really feels fresh and engaging. You can read my full review here.
3 – ‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister
I supported this book on the crowd-funded publishing site, Unbound, after following Dr Kate Lister on Twitter for a while. Her take on social (sexual) history is funny, feminist and always interesting. The book itself is eye-opening and fascinating, plus Lister donated a proportion of her profits to a sex worker charity. You can read my full review here.
2 – ‘More Than A Woman’ by Caitlin Moran
Moran’s books are always worth a read, but this take on what it means to be a middle-aged woman is brilliant. She is funny and confessional, relatable and quick with her razor-sharp observations. My review can be read here.
Moran’s earlier book, ‘How to be a Woman’, about being a younger woman, is also eminently readable:
1 – ‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross
OK, so a book ostensibly about graveyards and death might be a bit of an odd choice for my non-fiction book of the year, but hear me out! This is the book that I have talked about to people more than any other this year and it is an absolute treasure.
More than anything, it celebrates life and the people associated with graveyards and burial grounds and ossuaries: the historians, the mourners and the grave-tenders and those who carry out burial rites, as well as the departed. It is strangely comforting and absolutely compelling. Although sometimes sad, it isn’t depressing at all.
This is a brilliant book and one I strongly recommend. You can read my full review here.
I subscribe to the monthly Books that Matter feminist book box (you can see my review of the November box here) so I was on the mailing list when they were looking to launch the Brave Girls Book Club, a similar offering for girls.
My daughter is 10 and not the keenest reader, so I thought it would be worth a shot.
The first box arrived this week and my daughter got to it first so there are no nice unboxing photos… The wrapping is the same as the Books that Matter box anyway so let’s go straight to the contents!
The November Box
The theme for the box was ‘Girls Who Read, Lead’ and the contents of the box were:
Not pictured – the sweets or keyring
‘When Life Gives You Mangoes’ by Kereen Getten
A reading journal
Two ‘This Girl is Mighty’ pencils
A bag of strawberry sweets (long since gone…)
A collectible patch (there will be one to collect each month)
A bookmark with quotations from Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ on
A ‘Brave Girl’ keyring
A ‘Girls Who Read, Lead’ booklet/activity pack
The keyring
My Review
The book looks excellent – it is one that I wouldn’t have thought of to buy my daughter (I hadn’t heard of it) but she likes the look of it. Whether she actually reads it will be the true test!
The pencils are really nice and are already in use, as is the keyring which has been attached to my daughter’s school bag. The bookmark is nice and the sweets were very much appreciated in the three seconds they were in the house!
The patch is cute, but I’m not sure what we will do with it – I think attaching it to something will involve sewing which is very unlikely to happen! I think a pin badge would have been better and more likely to get some use.
The activity booklet is quite thin but I think my daughter will like the wordsearch and might do some of the other activities. Time will tell if she uses the reading journal but I am ever the optimist!
My Verdict
I think this is a lovely box for girls aged between about 9 and 12 – the book looks a good reading age for my daughter and it is nice to have a story that is both diverse and has positive messages about friendship.
The other items in the box were well chosen, good quality and I think this box is reasonable value.
I’m always keeping an eye on subscription options – this month, I’ve been debating the Orenda Books subscription from Bert’s Books because I’ve heard such great things about that publisher.
However, for now, I’m with Books that Matter, the feminist subscription box- this is my 7th month with them and I’ve also signed up for the brand new Brave Girls’ Book Club subscription box for my daughter which I’ll review when it arrives.
Spoilers ahead, for those of you who haven’t received your box yet…proceed with caution!
The November ‘Books that Matter’ box:
Hallelujah! They’ve changed the packaging! Instead of getting a crumpled box, I got this smarter, tougher one. It’s only a little thing, but it already made me feel better about this box!
Opening the box is the usual lovely experience – everything is wrapped and placed beautifully and the contents looked great. This month’s offering is very brightly-coloured and themed around the topic of ‘Hear Her’, using your voice to achieve what you want.
The contents of the box were:
‘The Inland Sea’ by Madeleine Watts
‘No One is too Small to Make a Difference’ by Greta Thunberg
A ‘She is Fierce’ plain notebook
A floral face mask
3 feminist postcards
A bookmark
The ‘Hear Her’ booklet
My Review:
It’s another lovely selection from the team at ‘Books that Matter’.
