Jackie's challenge in 2025

Hello, welcome to my 2025 Category Challenge thread! I’m Jackie, I live in Scotland and work as a research nurse, and I also dabble with creative writing and sketching/painting. I’ve been in this group since 2016, although unlike many I stick to the same categories every year. I love the book chat here and I expect I will get hit with more great books to read this year thanks to all your recommendations. I mostly read narrative non-fiction, but I do try to read at least a little bit of fiction too! As usual, as long as I have at least one book in each category by the end of the year I’ll be happy!

I had good intentions to choose pictures for each theme to brighten up the thread, but life has got away with me (again), including a family bereavement (at the start of the year we will be saying our final goodbye to my mother-in-law, who died in early December), so I’ve not really been in the mood. It will be a subdued start to the year, but I hope to find lots of comfort and inspiration in the books and threads I read. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading too.

1. Central & Eastern Europe/Former Soviet Union

A part of the world I find endlessly fascinating. I have been lucky enough to work and study in Romania and Moldova, and travel to a few other countries in the region too, so this is where I record the books I read related to this part of the world.

1. Sigrid Rausing - Everything is Wonderful: Memories of a Collective Farm in Estonia. Finished 2.3.25. 3.5/5.
2. Gloria Luca - Dan Perjovschi. The Horizontal Newspaper. Finished 2.5.25. 4.5/5.

2. Non-fiction (general)

Non-fiction books which don't comfortably fit in any of my other more specific categories. (this one is usually quite full!)

1. Jeremy Harding - Border Vigils. Finished 24.1.25. 4.5/5.
2. Kerry Miller - Passive Aggressive Notes. Finished 20.2.25. 3/5.
3. Steve Silberman - NeuroTribes. Finished 13.3.25. 4.5/5.
4. Suzie Edge - Vital Organs. Finished 27.4.25. 5/5.
5. Margareta Magnusson - Dostadning: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. Finished 25.5.25. 3.5/5.
6. Robin Ince - Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity. Finished 14.6.25. 5/5.
7. Henry Gee - A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters. Finished 7.7.25. 4/5.
8. Michael Engelhard - No Place Like Nome. Finished 11.8.25. 4/5.
9. Diana Craig - The Weather Book: Why It Happens and Where It Comes From. Finished 14.8.25. 3/5.
10. Frederic Gros - A Philosophy of Walking. Finished 30.8.25. 3/5.
11. Jon Ronson - So You've Been Publicly Shamed. Finished 17.10.25. 4/5.
12. Andy Miller - The Year of Reading Dangerously. Finished 31.10.25. 3.5/5.
13. Dr Kathryn Mannix - With the End in Mind. Finished 30.12.25. 4.5/5.

3. Contemporary fiction (1969-present)

All fiction, all genres, contemporary with me, so from 1969 to the present day.

1. Jasper Fforde - Something Rotten. Finished 15.1.25. 4.5/5.
2. Travis Baldree - Legends & Lattes. Finished 12.2.25. 3.5/5.
3. Sayaka Murata - Convenience Store Woman. Finished 8.4.25. 4/5.

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

My PhD broadly covered these topics, and I've picked up a lot of related books over the years, so this is where they go.

1. Lauren Elkin - Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art. Finished 18.4.25. 4/5.
2. Laura Bates - Everyday Sexism. Finished 6.11.25. 4.5/5.

5. Celtic

For all those books relating to the Celtic nations and regions. Rather Scotland-heavy as that is where I have made my home, but Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, Brittany etc are all welcome too.

1. Wyl Menmuir - The Draw of the Sea. Finished 16.3.25. 4.5/5.
2. Carwyn Graves - Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape. Finished 27.3.25. 4.5/5.
3. Kathleen Jamie - Cairn. Finished 5.4.25. 4.5/5.

6. Vintage (1900-1968) and Ancient fiction (pre-1900)

A combined fiction category, as I don't have that many books in either category. I really struggle with particularly pre-1900 books, so don't expect this category to be bulging! But I don't want to abandon them completely.

1. Mikhail Bulgakov - The Heart of a Dog. Finished 19.7.25. 4/5.

7. Poetry

I've always put poetry in my fiction categories, but it hasn't ever felt quite right, so last year I made it a new category.

1. Mary Oliver - At Blackwater Pond. Finished 29.4.25. 4.5/5.
2. Mary Oliver - Many Miles: Mary Oliver Reads Mary Oliver. Finished 12.7.25. 4/5.
3. Joy Harjo - An American Sunrise: Poems. Finished 27.11.25. 4.5/5.
4. Ilya Kaminsky - Deaf Republic. Finished 6.12.25. 4.5/5.

8. Academic

During and after my PhD I managed to acquire a lot of academic books with supremely good intentions of reading them. Even though I'm not working in academia any more, I do still want to get to at least some of them.

1. Satnam Virdee & Brendan McGeever - Britain in Fragments: Why Things are Falling Apart. Finished 6.6.25. 5/5.
2. ed Matti Fritsch, Petri Kahila, Sarolta Nemeth, & James W Scott - Spatial Justice and Cohesion. Finished 10.10.25. 3.5/5.

9. Biography/autobiography/memoir/true story

I find people's lives so interesting, so this is where memoirs etc go.

1. Colin Taylor - The Life of a Scilly Sergeant (audiobook). Finished 1.1.25. 3.5/5.
2. Maggie Nelson - Bluets. Finished 29.6.25. 2.5/5.
3. Carrie Fisher - The Princess Diarist. Finished 7.8.25. 3/5.
4. Ann Patchett - These Precious Days. Finished 20.8.25. 4.5/5.
5. Natasha Carthew - Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience. Finished 18.9.25. 4.5/5.
6. Laurie Lee - Cider With Rosie. Finished 25.9.25. 4.5/5.
7. Samantha Ellis - Chopping Onions on my Heart. Finished 20.11.25. 5/5.

10. Travel

I'm always up for armchair travelling!

1. Lyndon Penner - The Way of the Gardener: Lost in the Weeds Along the Camino de Santiago. Finished 30.3.25. 3.5/5.
2. Colin Thubron - The Amur River. Finished 10.5.25. 4.5/5.
3. Damian Le Bas - The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain. Finished 27.8.25. 4.5/5.
4. Peter Matthiessen - The Snow Leopard. Finished 4.10.25. 3.5/5.

11. Religious

Primarily books relating to Christianity, but hopefully not exclusively.

1. Dan Papworth - The Lives Around Us: Daily Meditations for Nature Connection. Finished 19.4.25. 4.5/5.

12. Nature/landscape/environment/place

This is the genre I read most frequently, and I am excited for the NatureKIT this year.

1. Robin Wall Kimmerer - The Serviceberry (audiobook). Finished 19.1.25. 4.5/5.
2. Richard Mabey - The Accidental Garden. Finished 19.1.25. 5/5.
3. Noreen Masud - A Flat Place. Finished 2.4.25. 5/5.
4. Kyo Maclear - Birds Art Life Death: The Art of Noticing the Small and Significant. Finished 23.4.25. 4.5/5.
5. Merlin Sheldrake - Entangled Life. Finished 24.5.25. 5/5.
6. Helen Czerski - Blue Machine. Finished 27.6.25. 4.5/5.
7. Peter Godfrey-Smith - Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life. Finished 14.7.25. 3.5/5.
8. Kiran Sidhu - I Can Hear the Cuckoo. Finished 1.8.25. 3.5/5.
9. Ben Wilson - Urban Jungle: The History and Future of Nature in the City. Finished 6.9.25. 4.5/5.
10. Elspeth Bradbury - Journeys to the Nearby. Finished 20.10.25. 5/5.
11. Suzanne Stryk - The Middle of Somewhere: An Artist Explores the Nature of Virginia. Finished 23.10.25. 5/5.
12. Various - The Nature Chronicles Prize: 2. Finished 24.10.25. 4.5/5.
13. Joe Harkness - Bird Therapy. Finished 7.12.25. 4/5.
14. Margaret Drabble - A Writer's Britain: Landscape in Literature. Finished 18.12.25. 3.5/5.

Doors open - welcome to my thread!

Hi Jackie - Nice to see you here again. Sorry about your mother-in-law. Always seems extra hard around the holidays. I'm looking forward to following up with you again this year and the many BBs I'm sure I'll be taking.

>15 dudes22: Thank you, I always manage to get BBs from you coming in the other direction too! It has been a bit of a weird end to the year, everything is sparkly and happy and we've been trying to organise a funeral. But, we will gather next week and celebrate a long life well lived.

