Jackie's 2021 Jar of Fate category challenge - 2

Welcome to my 2nd thread of the year!

Hello! My name is Jackie, I live in Scotland, and am back for the 6th year posting in the category challenge group. I am a big fan of creative non-fiction, and am trying my hand at writing some - I hope to self-publish a book later in 2021. I do read bits and bobs of fiction, but creative non-fic, especially nature writing, is my reading happy place.

A few people in 2020 lamented the disappearance of my Jar of Fate - a Jar with colour coded slips featuring all the books on my TBR pile, which I pull out for my next read rather than spending ages dithering in indecision about what to read next, or only reading all the new and shiny books. Actually the Jar never went away, I still used it in 2020 for my non-challenge reads, but in 2021 I think it should be front and centre again! So here it is:



I have 11 categories (the same ones as always), and a floating 12th category which changes each year (it's a bit like the Trafalgar Square fourth plinth that way). For 2021, related to my writing (and self-care) goals, I am going to use the 12th category for nature writing (very broadly defined) and aim to read at least one a month from that category. All other categories I will rotate so that I don't read loads in a row from a narrow category but mix it up and have lots of variety in my reading over the year. The aim as always is to have at least one book in every category by the end of the year, but other than that and the one a month in nature writing, I'm not setting any concrete goals. The majority of books will be from the TBR pile, plus occasional library books (I aim for a library book a month, but didn't quite manage that in 2020).

In 2020 I found that I had committed to so many challenges (actually only 4, but that's a lot for me!) that the spontaneity of the Jar was swamped a bit. So although there are 4 challenges that I'm likely to participate in in 2021, I'm not going to commit to them as firmly as before (apart from the GeoKIT Europe, which I'm hosting). I've got some books set aside for each challenge, but will decide month by month if I want to read them or if those titles go back in the Jar to wait for their chance another time.

I enjoy the bookish chat here and in the ROOTs group, and am looking forward to more of the same in 2021! Welcome!

1. Central & Eastern Europe / former Soviet Union

This is a region of the world I've always found fascinating, and I've been lucky enough to live, work and study in Romania and Moldova, as well as visit some of the other countries of the region. Books in this category could be academic, travel, memoir, or fiction.

1. Svetlana Alexievich - Chernobyl Prayer. Finished 6.1.21. 4.5/5.
2. Ben Aitken - A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland. Finished 26.4.21. 3.5/5.
3. Saša Stanišić - How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone. Finished 18.5.21. 4.5/5.
4. Svetlana Alexievich - The Unwomanly Face of War. Finished 23.6.21. 4.5/5.
5. ed. Ruxandra Cesereanu - Comunism si Represiune in Romania; Istoria tematica a unui fratricid national. Finished 16.12.21. 4/5.

2. Non-fiction: general

This is usually my fullest category! For all non-fiction that doesn't fall into any of my other more specific categories.

1. Dan Fagin - Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation. Finished 8.2.21. 4.5/5.
2. Joanna Penn - The Successful Author Mindset. Finished 15.2.21. 4/5.
3. Akala - Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire. Finished 19.2.21. 4.5/5.
4. Joanna Penn - How to Market a Book. Finished 25.2.21. 4.5/5.
5. Joanna Penn - How to Make a Living with your Writing. Finished 28.2.21. 3.5/5.
6. Danny Katch - Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People. Finished 24.3.21. 3.5/5.
7. Mary Beard - SPQR. Finished 24.4.21. 4.5/5.
8. Margaret Truman - White House Pets. Finished 4.5.21. 2.5/5.
9. Charlie Hailey - The Porch: Meditations on the Edge of Nature. Finished 11.5.21. 5/5.
10. Lev Parikian - Music to Eat Cake By. Finished 19.5.21. 3.5/5.
11. Arlie Russell Hochschild - Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. Finished 10.6.21. 5/5.
12. Sara Maitland - Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of our Forests and Fairytales. Finished 15.6.21. 4/5.
13. Joan Didion - Let Me Tell You What I Mean. Finished 13.7.21. 3.5/5.
14. Helen Mort - No Map Could Show Them. Finished 24.7.21. 3/5.
15. Mark Leslie Lefebvre - Killing it on Kobo. Finsihed 8.8.21. 4/5.
16. Philip Pullman - Daemon Voices. Finished 3.9.21. 3.5/5.
17. Will Storr - The Science of Storytelling. Finished 12.9.21. 4/5.
18. Katherine May - Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. Finished 14.10.21. 4.5/5.
19. Yanis Varoufakis - Talking to my Daughter About the Economy. Finished 18.11.21. 3.5/5.
20. Reece Jones - Violent Borders. Finished 14.12.21. 4/5.
21. Hinterland: Summer: 8. Finished 14.12.21. 4/5.