I love the fact this is a 2-book month as this isn’t the norm. I’m intrigued by ‘The Inland Sea’ as I hadn’t heard of it and I like the fact it has a historical dimension, plus the Greta Thunberg book is one that I have felt I should read for a while now.
The notebook, postcards and bookmark are good quality and will definitely be used and I like the accompanying booklets with these boxes which showcase the artists, writers and other creatives/female-led businesses who have been involved in putting the box together.
As much as I wish it weren’t true, the face mask will also get a lot of use as England begins its month-long lockdown and I am required to wear a mask at work.
My Verdict:
Every time my wandering eye fixes on another subscription offering, Books that Matter seem to pull another blinder out of the bag! I’m really pleased with the November box and very much looking forward to seeing what this team have to offer for my daughter in her forthcoming Brave Girls’ Book Club box.
As soon as I saw this title on Twitter, I knew I had to read this book! The subtitle – ‘Fairy Tales for Feminists’ – sounded perfect and I pre-ordered it.
In the flesh (so to speak), it’s a lovely little book and it would make a fantastic gift for the feminist in your life! The hardback has lovely neon pink illustrations and the book is packed with black and white pictures by illustrator Seobhan Hope.
Despite the title, the book covers more than just fairy tales – there are also sections on nursery rhymes, childhood films, children’s classics, and myths and legends. This makes the source material as diverse as The Famous Five, Tintin, Disney films, Arthurian legends and The Hobbit. As well as the aforementioned fairy tales, of course!
Each title or story gets a double page spread – usually one for the short snippets of text (often rhyming) and the other for the accompanying illustration.
This is a book that absolutely takes no prisoners – each of the chosen texts are skewered in turn for their dodgy messages about consent (or lack of!), female representation, the sexualisation of women, traditional gender roles and outdated moral codes. This is all done in a clever, light-touch way and the illustrations are brilliant at hammering home the messages.
If I had just one quibble about this book, it was that I wanted more! More texts, more digging in the stories, more detail – all would have been welcome. However, that isn’t the nature of this book; it does witty, pithy comment extremely well and leaves the reader to ponder on the detail.
In that sense, it is very thought-provoking. While I’d had some of the notions myself (who hasn’t felt slightly uncomfortable about ‘good little housewife’ Anne in ‘The Famous Five’?), I guess there are some things I just hadn’t noticed – the representation of women in Asterix, for example, or the total lack of women in loads of children’s books and films.
Although the approach is humorous and the book entertaining, it does pack a punch in terms of feminist messages. I’d recommend this as a great way to talk about feminist themes with teenagers (not too young – there are some slightly risqué ideas) or just for anyone who wants some food for thought on the stories and films that have become the fabric of our culture. And a laugh along the way, obviously!
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I wanted to read this as soon as I heard about it! I was born in Essex myself (in Southend-on-Sea) and have had rather negative experiences of the ‘Essex Girl’ stereotype, so any discussion of this was absolutely welcome – and probably well overdue.
Having grown up with the Essex Girl jokes – white stilettos, Sharon and Tracy, blonde hair, ha ha bloody ha – I was intrigued by this book. No-one I knew fitted the stereotype that I was constantly being faced with, yet it endured.
Sarah Perry, author of ‘The Essex Serpent’, has written this book for – as she puts it on the cover – ‘profane and opinionated women everywhere’. She attempts to reclaim the ‘Essex Girl’ as a type – someone who is strong-minded, unconventional and unafraid to be herself. In this book, Essex isn’t a geographical location, it’s a state of mind.
It’s only a short book, but it covers an awful lot of ground – the historical roots of this brand of womanhood (witchcraft – Essex did more than its fair share of witch-burning), some inspirational historical women (some from Essex, some with the mindset) and Perry’s own experiences of growing up in the county are all explored. It’s engagingly written and I really loved the feminist reclaiming of the stereotype – Perry sets up Essex womanhood (geographical or metaphorical) as something to take pride in, to celebrate.
‘It has become a habit to conceive of women – both historically and currently – not by their achievements, but by the restraints placed upon them; to study the locked door, and fail to see the windows broken from inside.’
– Sarah Perry, ‘Essex Girls’
I found Perry’s arguments interesting and convincing – it is definitely a thought-provoking read and introduced me to some characters from history who were fascinating and ground-breaking in their own ways.
