Martencat continues to unearth ROOTs in 2018

Hi.

Still unearthing ROOTS from my bookshelves and buying books faster than I’m reading them.

The plan is to read 15 non-fiction and 15 fiction. I may manage to read more (given the TBR list is at least double this) but want to give myself time to read some new discoveries too. There's one book I'll be taking all year to read, which is The cabinet of linguistic curiosities: a Yearbook of forgotten words

If the book is on my bookshelves or Kindle then it counts as a ROOT, even if I only got it for Christmas.

ROOTS 2018

Fiction
#1 - All the birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders
#2 - Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
#3 - The silent boy - Andrew Taylor
#4 - Golden Hill - Francis Spufford
#5 - Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
#6 - Bring up the bodies - Hilary Mantel
#7 - The Dry - Jane Harper
#8 - Slow Horses - Mick Herron
#9 - Wolf Winter - Cecilia Ekback
#10 - Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
#11 - Plague - C.C. Humphreys
#12 - The slaughter man - Tony Parsons
#13 - Tennison - Lynda La Plante
#14 - The house of Susan Lulham - Phil Rickman
#15 - Friends of the Dusk - Phil Rickman
#16 - All of a winter's night - Phil Rickman
#17 - A long way to a small, angry planet - Becky Chambers
#18 - A closed and common orbit - Becky Chambers

Non-fiction
#1 - October; the story of the Russian Revolution - China Melville
#2 - Lenin on the train - Catherine Merridale
#3 - Our History of the 20th Century: As told in Diaries, Journals and Letters - Travis Elborough
#4 - A People's History of London - Lindsey German
#5 - Ancient Worlds : An epic history of East and West - Michael Scott
#6 - Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts - Christopher de Hamel
#7 - Outlaws of the Atlantic: Sailors, Pirates and Motley Crews in the Age of Sail - Marcus Rediker
#8 - Pepys's London - Stephen Porter
#9 - The hidden life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben
#10 - Oak and Ash and Thorn - Peter Fiennes
#11 - A history of the first world war in 100 objects - John Hughes-Wilson
#12 - A line in the Sand - James Barr
#13 - The cabinet of linguistic curiosities: a Yearbook of forgotten words - Paul Anthony Jones

ROOT prevention reading

#1 Meadowland :The private life of an English Field - John Lewis-Stempel
#2 The Radium Girls : They paid with their lives - Kate Moore
#3 Other Minds: the Octopus and the evolution of intelligent life - Peter Godfrey-Smith
#4 Islander - Patrick Barkham
#5 The five giants: a biography of the welfare state - Nicholas Timmins
#6 Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding - George Monbiot
#7 Pale Rider: the Spanish Flu of 1918 and how it changed the world - Laura Spinney
#8 Unmentionables: The Victorian lady's guide to sex, marriage and manners - Therese Oneill
#9 Where the Poppies Blow - John Lewis-Stemple
#10 Swimming with Seals - Victoria Whitworth.
#11 The Levelling Sea - Philip Marsden
#12Dead Lions - Mick Herron

Good luck with your rooting & other reading!

ROOT #1 All the birds in the sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Hard to describe without descending into cliches as it mixes the world of urban fantasy and sci-fi. School friends Patricia and Laurence both identified as a "bit weird" by their school mates, go their separate ways (as ecological witch and tech nerd) as teenagers, but met again as adults. The human race (and by implication the planet) seem doomed, so is the answer the geeks' or the witches' solution? The first third had too much teenage angst and was slow going - the pace picks up as the apocalypse looms. Some rave reviews but it didn't really work for me

Welcome back, and good luck with this year's reading!

Enjoy ROOTing through 2018!

Welcome back and have a great reading year! Would love to know about some of the forgotten words you discover through The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities.

Happy ROOTing in 2018!

Welcome back and Happy ROOTing.

Welcome back. Love the ROOT prevention!

