I read a lot of non-fiction – probably something that makes me a bit different from a lot of book bloggers who (quite rightly) focus on the wealth of glorious fiction out there. I love fiction, read fiction and spent my academic life on (classic, modern and feminist) fiction.
But I have insomnia and a night-time non-fiction audiobook habit!
With this in mind, I thought I’d update on some of the brilliant non-fiction books that I’ve listened to or read recently.
As a life-long bookworm, I’ve made it my mission to read ALL THE BOOKS.
Everything I liked the sound of – added to the TBR. Recommended by someone I trust – added to the TBR. Interesting cover – added to the TBR.
You get the picture – a love of books and an endless TBR.
However, I do (kind of) accept that I cannot read every book.
In fact, my journey into blogging has really made me focus on the elements of books that I really love. I’ve had to really think before I request yet more books – and there are definitely things that tick the boxes for me.
So here we go – an insight into my muddled mind and the TBR that I am desperately trying to tame… I love all these things independently but where they combine is pure magic!
(Disclaimer: I still reserve the right to read randomly and at whim - that's one of the true pleasure of reading!)
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As soon as I saw the subtitle for this book – ‘In search of ourselves in life and literature’ – I knew I had to read it. Thanks to Sarah at Harwood PR for sending me a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review – opinions, as always, are entirely my own.
I love books about books and loved the sound of this one! Josh Cohen is a psychoanalyst and Professor of Literary Theory – there is genuinely no-one better suited to take the reader through the trials of human life while also offering up literary examples of characters who have suffered the same timeless conundrums.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this fascinating book about the dark side of plants! This tour is organised by Random Things Tours.
The book is published by Liminal 11, a mind, body, spirit publisher (email: Hello@liminal11.com).
With thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
From the Publisher:
Discover the fascinating folklore, lurid histories, and malignant properties of toxic plants.
‘If you drink much from a bottle marked ‘poison’, it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.’ – Lewis Carroll, ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Poisonings are among the most memorable deaths in history, from the Roman Empire to the Medieval era and beyond. Concealed and deliberate, it’s a crime that must be planned in advance. And yet there is a fine line between healing and poisoning – Paracelsus argued that only the dosage matters!
In ‘Botanical Curses and Poisons’, illustrator, author, and folklorist Fez Inkwright returns to archives to uncover the fascinating folklore, lurid histories, and untold stories behind deadly plants, witching herbs and fungi.
Filled with beautiful illustrations, this treasury of folklore is packed with insight, lore, and the revealed mysteries of everyday flora.
‘Botanical Curses and Poisons’ is printed in hardcover with metallic foiling, a ribbon bookmark, black-and-white illustrations on nearly every page, and a wealth of folklore history and poetry about the deadly plants within!
From the creator of ‘Folk Magic and Healing’ (2019).
My Review:
I should begin by stating my credentials in the worlds of botany, healing and…er…poisoning. Zero. I have no experience at all, can kill any houseplant and would struggle to identify any greenery at any time. This is not my specialist area, but regular readers of the blog will know I’m a huge crime fiction fan and kind of fascinated with Queen Agatha’s poisoning expertise!
So I’m coming to this book as a complete beginner, albeit one with a bit of a morbid curiosity.
Firstly, I should say that this is a gorgeous book. It’s a beautiful hardback with foil detailing on the cover, beautiful endpapers and a ribbon bookmark. It is also packed with fabulous black and white illustrations so that even the most beginnery beginner in the world of plants (i.e. me) can see what is being talked about. So far, so gorgeous…
The text itself is arranged (around the lovely illustrations) so that it introduces the history of poisoning, witches and the fine line between curing and killing, before turning into an A to Z of Plants. Lots of the sections are introduced with snippets of poems, literature and ancient wisdom on the plants, something I loved as it rooted the material more in ‘my world’ of books and writers.