The added bonus for me was the focus on the Essex landscape in which I grew up – St John’s Hospital, Widford, Moulsham and Wood Street all feature and reminded me of my life in Chelmsford as a child and teenager.
Even without the familiarity with Essex, there is plenty to enjoy here as Perry unpicks the Essex Girl stereotype and reassembles it into something much more positive – and much more inspiring! She – quite rightly – shows us that there are many models of ‘Essex Girl’ and the common ground between them – the strength, the authenticity, the outspokenness – is what should be celebrated.
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I love Caitlin Moran. I think she is funny, brave and always readable. I love the fact she has turned her considerable journalistic writing skills into a career in which she produces brilliant fiction and non-fiction books. She is the reason I have a Times subscription (she is a regular writer for them) and a shelf full of her previous books.
That needed to be said up front. Although I read and review lots of books, I’m not the most impartial reviewer in this case. Evidence: I pre-ordered this book and paid out of my own pocket! No ARC, no waiting for the prices to come down, no second-hand copy, no waiting for Christmas…honestly, this is all so out of character for me!
With that said, I did wonder how she would have enough to say about the topic of being a woman. She covered a lot of ground (rather marvellously) in her book ‘How to be a Woman’ ten years ago – how much more is there to say?
Loads, it turns out. Moran is now in her forties (like me) and has plenty to say about this stage in her life. It is in middle age that (Moran observes) life becomes less about you and more about everyone else – your children growing up, pressures of work, ageing parents – and it is really tough. You aren’t the same person as you were ten years ago and it needs a whole new way of navigating. Add into this the current state of society – it’s safe to say the patriarchy hasn’t yet been smashed – and Moran has plenty to write about.
This book is structured into chapters denoting an hour in the middle-aged women’s day. Thus, we are taken from 7am (The Hour of ‘The List’) through various points in the day – The Hour or Parenting Teenage Children (eeek – not looking forward to this myself!), The Hour of Housework, The Hour of Crisis… It is all hugely relatable and it is strangely comforting that the things I stress about seem to be universal.
Particularly striking for me was ‘The List’ as I’ve done a lot of thinking about mental load recently and the fact that women seem to bear the brunt of the thinking about things. It was heartening to read Moran’s own list and think that I am not the only one trying to keep on top of work, parenting, marriage, life admin, pet care…
Yes, there are a lot of serious points made here about women’s place in society and the pressures to ‘have it all’ (read: ‘do it all’). However, it is also absolutely hilarious and Moran is unafraid to share some rather intimate things. It is like a chat with your best friend, if your best friend is a totally unfiltered over-sharer! The bathwater thing (you’ll have to read it) really made me laugh out loud…
As well as being laugh-out-loud funny in places, there are some really serious points, especially Moran’s daughter’s fight with anorexia. I found the story extremely moving and am glad that Moran (and her daughter, because it was shared with her permission) included this intimate story that shows that each family has its struggles behind closed doors.
This is a feminist book but one that should be required reading for everyone – it is so insightful and engaging that I think anyone would enjoy it (and probably learn something along the way).
Please do go and buy a copy of this book. If you are a women of a similar age to Moran (or live with one) then you will recognise a lot here. It is uplifting and extremely funny, but will leave you with a lot of food for thought.
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I read a lot of non-fiction which tends to fall into several sub-categories – Victorians, social history, historical biography, women’s history, feminism.
For today’s post, I wanted to talk about some of the best in non-fiction books specifically about women and their lives – from historical perspectives to the modern day. These are the my top 5 picks from an awful lot of books so I hope you find something that catches your eye!
‘How Was It For You?’ by Virginia Nicholson
I love social history and anything with a feminist perspective, but I’ll admit that I knew very little about the 1960s before reading this book.
I think I’d bought into the vague modern notion of the ‘Swinging Sixties’, a time when societal expectations changed after the restrictive 1950s, a time of permissiveness and free love and hippies and Biba. The sixties as revolutionary but in a good way.