3. Contemporary fiction: 1969-present

This is for all fiction published from the year of my birth onwards (also, here's a fun fact: I was born on the exact same day that The Very Hungry Caterpillar was first published!).

1. Various, ed. Robyn Sarty - B is for Beauty: A Beauty and the Beast Anthology. Finished 31.1.21. 4/5.
2. Various, ed. Robyn Sarty - A is for Apple: A Snow White Anthology. Finished 15.2.21. 4/5.
3. Mark Stay - The Crow Folk. Finished 27.2.21. 5/5.
4. Kassidy Shade & Andy Chapman - Dinosaurs, Jetpacks, and Rock Stars!. Finished 28.2.21. 4/5.
5. Alexander McCall Smith - The Full Cupboard of Life. Finished 29.4.21. 4/5.
6. Jim Dodge - Fup. Finished 22.5.21. 4/5.
7. Goscinny & Uderzo - Asterix in Corsica. Finished 5.6.21. 4/5.
8. Tove Jansson - The Summer Book. Finished 12.7.21. 4.5/5.
9. C.K. McDonnell - The Stranger Times. Finished 24.7.21. 5/5.
10. Richard Osman - The Thursday Murder Club. Finished 19.8.21. 4.5/5.
11. Scott Adams - Don't Step in the Leadership. Finished 20.9.21. 3/5.
12. Kate Atkinson - Life After Life. Finished 25.9.21. 4.5/5.
13. G.M. White - The Swordsman's Intent. Finished 23.10.21. 3.5/5.
14. G.M. White - The Swordsman's Lament. Finished 30.10.21. 4/5.
15. Jan Kotouc, tr. Isabel Stainsby - Frontiers of the Imperium. Finished 14.11.21. 3.5/5.
16. Mark Stay - Babes in the Wood. Finished 31.12.21. 5/5.

4. Sexual/reproductive health/rights; parenting; children; gender

This is for books related to my specific academic and professional interests, although by no means all are academic books (sweary parenting blog spinoff books go here!).

1. Dr Laura Markham - Calm Parents, Happy Kids. Finished 15.2.21. 3/5.
2. Fiona de Londras & Mairead Enright - Repealing the 8th: Reforming Irish Abortion Law. Finished 27.3.21. 4/5.
3. ed. Robert Kulpa & Joanna Mizielinska - De-Centring Western Sexualities: Central and Eastern European Perspectives. Finished 23.7.21. 4/5.
4. Pragya Agarwal - Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking with Children About Race. Finished 31.10.21. 4.5/5.

5. Celtic

I love living here in Scotland, and have built up a fair old pile of books related to this wonderful place. This category covers books relating to Scotland, and also the other Celtic lands (Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man, Cornwall, Brittany, etc).

1. Janey Godley - Frank Get The Door!. Finished 18.1.21. 4/5.
2. Alan Brown - Overlander: Bikepacking coast to coast across the heart of the Highlands. Finished 29.5.21. 4/5.
3. Damian Smyth - English Street. Finished 5.8.21. 3/5.
4. Ian Mitchell - Isles of the North. Finished 28.8.21. 4/5.
5. Paul Murton - The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland. Finished 22.9.21. 4/5.
6. Barbara Henderson - Scottish by Inclination. Finished 25.12.21. 3.5/5.

6. Vintage Fiction (1900-1968)

Not a huge category for me, but anyway this one covers 20th century literature before I was born.

1. Nevil Shute - A Town Like Alice. Finished 18.1.21. 3.5/5.
2. Maxim Gorky - Through Russia. Finished 17.8.21. 2/5.

7. Academic

As a former academic, I built up quite a collection over the years of academic books I always intended to read and never quite got round to. There's quite a lot of crossover with my sexual/reproductive health category and my Central/Eastern Europe category, but there are more general academic books here too.