Well I won't be dropping spike-bozzle ( to sabotage, to ruin or render ineffective) or recumbentibus (a powerful or knock out blow) into my conversation or a game of Scrabble any time soon, but there are some great bits of historical and linguistic trivia in this so far.

I love the sound of those words! Putting The cabinet of linguistic curiosities on my wishlist.

Wishlisted here too! I lament the loss of words from my own childhood days - the difference half a century makes!

Glad you're with us!

>13 Jackie_K:, >14 floremolla: Sorry about making you break the "no new books" rule so early in the year 😳

>16 martencat: No worries - it's gone onto my wishlist, not my bookshelf! :D

ROOT # 2 October: the story of the Russian Revolution by China Mieville

Gave a really useful narrative of the events of the revolutions in 1917. I knew the big picture story from history lessons at school, but this covered the people and events in detail without getting too bogged down. The aim of the book was to provide a fast moving story without sacrificing historical accuracy. This meant that there was little assessment of the impact of the events because it was outside the scope of the book and the treatment of events was broadly neutral. Although I had to go back and re-read the first chapter that gave the explanations for the different revolutionary groups and the reasons for the splinters and schisms in the movement, which become critical in understanding later events. There's an interesting looking bibliography

>17 Jackie_K: ditto!

>18 martencat: sounds interesting and I'm not even a non-fiction fan :)

ROOT #3 Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Set in the very far future, possibly, there's no harking back to a lost Earth; a very different culture and mindset. Once I'd got over the multiple points of view it rapidly became an engrossing story. Just borrowed book number two in the series from the local library.

ROOT #4 Lenin on the train by Catherine Merridale

Whilst covering some of the same ground as ROOT #2 it had a different perspective, making for a contrasting read. Better on the wider context of the revolution and the international situation and activities of the international actors. Much less about the internal factions of the revolution, although no history of the revolution can avoid these.

I have been reading but not posting, so this is in the nature of a catch up post. Book notes likely to be short.

ROOT #5 The Silent Boy by Andrew Taylor
The silent boy is Charles , who has witnessed something in the confusion and chaos of revolutionary France, but what and why is it important? The what becomes clear relatively early on, it's impact on Charles is clearly profound and enduring. Atmospheric and unsettling.

ROOT # 6 Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Just why Richard Smith is a man in a hurry, becomes clear at the end, in a surprising twist in the end. Fast paced, riotous (literally) and funny

ROOT # 7 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
ROOT # 8 Bring up the Bodies also by Hilary Mantel
Tudor history from a different perspective. Really good, will buy the third part when it comes out.

Good to see you again, Martencat. Lots of ROOTs read, I see.

>23 connie53: Hi,

Earlier in the month I didn't think that I was on track but suddenly it's all coming together. Glad your reading is also going well and congratulations on the new arrival.

ROOT #9 The Dry by Jane Harper

Crime novel set in the Australian countryside. The physical landscape, isolation of a small rural community and the drought play a huge part in setting the tone and add to the stifling, suffocating atmosphere. Aaron Falk returns to his "home" after leaving twenty years ago for a funeral; memories are long in a small rural town and the past has a way of not staying buried.

Very enjoyable, will keep an eye out for the author's second book.

>25 martencat: Same feelings about Harper here. And there is a new one or at least there is another one translated into Dutch. Force of nature

>26 connie53: Thank you for the tip-off. Must read some of the books I've already bought this year before buying more. Root prevention reading required.

ROOT #10 Our history of the 20th century: as told in diaries, journals and letters selected by Travis Elborough

An interesting selection of entries from a wide range of sources; the entries covered the serious and note-worthy stuff that makes it into all the history books from some of the usual suspects and some unusual sources. It also has selection of more random entries aiming to cover some of the zeitgeist of the time. Each decade had it's own chapter and brief outline of events from a British perspective. There were a few diarists with too many entries, but on the whole it was an interesting selection.