Nicholson goes some way to explode this myth about the decade often recalled with a sense of nostalgia by those who experienced it (my dad being a prime example!) She reveals the truth behind the ‘free love’ headline: this was not a great time for women. From illegal abortions to sexism at all levels of society, the 1960s were not always kind to the sisterhood. While seeming to be an age of opportunity and freedom (the pill, the opening of the job market to women, recreational drugs, the possibility of finding your ‘tribe’ of mods/rockers/hippies, and an exciting shift in popular music), the reality was that gender equality was not part of the deal.
Despite this overall message, the book is not pessimistic or depressing. Nicholson cleverly charts the decade chronologically, interspersing an account of the historical events with interviews with a range of women who lived through the 1960s. These range from the mother of a thalidomide baby to a campaigning feminist to a women who experienced teen pregnancy to Patricia Quinn (Magenta in ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ and a personal heroine of mine!) These women show that the sixties were an era of contradictions and complexities, of great change, of fun but also huge challenges.
The scope of the book is mind-boggling. It manages to cover personal stories from the interviewees and also the big news events of the day. In a fast paced narrative, we are whisked through huge cultural revolutions and major news stories: Beatlemania, Profumo, Playboy bunny girls, LSD, groupies, Mary Whitehouse, racism, Lady Chatterley, the moon landings, Carnaby Street, feminism…the list goes on.
There is so much packed into the book, yet the flow of the text never seems forced or unnatural; it is an absolutely engrossing read.
I recommend this to anyone interested in social history, feminism or women’s lives. Whether you remember the sixties or not, there is so much to learn from this engaging and thought provoking book.
‘Difficult Women’ by Helen Lewis
Thanks to Jen Theodore for sharing their work on Unsplash.
This is a book that I’ve talked about before on this blog, but it bears repeating. I have told everyone who will listen about this one!
I thought I was pretty good on my history of women’s rights and feminism, but found plenty in this eye-opening, thought-provoking and engaging book that was new to me. In the book, Lewis charts key moments in women’s history through 11 ‘fights’ – key moments in history when the titular ‘Difficult Women’ have stood up and made change happen in society.
These changes range from divorce laws protecting women’s rights to have access to their children and property, the availability of safe and legal abortions, gaining votes for women after World War 1, establishing refuges for victims of domestic violence, achieving equal access to education and the changing roles of the female workforce. Each of these struggles is a separate chapter, with Lewis introducing us to some of the ‘difficult women’ who led the various movements.
What I loved about this book was that the stories told weren’t the usual ones. For every Pankhurst in the chapter on votes for women, there were a whole host of lesser known but still fascinating women who played important roles in achieving the women’s vote in 1918. I felt that I’d learnt about a whole new cast of feminists and so many different perspectives on feminist ideology.
Lewis doesn’t try to convince us that these women were perfect – she tackles head on some of the contradictions of feminism and the internal disagreements, for example not shying away from Marie Stopes interest in eugenics or the suffragettes willingness to do violent and terrible things to achieve their aims.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in women’s history or changing place in society. The book isn’t – and doesn’t claim to be – an exhaustive history of feminism, but it is lively and entertaining, well-researched and engrossing. The topics covered are fascinating and Lewis is a witty, perceptive and clear-sighted guide through some tricky subjects.
‘The Trouble with Women’ by Jacky Fleming
This is a book that seems to be a light read – it’s mainly illustrations – but the weight of the messages is immense!
I have a background in studying feminist literature and admit I was intrigued when I saw this book with it’s woman in a bubble (actually the Domestic Sphere – capitalisation essential – as we soon find out) on the cover and ironic title.
It’s an absolute gem! Lovely illustrations accompany an acerbic narrative of female history; traditional ideas about women aren’t criticised directly, but more shown to be ludicrous through the wording and illustrations (I especially loved the idea that women couldn’t stand up without corsets, alongside illustrated lolling women!) Men are Geniuses (with a capital letter, obviously), while women aren’t suited to anything that might damage their marriage prospects (including, but not limited to, art, science, writing, riding bicycles).
This book is an obvious choice for anyone interested in women’s history and feminism., and is one I’ll be sharing with my daughter when she is old enough.
However, it has much wider appeal than us card-carrying feminists! Indeed, this book should also be read by anyone who thinks that the fight for equality is over; there’s plenty of food for thought here about the messages we are still given about women’s role in history.
‘Moranifesto’ by Caitlin Moran
Regular visitors to the blog may have already spotted my love for Caitlin Moran who – I think – has one of the most original, funny and relatable voices in modern journalism.