I'll probably visit threads over the next few days, but am dropping stars anyway so I hopefully don't miss anyone I like to follow in 2025.

Interesting categories! Enjoy your 2025 reading!

Good luck with your 2025 reading! I'm sure I'll pick up a few BB's!

Hello Jackie, I just found your thread and it hooked me. You set up some very interesting categories and I am looking forward to see your choices.

Hi Jackie, sorry to hear about mother in law. Hoping 2025 picks up for you after what will be a difficult start.
Dropping a star to follow along for another year of ducking book bullets.

Hi Jackie,I'm looking forward to following along. I get a lot of my non-fiction BBs from you and I am sure there will be more this year!

Good reading in 2025.
I am sorry to hear of your mother-in-law. Prayers sent.
I have visited Scotland and loved it.

I am sorry to hear about your loss and I wish you strength for what lies ahead. And I hope that your books will give you some peace and happiness when it's the right time for it! I'm looking forward to seeing what you will read. There are always special books to be found in your thread!

Sorry for your loss, hope the arrangements go smoothly.

Wishing you a good year of reading for 2025.

Jackie, you have some interesting categories. Do you have any Polish books on the TBR list for your Central & Eastern Europe category? We have just booked a holiday to Poland (via train) in the summer and I always like to read something relating to our destination. I will certainly be reading some books that fit into your Celtic category as I have a category for Irish authors myself. And also one for Wales, but this will be for books written in Welsh, as I have been learning Welsh in a fairly determined way for the last three and a half years. I also have quite a lot of nature & environment books on my TBR list, so I think our reading will overlap a lot.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother-in-law - I hope that the funeral arrangements go well.

My condolences on your mother-in-law's passing. I hope 2025 brings you comfort and happy reading.

>17 Charon07: >18 Tess_W: >19 Tallulah_Rose: >20 Helenliz: >21 DeltaQueen50: >22 mnleona: >23 MissBrangwen: >24 charl08: >25 SandDune: >26 mstrust: Thank you all so much, and welcome! I'm glad to have this space as a refuge from daily trials.

I've got my first book to report too, although I listened to all but the last 50 minutes of this audiobook in 2024:

Category: Biography/autobiography/memoir/true story



A few years ago I discovered the facebook page of the Isles of Scilly police service, and very much enjoyed the humorous slice of island life it delivered. This book, which I listened to as an audiobook, grew out of that facebook page, which became very popular. It is the recollections of Colin Taylor who worked as the sergeant, ie most senior policeman on the island (he had a couple of constables and a special constable too, responsible for policing all of the islands, which have a population of just over 2,000 between all of them), and was a lovely way to spend a few hours. Scilly is very much not a high-crime area, so policing is done at a very different pace, and much more embedded into the community, than in larger places. I think if I'm going to be picky I generally preferred the punchier facebook posts, and some of the stories here felt a bit long and drawn out, but that's a mild criticism, and I did enjoy the book a lot. 3.5/5.

Happy New Year and good luck with your reading.

>27 Jackie_K: That one sounds interesting! Hope you have a great year in books in 2025!

>27 Jackie_K: I really enjoyed that one too but felt it worked best in small chunks (whether as short posts or short stints of reading).

Wishing you a great reading year. I look forward to following along.

Realized I didn't leave my condolences earlier. The leavings are always hard, no matter the lifespan. I wish you and your family peace as you say goodbye and celebrate her life.

>27 Jackie_K: - I've successfully avoided my first BB since this is not available on audio for me from the library. Even though it sounds cute.

>28 lowelibrary: >29 thornton37814: >30 rabbitprincess: >31 beebeereads: >32 dudes22: Thank you all very much!

We're now back from the funeral, which was a lovely service and a great send-off. I'm now shattered, but looking forward to getting back into some sort of normal routine.

My condolences on your bereavement, Jackie, and my best wishes that life goes on smoothly.

Sorry for your loss. I hope you find solace in the family and books, of course!

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm new to the category challenge this year, and your categories seem to hit a lot of my interests. Good luck in 2025 and happy reading.

>34 MissWatson: >35 Tess_W: >36 GraceCollection: Thank you all very much!

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)



Jasper Fforde's Something Rotten is the 4th book in his Thursday Next series, and it was an excellent addition, I absolutely loved it. Featuring an alternate world where Swindon is the capital city, we are at war with an independent Wales, fictional characters break out of books and into the real world (including Hamlet in this one), cloned dodos are household pets, and a megacorporation is intent on world domination. On top of that add Thursday's attempts to retrieve her husband (eliminated 2 or 3 books ago), a 13th century saint and prophet (or is he?) called St Zvlkx, a croquet match upon which the fate of the world hinges, and a concerted political campaign against Denmark and the Danes. It was gloriously silly and also very clever.

It was also very prescient, I thought. It was written several years before the Brexit vote, but I think he absolutely nailed where political rhetoric was going. I know it's silly and satirical, but a lot of our 2020s politicians wouldn't have been out of place in this story.

Anyway. Excellent stuff, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4.5/5.

I'm still catching up on everyone's new threads and I'm very interested in your Central and Eastern Europe category. I'm looking forward to following your reading again this year.

>37 Jackie_K: Would you recommend this series? I picked up First Among Sequels ages ago only to find that, despite what the title implied to a newcomer, it was not, in fact, the first book among sequels, but the fifth.

>37 Jackie_K: I remember reading the first book in the series a couple of years ago and it was just not that great for me. I often hear, that the series is great, so I think it might have been the translation that just didn't relate the story. That is quite often the case with german translations especially with funnier or satirical content. Maybe I have to try it again in original version. Or maybe I was just missing some inside jokes only relatable to UK inhabitants?

>38 RidgewayGirl: It's an endlessly fascinating region, that's for sure, Kay. Coming up on February's stack, Estonia! (somewhere I really don't know well, so I'm looking forward to that)

>39 GraceCollection: I would recommend it, Grace, but with caveats. The titles of all of them are often plays on (literary) words, so First Among Sequels is a play on First Among Equals, and Something Rotten nods towards the focus on Hamlet and Denmark in that book. I think my favourite is still the first in the series, The Eyre Affair, and I do think that you need to read the previous books to be able to follow the threads of the various plotlines - there is definitely a series story arc, as well as one in each of the individual books. There's a character who crops up in Something Rotten, for example, who made me think "ah, so that's what was being hinted at in previous books", which I would have completely missed if I'd not read the others first. I personally love the combination of clever and silly in the series, but it's not to everyone's taste. Definitely give The Eyre Affair a try though, that one had me howling with laughter in places.

>40 Tallulah_Rose: There probably are some UK-centric inside jokes, yes - eg Swindon is the butt of a lot of jokes and is the least likely capital city you could possibly imagine. I am sure that translating comedy/satire is very difficult, and this series also features quite a bit of time-hopping, as well as lots of names made up from words, places or book titles (like the names of many of the Asterix characters, for example), so if the translation was a bit off then that would definitely make a difference and at least some of the humour could be missed. I think what I like about it besides the humour is that it makes me laugh and think but doesn't make huge demands on my brain, I can just enjoy it and appreciate it without needing to get all serious about it.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place



The Serviceberry is the latest book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, an extended essay on abundance and reciprocity and looking at what we can learn about economics from relationships within the natural world. This was an excellent introduction to the subject, which I listened to on audiobook, read by the author. 4.5/5.

Nature, landscape, environment, place



My first 5* book of the year is Richard Mabey's The Accidental Garden, which is a series of essays reflecting on his garden, his efforts to 'wild' it, and the relationship/reciprocity between what he chooses to do in the garden and what the rest of the natural world does. This is the kind of writing I want to do when I grow up. 5/5.

>42 Jackie_K: - Not fair - 2 BBs at once.

>41 Jackie_K: Onto the TBR it goes then, at least the first book, whenever I can find it. I'll have to check out your books in >42 Jackie_K: as well, they look very interesting!

>42 Jackie_K: both books Sound very interesting. Maybe I'll come across them one day

I love the sound of The Accidental Garden - adding it to The List.

>42 Jackie_K: Really love this topic. Going to obtain this book!

>43 dudes22: >44 GraceCollection: >45 Tallulah_Rose: >46 Crazymamie: >47 Tess_W: Well I've been MIA for a few weeks and not updated my thread, and come back today to find I've fired a BB with multiple hits! I'm confident you'll enjoy them!