Root prevention reading

Meadowland; the private life of an English field by John Lewis-Stempel

Beautifully written book about the wildlife, plants, animals, birds and farming activity found in one small patch of the Herefordshire countryside. Factual, observational but also with historical and literary snippets.

>29 martencat: I have that on my TBR pile (one of the books I bought with my Christmas money). I'm really looking forward to it, although goodness knows when I'll get to it. It's exactly my kind of book, so I'm really glad to see you liked it.

>30 Jackie_K: I walked past my local bookshop today and in the window was a new book by him. I resisted - after all it's still in hardback. I worked out many years ago that I could fit more books on the shelves if I stuck to paperbacks.

I've enjoyed all his books that I have read and I'm not surprised that he's won the Wainwright prize for nature writing twice.

>31 martencat: Yes - I'm yet to meet a Wainwright nominee (never mind winner) I didn't love.

>32 Jackie_K: One day I'm going to create a big list of the nominees and read my way through the lot.

>33 martencat: That sounds like reading heaven to me! When Mt TBR is a bit more under control (!) I think I'll join you!

Shall we set a date? How does 2020 sound?

ROOT #11 Slow Horses by Mick Herron

After a slow start, where I put the book down because I wasn't sure if I was really bothered about the main characters it picked up and proved to be a good fast-paced action thriller. It's difficult to fire a spy for a poor performance, after all they might leak something important, so they are shuffled off to Slough House to perform important (probably) but boring tasks, far from the action until they become mixed up in a race against time to prevent a kidnap victim being beheaded.

Worth keeping an eye out for the next in the series.

ROOT # 12 A people's history of London by Lindsey German

I was hoping for something with a stronger emphasis on the social history, of London, with it's mixture of distinct villages and communities. Brief discussions of some of the radical movements that have influenced London, better on the trade unions and labour movements.

>34 Jackie_K: Oh I wish! I think it's going to take me a lot longer than that! But it's very tempting :)

>37 martencat: I read this last year, and was left feeling a bit dissatisfied too. I thought it was also good on racism, multiculturalism and immigration, as well as the impact on the life of the city of Stephen Laurence's murder, and generally much better once they were well into the 20th century. But I found when movements were peripherally related to London (eg the suffragettes, who started largely in Manchester) then the authors only wrote about the London-relevant bits, which meant that it ended up being a bit bitty and I didn't get the full sense of what had been going on. I found that quite frustrating.

ROOT # 13 Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback

Maija, Paavo and their daughters, Frederika and Dorotea, move from Finland to Swedish Lappland in 1717, hoping to leave behind Paavo's growing fear of the sea. The Swedish king is keen to encourage settlers and farmers in the far north of his territory and to ensure their adherence to Christianity. The Lapps have converted to Christianity and left their animist and shamanistic beliefs behind very recently. Frederika finds the body of one of the other settlers, Erikksen, on the family's first day in their new new home, but spring and summer on the Blackasen mountain are beautiful.
As autumn sets in the harshness of life on the mountain becomes apparent and Paavo sets off to find work in the south, leaving Maija and their daughters behind to face the winter. The winter turns out to be especially fierce - a "wolf winter". The question of who killed Erikkson troubles the family and the parish priest is asked to investigate. As Maija and the priest try to investigate they are hindered by the weather and the secrets of the past and the superstitions of a small community. Meanwhile Frederika is troubled by the spirit of Erikkson and is trying to solve the crime in her own way.

To be read on a hot summer's day as Cecilia Ekback evokes the harshness of a winter near the Arctic circle beautifully.

Root Prevention Reading

The Radium Girls - Kate Moore

An industrial scandal. The girls, mostly in their teens, who found a job painting watch dials at the Radium Luminous Materials Corporation considered themselves to be lucky. The job paid well, the other workers were great fun to be with and, whilst some of them had family responsibilities many were able they were able to take advantage of the good years of 1920's America.