She writes regularly for ‘The Times’ and ‘The Sunday Times’ but also has a number of books (both fiction and non-fiction) under her belt. Her new book, ‘More Than A Woman’ has just been released, but I’d like to point you towards ‘Moranifesto’ as being the book that perfectly encapsulates her quirky and humorous take on life.
Although I really don’t agree with her on some things (for example, her Beatles obsession), on the important things we are aligned. She writes engagingly and persuasively, whether it is about feminism, the Paralympics, the need for libraries or the wonderousness of Benedict Cumberbatch!
Although her writing is fundamentally feminist, she covers a massive amount of ground on some extremely wide-ranging topics and is always readable. She is also notoriously ‘over-sharey’ so there’s some hilarious and eye-opening content.
The other thing that’s great about this book is that Moran is a thinker. Although a lot of her musings may seem amusing or dealing with trivialities, she absolutely nails society’s problems (often to do with inequality and injustices) and offers a hopeful way forward – her ‘Moranifesto’.
I wish they’d put her in charge now!
‘Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage and Manners‘ by Therese ONeill
Those who know me know that I love funny books and anything about Victorians. This is both and yet gives an engaging social history on how women lived in the Victorian era.
I do tend towards a romantic view of the Victorian era whilst also knowing that this is ridiculous – the statistics on child mortality, life expectancy and poverty should dispel that myth. However, I was keen to know about the reality of being a Victorian woman which is why I picked up this book.
The key thing to note is that this is about being a Victorian lady – a very small percentage of the population, as most women did not have the disposable income or time to meet the exacting standards of the etiquette guides (that ONeill uses as the basis for her fascinating book).
The book includes some really interesting social history on women’s clothing, bathing options, treatments for ‘hysteria’ (a condition only experienced by white, upper class women!) and contraception, among other things.
It is also really very funny and so makes my list easily!
Here are some others from my (to be honest – terrifyingly huge) TBR…
‘The Five’ by Hallie Rubenhold
‘Rise Up, Women!’ by Diane Atkinson
‘Bloody Brilliant Women’ by Cathy Newman
‘She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen: British Women in India 1600-1900’ by Katie Hickman
‘Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars’ by Francesca Wade
‘Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World’ by Lyndall Gordon
‘Maiden Voyages’ by Sian Evans
Header photo with thanks to Gabrielle Rocha Rios for sharing their work on Unsplash.
It’s fair to say that 2020 isn’t going quite as any of us expected. The silver lining in what has been a hideous and staggeringly enormous cloud has – for me – been the opportunity to read more and enjoy some brilliant books.
I set my Goodreads challenge at 100 books for the year and am already on 68, way ahead of where I expected.
Of these, I gave 10 of them five star reviews, so this seems a good time to share with you the books I couldn’t put down this year. They are certainly a quirky, diverse and interesting mix!
In chronological order of when I read them as I cannot possibly rank these books!
‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism’ by Helen Lewis (published February 2020)
I thought I was pretty good on my history of women’s rights and feminism, but found plenty in this eye-opening, thought-provoking and engaging book that was new to me.
In the book, Lewis charts key moments in women’s history through 11 ‘fights’ – key moments in history when the titular ‘Difficult Women’ have stood up and made change happen in society. These changes range from divorce laws protecting women’s rights to have access to their children and property, the availability of safe and legal abortions, gaining votes for women after World War 1, establishing refuges for victims of domestic violence, achieving equal access to education and the changing roles of the female workforce. Each of these struggles is a separate chapter, with Lewis introducing us to some of the ‘difficult women’ who led the various movements.
What I loved about this book was that the stories told weren’t the usual ones. For every Pankhurst in the chapter on votes for women, there were a whole host of lesser known but still fascinating women who played important roles in achieving the women’s vote in 1918. I felt that I’d learnt about a whole new cast of feminists and so many different perspectives on feminist ideology. Lewis doesn’t try to convince us that these women were perfect – she tackles head on some of the contradictions of feminism and the internal disagreements, for example not shying away from Marie Stopes interest in eugenics or the suffragettes willingness to do violent and terrible things to achieve their aims.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in women’s history or changing place in society. The book isn’t – and doesn’t claim to be – an exhaustive history of feminism, but it is lively and entertaining, well-researched and engrossing. The topics covered are fascinating and Lewis is a witty, perceptive and clear-sighted guide through some tricky subjects.