I found this book absolutely fascinating from the first word. In particular, it was really intriguing to think about the world of botanical poisons as within the female domain – I really liked the way that Inkwright drew out the connections between herbalism and witchcraft, although the tragedy of this is also indicated in the descriptions of the historical persecution of witches. The explanation of witches’ ability to fly in the ‘Witching Herbs’ section is also intriguing and called up images of Terry Pratchett’s famous witch, Granny Weatherwax, lying with her sign ‘I ate’nt dead’ while her mind is elsewhere.
The book is absolutely packed with information about each of the plants; it covers not only the usages and known facts, but also lots of information about the history and symbolism of each.
For example, the section on ‘Apple’ explores all the cultural associations, from Eve and the the Garden of Eden to Ancient Greek mythology, folklore around blood-marked apples, the Gaelic festival of the dead and enchanted apples being possessed by demons. And that is just one entry!
I was absolutely captivated and found myself taking notes during sections that would help with my day job (English teacher – some of those literary allusions and symbols suddenly clicked into place for me!)
It’s all so interesting that it’s hard to pick highlights. I found myself sharing information with my son on Mandrakes (he’s a huge Harry Potter fan!) and I was particularly fascinated by the Poppy entry – as someone who loves historical fiction set in the Victorian era, the information about opium and morphine was definitely of interest. Poor Alice Blunden though, buried alive twice after imbibing too much poppy tea!
Another entry that I found particularly engrossing was about Violets – I knew of their associations with death (something I always kind of ignored as I personally love this flower!) but I didn’t really know why. Well, I do now – and I had my mind blown by the connections with the purple used as half-mourning colours in the Victorian period (again, my personal obsession surfaces!) So many connections that I didn’t fully understand or just hadn’t made…
I honestly could go on and on picking out interesting sections and stories, but I instead suggest that you buy this fabulous book for yourself. It would also make a brilliant gift for any gardener, or anyone interested in folklore, herbalism or just how plants have taken on symbolic status in literature and culture.
This is one book that you will not regret buying and I can guarantee that you – like me – will return to its pages again and again.
About the Author
Fez Inkwright is an illustrator, author and folklorist. Her greatest passions are botany, nature, primitive religions, and folklore, which flavour most of her work. For the past eight years she has produced work for children’s books, hand-drawn maps and tattoo design and now spends her time indulging in conservation work and writing. She lives in Bristol with two cats and several hundred bees.
An belated happy publication day to the new poetry collection from Brian Bilston! This little gem of a book was out last Thursday (21st January) so do order now!
I first found Brian Bilston’s poetry on Twitter and loved its clever wordplay – this led me on to his first poetry collection, ‘You Took The Last Bus Home’ and his excellent novel (with poetic interludes) ‘Diary of a Somebody’. I was, therefore, thrilled to be granted an ARC of his new poetry collection by NetGalley and the publisher.
The poetry is – as the title suggests – loosely focused on the theme of love and is exactly what readers have come to expect of Bilston’s poetry – clever wordplay, interesting perspectives, unexpected twists. It is perhaps a little more serious in places than some of his other poetry (and certainly more serious than the ones that are so popular on Twitter). However, it is an enjoyable read – albeit a quick one as it seemed fairly short.
As a Literature geek, I really enjoyed the poems where Bilston riffed on literature from the past, from Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ (in ‘Cleopatra’) to Wordsworth (‘Status Update: a Lonely Cloud’) to tragic lovers (‘Five clerihews for Doomed Lovers’). However, Bilston is equally comfortable playing around with Mills and Boon novels, Spoonerisms, Brexit and many other incredibly varied ideas.
This is a lively and varied poetry collection that I’d recommend to those who like their poetry humorous. It does have serious messages and will leave you with food for thought, but – above all else – it is entertaining and engaging.
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I recently reviewed ‘Dear Reader’ by Cathy Rentzenbrink (you can see the review here) and many of the comments I received were about the fact that people really love books about books!
With this in mind, I thought I’d introduce you to some of my favourites!
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‘Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading’ by Lucy Mangan
As a life-long bookworm, I could not wait to get my hands on Mangan’s book about her childhood reading. I’m always keen to read about the experiences of one of my own tribe of book obsessives and was anticipating a blast from the past of my own childhood reading.