Radium was known to be dangerous but also promoted as a good medical cure-all endorsed by the American Medical Association. But the women were working with such small quantities that there could be no danger to them even if they were consuming small quantities every time they shaped the brush with their lips. One by one they began to fall ill but nobody had exactly the same symptoms. Very few were still working at the factory when they fell ill so there was no obvious link between them as the sought treatment from different doctors and dentists. Some medical practitioners become fascinated and sought to understand what was happening.

The women themselves sought justice and financial compensation for an industrial injury, but there was a long and bitter struggle to prove that it was an industrial injury as the companies involved used every means possible to hinder their claims. In addition, industrial health and safety was still in it's infancy. Kate Moore does a great job of sharing their individual lives and the heartbreak involved and never skirts away from the graphic and horrific nature of radium poisoning and the impact on the women and their families. Collectively their lives have shaped American labour laws and they contributed enormously to ongoing medical studies of the effects of radiation.

>39 martencat: I saved Wolf Winter and The Tenderness of Wolves to read during winter-time! Mainly because, living in a temperate climate, we'd been having such wet winters with little snow and I wanted to 'feel' the proper coldness of an Arctic Winter. I liked both books but preferred Wolf Winter as I thought it was better resolved at the end. A good read, whatever the season!

>40 martencat: I have this on my TBR, so many people on LT read it last year that I couldn't escape reviews for a while! It sounds right up my street.

>41 floremolla: I loved The Tenderness of Wolves - one of the fiction books I'm definitely keeping for a reread.

>41 floremolla: I have the opposite reaction. I have another ROOT to read that's takes place in a blizzard, so prompted by the recent sunny weather I've dug that out. However, I've been distracted and it's currently sat on the table unopened.

ROOT 14 Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

Epic fantasy - in every sense of the word. Large cast with complex motivations and detailed cultural world building. The story took some time to get going, which is interesting given that it starts in the middle of the action, but with little explanation so it takes time to figure out who is who.

ROOT 15 Ancient Worlds by Michael Scott

Large scale survey of the ancient world, aiming to show that the various civilizations of Ancient Greece, Rome, India and China were more connected that might be expected given the difficulties of travel and communication at the time.

Root Prevention Reading

Other Minds: the Octopus and the evolution of intelligent life - Peter Godfrey-Smith

Octopuses are normally solitary animals (but there's an exception to every rule) but at a site off the Australian coast, called Octopolis by the author and other researchers, large numbers can be found in close proximity and they interact with each other and the divers in intriguing ways leading the author to question their intelligence. It draws on the latest scientific research in a number of areas; from paleontology to genetics to explore the topic.

This leads to a discussion of the evolution of intelligence, what was necessary and the possibility that it evolved in twice in two distinct branches of the animal kingdom. It's a short book so the discussion of the various topics are brief and comprehensible; the conditions for singular cellular life moving onto multi-cellular life and how the various branches of life are related, the nervous system, eyes and the octopuses perception of the world around it, giving rise to the ability to mimic the environment around it so closely changing the colour of it's skin and shape, and whether this ability is also linked to communication.

>46 martencat: This keeps appearing on my recommendations (I'm actually sure I'd love it), and then I discovered my husband bought it recently, so I'm going to count that as ROOT prevention too!

>47 Jackie_K: A cunning plan! There are number of books I want to read stored on my partner's shelves (some of which I may have bought him), which he has read and enjoyed but I don't think that they count as ROOTs either. 😉

ROOT 16 Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel

Lavishly illustrated book in colour . A tour round 12 libraries and 12 manuscripts covering 12 centuries of hand-written books, not always religious, although the mind may automatically go to the Book of Kells gospel or some of the beautifully illustrated medieval books of hours, when the word manuscript is mentioned.

Christopher de Hamel covers a wide range of topics from how manuscript books are produced, their physical appearance, why they were produced and who for to there subsequent history through the ages and how they ended up the various libraries. It covers the cultural and social history around the original, sometimes the history is clear and sometimes it requires detective work or intelligent guess-work. He is also someone who clearly loves libraries and as well as the pictures from the books there are some beautiful pictures of libraries and their histories.