Category: Non-fiction (general)
January CultureCAT: Migration



Published back in 2012 before Brexit and Trump 1 and 2 presidencies, Jeremy Harding's Border Vigils: Keeping Migrants Out of the Rich World is a sobering look at the hardening of immigration policies around the world (focusing particularly on the USA and EU) and the effects on both migrants, countries of origin, and receiving countries. It's definitely due an update, but even without the seismic political events/eras of Brexit and Trump, it's still extremely relevant, I'd say. Although not stated explicitly, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the hardening of policies and attempts to secure borders has made the issue of migration infinitely worse all round. 4.5/5.

Just dropping by to say hello. I've not been able to keep up with threads so far this year but I hope to do better in the coming months.

I responded to your message on my thread but I thought I'd add the information here too. I was reminded of your book The Calm Place when I read Amy Tan's recent book The Backyard Bird Chronicles. I know you would like it a lot even though a lot of the birds are North American. It was the backyard observations that impressed me, and her excellent drawings.

Also, I must add my condolences on the loss of your mother-in-law. A cloudy start to the year.

>49 VivienneR: Thank you Vivienne - I actually already have The Backyard Bird Chronicles on my wishlist after someone else reviewed it here, it certainly sounds right up my street!

Thank you for your condolences. It's been a very strange start to the year, knowing that they're both no longer here. Today I sorted through some of their books which we brought back after clearing their flat - that was a nice thing to remember them by, although it was also bittersweet.

Category - Contemporary fiction (1969-present)
January RandomKIT - Eat, Drink and Be Merry



I'm probably the last person in the known universe to read Travis Baldree's phenomenally successful Legends & Lattes, but here I am joining the party at last. It's a cosy fantasy, where orc Viv hangs up her sword, gives up the gore and battles, settles in the city of Thune and opens a coffee shop. Gradually the shop attracts new coworkers and friends (succubus Tandri (barista), hob Cal (builder), and rattkins Thimble (chef) the main three, although other less prominent characters also take their place), customers, but also the attention of the mysterious and threatening Mafia-like Madrigal. Will the shop succeed or be destroyed? Will Viv be tempted to return to her mercenary roots? Will the slow-burn romance ever become more than unsaid?

I enjoyed this book a lot, although I felt it took a while to get going. It had received so much hype that I was expecting to be overwhelmed - I wasn't, but I wasn't underwhelmed either. I suppose that means I was whelmed. Anyway, it was a fun way to spend a few hours reading, and I'd happily read more by the author. 3.5/5.

>51 Jackie_K: You are not the last person in the universe to not have read the book. I now have that distinction.

>51 Jackie_K: I also haven't read that one yet and actually do not feel inclined to do so any time Sohn. But it sounds quite nicish.

>54 MissBrangwen: "I enjoyed this book a lot, although I felt it took a while to get going. It had received so much hype that I was expecting to be overwhelmed - I wasn't, but I wasn't underwhelmed either."
That was exactly how I felt, too.

>48 Jackie_K: I have had Border Vigils out of the library forever. I should really try and read it some time this year, though I suspect that when I finally return it it will be culled.

>51 Jackie_K:

I read Legends and Lattes last year and, though I reallly loved the characters in the book, I was slightly underwhelmed by the plot. Like you I gave it 3.5/5

>51 Jackie_K: LOL not only are you the last person to not read it, I have never heard of it. However, I don't read fantasy and probably never will read it!

>52 lowelibrary: >53 Tallulah_Rose: >57 Tess_W: Thank you, that makes me feel better about my cultural tardiness! :D

>54 MissBrangwen: >56 Zozette: Sounds like it's quite a common experience. I do have his next book on my kobo, so we'll see how I find that when I get to it.

>55 elkiedee: It's definitely worth reading. I do hope they leave it in the catalogue, goodness knows there are plenty of people who could do with reading it (*sigh*).

Category: Non-fiction (general)



I remember really enjoying the Passive Aggressive Notes blog when it was in its heyday in the late 2000s/early 2010s, so when this book popped up on Bookbub earlier this week I snapped it up. Kerry Miller got the idea from a conversation she had on a first date (which didn't ever turn into a second date, but I think she's done pretty well out of it nonetheless!), documenting those usually anonymous passive-aggressive notes that get left in workplaces and homes expressing the writers' frustrations at perceived wrongdoings by the mere mortals they have to share work and home space with. I read this through in 2 sittings, and enjoyed it, although the ebook formatting wasn't great (this book was published originally in 2011) and it made some of the notes quite hard to read even if I enlarged them. It was a reminder of a more innocent time, when we could be outraged by our workmates leaving their washing up for others to do, rather than by them summarily sacking thousands of people on a billionaire's whim. 3/5 (which feels a bit mean, I did enjoy it, but the formatting really did my head in).

>55 elkiedee: PS, I've tried to find your thread in the group but I think I'm probably missing something obvious, please can you drop me a link here? I always like to follow people who take the trouble to read and post on my thread :)

Hey Jackie - I just finished reading The Sound of the Wild Snail Eating which was a BB from you last year. I absolutely loved it.

>60 dudes22:

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a beautiful book. My copy of it went missing a few years back, I need to buy another copy.

My thread is in the 75 Books for 2025 Challenge group - but I haven't written many reviews yet - I've written 7 this year but I think 5 are for books I read in 2024. But you are very welcome to come and say hi - I haven't had a thread for a few years and I don't get many visitors. I've joined this group because several people I've talked to on the 75 Group now have threads here.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/367064#n8771653

I made a thread at the last minute last year to compile a list of what I'd read, and I've also added some reviews of a few of my 2024 reads there (whenever I actually read them)

https://www.librarything.com/topic/365572#n8741632

>60 dudes22: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It really is a remarkable, gentle book.
>61 Zozette: I'd definitely reread it, that's for sure.
>62 elkiedee: Got you starred now! :)

Category: Central & Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union
February CultureCAT: Finno-Ugric Peoples



Sigrid Rausing's Everything is Wonderful: Memories of a Collective Farm in Estonia details the author's PhD fieldwork in the early/mid-1990s in rural Estonia, just a couple of years after the country declared its independence and the end of the Soviet Union. She also produced an academic book based on this fieldwork, and I think I might need to read a copy of that as well to get the full picture. This book is not meant to be an academic book, but more a memoir of her experience (as opposed to the academic theorising and conclusions that would be in an academic book). So there's lots about her adjusting to life in the rural, coastal village (formerly a Soviet collective farm) in which she finds herself, and many of the characters that she interacts with during the year. She works as an English teacher in a local school while also spending the year getting to know the villagers and exploring their experiences of the collective farm and how things were changing now that it had closed. She particularly focuses on the minority Estonian Swedish population of the village.

I found this book interesting as I also did PhD fieldwork in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (albeit more than a decade later), probably more relatable from that perspective. I found it hard to connect with the actual questions she was seeking to research, which is why I think I would like to read the academic book produced from this work too. 3.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
March CultureCAT: Neurodiverse voices



NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman is the story of the history of autism, looking at the early scientists, activists, and patients, who brought us to our understanding of autism and neurodiversity today. He also looks at the various movements and events which shaped this story - the legacy of Nazi policy from the 1930s, the search for treatments and 'cure', the horrific institutional conditions that many people were kept in, the fads and vaccine controversies and media coverage, the impact of the success of the film "Rain Man", the impact of more visible autistic people such as Dr Temple Grandin, parent and patient activism, and the developments and realisations of doctors and scientists. It's a fascinating read, although it was published in 2015 before the revelations about Dr Hans Asperger and his links to Nazi eugenic programmes, so is pretty effusive about his contributions, which felt difficult to take at face value.

The horrific and barbaric ways in which autistic children were "treated" were heartbreaking to read, as were the lengths that desperate parents went to more recently after being conned by conspiracy theories and by quacks selling "cures" (cruel behaviour therapy, vitamin supplements, etc) for megabucks. I know a number of autistic (or probably autistic) people, children and adults, and imagining them being put through all these abuses made these parts a really difficult read. The book definitely finished on a note of hope, however, with the final chapters looking at activism by autistic people themselves and the brilliant and inventive ways they are finding to celebrate neurodiversity and advocate for appropriate treatment and services.

Despite the hard reading and the Asperger positivity, I'd still not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone interested in supporting autistic people and understanding how we got to where we are today. It is very readable, and ultimately hopeful. 4.5/5.

Category: Celtic



The Draw of the Sea by Wyl Menmuir is a book which looks at various aspects of human interaction with the sea, and apart from one chapter where he is part of a sailing crew in Svalbard, all the rest of the chapters are based in the sea around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. He looks at all sorts of different activities - wrecking (Cornish for beachcombing), rockpooling, surfing, sailing, fishing, cold water swimming, pilot gig rowing, freediving, sand art, wildlife watching, amongst others - and considers what it is that draws us to the sea, and how the sea is intimately bound up in the lives of those who live and work near and in it. I really enjoyed this. 4.5/5.