1. Michel Foucault - The Will to Knowledge: History of Sexuality Vol 1. Finished 5.3.21. 3/5.
2. Stephen Graham - Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers. Finished 10.7.21. 4/5.
3. ed. Allan M. Brandt & Paul Rozin - Morality and Health. Finished 4.9.21. 3.5/5.
4. Jennifer J. Carroll - Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine. Finished 23.10.21. 5/5.

8. Biography; autobiography; memoir; true events

Featuring everything from politicians to celebs (rather fewer of the latter, but they're in there), plus quite a few mere mortals.

1. J.D. Vance - Hillbilly Elegy. Finished 9.1.21. 3.5/5.
2. Frank Kusy - Life Before Frank: From Cradle to Kibbutz. Finished 11.4.21. 3.5/5.
3. Katherine May - The Electricity of Every Living Thing. Finished 19.6.21. 5/5.
4. Ross James - 111 Days: Tales of a Fisheries Observer. Finished 29.6.21. 4/5.
5. Tom Michell - The Penguin Lessons. Finished 18.7.21. 3.5/5.
6. Allie Brosh - Hyperbole and a Half. Finished 4.8.21. 4.5/5.
7. Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb - I am Malala. Finished 4.10.21. 4.5/5.
8. Rachael Chadwick - 60 Postcards. Finished 11.10.21. 3/5.
9. Stephen McGann - Flesh and Blood: A History of my Family in Seven Sicknesses. Finished 16.10.21. 4.5/5.
10. Bill Bryson - Shakespeare. Finished 1.12.21. 4/5.

9. Ancient fiction: pre-1900

Probably the category I struggle most with - I feel I ought to read some more 'classics', as so many literary references pass me by, but I do find a lot of pre-20th century literature a bit of a slog (not all, by any means, but a lot). So as long as I've got one book here by the end of the year I'll be happy.

1. John Galt - The Annals of the Parish. Finished 15.5.21. 4/5.

10. Travel

Another favourite genre of mine is travel writing. I do like a good bit of armchair travel (especially right now with so many travel restrictions).

1. Jessica J. Lee - Two Trees Make a Forest. Finished 16.1.21. 4.5/5.
2. David H. Mould - Postcards from the Borderlands. Finished 23.3.21. 3.5/5.
3. Michael Palin - North Korea Journal. Finished 11.6.21. 3.5/5.
4. Various authors - The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa. Finished 30.7.21. 3/5.
5. David Greene - Midnight in Siberia. Finished 07.11.21. 4.5/5.

11. Religious

Primarily books related to Christianity, but not all.

1. Jane Williams - The Merciful Humility of God. Finished 28.3.21. 3.5/5.
2. Padraig O Tuama & Glenn Jordan - Borders and Belonging: The Book of Ruth: A Story for our Times. Finished 23.7.21. 4.5/5.
3. Margaret Silf - Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey. Finished 16.10.21. 4/5.
4. Walter Brueggemann - Names for the Messiah. Finished 19.12.21. 3/5.

12. Nature writing

A genre that's seeing a resurgence, these are the books which get me smelling the earth and hugging trees from the comfort of my own home. From garden diaries to books on saving the planet, they're all here.

1. Roger Deakin - Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain. Finished 30.1.21. 4.5/5.
2. Alice Vincent - Rootbound: Rewilding a Life. Finished 14.2.21. 3.5/5.
3. Dara McAnulty - Diary of a Young Naturalist. Finished 18.2.21. 5/5.
4. Henry David Thoreau - Walden; and, on the duty of civil disobedience. Finished 9.3.21. 3/5.
5. Craig Packer - Into Africa. Finished 11.3.21. 4/5.
6. Diane Ackerman - Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of my Garden. Finished 28.3.21. 4.5/5.
7. Florence Williams - The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Healthier, Happier, and More Creative. Finished 8.4.21. 4/5.
8. Various - Nature Writing for the Common Good (available at https://www.cusp.ac.uk/projects/arts/naturewriting/ ). Finished 16.4.21. 3.5/5.
9. Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass. Finished 23.4.21. 5/5.
10. ed. Kathleen Jamie - Antlers of Water: Writing on the Nature and Environment of Scotland. Finished 15.5.21. 4.5/5.
11. Simon Barnes - On the Marsh: A Year Surrounded by Wildness and Wet. Finished 26.6.21. 4.5/5.
12. Chris Packham - Fingers in the Sparkle Jar. Finished 8.8.21. 4.5/5.
13. Charlotte Mendelson - Rhapsody in Green. Finished 17.8.21. 4.5/5.
14. James Rebanks - English Pastoral: An Inheritance. Finished 5.9.21. 5/5.
15. Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott, & Peter Marren - The Consolation of Nature: Spring in the Time of Coronavirus. Finished 17.10.21. 4/5.
16. Chris Packham & Megan McCubbin - Back to Nature: How to Love Life - and Save it. Finished 31.10.21. 3.5/5.
17. Martin Summer - Connecting with Life: Finding Nature in an Urban World. Finished 11.11.21. 3.5/5.
18. Melissa Harrison - The Stubborn Light of Things. Finished 25.12.21. 4.5/5.
19. Andy Beer - Every Day Nature. Finished 31.12.21. 4/5.