ROOT 17 Outlaws of the Atlantic: Sailors, Pirates and Motley Crews in the Age of Sail by Marcus Rediker

A collection of essays on the life of the working men of the sailing ships of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, with a focus of those who rebelled and refused to accept their status, mostly from an American perspective. He covers a little of the conditions of life below decks for those not in positions of power, the ordinary sailing man, before moving onto those who found themselves involuntarily afloat via transportation for crimes or the naval press gangs of the period. He considers the tendency for sailors ashore to riot and their influence on the American Revolution and the romantic aspects of the pirates in their brief heyday and their extremely egalitarian , if violent, society. The final two essays are on the subject of the slave ships of the transatlantic trade from the perspective of the slaves and how the men on the "Amistad" were perceived, based on the mass market novels and press of the time.

Root Prevention Reading

Islander, a journey round our archipelago - Patrick Barkham

Long-listed for the 2018 Wainwright prize. Patrick Barkham travels round 11 of the 6,289 islands off the coast of Britain and Ireland (plus the Channel Islands, which are not geographically speaking part of the British Isles, and which have a separate legal, economic status). He writes about the fascination of islands for those who don't live there, the desire to move to or from islands and how that changes the character of the island. As a nature writer he is observant and informative on the wildlife and how it both shapes and is shaped by the people who live on the island.

Root prevention reading. LOVE IT!!! Great way to look at the shiny new books

>51 martencat: I found that one really interesting! Good work on the ROOT prevention, too :)

Root Prevention Reading

The five giants: a biography of the welfare state by Nicholas Timmins

A timely read as the NHS celebrates it's 70th birthday. It is a huge book that sets out from the origins of the welfare state to the current day, with all the political and economic challenges that this entails. The 5 giants that Sir William Beveridge identified in his wartime report were Want, Ignorance, Disease, Squalor, and Idleness leading to the 5 pillars of modern government policy - social security and pensions, education, health services, housing and employment.

The book surveys the history and people, the policies and ideas, the economics and politics behind each of the giants in turn over the course of the decades. It is interesting to see how early decisions have impacted later options and what compromises have been made and how opinions have changed over time. Very interesting

Root Prevention Reading

Feral by George Monbiot

A thought proving read,raising more questions than providing answers.

It can feel depressing to be interested in conservation and the environment, with what feels like a never ending stream of gloomy or scary news stories. George Monbiot attempts to address this by thinking big and proposing large scale landscape changes by rewilding the British countryside. Firstly by allowing nature and natural processes to take over and secondly by the reintroduction of species missing from Britain.

He considers what is the natural state of Britain’s landscapes, which have been heavily modified and altered by humankind and whether conservationists trying to preserve the wrong things because they have only experienced a low baseline of how it should it should be? George Monbiot considers two examples in particular; the heavily grazed and heather dominated uplands of Britain and the coastal fisheries, and can they be brought into a state with a higher and greater biodiversity and volume. He also considers the question of what the British landscape should contain given the discussion around species reintroduction (beavers, wolves, lynx, boars). Despite the periodic big cat news stories there remains a question of how ready the British public and landowners are to the idea. The reintroduction of the non-carnivorous beaver has proved controversial, for example, even though there is evidence that their actions can improve biodiversity and flood management.

As a sea kayaker he is especially exercised by the lack of marine reserves around the British coastline, and compares the the lack of action to that taken elsewhere, where marine life has flourished and expanded from the protected zones. He is also at his most lyrical when writing about his kayaking expeditions

ROOT 18 - Plague by C.C. Humphreys

London in 1666 is a violent place with no police force, but it does have professional thief-takers, one of whom Pitman, is on the trail of the notorious highway man Captain Cock. The lives of the two men become entwined as the plague sweeps London and fear and religious fervour grip the city.

Past the halfway point. And a lot of ROOT preventing too. I did that too ;-))

>57 connie53: Hi Connie.