>65 Jackie_K: That sounds exactly my sort of book!

>65 Jackie_K: That does sound lovely. I'll add it to the list!

>66 SandDune: >67 charl08: I'm sure you'll both enjoy it. I've also just started Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape and am loving it so far.

Category: Celtic
March NatureKIT: Landscapes



Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape by Carwyn Graves is a very interesting look at seven different aspects of the Welsh countryside - including moor, woodland, hedges, orchards, amongst others - looking at how the landscape is inescapably linked both to cultural forces (particularly how it is represented in the Welsh language and folklore), and to human agriculture. The author is an ecologist, but draws on history, archaeology, cultural studies etc as well as ecology. It was possibly a bit nerdy (not a problem in my opinion!!) but always fascinating. 4.5/5.

Category: Travel
March NatureKIT: Landscapes



I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, of The Way of the Gardener: Lost in the Weeds Along the Camino de Santiago by Lyndon Penner. For Camino literature collectors, this is another nice addition. The author is a Canadian gardener, environmentalist and journalist, who accompanied a friend on the Camino a few years ago. He's not especially religious, and his interest was mainly taken up with the flowers, shrubs and trees encountered along the route. I enjoyed his descriptions of the plants, which I think are often not particularly noted in much other Camino literature, and I also appreciated in the audiobook that he described each picture from the book too, which doesn't often happen in audiobooks. It did occasionally feel like an 'information dump', when after seeing a tree or flower there would be a lot of information about that particular plant - its range, its place in folklore or herbal medicine, etc. I wasn't particularly interested in meals or fellow travellers or suchlike, but those bits weren't long and were spaced out enough amongst all the plants that it wasn't overbearing. Overall it was a nice way to spend a few hours while doing my ironing, dreaming of beautiful plants on a historic pilgrimage way. 3.5/5.

>70 Jackie_K: That sounds so interesting! It's an unusual view of the pilgrimage. Lyndon Penner writes about gardening in the chilly Canadian prairie. Not an easy climate for delicate plants.

>72 Jackie_K: Yes, he often mentioned how the plants he saw either could or couldn't survive back home in the prairie. It was very interesting.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place
March NatureKIT: Landscapes



A strange but gripping memoir, Noreen Masud's A Flat Place explores flat landscapes across Britain (including Orford Ness, Orkney, and Newcastle Moor), and how she feels they reflect her inner 'flat place', the result of complex PTSD following a difficult childhood with controlling father in Pakistan, before he disowned his daughters when she was 15 and they returned to Scotland, their mother's home country. The descriptions of the landscapes, her memories, and the impact of cPTSD on her life, were all starkly but beautifully written. It's not an easy read, but I thought it was stunning. 5/5.

Category: Celtic



The most recent book by one of my favourite authors and poets, Scotland's very own Kathleen Jamie. Cairn is a selection of micro-essays and the occasional poem - all mostly just a page or two long - revisiting subjects of her past work as she reached 60 and reflected on life. In particular, recurring themes include climate change and the future for our children, and protest past and present. Unsurprisingly, I loved it. 4.5/5.

>73 Jackie_K: - We read her book Surfacing for My March book club, and I'm planning to read more by her. Love that cover.

>74 dudes22: I really like her books, I'm sure you'll love reading more Jamie, Betty.

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)



Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata is a weird, quirky little novel which I really enjoyed. Keiko is 35, has never had a boyfriend, and only ever had one part-time job for the last 18 years in a Tokyo convenience store. She is considered weird by family and friends, who constantly try to 'cure' her, but in the store she knows what to do and is considered a good worker. She looks at the people round about her, mimics their speech patterns and clothes, and learns that this helps her get accepted, but never really understands why. She knows she's different, but the (it has to be said, weird) way she realises she can accept who she is despite what everyone else thinks had me smiling from ear to ear. 4/5.

>75 Jackie_K: I loved that book!

>75 Jackie_K:

This book is on my TBR list for this month. I might read it over the weekend.

What a great series of reviews since I last visited your thread. Both Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape and The Draw of the Sea sound wonderful and I'm adding them to my WL!

>76 Tess_W: It was so quirky, just what I needed! (also, I do appreciate a short novel!)
>77 Zozette: Hope you enjoyed it if you got to it.
>78 MissBrangwen: Thank you, they're both well worth a read, although I did find Tir a bit heavier-going.

Category: Sexual & reproductive health & rights/sexuality/gender/parenting/children



Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art by Lauren Elkin is part art criticism, part feminist exploration of the body, part memoir of new motherhood, which took me a while to get into but I did like it a lot once I'd settled into the style. Some chapters were a bit Pseud's Corner for me, but the couple of chapters specifically on race (particularly the chapter 'difficult conversations') were outstanding and really made me think. Drawing on Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, but spending most time with artists of the 1960s onwards, this is an exploration of the body not just as object, but subject (I know that might sound a bit Pseud's Corner as well, it's the best I can summarise it though!). I didn't always feel very clever reading the book, I didn't always understand everything, but Elkin is a kind and patient companion to bring even a small amount of the issues around representation and experience of the female body to the fore. 4/5.

>79 Jackie_K: This sounds right up my alley! I'm currently reading a book about forgotten women artists of the twentieth century. But what is a Pseud's Corner?

>80 RidgewayGirl: Ah, sorry Kay, Pseud's Corner is a very British reference! It's a regular column in satirical magazine Private Eye, where readers send in examples of pretentiousness in print. Unsurprisingly, art and theatre critics feature a lot (as do academics such as Judith Butler). There are some examples here: https://www.luxonline.org.uk/articles/pseud(1).html

You might also appreciate The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel, which I thought was brilliant (not just 20th century though).

Category: Religious



Dan Papworth's The Lives Around Us: Daily Meditations for Nature Connection is a reread for me, 40 meditations which I used as my Lent reading again. Each day features information about one native British animal or plant, along with a Bible reading and reflection. I enjoyed it just as much this second time round.

Category: Nature, Landscape, Environment, Place
April NatureKIT: Flying Creatures



Birds Art Life Death: The Art of Noticing the Small and Significant by Kyo Maclear is a lovely memoir of her year spent following a musician birdwatcher (whom she only ever refers to as "the musician") as he seeks out birds in Toronto. It is very gentle - she learns about the birds, and also muses on life as the mum of two young boys, and daughter of a father who was himself a well-known journalist and war correspondent, who is now ageing and becoming frailer. Initially I worried it might be a bit twee, but once I got into the swing of it I really appreciated the time spent with the birds and the local landscape. It is a good reminder that nature encounters don't have to be on expensive safaris or treks - there is plenty to be seen on the doorstep. 4.5/5.

>83 Jackie_K: Adding this one to the wishlist, sounds good. Reminders about local nature are welcome.

ETA Well that's embarrassing - I already have a digital ARC of the book. Time to read it, clearly!

>84 charl08: I hope you enjoy it, Charlotte!

Category: Non-fiction (general)



Suzie Edge has done it again, Vital Organs: A History of the World's Most Famous Body Parts is an entertaining and informative read, this time using the conceit of the various body parts from head to toe belonging to various notables to explore how we have viewed and treated the human body through history. As with her previous book Mortal Monarchs, issues of consent and dignity (as well as dubious medical ethics) permeate her discussions, along with the amazing progress we've made in medicine and medical/surgical treatments over the centuries. From Frida Kahlo's monobrow to Douglas Bader's legs, via Queen Victoria's armpit, Jack Kerouac's liver and Napoleon's penis, amongst many others, this is interesting, entertaining and great fun. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author. 5/5.

Category: Poetry



At Blackwater Pond is a short but lovely audiobook of the poet Mary Oliver reading her own poems. I know she's not the most highbrow or fashionable poet in the world, but I really like the simplicity and accessibility of her poetry. Themes of life, death, nature, and wonder, permeate all the poems here. 4.5/5.

>86 Jackie_K: I love Mary Oliver, and I’ve had this in my audiobook wishlist forever. I don’t give two hoots about highbrow—give me accessible anytime! Since I’m trying to read more poetry this year, I’ll probably buy it soon, nudged by your review.

>87 Charon07: I am finding listening to poetry (especially when it's read by the author) very relaxing. Mary Oliver's voice is very calming and reassuring. I'm tempted to get her other audiobook, Many Miles, when my next audiobook credit appears.

>85 Jackie_K:

Just added both books to my wishlist. Both sound fascinating.