Welcome to my thread! :)

Happy new thread, Jackie! You certainly have some good reads this year. I really want to get into nature reading, but with locales in the US. Just a cursory glance that most of it is about the desert, which I'm not so interested in. Will keep up my search.

Happy New Thread! I've been watching your nature reading with interest this year. I haven't gotten to Braiding Sweetgrass yet, but I'm hoping maybe next month. I just checked to see how long I've had the Diane Ackerman book and it's been 11 years - Yikes! I need to get going.

>15 Tess_W: Thank you! There are some wonderful nature books out there, certainly lots coming from the UK where it has had something of a renaissance the last several years, but there have been some good American ones too. Last year I read Trace by Lauret Savoy, and The Home Place by J Drew Lanham, both of which I enjoyed a lot and which didn't feature much desert that I remember!

>16 dudes22: Thank you! I think you'll enjoy both books! (11 years is fine, I'm about to start a book that has been on my shelves closer to 20!)

>17 Jackie_K: - Well it could be longer. I didn't start adding my unread books to LT until right around then.

Happy new thread, Jackie. Looking forward to what the second half of the has you reading.

Happy new Category Challenge thread! Looks like you've met your goal for the ancient fiction category ;)

Happy new thread, I am looking foreward to getting hit by even more BBs!

>18 dudes22: That makes sense - but at least you know you're in good company on LT, and not the only one with decade(s)-long TBRs on the shelves.

>19 Helenliz: Thank you - it's been a good first half of the year, so hopefully the rest of the year will be as good.

>20 rabbitprincess: Haha yes I did. I always have just 1 book in that category, but that's usually because the classics are ENORMOUS. The Annals of the Parish was relatively short, so you never know, I might try and squeeze another one in before the end of the year.

>21 DeltaQueen50: Thank you - I always feel such a responsibility when people take BBs from me! I have read some good ones this year though, so am confident that if they've landed then they'll be enjoyed.

Happy new thread, Jackie! May the second half of the year bring you just as many great books.

Happy new thread!

Hi there! Happy New Thread! I am glad to be catching up.

>23 MissWatson: >24 thornton37814: >25 LadyoftheLodge: Thank you all very much!

I've been away for just over a week visiting family in England, for the first time in 2 years. It was so lovely to be able to hug my loved ones again!

I finished 3 books while I was away:

Category: Academic
July Non-Fiction Challenge: Cities



Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers by Stephen Graham is a really interesting look at city/geography/social studies/urban studies from the vertical perspective, rather than the predominant 2D horizontal perspective of most maps and accounts of urban life. He covers everything from satellites and drones, skywalks (such as the one in Minneapolis), skyscrapers, elevator technology, favelas, to sewers, bunkers and mining. Using a lot of different cities to illustrate his points (Dubai, London, Toronto, Sao Paolo, Minneapolis, New York, Johannesburg and many many others) this is a scholarly but extremely accessible account of the issues facing the world as urban growth continues ever upwards and downwards. I found it fascinating, and I'm sure I'll come back to it again. I did though have to dock half a star for the poor proofreading - not so much spelling errors, but missing or additional words were far more frequent than they should have been (and this is not something I usually experience with books published by Verso). 4/5.

