Hello again! Sorry for the delay, but, y'know, life...
My latest read was 'Tales from the Big Trails' by Martyn Howe, a personal story of one man's attempt to walk 19 of the most famous - and challenging - long-distance walking routes in England, Scotland and Wales.
So, as the nights are drawing in (just) and autumn is around the corner (more or less), it's time for a spine-chiller! And they don't come more chilling than 'Reality and Other Stories' by John Lanchester.
So, from battle fields I went to farmers' fields! Food production and the countryside is turning into a bit of a hot topic at the moment, thanks to Jeremy Clarkson's foray into farming and concerns over supplies and welfare following Brexit and during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Consequently, 'Field Work: What Land Does to People and What People Do to Land' by award-winning writer and photojournalist Bella Bathurst seems quite timely.
At last! A book you've heard of - and probably even read! Although, if you've read it, why on Earth would you want to read a blog post about it? Go away and read something else! Actually, no, don't do that. Stay here, and read some thoughts about Matt Haig's massive bestseller 'The Midnight Library'.
After a break of - ahem - one or two years, I recently returned to an old favourite, the Uhtred of Bebbanburg books by Bernard Cornwell. In times as changeable and traumatic as this, the entertaining company of this Dark Ages warlord was irresistible. Also, the thirteenth and last book in the series was published last year, and I'd only read books one to ten, so I had a little bit of catching up to do...
One of the best things about being a book blogger is that you never quite know what you'll end up reading next. Until Vertebrate Publishing put a call out for reviewers, I would never have believed I'd end up reading about three young men going on a mountaineering trip to Corsica, but read one I did. And I loved it.
When celebrity biographies get released, it's usually to great fanfares and fireworks as each flashy hardback vies for our attention in the pre-Christmas glut. My latest read - 'Just Ignore Him' by Alan Davies - got my attention because it seemed to do the opposite of that. Just look at the cover; a simple image of a young Davies in white t-shirt looking straight into the camera. Somehow cautiously bold, it's a long way from the usual stage-managed images we've come to expect on such books. The only flash of colour is the red of his football shorts, leaving the book dominated by a brown-black that sits in stark contrast to the bright yellows, blues and whites of other biographies that I've read. So what's going on?
2021 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of my favourite authors, Patricia Highsmith. Best known for 'Strangers on a Train' and the five Tom Ripley books, her work has often been introduced to new generations through film adaptations. I discovered her via the 1999 Antony Minghella film 'The Talented Mister Ripley', and was hooked from that moment on - an atypical instance of a film doing justice to a novel. While too many of her works are currently out of print, I did manage to get hold of an ebook version of her short story collection 'Eleven'. But was is worth the effort?
We live in complicated times. Thanks to traditional and social media, we're not only more aware of socio-political issues than ever before, but also expected to have something to say about them all. On top of everyday discussions with friends and family, it's become the norm for TV and radio presenters to ask us to text, tweet or email our opinions on the topic of the day. But can we always tell which opinions come from facts and experience, and which are inspired by feelings and trauma? And are we doing ourselves - and the wider debate - a disservice by not working out which is which? These questions lie at the heart of James O'Brien's latest book, 'How Not to Be Wrong: The Art of Changing Your Mind'.
Everyone has their favourite box set, and, if nothing else, lockdowns I, II, and III have given us plenty of opportunity to drink our fill of our favourite shows. One of mine is the time-travel romance 'Outlander', and I've just finished 'Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure like No Other' by two of the show's stars, Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish.