>72 Jackie_K: Good to see what you thought of that one. Enjoy isn't quite the right word, but it got to me too.

>89 Zozette: I hope you enjoy them. Disclaimer: I do know the author, but don't think I'm being too biased! I do very much enjoy her writing, and also her TikTok.

>90 Helenliz: It really was good, wasn't it?

Category: Central & Eastern Europe/former Soviet Union



Dan Perjovschi. The Horizontal Newspaper by Gloria Luca is a book about one of my favourite contemporary artists, Dan Perjovschi from Romania. He is from Sibiu, where I lived while I was doing the Romanian part of my PhD research, although his most famous work, The Horizontal Newspaper, didn't start until a few years after I left, sadly, so I've not seen it in situ (yet). The Horizontal Newspaper is a constantly evolving piece of street art on the wall by the Radu Stanca National Theatre, measuring around 50m x 4m, where he draws on the surface simplistic drawings and words which comment on social issues of the day both locally, nationally and internationally. I really enjoy his plays on words and his non-aggressive challenges to both authorities and passers-by. The book also covers many of his international collaborations and exhibitions.

I bought the book for the photos, but the text by Gloria Luca is interesting too, discussing the motivations behind various aspects of the drawings and projects Perjovschi is involved in. Definitely a book I'll return to. 4.5/5.

Category: Travel
Non-fiction challenge: Modern China



The Amur River by Colin Thubron has the veteran travel writer (now in his 80s) traveling the entire length of the river from its source in Mongolia, into Siberia then the 1000+ miles where it is the border between Russia and China, before returning through Siberia as it wends its way eastward to the Pacific. Throughout the book it was so easy and effortless to picture the places and people he was seeing, such is his skill as a writer, and he is able to incorporate local/geopolitical history seamlessly. Only a couple of chapters featured him travelling through the China part of the river (where it is known as the Heilongjiang), but even in the chapters in Russia it felt like China was never far away, in the mutual distrust of the peoples for each other. Many books about contemporary China cover either the big cities or the political players. This part of China is an industrial hinterland, far from the machinations of Beijing and Shanghai, so it was very interesting from that perspective. Siberia and Mongolia were also brought vividly to life. Despite his age, his ability to evoke a place in glorious detail is undimmed. 4.5/5.

I've been hearing parts of The Amur River on Radio 4 Extra over the last few days.

When I was a child my mum and I lived in China for a year, and we visited a friend/family of family member in Hanoi, Vietnam, then a two day train journey from Beijing. The Chinese men in our carriage didn't speak to us, until much later in the journey when my mum went to the buffet car and the train split. I tried to rush after her and the guys stopped me, at which point I found enough Chinese to explain. It turned out that they hadn't spoken to us because they thought we were Russian, and they were quite friendly to us when they knew we were English.

>92 Jackie_K: I've heard nothing but high praise for this author.

>93 elkiedee: That's so interesting, Luci - it sounds like nothing much has changed from the mutual suspicion point of view, sadly.
>94 Tess_W: I've liked everything I've read of his, Tess. Proper old-school travel writing, well researched and focused on the place and people rather than the author.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place
May NatureKIT: Plants, fungi etc



Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life is a terrific look at the wonderful world of fungi - what they are, what they do, what they can teach us. He's a Cambridge academic, but also a fantastic communicator, and I was never not fascinated or completely in awe as I read about these amazing - well, things (not plants, or animals - they're now in a classification of their own, but that's all fraught with complication too). Highly recommended. 5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)



This month's library book was Dostadning: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson. I'm pretty allergic to self-help books, but that isn't really what this is, more a collection of very short chapters explaining how she declutters and why. It was very charming. Whether it prompts me to declutter or not is another thing, but at least I didn't want to hurl it out the window. 3.5/5.

>95 Jackie_K: Entangled Life sounds absolutely fascinating.

>96 MissBrangwen: Thanks Mirjam, it really is, I highly recommend it!

>95 Jackie_K: Interesting title!

>98 Tess_W: I presume you mean the Death Cleaning title, Tess? It's not morbid at all, a very gentle book.

Category: Academic



Britain in Fragments: Why Things are Falling Apart by Satnam Virdee and Brendan McGeever is a very accessible academic book tracing the gradual (and not so gradual) dismantling of the historic pillars underpinning the British democratic settlement, and how this dismantling has led to an increase in nationalism, as highlighted in the 2014 referendum for Scottish independence, and the 2016 Brexit referendum. The end of the British Empire, institutionalised racism, and a commitment by all the main political parties to neoliberal capitalism, all play their part in the threats to democracy and wellbeing. I must confess that I know one of the authors, Brendan was a fellow PhD student when I was doing my PhD in Glasgow, and he is an outstanding academic as well as thoroughly lovely person. I felt very proud of him reading this. 5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)



Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity by comedian and broadcaster Robin Ince is a fantastic and thoroughly readable book exploring experiences of neurodiversity (in particular, though not exclusively, autism and ADHD). I picked up this book just over a month ago when I happened to be in Portobello Books at the same time that he was there doing a book signing - he was lovely, chatty and open, and I think my fangirling was pretty restrained given the circumstances. He was diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago in his early 50s, and writes both about that experience and interviews many other people with various neurodiverse conditions about their experiences of life, love, work, masking, hoarding, friendship, therapy, diagnosis and all sorts. I loved the blurb quote by autistic naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham: "Tingles with the joy of being different. This book made me so happy". As someone who's in the thick of neurodiversity assessment in my family, as well as suspecting a bit of neurospiciness myself, this was a joy to read - I saw a lot of myself, and my loved one(s) in this book, and had the added bonus of laughing a lot too. 5/5.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place
June NatureKIT: Oceans and Rivers



Blue Machine by Helen Czerski is a really excellent popular science book giving both the microscopic and whole earth view of the ocean that covers over 70% of the planet. She's a great storyteller as well as eminent scientist (oceanography/physics), and really knows how to communicate complex science in a way that I could (for the most part) follow and understand. I spent the whole book in awe. I also loved her chatty footnotes. 4.5/5.

Category: Biography, autobiography, memoir, true stories



I tried really hard to like Maggie Nelson's Bluets, but ultimately I just couldn't. This short memoir features a set of just over 200 numbered paragraphs, and through the lens of the author's obsession with the colour blue, ruminates on the end of an affair, the catastrophic injury of a friend, divinity, beauty, and desire. It felt very 'clever', but in a way which did not make me feel welcome. I found the paragraphs about her friend's injury and her own caring role moving and beautifully written, but the rest of it felt self-indulgent and I found it hard to care, especially about the obsessive mulling over of the break-up with a guy who, from the fragments she writes about him here, is extremely dislikeable. 2.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)



A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters by Henry Gee pretty much does what it says on the tin - from the formation of the sun and solar system to the steady evolution of all life on Earth, this is of course an extremely potted history, but it was always readable and fascinating. The ending, where he speculates on the next billion years, was probably the weakest part of the book (of course, it's speculative), but still interesting. A really good introduction to the science and story of life. 4/5.

>102 Jackie_K:

Just added it to my very long wishlist.

>103 Zozette: It's a good one!

Category: Poetry



Many Miles: Mary Oliver Reads Mary Oliver is a second audiobook of Mary Oliver reading some of her own poetry. It didn't grab me as much as At Blackwater Pond did, but was worth it for this line:

To pay attention
This is our endless and proper work.

Which pretty much sums up her entire poetic philosophy, I think. 4/5.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place
July NatureKIT: The Inner Lives of Animals



I hadn't realised until this book that I'd read 3 books in pretty quick succession about deep time, evolution and the amazingness of life on earth, but here we are! Blue Machine, about the oceans, was for the June NatureKIT Oceans and Rivers category, A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth came from the Jar of Fate, and now Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith was my choice for the July NatureKIT Inner Lives of Animals category.

As it happens, this is probably my least favourite of the three, although it was still pretty good. I did skim a few passages though, I must admit. I thought it would be more about the differences between humans and octopuses (octopi?) in how we perceive the world, given our very different brains and nervous systems, but although this was touched upon, there was probably more on the nuts and bolts of evolution than I was expecting. It was explained pretty clearly for this lay reader though, and the sections where he described his encounters with octopuses and cuttlefish were excellent. 3.5/5.