I was absolutely not disappointed. Being a similar age to Mangan, a lot of her book choices are cosily familiar and she writes with humour and passion. It was lovely to hear her take on old favourites, such as The Borrowers and Goodnight Mister Tom, as well as many books that I loved as a child and have recently shared with my own children. It was also wonderful to hear echoes of my own adult reservations about some of the books I loved as a child – growing up really does put some of them in a new and unflattering light!
I was also reminded of some books I haven’t thought about for about 20 years…for example, Love and Betrayal and Hold the Mayo (anyone?!) Of course not all of Mangan’s choices were familiar, but it’s so well written that it feels like a friend recommending you great new reads.
What I really loved was Mangan’s defence of being a bookworm as it is something a lot of people don’t understand. Bits of this made me laugh out loud as it was all so familiar.
I’d strongly recommend this to any keen readers who want a humorous, nostalgic trip through the bookcases of their childhood. I suspect it will particularly strike a chord with (probably female) bookworms of a similar age to Mangan (I think 43) who will have a great time rediscovering their love of Sweet Valley High, Judy Blume and other classics!
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
‘The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life’ by Andy Miller
This is another one I only have a Kindle copy of and I regret that – it is definitely one that I would love to dip back in to sometimes.
I really loved this book. Andy Miller is very funny and the book really struck a chord with me. He is a Literature graduate (like me) with a young family (like me when I read this) and really missed reading, so he decided to tackle all the books he claimed to have read in the past and the ones he thinks he should have read.
I think we can all relate to this – as a Literature graduate, there are definitely books that were on my course that I ‘should’ have read or ones that I have a vague idea I might have read bits of only (*ahem* most of Charles Dickens and even a lot of Jane Austen. I know).
His ‘List of Betterment’ was really interesting and made me think about what I want to read – it actually inspired me to pick up ‘War and Peace’ again and I did get a fair way through it…OK, not all the way, but it’s a start and it turns out I like the Peace so much more than the War…
It was a shame that the book didn’t cover all 50 of the books, but I really enjoyed reading about his year as he writes so entertainingly. I heartily recommend this if you want a clever, witty and relatable jaunt through a reading challenge.
‘The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature’ by Viv Groskop
Another memoir-style book about books, this one follows Viv Groskop as she relates what she has learnt from Russian literature. Like Andy Miller, she is an engaging and lively narrator and this one is definitely worth a read.
I picked this up because I liked Russian literature at university (confession: all in English translation, obviously, and I didn’t like it enough to read all of ‘Crime and Punishment’. Wow, that is bleak). Groskop actually studied Russian at university and lived in Russia for a time, mistakenly believing she was getting back to her roots (it turns out she actually has Polish ancestry).
The book is a very funny trip through Groskop’s Russian adventures as told in a series of mini-essays about what we can learn from classic Russian literature. A lot of it was familiar to me from my university forays into these books, but there were also some really new (to me) and interesting ones covered too.
‘Dear Fahrenheit 451: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Break-Up Notes to Her Books’ by Annie Spence
This is a really unusual idea, but an interesting one! It’s a series of letters to books that Spence has fallen out of love with and books that she is ‘weeding’ from the library she works at to take out of circulation.
It’s really entertainingly written – there’s a lot about the library and some of its patrons as well as about the books themselves. There’s a lot of American books here (Spence is American) and more Sci-Fi than I would read, but it is so engaging – it would be especially amazing for readers who share Spence’s genre interests.
This is worth reading for the section on Judy Blume’s ‘Forever’ – a book that probably needs no introduction for anyone of my generation!
‘Books that Changed the World: The 50 Most Influential Books in Human History’ by Andrew Taylor
I loved the idea behind this one – to take 50 books that have had a huge impact on the world and write a short essay on each (5 or 6 pages each) explaining their main ideas and why they had such an impact.