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)
July RandomCAT: Summertime



Best known for her creations the Moomins, The Summer Book is one of Tove Jansson's novels for adults, and reportedly her favourite. The author owned and lived for many years on a small island in the Gulf of Finland, and this book is the story of a family (primarily grandmother and granddaughter, Sophia - reportedly based on the author's mother and niece) who live on such an island. It is absolutely delightful - there is no plot as such, and really very little happens. Each chapter is a vignette of a conversation or observation or event in the family's life on the island. It was perfect holiday reading. I was a bit worried that it might be a bit twee, but as it features meditations on ageing, bereavement, environmental damage etc (while never bashing the reader over the head with these things), it never descended into the saccharine. Fabulous. 4.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction: general



This month's library book was Joan Didion's Let Me Tell You What I Mean, a collection of 12 essays, mostly from the beginning of her career (from the late 60s/early 70s) plus some newer ones from the 90s/early 2000s. She covers subjects such as a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, meeting Nancy Reagan, Ernest Hemingway's posthumous publications, writing, and more. I think the piece on Nancy Reagan and the first one on writing were my favourites - I have found, from the few essays of Didion's that I have read, that I feel a step removed from her, but in these pieces I did feel she offered a bit of herself, and was more relatable. 3.5/5.

Hurrah for visiting! Hope you had a lovely time.

I enjoyed The Summer Book, glad to see that you did too. I read it in an unseasonable November!

Welcome back!

I loved The Summer Book and totally agree that the author was able to keep it from becoming to saccharine which would have ruined it for me. I have only read one book by Joan Didion but also found her rather inaccessible.

>28 Helenliz: Thank you, I did. Northamptonshire and Herefordshire are still there, it turns out :)
>29 MissWatson: Thank you, Birgit!
>30 DeltaQueen50: I think her more personal essays are more accessible - I have her The Year of Magical Thinking on my kobo and as it is about her, rather than her opinions of things, I am hopeful it will be a more easily accessible read. Having said that, the essay in Let Me Tell You What I Mean about Nancy Reagan really surprised me, I found it a very sympathetic, interesting, and personal portrait.

>31 Jackie_K: Good. >:-) The former I can vouch for; the latter is further than I have been in a very long time!

Category: Biography; autobiography; memoir; true events
GeoKIT South America



Tom Michell's The Penguin Lessons is a charming memoir of the author's time in Argentina in the late 1970s, working in a boarding school for boys near Buenos Aires, and specifically of the penguin he rescues from an oil slick while on holiday in Uruguay, which he ends up taking back to the school where it becomes beloved of staff and students alike. It could have been a bit mawkish, but I think was saved from that by the author's own musings on whether or not he was doing the best thing for the penguin (named Juan Salvado), and also whether or not he was anthropomorphising the interactions with the bird. He attempts to find an appropriate place for Juan Salvado, firstly at Buenos Aires zoo (which he decides against once seeing the lethargic, underfed, and unstimulated penguins there), and then at a penguin colony 1000+km away on the south coast (impractical after the only means of bringing the penguin there, his unreliable motorbike, breaks down in the middle of nowhere), but Juan Salvado seems in no rush to leave and enjoys the company of the boys and staff who treat (and feed) him well. A nice light read. 3.5/5.

As a bit of a fan of penguins, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm also delighted to see that this was published by Penguin.

>34 Helenliz: Haha, yes I spotted that too and was delighted! :D

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



De-Centring Western Sexualities : Central and Eastern European Perspectives, edited by Robert Kulpa & Joanna Mizielinska, is one of several academic books that came out towards the end of my PhD and which I bought with the intention of continuing my scholarship and staying up to date with relevant books and articles in the field. That didn't happen, and I only ever got round to reading and citing the chapter that was particularly relevant to my PhD, by Shannon Woodcock. I'm pleased I finally managed to read the rest of the book, this is still a really interesting look at the state of LGBT/queer lives in CEE from social/cultural/academic perspectives, arguing that Western-focused activism and academic priorities don't capture the nuances of the situation in Central & Eastern Europe, and indeed that studies from the region add to and problematise the academic canon. I still think that Shannon Woodcock's chapter was my favourite (probably because the specific context of Romania was more familiar to me), but the whole book is excellent, and a decade on from publication still important for CEE scholars. 4/5.