>105 Jackie_K: The plural of "octopus" is a fascinating topic for me! Merriam-Webster says either "octopuses" or "octopi" is legitimate, but also gives "octopodes," which I personally prefer since the word is originally from the Greek. But I realize this makes me a pedant, so in my actual real life I just go with "octopuses." :)

>106 christina_reads: Yes, exactly! (I was aware of 'octopodes' as well, but always feel quite poncey if I say it :D)

Category: Vintage (1900-1968) and Ancient (pre-1900) Fiction



Mikhail Bulgakov's The Heart of a Dog (translated by Michael Glenny) is a short novella billed as a satire or parable of the Russian Revolution. This is the blurb:

A rich, successful Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. A distinctly worryingly human animal is now on the loose, and the professor's hitherto respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond endurance.

This version includes an introduction by Andrei Kurkov. It didn't get past the censors when he wrote it in the 1920s, and it wasn't published in his lifetime, only getting published in 1987. It's quite bonkers, but funny bonkers, and I did kind of enjoy it! 4/5.

We were away last week in SW Scotland, and of course couldn't be that close to Wigtown - Scotland's Book Town - without a visit! It is a small town, with a large number of quirky bookshops, which I explored with relish! I did get a glimpse of Shaun Bythell (author of The Diary of a Bookseller and follow-up books) outside his shop, The Bookshop (Scotland's largest 2nd hand bookshop, apparently), but by the time I reached the shop for a browse and buy he'd gone, so I couldn't be too embarrassingly fangirly. We also popped into The Open Book, which is the bookshop/holiday let where the guests are the booksellers for the duration of their stay.

And then we're away again next week too, visiting friends and family, and I'm hoping if we get the timing right that we can squeeze in a trip to Barter Books in Alnwick as well. Which reminds me, I need to sort out a few books to barter :)

How great that you got to go to Wigtown! And spot Bythell (doesn't matter that it was just a moment, it still happened).

>110 mstrust: It was a great place! I've been away this past week too, and visited a couple of other lovely bookshops too - Forum Books in Corbridge (new to me, it's in a converted church building), and my old favourite, Barter Books in Alnwick.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place



I Can Hear the Cuckoo is the memoir of a journalist, Kiran Sidhu, who moves to Wales from London with her husband following the death of her mother and the breakdown of her family relationships. She writes about discovering a new life in a very rural valley, making new friends, and healing from grief. I liked this book, but sometimes the writing felt a little simplistic (it felt like a lot of 'telling' and not so much 'showing', if that makes sense). She did beautifully evoke place and people though. 3.5/5.

Category: Biography, autobiography, memoir, true story



The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher is her recollections of the filming of the first Star Wars film. Probably half of it is taken up with her on-set affair with Harrison Ford. She also reflects on fame and fandom. 3/5.

>109 Jackie_K: >111 Jackie_K: Yay, it sounds like you had some wonderful bookish adventures!

>108 Jackie_K: I enjoy Bulgakov's writing. I've added this one to my wish list. And it's a good time to support Ukrainian writers.

>109 Jackie_K: One day I will get to Wigtown! Glad you had a good trip.

I didn't time my visit to Leakey's very well - it was super busy with visitors who I thought weren't *that* interested in the books. I did pretty well with purchases nonetheless though.

>108 Jackie_K: Glad you enjoyed Bulgakov. I should give him another try. I DNF The Master and the Margarita

>112 MissBrangwen: I did indeed!
>113 VivienneR: Yes indeed, I try to support as much as I can (my own books have covers designed by a Ukrainian company).
>114 charl08: Well done on the Leakey's purchases - I think I only bought one book when I was there. It's quite a small space, so I'd imagine it's not very often that it's quiet there!
>115 Tess_W: I've never tried The Master and Margarita but my husband has a copy so I probably will at some point. I gather it's a bit of an acquired taste!

Category: Non-fiction (general)



I received a copy of Michael Engelhard's No Place Like Nome via the Library Thing Early Reviewers programme - thanks to the author and publisher for the copy.

This is a collection of essays covering a variety of topics - people, transport, place, industry, etc - which combine to give a fuller picture of the town and large area around Nome, NW Alaska. The author obviously knows his stuff and the research is impressive. The essays in the first section felt a little long to me, but even still were never not interesting, and the rest of the book was quirky and punchy, yet full of stories - much like Nome, and Alaska more widely. 4/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
August NatureKIT: Weather and Climate



The Weather Book: Why it Happens and Where it Comes From by Diana Craig pretty much does what it says on the tin - it's an introduction to meteorology for beginners. I found the writing style a bit basic, but did learn a couple of things I hadn't known before. It'll be handy as a quick reference book. 3/5.

Category: Biography, autobiography, memoir, true story.
August RandomKIT: A Writer



These Precious Days is a book of essays by Ann Patchett (author of Bel Canto and Tom Lake amongst many others). They cover family, friendship, legacy, art, and lots of them are also infused with her thoughts on writing and the author's career. They were so effortless to read, yet so profound. I absolutely loved this book. 4.5/5.

Category: Travel
August CultureCAT: Any Culture you are not part of



The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain by Damian Le Bas is a really good part-memoir, part-travelogue, exploring gypsy identity and the places that are meaningful to the Gypsy/Traveller community, through visiting a number of atchin tans, or stopping places, where they traditionally stopped as they travelled round the country doing seasonal work, even though a large number of the community are now 'settled' and don't live on the road any more. The author is from a Gypsy/Traveller family, and is also an academic, and I found this a thoughtful, nuanced and passionate exploration, which neither romanticises nor condemns. Highly recommended. 4.5/5.

>118 Jackie_K: Great review, I'm adding this one to my list!

I also loved both These Precious Days and The Stopping Places. The Stopping Places even mentions the remote Fenland village my partner comes from.

>117 Jackie_K: So agree with your assessment. One of my all time favorites!

>119 MissBrangwen: I hope you like it!
>120 elkiedee: I thought they were both excellent. My husband's family have Traveller heritage (one of his great-grandmothers was the first in that branch of the family to settle after many many generations on the road).

Category: Non-fiction (general)
September Non-Fiction Challenge: Transportation



Every so often I try a philosophy book, and remember again that I find a lot of it a bit baffling. Frederic Gros's A Philosophy of Walking was promising in that it was about a specific activity and so I thought I might have something to hang the philosophical bits on, but although that was true to an extent I was a bit baffled as well. But not in a bad way - I remember a colleague during my PhD suggesting (when I moaned about how I found Foucault really hard to get my head round) that I try reading him without trying to understand every concept, but just let the words wash over me, and some of them might sink in unconsciously, and I remember that working much better. I did the same here, it was kind of like reading white noise, but not unpleasant. I liked that amongst the more general philosophising, he used examples of people who were known for their various wanderings - Rousseau, Nietzsche, Gandhi, etc - which made it a bit more relatable. And I liked that it didn't just boil down to "get some exercise, it's good for you", even though I'm not entirely sure I grasped what it did boil down to. 3/5.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place
August NatureKIT: Urban Nature



Urban Jungle: The History and Future of Nature in the City by Ben Wilson is an interesting and thought-provoking look at urban nature (flora, fauna and habitat), covering how cities have both shaped and been shaped by the nature that coexists in the same space, and how urban planning needs to put natural processes front and centre as the world faces the climate emergency. It was inspiring (nature is amazingly adaptive despite humanity's best attempts to ruin everything), but also sobering - much like in historical times, it is the wealthy who will end up having access to the nature and green spaces which ensure cities will remain livable, while the poor will have to face the consequences of not having the resources to access these solutions. 4.5/5.

Category: Biography, autobiography, memoir, true story
September CultureCAT: Working Class voices



In Natasha Carthew's Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience, through her own story (working class family with violent, largely absent dad, no prospects, next-to-no money) she explores the reality of life/future for rural poor, working class people with minimal opportunities to get off the treadmill of intergenerational poverty and inequality. It was beautifully written, particularly her descriptions of the landscape, and the importance of writing in her life from an early age, and whilst not perfect (especially during Natasha's self-destructive teenage years) I really admired her mum. I also thought her weaving in of statistics on rural poverty, both Cornwall-specific and England-wide, then illustrated by her life experience, was particularly effective. 4.5/5.

I was fortunate to snag Journeys to the Nearby: a gardener discovers the gentle art of untravelling by Elspeth Bradbury from Early Reviewers. Haven't read it yet, but it reminded me of your captivating book The Calm Place. It's nice to know we can appreciate life without spectacular achievements.

>125 VivienneR: I snagged it too! I'm very much looking forward to reading it!

>125 VivienneR: - >126 Jackie_K: - And I'm looking forward to what you both think.

>126 Jackie_K: I'm so glad! Like >127 dudes22: I'm looking forward to what you think.

>127 dudes22: I'm won over just by looking at the illustrations.

>127 dudes22: >128 VivienneR: It looks really lovely, doesn't it?