Some I was familiar with already and are well-known (e.g. Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and Johnson’s Dictionary) but some choices were really unexpected and it was fascinating to read Taylor’s views on why they were so important. It also gave me more information on books that I really should know more about (for example religious texts, a personal blind spot for me!) It was also lovely to see some old favourites mentioned – a bit of nostalgia for my degree course!
‘1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die’ by Peter Boxall
From 50 books in Taylor’s view to 1001 that you MUST read before you die! I love this kind of list book, but I will never get near having read even a fraction of these books!
This is a lovely reference book for bookworms because it features so many fabulous books – some of which you will recognise and others that are new. Because it isn’t just about books published in English (although obviously English translations are available for them all), it is really interesting to read about classic and highly-regarded books from other countries. Each book also has an accompanying picture too, so this is a great book to have a browse through.
Be warned: this is a dangerous book for anyone’s TBR!
‘Read This Next…And Discover Your 500 New Favourite Books’ by Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark
This is another book that might well destroy your TBR. It has sections about some brilliant books (12 books per section, divided into themes like ‘Family’ or ‘Love’ or ‘History’) and then recommendations of other books to read if you enjoyed the focus book.
What I loved about this book was that it contained so many books I already really loved (it is always nice to spot something familiar in these books!) However, it also introduced me to many books that I hadn’t heard of, or knew the title only – the synopses are interesting and really give you a sense of whether you’d like the book. There are also some really interesting boxes of information sprinkled through the book – snippets about writers or quirky facts or context – that are a brilliant addition.
There’s also discussion points for book groups which are fascinating – some real food for thought and ways to think about the books that I’d never really considered.
‘The Novel Cure: An A to Z of Literary Remedies’ by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin
This is another book which recommends books to readers, but this time based on a range of ailments that need a literary cure!
Arranged like a medical dictionary, you look up your ‘ailment’ and get your literary prescription (which is then explained to you so you get a flavour of the book recommended).
Is your problem ‘being fifty-something’? Look it up and there are ten novels recommended for you. Maybe you have that ‘Monday morning feeling’ – the cure is ‘Mrs Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf! Road rage? Shame? Yearning for home? They’re all here with the perfect literary remedy.
This is a fun idea and an engaging read, but it also introduced me to some great new books!
‘Literary Landscapes: Charting the Real-Life Settings of the World’s Favourite Fiction’ edited by John Sutherland
As well as books, I also have an obsession with maps so this one is perfect for me!
It’s beautifully illustrated (sometimes with maps, often with book illustrations, book covers and author photos) and takes the reader on a trip around the worlds created in fiction. These range from the worlds of Romantic or Modernist novels to contemporary books – date-wise this means from Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ to books published in the last decade.
The focus on the places behind the novels or that shaped them is always fascinating and it is another book that – sorry – will probably add to your TBR!
‘What Matters in Jane Austen: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved’ by John Mullan
This is a must-read for any Jane Austen fan as it explains some of the things that seem a bit puzzling for the modern reader. It is also really engagingly written by someone who really knows their stuff – I saw John Mullan speaking at the Hay Festival and can confirm he is a fascinating chap!
This is a great book if you have ever wondered about the conventions and norms of society sitting behind Austen’s stories – from proposals of marriage to money to how the characters address each other, it’s all here.
It also asks some interesting questions about Austen’s body of work such as ‘Is there any sex in Jane Austen?’ and ‘Why do her plots rely on blunders?’ The answers are always readable and often surprising! (Spoiler: there is a lot of sex in Jane Austen’s books! It might be euphemistically referred to but it is there!)
Phew, that’s 10 brilliant books about books! However, I thought that there should also be some ‘honourable mentions’ – books that are also absolutely awesome but I couldn’t fit on my list here:
‘The Complete Polysyllabic Spree: The Diary of an Occasionally Exasperated but Ever Hopeful Reader’ by Nick Hornby – this is a collection of Hornby’s essays on ‘Stuff I’ve Been Reading’ that were originally published in a US magazine in the noughties. If you like Nick Hornby, you’ll like this.
‘Madresfield: The Real Brideshead’ by Jane Mulvagh – this one really stemmed from my love of Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’. It is about the house and the family that inspired the novel and is a fascinating slice of history.