Category: Religious



Borders and Belonging: The Book of Ruth: A Story for our Times by Padraig O Tuama and Glenn Jordan is a short but really important book. Both authors worked for the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland, working across the religious and sectarian divide to promote reconciliation and peace. After the Brexit vote of 2016, where once again the issue of borders, and the potential for conflict, became (and still is) a huge issue, they carried out a series of workshops across Ireland and Great Britain, using the Biblical book of Ruth as the foundation to their discussions about borders and belonging, migration and prejudice, and this book is the result. They write alternate chapters, Glenn is the theologian and Padraig the poet, and both bring different aspects of the story to the discussion. Brexit is only mentioned sparingly, but it is easy to see how the lessons of the book of Ruth can be applied and interpreted in the light of Brexit. A very thoughtful, accessible and important book. 4.5/5.

Category: Contemporary fiction: 1969-present



C.K. McDonnell's The Stranger Times is the first book in a trilogy (the next one is out in early 2022, I believe), and I can't wait for the next book having raced through this one. Hannah, down on her luck, accepts a job at The Stranger Times (basically a knock-off of The Fortean Times), despite never having any journalistic experience and having a bunch of oddball colleagues - alcoholic editor Vincent Banecroft, Reggie the ghost hunter, Ox the UFOlogist, Grace the devout Christian office manager, Stella the teenage office assistant, and Manny the permanently stoned printman, plus Simon the nerdy teenager who's desperate for a job at the paper and spends his life at the door trying to get in. Strange and dark goings-on soon show Hannah that there is more reality to the world the paper reveals than you might think, and the intrepid newspaper employees investigate the murder of one of their own, coming face to face with darker forces than any of them thought possible. This review really doesn't do justice to how funny this book is, I loved it, and sniggered my way throughout it - think the film Men in Black meeting Terry Pratchett, and set in the grimier bit of Manchester. As the first in a trilogy it probably does spend a bit longer than some books establishing the characters and the world, but it is worth persevering, the reward is well worth it. 5/5.

>37 Jackie_K: Oh, I like the sound of that. AND the library has a copy. Bullet duly taken!

>38 Helenliz: I hope you enjoy it! It's different from my usual reading fare, but I did enjoy it a lot.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
August GenreCAT: poetry/drama/graphic novels



One of my rare forays into poetry, thanks to the library! Helen Mort's second collection, No Map Could Show Them, celebrates women who dared break new ground, particularly around mountain climbing, from a young Yorkshire woman who climbed the Swiss Alps in crinoline, to Alison Hargreaves, a mountaineer just a few years older than me who died in her early 30s while descending from the summit of K2 in the 1990s.

As is often the case with poetry, I could tell that the language was clever and beautiful, but couldn't entirely always grasp what was going on. The set of poems about Alison Hargreaves was lovely though, I wonder if I related more to them because I knew what had happened to her. 3/5.

>37 Jackie_K: I've seen this at my usual bookstore and felt immediately tempted. Glad to see it's worth reading.

>40 MissWatson: I hope you enjoy it if you get to it, Birgit!

Category: Travel
GeoKIT Africa



The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa is an anthology of short stories and non-fiction essays from 2001 which I think has been on my shelves from the early 2000s (it had probably been out a year or two when I got it, but definitely pre-2005). British Newspaper the Daily Telegraph took 7 authors and journalists to southern Sudan and then collected the works the trip inspired into this book, the proceeds of which went towards aid projects in Sudan. Several of the authors are very well-known names - Alex Garland, Tony Hawks, Irvine Welsh, Andrew O'Hagan, Victoria Glendinning, Giles Foden - plus veteran Telegraph journalist WF Deedes - so the quality of writing was very high throughout, there wasn't a single dud chapter (not something you can say very often about anthologies). I must admit I'd bought it thinking that it was a straight-up travel book (and I'd already read the Tony Hawks chapter which is reproduced in his book One Hit Wonderland), so I was surprised to find that most of the pieces were actually short stories, including the chapter by Deedes. It was only Tony Hawks' chapter (about trying to find a musician to record a song with) and the final one by Victoria Glendinning (about the pros and cons of aid and development efforts) which were non-fiction, most of the others were short stories, and then about half the book was taken up with a novella by Irvine Welsh, which was as brutal and challenging (and sometimes darkly funny) as you'd expect from him.