Some how it doesn't feel like I've been doing much ROOT prevention as there have been a couple of acquisition binges already this year (the books were on my "sounds interesting" list and in the sales). However I take comfort in the fact that the list of TBR is under 3 figures, which I know is very modest by this groups standards

ROOT 19 The slaugher man by Tony Parsons

The second book in the Max Wolfe series set in London. A very gripping crime novel, but with very dark and brutal sections.

Root prevention reading

Pale Rider: the Spanish Flu of 1918 and how it changed the world by Laura Spinney

A really interesting read about an illness that we think of as nothing very serious and even joke about "man flu" and yet it can kill in huge numbers. The outbreak of 1918 was the worst influenza season (although there were actually three waves of illness) in history and Laura Spinney traces the epidemic through the world, why it became global and some of the impacts it had. She also considers the state of medical knowledge then and now around flu and how and why another pandemic is possible.

>58 martencat:. I know about the Binge-Buying. That's why I avoid big book-markets and sales. They are too bad for me and my TBR-pile

Root prevention reading

Unmentionables: The Victorian lady's guide to sex, marriage and manners - Therese Oneill

I am soooo glad I live in the twenty first century!

ROOT 20 Pepys's London by Stephen Porter

This is one of references consulted by C.C. Humphries, so it moved up the list.

Samuel Pepys lived in one of the most turbulent periods of English history and his diary only covers a relative short period of his life. This was a very comprehensive look at everyday life and living in London over the half century of his adult life. Fascinating

ROOT 21 Tennison by Lynda La Plante

A crime novel covering the very start of Jane Tennison's early days in the Metropolitan police, when women were just joining the force as full police constables. The book reflects the attitudes and times of the 1970's, both in the attitudes of the police and Jane's family, so it's not just a murder story. Having seen the original screenings of "Prime Suspect" with Helen Mirren on the TV it was interesting to see how she became the police woman she is.

ROOT 22 The house of Susan Lulham
ROOT 23 Friends of the Dusk
ROOT 24 All of a winter's night all by Phil Rickman

As the House of Susan Lulham is a novella it almost feels as if it shouldn't count as a proper ROOT. Less enjoyable than the other books, with a much smaller sense of place and location than the other Merrily Watkins books.

Phil Rickman returns to form with the two full length novels, weaving the crime, the people, the sense of place, and belief together.

Maybe a novella is a counterweight for a very big book. So I would count it too.

ROOT 25 The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

German forester Peter Wohlleben draws on his practical experience and the latest research on trees and their life-cycles to consider the question of whether there is such a thing as tree communication via the "wood wide web". Aside from the anthropomorphisation it was an interesting book to read and a plea to manage forests both old and new better.

ROOT 26 Oak and Ash and Thorn by Peter Fiennes

A mixture of a memoir of places and woods visited as part of a quest to re-connect with nature and an examination of some of the stories, histories, myths and role of woods in the English cultural history.

ROOT 27 A history of the first world war in 100 objects by John Hughes-Wilson

Published by the Imperial War museum (itself founded shortly after the war), this book takes 100 objects (not all in the IWM collection) and uses them to illustrate different perspectives of the war. It goes beyond the battles to also consider life on the home front (both in Britain and in Germany), propaganda and some of the technical advances. There's a short essay on each, often accompanied by extra photos, making for a different view on the war.

>67 martencat: I've got The Hidden Life of Trees on my TBR and am going to try and read it for one of next year's challenges. I've just added Oak and Ash and Thorn to my wishlist, that sounds right up my street.

>69 Jackie_K: Hope you enjoy them and I'll be interested to read your view on them

ROOT 28 A Long way to a small, angry planet by Becky Chambers
ROOT 29 A Closed and Common Orbit also by Becky Chambers

Great fun reads. The first book is a character driven exploration of friendships, camaraderie, conflict, duty, belief on a small spaceship traveling across the galaxy to establish a wormhole to allow for faster journeys. The technology takes second place to exploring the differences and common ground among the mixed human and alien crew. It's a complex galaxy out there. The second starts from the end of the first but leaves the crew behind to explore identity and AI.