Category: Biography/autobiography/memoir/true story



I can't believe it's taken me till my mid-50s to finally read Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. Deservedly a classic, this is the first in a trilogy of memoirs, this one recounting his Cotswold village childhood between the first and second world wars. The writing is lush, evocative, and often humorous, whilst also tinged with tragedy and darkness. I think the chapter about the two grannies who lived next door was my favourite, but really, I loved it all. 4.5/5.

>129 Jackie_K: *shudder* I did that at school. I'm sure it is a lot better than I remember it as being. Our English teacher was rather poor.

>130 Helenliz: haha, I must admit I did wonder what teenage me would have made of it! My friend (our age) used to be an English teacher and she said it was always popular with her pupils, but I'm pretty sure she will have been an excellent teacher!

>129 Jackie_K: - I think I'll take a BB for this one.

>129 Jackie_K: My reading was a very long time ago and I loved it. I also loved the movie with Juliet Stevenson.

>130 Helenliz: Some teachers have a lot to answer for when so many people *shudder* when remembering books from school.

Maybe it's the wine, I've just reserved a copy of the trilogy.

>133 VivienneR: she was awful. Managed to make Hamlet dull. Seriously.

>132 dudes22: I hope you like it!
>133 VivienneR: I haven't come across the film, but with Juliet Stevenson I'd be tempted to give it a go!
>134 Helenliz: It might well be the wine, you might need to have some more when you start reading it! :D

Category: Travel
October NatureKIT: Endangered Species



The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen is a classic of travel and nature writing, detailing his journey through the Nepali Himalaya in the early 1970s, as part of an expedition to study the Himalayan blue sheep, where he was seeking solace after the death of his wife, and hopefully a glimpse of the elusive snow leopard. A practising Zen Buddhist, this trip was as much a pilgrimage as an epic trek.

He evokes the landscape beautifully - I found it easy to picture the beauty and squalor and stress and agony of the trip, as well as the frustrations of the constant negotiations with the Sherpas and porters they engaged. The landscape and nature writing was definitely the highlight. There was also a lot of reflection about Buddhist faith and teaching, and I must admit that I skimmed over most of those bits of the book - it's just not something I find myself relating to and I found it distracting and uninteresting compared to the place itself. The hardships of the journey felt relentless, especially by the end, as it was so cold and the conditions were so harsh. I'm glad I've read it, and as I say, much of the descriptive writing is fantastic, but I don't know if it's a book I'd rush back to again. 3.5/5.

Category: Academic



Spatial Justice and Cohesion edited by Matti Fritsch et al is an academic anthology drawing on a Europe-wide study which used case studies across many European countries to explore the effects of employing a place-based approach to community development, particularly looking at issues of justice and inter-/intra-regional inequalities. The ebook is open access, and I downloaded it after an academic in Romania who I respect (and who I quoted in my own thesis, a million years ago) had linked to it.

The book was interesting, although I did find quite a bit of repetition (I suppose that's always going to be the case with this sort of anthology though, if people are only quoting from one or other chapter rather than the whole book then there are certain theoretical concepts and assumptions which do need to appear in each chapter rather than just in the introduction and conclusion to the volume). The most interesting case for me was that of a project designed to improve housing provision for homeless people in the London Borough of Lewisham. I used to live in that very borough, so could picture where the project was set up (I went over to Google Streetview afterwards too as the project was built after I left London). The books conclusions are very sensible, I thought - listen to and involve the local people, have strong partnership working, don't be too top-down, but also these things have only limited effectiveness if regional/national policy doesn't enable them to happen without millions of barriers. An interesting 3.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction: general



Journalist Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed is an exploration of the public shamings and pile-ons which happen in this era of social media, often for seemingly inocuous reasons (a joke being misinterpreted/landing incorrectly, that sort of thing), interviewing people who've experienced such shamings and exploring why seemingly reasonable people join in the mob behaviour. He certainly knows how to tell a compelling story, I found this quite the page turner. I do though think that he was a bit naive in some of the cases - for example, one of the jokes which got the teller (with her 170 Twitter followers) in such spectacular bother (getting fired, rape and death threats, etc) was meant to be a commentary on the ridiculousness of white privilege, but was expressed in a way in which the first, most logical conclusion would be that the teller was an out and out racist (I certainly read it and my first thought was 'ouch, that's not on', even though I do accept the subsequent explanations), and his bafflement at the reaction felt more useful to the narrative rather than an acknowledgement of the damage of the joke, if that makes sense. I do think his conclusion though - that social media was meant to give everyone a voice, but the way things are going the safest way to be on social media is to say nothing, thus keeping the powerless without any power - is very pertinent and troubling. Definitely glad I read this. 4/5.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place



I am currently on holiday having a very leisurely time in a cottage on a cliff on the north Aberdeenshire coast, and this book, Journeys to the Nearby by Elspeth Bradbury (won in the LT Early Reviewers programme a month or two ago), is a perfect gentle holiday read. The author (who is Scottish, but emigrated to Canada many years ago and now lives in suburban Vancouver) enjoys travel books, but feels reluctant to enlarge her carbon footprint and so resolves to spend a year 'untravelling' in her own garden. She writes short pieces in the style of a travelogue, and they are extensively illustrated with her own pen and ink drawings.

You might know that I published a similar book a couple of years ago, where I spent a year discovering the nature in my own garden, so clearly this book was going to be right up my street. There were plenty of differences, of course - for a start her garden is 1/3 of an acre, whereas mine is not much bigger than a postage stamp! And I certainly never had to deal with opening the back door to find a brown bear slurping from my hummingbird feeder! I found a lot that I very much related to though - the appreciation of simple plants and birds, the occasional musings on microscopic life, the eerie quiet when everything is buried under snow, the urge to name particular spots in the garden, etc - and overall I thoroughly enjoyed this vicarious year in her garden. It was a very simple, gentle book and just what I needed in these not very simple or gentle times. 5/5.

>138 Jackie_K: What a beautiful cover!

>138 Jackie_K: Sounds like a lovely read. The idea of a bear in the garden though: I'm not I'd go out there again!

>139 clue: isn't it? Her drawings are really lovely.
>140 charl08: absolutely with you on that! I think the closest to a bear I got in my garden was a neighbour's cat!

>138 Jackie_K: - Well that's certainly a BB for me! you had me at "gentle holiday read". And you've reminded me that I've let your book languish on my TBR for far too long. Maybe I'll take it when we go away next winter.

>138 Jackie_K: The book sounds wonderful as does your holiday!

>142 dudes22: Thank you Betty, I hope you enjoy them both.
>143 Tess_W: Thanks Tess, it's been very relaxing!

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place



Continuing my holiday reading of books about noticing nature and making art from it, I finished Suzanne Stryk's wonderful The Middle of Somewhere: An Artist Explores the Nature of Virginia. This is the most beautiful book I've read in ages. The author got funding to explore many parts of the state of Virginia, taking Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia as a starting point. Throughout the state she sketches and creates beautiful art (painting, collage etc) on top of topographical maps of the area. Each chapter starts with the finished 'assemblage', then there is an essay on the background to the particular trip, what she finds, people she meets, as well as musings on natural and cultural ecology, dotted thoughout with sketches from her sketchbook. She's a brilliant writer as well as artist, and this book is stunning. 5/5.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place



My final lovely holiday read was the anthology of winning entries for the 2023-24 The Nature Chronicles Prize: 2, a prize for nature-related essays. I did have an ulterior motive in that I'm wanting to submit one of my essays to the next one, so I wanted to see the kinds of essays they have been grabbed by in the past. But as well as reading it for 'work', I enjoyed these essays very much just for what they were. There was a really good mix of essays about activism, global and personal reactions and concerns, and all of them gave me a feeling, ultimately, of hope. 4.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
October Non-Fiction Challenge: Bibliophilia



I was looking forward to reading Andy Miller's The Year of Reading Dangerously - a book about discovering and loving books, by one of the hosts of the Backlisted podcast, one of my favourite book podcasts. It didn't matter that most of the books here weren't really my cup of tea (there are a lot of 'classics', for a start) - I'm unfamiliar with most of the books discussed on Backlisted too. Add in an element of memoir, and I'm the ideal audience.

I struggled though to connect with much of this - the author is very knowledgeable and affable, and in the podcast format that works so well and is thoroughly enjoyable. On the page though, following his various trains of thought was not so easy, and there were a few times where I found myself thinking 'just get on with it!' One chapter takes the form of a (very long, unsent) letter to the author Michel Houllebecq after reading one of his books, and that was just very tedious. There were other chapters which I did enjoy, and once I reminded myself to imagine myself listening to a Backlisted episode it was easier to follow, but overall it just felt like it was trying a little bit too hard. 3.5/5.

