I Carried a Watermelon Archives - The Quick and the Read

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.

Header photo by Rahul Pandit from Burst.

I’ve written before on the subject of my love of books about books. However, I also love books about films, and this one – by comedian Katy Brand – is brilliant and just what I needed to cheer me up as I enter a locked-down half term holiday.

This is one of the books that got me out of my reading slump – I read it in one sitting (which is miraculous in itself!)

Katy Brand takes – as her starting point – a life-long love of the film ‘Mary Poppins’. She presents this to the reader along with her thoughts on the characters, politics and messages of the film. For those sharing her love of ‘Mary Poppins’ (yup, me!), this is an absolute must-read.

It needs to be said up front that the majority of the book is about the 1964 film of ‘Mary Poppins’ with the marvellous Julie Andrews as the ‘practically perfect’ nanny and Dick Van Dyke as the chimney sweep (Bert) with the heart of gold and the accent of…something less than gold! Lovers of the books by P.L. Travers will not be quite so well served, although there is plenty on Travers’ relationship with the film and Walt Disney (who took 20 years to get her to sell the film rights). There isn’t much at all about the latest incarnation of Mary Poppins, the Emily Blunt film, but this wasn’t a problem for me – I was raised on the original film!

The book opens with Brand taking us through the film, reminding us of the plot, characters and some of the odder moments. All this is related through Brand’s comic lens, so it feels like watching the film with your funniest friend.

From here, Brand moves on to analyse some different aspects of the film in more detail. I was particularly impressed by the way in which the messages of the film were unpacked with loving care; ‘Sister Suffragette’ explores the feminist messages in the film (of which there are many) while the character of George Banks is analysed for Travers’/Disney’s attitudes to masculinity and commerce. In Brand’s view, the bird-feeding lady gives us a chance to explore what’s important in life, while Poppins herself gives us a template to live our lives by with her firm but fair approach to setting boundaries. Indeed, the whole film is given new relevance by the pandemic and the way our priorities have shifted during lockdown.

All this sounds a bit heavy, but it never feels so. Brand’s approach is light-touch and humorous, yet I still came away from the book with plenty of food for thought. The ‘serious’ bits are there, but surrounded by anecdotes about Brand’s own experiences and snippets of information about the film. I liked reading about the actors and filming as it really enhanced my understanding of what Disney achieved in making ‘Mary Poppins’ – the technical aspects seemed really quite advanced for their time (and so old-fashioned compared to now!)

The thing I love most about this book is the way that it is just so relatable. The lessons Brand takes from Mary Poppins, the issues she experiences with her own life (parenthood in particular), the feelings about the film…it’s all just so real. It honestly feels like a friend talking to you about her love of the film and it really helped that her thoughts chimed perfectly with mine. Love Mrs Banks even while seeing her flaws? Tick! Soft spot for Bert, despite the accent? Tick! Impressively encyclopaedic knowledge of lines and lyrics gained from repeated viewing? Tick! It’s all there and is both immensely comforting and gloriously readable.

I’d really recommend this to anyone who loves the 1964 film of ‘Mary Poppins’. If you were raised on this (as I was), it is a fascinating, nostalgic and strangely soothing read for troubled times.

If you’d like a copy of this absolute hug of a book, please use my affiliate link below – thank you for supporting my blog. This doesn’t cost you more but earns me a small commission.

If you’re still hungry for more books about films, I can absolutely recommend the following:

‘I Carried a Watermelon: Dirty Dancing and Me’ by Katy Brand – this is Brand’s first foray into writing about film and it is a lovely, nostalgic look at ‘Dirty Dancing’ and what it means to her.
‘Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons we Learned from Eighties Movies’ by Hadley Freeman – this is an absolutely brilliant look at life lessons from classic 1980s movies. If you loved such films as ‘Pretty in Pink’, ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally’, this is for you. It’s interesting and insightful and – sorry to overuse this word – nostalgic; the films are written about with genuine affection by Freeman and it is a delight to read.
‘As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the making of The Princess Bride’ by Cary Elwes – at the risk of seeming obsessed with 1980s films, this is a great insight into the making of a classic by the leading man.

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