‘The Switch’ by Beth O’Leary (published April 2020)
Wow, this was an absolute treat! I enjoyed O’Leary’s first novel but this one is even better. It’s not a genre I usually read, but I couldn’t resist this big-hearted, charming, touching story of a life swap between grandmother and granddaughter.
Lena Cotton is a high-flyer in London and supposedly living a dream life with her high-powered job, handsome boyfriend and trendy warehouse flat in Shoreditch. When a presentation at work goes wrong and she is told to take a two month sabbatical, she retreats to the Yorkshire village where her mother and grandmother live, each dealing in their own ways with a family tragedy. The grandmother in question, Eileen, is at the centre of village life, always organising and busy but unsuccessfully looking for love. When the two agree to swap lives for the two months of Leena’s leave, neither foresee the results of their quirky experiment.
The novel is packed with lucky coincidences and chance events that make everything perfect and neat, but that (which I thought might annoy me) was just lovely. What makes the book, however, is the cast of characters. They are a great and astutely observed bunch of people and they become like friends in a way that reminded me of the eclectic mix of family and friends surrounding Bridget Jones (another book I love). The plot was predictable in places but always charming and touching – it didn’t shy away from the subject of grief but without becoming maudlin or mawkish.
I’d highly recommend this to anyone who wants a big slice of comfort reading. Its engaging and humorous, life-affirming and reassuring that it’s never too late to find your place in the world.
‘The Graves of Whitechapel’ by Claire Evans (published June 2020)
I’ve already published this review on here and raved about this book on Twitter, but – for completeness – here it is again!
I really liked Claire Evans’ debut novel, ‘The Fourteenth Letter’, but I think this one is even stronger. It’s a twisty and tense murder mystery set on the streets of Victorian Whitechapel – what’s not to love?!
It’s 1882 and Cage Lackmann is a corrupt lawyer. Although he does some work to defend the innocent, he also fights legal cases to acquit gang members as he is in the pay of a powerful man. When one of his ‘innocent’ defendants is accused of committing a second murder, Cage is in trouble. The police want to frame him, his customers are abandoning him and he is in a race against time to get the evidence he needs. Everyone has secrets and Cage has to work out who he can trust with his own.
I loved everything about this book! I kept thinking I’d figured it all out, only for the rug to be pulled from under my feet the next second. The depiction of gritty, grimy, seedy Whitechapel is great – this is a place where loyalties can be bought and sold, everyone has a price and violence is rife. That said, this isn’t a depressing book – it’s clever and engaging and fast-paced. I read this in a day and would recommend that any lovers of historical crime do the same – clear some time in the diary and settle down for an absolute treat.
‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister (published February 2020)
(Mum, you can skip this review!)
I first found Dr Kate Lister on Twitter through various other historians on the site – history is one of my passions and I loved the quirky and often funny things that she posted using her ‘Whores of Yore’ account. When I found that she was writing a book – crowdfunded through the brilliant publisher Unbound – it seemed obvious that I’d sign up and support the project. Doubly so when she donated half her profits to the Basis Sex Work Project in Leeds – a charity supporting sex workers. As an early supported, my name is in the back of the book – very exciting!
(Incidentally, you can find new projects and support your own books on Unbound’s website here.)
The (long-awaited) finished book is absolutely brilliant. It is far from encyclopaedic as that was never its intention – instead, it picks up a variety of issues in short, engaging chapters. Kate Lister is very funny and her take on the history behind various sexual topics is eye-opening (sometimes eye-watering!) and absolutely engaging. These areas of focus range from medical history to cultural practices, from FGM to prostitution, from Victorian prudery (mostly a myth) to feminism and they’re all fascinating.
The fabulous hardback copy I have contains a lot of images to support Lister’s text and it’s probably sufficient to say that it is one to shelve way out of the kids’ reach!
This is an absolutely fantastic book on the history of sex and one I would recommend to anyone interested in social history. It’s well-researched and academic, but also gloriously readable.
‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry (published April 2020)
Another one that I’ve already championed on this very blog, but review posted here again:
I’d not read any books by Liz Mistry before this, but I’ll certainly be looking for more! This is the second in a series featuring DS Nikki Parekh and, although there are references to the backstory, I don’t think its essential that you have read the previous novel.