>146 Jackie_K: It is difficult to plod on when one doesn't connect with a book!

>147 Tess_W: yes, I think if I hadn't been familiar with the author already from the podcast so got what he was trying to do, I'd probably have given up. He's very good in the podcast.

Category: Sexual & reproductive health & rights/gender/sexuality/parenting/children



Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates started as a social media project collecting stories of sexism, from the seemingly small (catcalls, pink toys) to the obviously more serious (harassment, rape, domestic abuse, murder). I remember in 2012 when it started on Twitter, and that sense not only of so many women sharing their experiences and so many other women knowing exactly what they were talking about, but also of men being shocked at the sheer volume of stories of everyday occurrences that they were up till then completely oblivious to. This book, published a couple of years later, draws out the threads of the stories sent to the project, looking at issues such as the media, childhood, university, workplace, politics, etc. As I read I felt depressed, empowered, then depressed again that this is all *still* going on. But I do feel that Laura Bates is to be praised for the fierce light she has shone on the issue, and her dogged determination to no longer let it be swept under the carpet. This is a fantastic read, even though it's depressingly familiar. And it's reminded me, yet again, to do all I can to make sure that my daughter's experience is better than all those who've gone before her. 4.5/5.

Category: Biography, autobiography, memoir, true story



Chopping Onions on my Heart: On Losing and Preserving Culture by Samantha Ellis is a fantastic, moving book. The author is from an Iraqi Jewish family, and the book is part-memoir, part account of her people, language, food, music, culture, all of which have now all but disappeared from Iraq. Her parents were both born in Iraq, her father leaving in the early 1950s and her mother in the late 1960s, both as a result of the increasing persecution of the Jewish community in Iraq, eventually both ending up in England where they raised their family. She realises that although Judeo-Iraqi Arabic is her heart language, having grown up in England it is not a language in which she is fluent, and she realises that she wants to pass on her culture and sense of belonging in the Iraqi Jewish community to her young son, but without passing on the trauma of displacement. The book explores the history of the Jewish community in Iraq and the wider Jewish diaspora, the specifics of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic language, and the arts, music, food and wider cultural heritage which is in danger of being lost along with its dispersed population. I loved this book, and highly recommend it. 5/5.

>150 Jackie_K: Making note of this one as in the 75's NF group, one month is 2026 is Diaspora.

>150 Jackie_K: Sounds fascinating. I read a graphic memoir about an Iraqi Jewish family and their move to the UK which I found moving: The Wolf of Baghdad.

>151 Tess_W: It's a good one for sure, Tess!

>152 charl08: I'll have to look for that one, Charlotte, thanks for the heads up!

Category: Poetry
November CultureCAT: Indigenous America



An American Sunrise: Poems is a collection of poems by former US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. It draws heavily on her Native American heritage, with lots of reference to the Trail of Tears. This was moving, accessible, and very thought-provoking. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Joy Harjo. 4.5/5.

>153 Jackie_K: One of my favorite poetry collections. We used her poem, First Morning, during my husband's remembrance gathering. She has a beautiful story-telling voice.

>153 Jackie_K: Oh, that must have been a beautiful and powerful moment, in the midst of such sadness. The more I think about it the more I think her poetry is extraordinary. It won't be too long before I listen again.

Category: Poetry



Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky is a short book of poetry which tells the story of the people of a town in a fictional country which is invaded. A deaf boy is shot by the invaders, the rest of the townsfolk become deaf after the gunshot, and communicate by sign language to coordinate their dissent. As the end of the blurb then explains:

The story then follows the private lives of townspeople encircled by public violence: a newly married couple, Alfonso and Sonya, expecting their child; the daring Momma Galya, instigating the insurgency from her puppet theatre; and Galya's puppeteers, covertly teaching signs by day and by night heroically luring soldiers one by one to their deaths behind the curtain.

At once a love story, an elegy, and an urgent plea, Deaf Republic confronts our time's vicious atrocities and our collective silence in the face of them.

To start with I wasn't sure if I was going to get into this, but by the end I was completely caught up in the story, and will be thinking about it for ages. I couldn't help but think of Ukraine while reading this (Kaminsky is Ukrainian by birth, although now an American citizen, and is also deaf), although the atrocities, conflict and dissent could be anywhere, unfortunately. It was published in 2019, so 5 years after Russia first invaded eastern Ukraine. 4.5/5.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place.
November NatureKIT: Effects of Nature



Joe Harkness' Bird Therapy is a memoir which explores how birdwatching was involved in his recovery from a breakdown and mental health issues. It's pretty raw - it opens with a suicide attempt - but then details his transformation as he learns about both the birds and himself. Some of the language occasionally feels a bit self-helpy, but it's as applied to him rather than telling anyone else what to do, and he is very clear that he doesn't think birdwatching is a cure - more an activity which can help to centre and focus the mind, and slow down a racing mind. I'm looking forward to his latest book, Neurodivergent, by Nature, which I'm very much hoping Santa is bringing me this year. 4/5.

>155 Jackie_K: I'm not a poetry fan, but this sounds very interesting. What type of poetry is this, epic, narrative, etc?

>157 Tess_W: they're short poems, each one only a page or so long, which together build a narrative. I'd say it's quite fragmentary, I certainly wouldn't call it epic (although that might be my misunderstanding of the term: I think of epic as wide, sweeping, War & Peace-like in scope). This follows a handful of main characters in one small town. It's also pretty short,you could read the whole thing in under an hour.

>158 Jackie_K: I think that sounds like a go! I'm always trying to expand my reading, but it must be enjoyable, but normally I'm not a poetry lover, except of narrative or epic poetry.

Category: Nature, landscape, environment, place
December Non-Fiction Challenge: As You Like It



A Writer's Britain: Landscape in Literature by Margaret Drabble, featuring photos by Jorge Lewinski, is a hefty reference book (one of my Barter Books discoveries) which looks at how the British (mainly English, but it does cover Scotland and Wales too) landscape appears in literature over the centuries. Featuring examples from Shakespeare to Austen, the Brontes to Betjeman, Hardy to Tolkien, and many many more. The chapters covered landscapes such as religious, formal gardens, urban/industrial, and others, and covers the time till probably the mid-20th century (the book was first published in 1979; my edition was printed in 1987, and I noticed that it was printed in the German Democratic Republic, which of course no longer exists).

It was interesting, and easy to dip in and out. There were a few female authors included (other than the obvious Austen and Brontes), but of course the majority were men, reflecting the publishing landscape (pun unintended) of the times. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I was familiar with more of the authors included. 3.5/5.

Hi Jackie, today I finally caught up with your thread. I took a few BBs, especially for Chopping Onions on my Heart, Deaf Republic and A Writer's Britain. As always, I enjoyed reading your thoughtful reviews.

>161 MissBrangwen: Thank you Mirjam, I hope you enjoy them if you get to them. A Writer's Britain is pretty old, so might be a bit harder to get hold of, although I did see it on abebooks.

I've started my 2026 thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/376538

>163 Jackie_K: Happy holidays Jackie. Thank you for all the nature-related recs I've taken from your thread in 2025.

>164 charl08: Thank you Charlotte, and to you too!

Wishing all my Category Challenge friends a very happy Christmas!

Hello Jackie. I will try to visit next year BEFORE Christmas Day, but in the meantime,

>167 Jackie_K: Hi Karen, thank you! I'm always happy to see you :)

Happy New Year, Jackie! Enjoy the Hogmanay celebrations!

2025 ended sadly for me, and 2026 started sadly, as my dad was taken to hospital on Christmas Day, and after a rapid deterioration he died yesterday. He was beautifully cared for in the hospital, and I am glad that he is no longer in pain. I'm a bit shellshocked though.

Category: Non-fiction (general)



Given the above, it's possibly a bit weird that this is my final read of the year. But I suspected that his death was near, and I actually found this book, Dr Kathryn Mannix's With the End in Mind very comforting. She is a palliative care consultant, and the book is a series of case studies of patients and their final days, explaining various aspects of death and dying. Reading this last week meant that I felt able to help my mum and sister understand what they were seeing with dad, and helped me to see that he was dying well. 4.5/5.

>169 Jackie_K: My condolences to you and your family.

I'm so sorry to read that. My deepest sympathy to you and your family.

I'm so sorry, Jackie. It's bittersweet to know he is no longer in pain, but no longer with you. Sending love to you and yours.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Jackie. Thinking of you and your family.