To be honest, most of the short stories were good but not especially memorable, but the Irvine Welsh story will stay with me a long time. I enjoyed the two non-fiction pieces, and actually reading Glendinning's overview of the history and politics of the Sudan conflicts, as well as issues regarding aid and development, it was easy to see where elements of the fictional accounts had got their inspiration, so that was a really good way to round off the book.

I did feel a bit uncomfortable reading stories by white Westerners about black and brown Africans and their conflicts, but the honest wondering about what good is being achieved and what problems are being created by Western aid and development efforts in Glendinning's piece did redeem it. I don't think what was being discussed is anything new in aid and development circles, even 20 years ago, but I appreciated that they did at least air the debate. 3/5.

Category: Biography; autobiography; memoir; true events
August GenreCAT: Poetry/Drama/Graphic Novels



Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half is part cartoon, part memoir about depression, dogs, weird situations and self-awareness, based on the viral blog from 2013 or so. I absolutely loved it - there was a lot to recognise, and particularly her chapter called 'Motivation' which absolutely nailed the anxiety/depression-based paralysis when faced with a completely ordinary and easy task. I remember a friend saying that the cartoon about depression where she suddenly notices an old bit of corn under the fridge and finding it hilarious was the one where she felt like somebody got how she felt, that it wasn't just her.

I laughed a lot at the dog chapters - her two dogs (simple dog and helper dog) really are great material for her quirky humour. But I think it's the chapters about mental health that are really outstanding - her humour isn't everybody's cup of tea, at times it can be almost disturbing, but if you're on her wavelength then she absolutely nails it. 4.5/5.

>42 Jackie_K: I loooooove this cartoon.
I laughed so hard at her birthday cake series that I honestly thought I had cracked a rib.

>43 VictoriaPL: Me too! The one here where she and her sister got a toy parrot that could record and repeat back sounds and speech had me howling with laughter.

Category: Celtic
August GenreCAT: Poetry/Drama/Graphic Novels



English Street is a collection of poetry by Irish poet Damian Smyth. I have a signed copy, courtesy of my brother-in-law who (as an NI-based poet) I'm pretty sure knows him. I'm not a big poetry buff, so there was quite a lot here that went right over my head, but even still, the language was lovely and I knew I was reading something special, I just didn't always understand it! The Northern Ireland Troubles are never far away, and this is very clearly a place-based collection - people with more knowledge and experience of Northern Ireland would most likely get much more out of it than me. That said, one of the poems in particular ("The Windy Gap Miraculous") was gorgeous, and it was worth reading just for that one. 3/5.

Counting this as my July nature book - I started it in July anyway!

Category: Nature



Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by naturalist, TV presenter, activist and all-round national treasure, Chris Packham, is a memoir of his childhood as an autistic boy growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. I found it a thoroughly immersive experience reading this - to start with I struggled with the descriptive writing (every single thing has at least one adjective, so the prose felt a bit purple, especially to begin with), but as I read on it became clear that this is just how he experiences the world around him - noticing everything, missing nothing. It detailed both his loneliness and isolation at school, unable to make friends or relate to the other kids around him, but also his fascination, obsession even, with nature, and the comfort and sense of belonging it gave him. In particular, it details his rearing (in 1975, when he was in his early teens) of a kestrel chick after he stole it from its nest, and how much he truly loved that bird and was crushed when it died. Each chapter is made up of scenes, not chronological, from his life, and each ends with an account of a session, in 2003-4, with his counsellor following a mental breakdown. When it came out this book ended up inspiring his fascinating and moving documentary, Aspergers and Me, which I think has done a huge amount in raising awareness and understanding of autism and the barriers and challenges that autistic people face every day. Highly recommended. 4.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)



Killing it on Kobo by Mark Leslie Lefebvre is a really useful book for anyone thinking about self-publishing a book beyond just amazon. The author set up and managed the kobo self-publishing platform for several years, so really knows his stuff. I'll be going back to this book again and again, I'm sure. I did have to dock half a star though for too many typos. 4/5.

>46 Jackie_K: that seems ironic, a book on publishing having typographic errors. >;-)

>46 Jackie_K: LOL to typos in THAT book!