Very tempted to rush out and get the third book....

>71 martencat: I'm forcing myself to wait till the paperback comes out. But it is firmly pencilled in for March.

>72 MissWatson: I admire your restraint. No chance of it becoming a ROOT through

>73 martencat: No, no way.

ROOT 30 A line in the Sand by James Barr

Britain and France may have been allies during the First World War but they were also both empires seeking greater power and influence. In the dying days of the Ottoman Empire a vast new area became open for exploitation. A Line in the Sand considers how the victorious powers sought to carve up the remains of the Ottoman Empire and how this has impacted on the region ever since (although the book stops at the end of the British mandate in Palestine). A story of treachery, duplicity and broken promises, diplomacy and spies, ancient and new grudges, open battles and terrorism.

And now it's time to congratulate you. If my maths are right you've reach your goal.

ROOT 31 The cabinet of linguistic curiosities: a Yearbook of forgotten words by Paul Anthony Jones

A slow read but somethingto read every day as Paul Anthony Jones writes about the entomology, history of a word or phrase that has dropped out of common usage, or the events of the day that mean that this word is the exact one to best describe the event.

A great read. Current favorite words - Bamblusterate - to hoax, to confuse ; Scugways - clandestinely; with hidden purpose or ulterior motive

Root prevention reading

Where the Poppies Blow by John Lewis-Stemple

A deserving winner of the Wainwright prize. There have been loads thing marking the centenary of the Great War and John Lewis-Stemple has found a new perspective on it.

Many of the British men who fought on the Western Front were countrymen and fought for the love of country and by extension countryside. Edward Thomas could literally hold a piece of English soil and say that he was fighting for this.

It’s easy to picture the Western Front as one massive sea of mud but John Lewis-Stemple shows that this was not the case, that there was space for nature and many of the soldiers were keen naturalists observing the flowers and the birds around them. The war poets are here of course, Edward Thomas, Siegfried Sassoon amongst others but he also shows how the average soldier was also inspired to poetry and to observe and write about nature. He quotes from a great number of private letters and diaries as well as the published sources.

He writes about the men’s affection for their pet cats, dogs, rabbits but not the horrors of the trench rats, mice and lice, which he does not gloss over. All nature was here.

Despite all the advances in technology in this very modern war, the army on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia was dependent on horse power. Vast numbers of horses, ponies and mules were sent voluntarily and drafted abroad. The contrast between the affection the men could show for their pets and working horses and mules and the conditions that all endured is stark.

There were many ways to pass the time both in the front line and to the rear that would have been very familiar activities - hunting, shooting, ratting for the ever present vermin, fishing and gardening.

A contender for book of the year

A catch-up post of notable books read that have distracted from reading more ROOTs although they all count as root-prevention reading ...

Swimming with Seals - Victoria Whitworth
A deeply personal memoir about sea-swimming around Orkney. A strong sense of place, but also what make a place home and belonging to a community. She also writes about the prehistoric sites and the history and culture of Orkney and why it's not really like the rest of Scotland. Beautifully observed natural world in her swims. Very evocative of the place and the physical sensation of swimming.

The Levelling Sea - Philip Marsden
He traces the impact of the sea on English culture through the history of a small Cornish town - Falmouth. Although for a period of a time a great deal of news flooded through the port as the first possible landfall in Britain when sailing from the west. For a small town it certainly through up a number of memorable characters.

Dead Lions - Mick Herron
The tales of the spies banished from the nerve center of the British Secret Service and the Cold War never ended with the death of a former Berlin agent and the visit of a Russian oligarch. Less plausible than the first outing of the residents of Slough House.

>79 martencat: Swimming with Seals was one of my books of the year. It sounds like you've done some really great reading recently.

>80 Jackie_K: Thank you for the tip off on Swimming with Seals