‘Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead’ – yes, OK, I have a Brideshead obsession! This is really engagingly written, and this time focused on Evelyn Waugh himself and his his relationship with the Lygon family at Madresfield. I read this when I was pregnant and gave me my daughter’s name – Evelyn Waugh was married to a lady called…Evelyn!
‘The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands’ by Huw Lewis-Jones – a gorgeous book that only doesn’t appear higher up the list because I couldn’t find my copy! Packed with maps of lands created only in writers’ imaginations from Treasure Island to the Marauders’ Map in Harry Potter, this is worth every penny.
‘The Literary Detective: 100 Puzzles in Classic Fiction’ by John Sutherland – Sutherland is always an interesting guide to literature and this book (in the vein of Mullan’s Austen book mentioned above) seeks to solve things that might not make sense to readers of classic novels.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my list – please do let me know of any books about books that you love. I’m always on the lookout!
Another book read with my English teacher hat on and one that helped me brush up my poetry knowledge. This book was published in April 2020.
As an English Literature graduate turned English teacher, I have ploughed through a fair amount of poetry in my time. It's not my favourite form (I prefer a good novel) but I do have my favourite poems and writers that I return to frequently. I hoped this book would contextualise them and perhaps give me some new avenues to explore.
I think it needs pointing out that this is a slightly odd idea for a book - a potted history of poetry that is accessible for the novice reader yet detailed enough to draw in more seasoned poetry readers (who you would expect would be the main readership for the book as people already receptive to poetry). However, I think Carey has managed this well; the book covers a vast amount of ground, managing to fit in synopses, biography and context for a range of poems and poetry movements. For me, it brought back memories of my undergraduate study - some good (it's always nice to revisit Larkin, Keats and Plath) and some less so (I hoped I'd heard the last of Piers Plowman, to be honest!)
The other strange thing about the book is that it can never be a totally objective history of poetry as it seems to promise - it's always going to include Carey's personal choices and preferences and I didn't agree with all his interpretations fully. I absolutely bow down to him as being the expert, but I do think poetry is very subjective and open to personal readings, although it was interesting to hear about his take on poems that I know very well. Carey's own preferences seemed most obvious in the amount of space allocated to individual poets - some were skimmed over in very little detail while others were explored in perhaps excessive depth (Yeats, I'm looking at you...)
Overall, I'd say this was a lovely book to use to contextualise your understanding of poets and their works - I certainly didn't realise that some of the poets were contemporaries or quite so closely linked. The biographies are interesting and Carey is a knowledgeable and lively guide through the history of poetry. It won't give you depth of understanding if you are already studying poems or poetic movements at a high level, but it's an accessible and entertaining read for those of us whose knowledge is perhaps a bit rusty!
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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A book read with my English teaching hat on today! This was published in May 2020.
First of all, I should say that I'm an English teacher who reads fairly obsessively about Shakespeare. I'm no expert, but I've read a lot and know some of the plays in more depth than I'd really think is healthy! I loved the idea of this book as it promised to combine Shakespeare with the medical realities of the deaths he wrote about.
Although some of the book was familiar ground for me, this would be a fabulous book for someone coming fairly fresh to the topic. It gives a lot of historical context about the Elizabethan and Jacobean worlds and also talks a lot about what Shakespeare's audiences would understand about death and illness. It covers a whole range of the fictional deaths and also relates them to the historical records (as far as can be ascertained from some pretty unreliable sources!) From the cannibalism of 'Titus Andronicus' to the suicide-by-snake of Cleopatra, from the multiple poisonings in 'Hamlet' to the faking of death in 'Romeo and Juliet' - it's all here and packed with interesting detail and speculation. It also delves into some of the less-performed plays which is really fascinating, and explores some work by Shakespeare's contemporaries.
I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Shakespeare, the history of medicine or the Elizabethan/Jacobean period. I honestly thought there wasn't much new that anyone could tell me about 'Hamlet', but I was proved wrong! An engaging and entertaining read!
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