After a multi-agency conference, police officer Felicity Springer leaves the venue for her drive home. As she heads through the country lanes, she sees someone trying to get her attention from inside the van in front. Felicity Springer doesn’t make it home and an investigation is launched into her disappearance. However, that proves just the tip of the iceburg and DS Nikki Parekh and her team are thrown into a complex and dangerous investigation in Bradford’s criminal underworld.
I’ll admit that this is a bit more gritty and grim than my usual reads, but it’s also compelling and very pacy – I kept planning on reading one more chapter to see what happened until I realised it was 3am and I should just finish the book! I liked the portrayal of multicultural Bradford and the diversity within the police team and Nikki herself is an interesting protagonist. Often the personal lives of the police officers can overshadow the actual crime story in this kind of novel but this never happens here – the plot is tight and twisty throughout.
I’d recommend this to anyone who likes police procedurals, especially those with a feisty female police officer in charge. Just don’t pick up this book unless you have a clear run of reading time in which to finish it because you absolutely won’t want to put it down.
‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James (to be published September 2020)
A full review for this one will follow closer to publication date. However, let’s just say that this one is an absolute treat for those who loved the Sookie Stackhouse ‘True Blood’ books and TV series. This is a brilliantly British take on vampires and zombies with plenty of humour and a great female lead. It’s also worth me pointing out that this is outside of my usual genres but it totally won me over.
Definitely one to watch out for!
‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith (published April 2020)
This is another book I’ve talked about on the blog before, but it definitely warrants repeating here.
Professor Emma Smith is a Shakespeare expert and Oxford University lecturer who I had only encountered previously as a result of her ‘Approaching Shakespeare’ podcasts. She really knows her subject inside out, but the refreshing thing about this book is the lightness of touch. I’ve read a lot of books on Shakespeare (it comes with the English graduate and teacher territory), but few are as engaging and readable as this one without skimping on the academics.
In this book, Professor Smith takes the plays one at a time and presents a shortish essay/chapter on each. These essays are ordered roughly chronologically, although obviously we can never be entirely sure of the exact order in which the plays were produced. Each chapter addresses a play from a different or unusual perspective, so opens out some interesting thoughts about Shakespeare’s biography, sources, intentions, themes, characters…the list goes on and Professor Smith takes the essay wherever is interesting rather than having any particular set formula for her writing. This means she moves between topics fluidly and avoids labouring points.
Her approach is always rigorously academic and scrupulously referenced, yet full of humour and surprising elements – I loved her defence of Keanu Reeves’ acting in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ on the basis that it is his character rather than Keanu who is as wooden as a wardrobe! She never shies away from more controversial ideas either, such as the idea that if ‘The Tempest’ was Shakespeare’s swansong and the character of Prospero intended as parallel to Shakespeare himself (as is a commonly accepted idea), then perhaps we wouldn’t have liked Shakespeare (as a man) much. In other essays, she identifies plot holes, discusses source texts and how reactions to plays have changed over the 400 years or so since they were written. The idea isn’t that this is a definitive guide, but that the plays cannot be pinned down and explained as they continue to develop different meanings to different audiences.
I feel that I’ve written a lot about this book without really grappling with even a fraction of the fascinating ideas put forward. It certainly gave me a lot to think about in relation to the Shakespeare plays I know and love, but also a way into the ones I don’t know so well. It even made me reconsider the plays I know and really don’t love!
This is a fantastic book about Shakespeare for everyone from the casual reader to Shakespeare fans, from those who want to know a bit more about their favourite play to those engaged in academic study. It is entertaining, surprising in places and entirely readable – not a given for books in this field usually.
‘Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity’ by Greg Jenner (published March 2020)
Greg Jenner is another historian that I was following on Twitter. He’s worked extensively on the BBC’s ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series for children and I loved his humorous, quirky takes on aspects of history. ‘Dead Famous’ is his second book, the launch of which was blighted by the start of lockdown, so I quickly bought myself a copy of the hardback.
Jenner starts with the concept of ‘celebrity’, a strange idea in itself. He tries to pin down what this means and apply it to historical figures, a process that leads him to conclude that the idea of modern celebrity can be traced to the 1700s. From this point, he introduces the reader to a range of historical celebrities, always seeking out the interesting and unusual stories. Clara the Rhino, the obsession with a ballet dancer’s ears, warring Shakespearean actors…they’re all here!
What I liked in particular is that this isn’t a chronological account; Jenner skips between stories and makes links between diverse ideas with ease and it is a joy to follow where he leads. Although some of the stories are tragic, Jenner writes with academic rigour and also humour where appropriate and there are accompanying illustrations and photos that really bring the stories to life.
Another highly recommended history book for those who want to be engaged, entertained and utterly engrossed.
‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor (published August 2020)
Another one I’ve written about before, but this is a comic classic in the making.
This book was an absolute delight! I thought it would be a humorous ‘chick-lit’ type book (although I hate that term), but instead I got a charming coming-of-age story that made me laugh and love the main character. Evie Epworth has been compared in other reviews to the great Adrian Mole as a brilliant, naive, fictional teenage narrator and I can definitely see the similarities. However, Evie has a voice and quirks that are all her own!
Sixteen-year-old Evie lives on a farm in Yorkshire with her father and Christine, a gold-digging ‘scarlet woman’ who is making changes to Evie’s (dead) mother’s farmhouse that Evie is really not happy with. The plot follows Evie’s attempts to rid herself of Christine and also to find her own way in a world full of choices.
As mentioned already, Evie is a lovely narrator and this gives the book warmth and depth. However, the joy of the book for me was in the comic characters – the plot is hardly complex, but Evie’s 1960s Yorkshire village is brought to life by the people. Christine is gloriously awful, a vision in garish pink, while other villagers are hilarious – I have a particularly soft spot for Mrs Swithenbank and her digestive issues! The humour is somewhat broken up by the poignancy of Evie’s mum’s story being included in the story as interludes to Evie’s narrative, but this also adds depth to the novel and another reason why the terrible Christine needs to go.
I really loved this book – it made me laugh and root for Evie as she navigates her tricky teenage landscape. This is a charming novel and one that is both genuinely funny and a comforting read in turbulent times.
‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherjee (published November 2019)
The review is elsewhere on this site, but worth repeating:
I don’t know why it took me so long to pick up this book! Now I’ve read it – the fourth in the series featuring Captain Sam Wyndham and his Sergeant, Surrender-Not Banerjee – I’ve fallen in love with the series and shall immediately be making up for lost time with the other books. Although it would have been good to read these in order, I didn’t feel that I was disadvantaged by reading this one first – it works as a standalone, I think.
At the start of this book, Captain Sam Wyndham of the Calcutta Police is in a state – he is an opium addict who is taking himself off to an ashram in rural India in order to break his addiction through a frankly barbaric vomiting cure. It’s 1922 and the story mostly covers Wyndham’s experiences at the retreat and then afterwards in a neighbouring town where he gets embroiled in investigating a crime. However, the story is also partially set in 1905 in Whitechapel in the East End of London where a young Sam Wyndham, a new Metropolitan police officer, is involved in solving a crime that has echoes and repercussions for him later in India.
I really loved the Indian setting of this book – it seemed at once exotic and interesting, but there was also a sense of the simmering resentments around the British Raj which added a frisson of danger to the proceedings. It was interesting to see the white privilege in action in the way that Wyndham was treated very differently to Banerjee in the expat community, even though Banerjee was meant to be the main investigating officer at one point. The characters are well drawn and I cannot wait to get into the other books to find out more about Banerjee in particular as he does not feature heavily here. There’s clever plotting, peril and vibrant description – what more could you want?!
My only quibble was that I solved the murder and worked out the method well ahead of poor Captain Wyndham, but when the novel is so beautifully written as this then that really doesn’t matter.
Overall, this is an excellent historical crime novel with real depth and interest. I would recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys this genre or who wants more insight into the British Raj in India – it certainly is an eye-opener on this front!
So there you have it – 10 great books that have really kept me entertained during the year so far. I hope that you have found some inspiration and I’d love to hear about your own five star reads of 2020.
If these books sound like they are up your street too, please do follow my blog!
Aside from ‘Dead Famous’, ‘The Curious History of Sex’ and ‘This is Shakespeare’ (which I bought with my own hard-earned pennies!), books were provided free from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.