>47 Helenliz: >48 Tess_W: In all honesty I'm much more forgiving of self-published books having typos, as it's generally the author themselves having to pay for editing, proofing etc, so I can understand if they opt for a service like Grammarly instead (most of the typos in this one were correctly spelled words, so wouldn't have been caught by a spellchecker, but (say) an 'ing' form of a word when it should have ended in 'ed' or that sort of thing). It's when typos appear in books from big publishing houses that can afford fancy city centre offices and tons of advertising that I get really cross - they can definitely afford to pay a freelancer to check for typos! But either way, I notice and it jars, and yes, it's a bit unfortunate in this one. The information though is so handy that I'd still give it a good rating overall.

Category: Nature



Charlotte Mendelson's Rhapsody in Green is subtitled "A writer, an obsession, a laughably small excuse for a vegetable garden", and is a charming set of short essays, organised seasonally for a year, about her slightly mad-sounding tiny London back garden which is crammed full of things she's growing (with varying levels of success) to eat. I found it quirky and funny - I was trying to think of a phrase to describe it, but then in one of her final essays she's talking about old gardening journals describing the plant pioneers of yesteryear and she refers to them as 'hilariously posh', and I guiltily thought that that's exactly what I'd been thinking about her throughout the book. Despite all the inevitable failures - seeds bought in exuberant enthusiasm with no thought to where they might fit (if at all), and her gardening short cuts that aren't recommended for a reason - what shines through is just how much she adores gardening, and this particular garden. This was my favourite quote:

We live in a world of ceaseless human misery, nude selfies, celebrity dunderheads and online venom. The pain of it is almost too much to bear but you will bear it, you almost certainly will, if you go out into a garden.

I also absolutely loved her essay on composting - I love my compost worms, as benign Quaker factory-owners once cherished their staff.

Fabulous and fun. 4.5/5.

>50 Jackie_K: Sounds lovely! Definitely a BB for me!

>51 Tess_W: Hope you enjoy it!

Category: Vintage fiction (1900-1968)



Through Russia is a set of short stories by Russian author Maxim Gorky, written in the early 20th century. I downloaded it several years ago from a free book site (feedbooks, I think) when I decided that my ignorance of Russian classics and famous writers was a bit embarrassing. I had hoped that this would give me a sense of turn of the century Russian landscape and place, as well as introduce me to a great author, but sadly I found this particular set of stories a real slog, and after valiantly reading through the first half, I extremely half-heartedly flicked through the rest, reading less and less the further I got towards the end. Pretty much every story primarily features circular and pointless conversations with not very pleasant or interesting people, and whilst rich in description, I still found it impossible to picture the place. I'm prepared to concede that I'm a bit of a Philistine, but I really didn't enjoy this. 2/5.

>46 Jackie_K: & >49 Jackie_K: This sums up why I just don't read anything self-published. I'm certain there are talented authors self-publishing, but the rest of the process; copy editing, proofreading, etc, and especially what a serious editor does to make a work ready for readers is vital to the process. The few self-published novels I've read always felt like they were several drafts away from being ready. Of course, what authors and readers want from self-publishing is entirely different from what they want from traditionally published books. As a former proofreader, though, they are not for me.

>53 RidgewayGirl: I get that, and there are plenty of self-published books that I'm not interested in too (and plenty that make me cringe, not just because of the typos!). But I do think that gone are the days that self-published necessarily equals CRAPPY WRITING IN SHOUTY CAPS, and I know there are many authors who are self-publishing with great care (including a number of successful traditionally published authors too, who are self-publishing either instead of or alongside their traditional book deals). Certainly when I self-publish my book (it's still a while away, but I'll get there in the end!) I intend to invest in good editing/proofreading and making it as good as I possibly can. After all, with my name attached to it, I want to be proud of it, and for it to hold its own in terms of quality with traditionally published books.

Like I say though, what really annoys me is when traditionally published books, from big publishing houses that are happy to spend money on swanky offices, are full of typos and errors. If they can afford a fancy city centre location they can pay a freelancer to check for basic errors.

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)



This month's library book was a lot of fun - the huge bestseller that is The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Set in a retirement home complex, four retired amateur sleuths while away the time looking at cold cases and trying to figure out whodunnit, but then a thuggish contractor who co-owns the complex is brutally murdered just after he learns that he is being frozen out of plans to expand the development and losing his existing share, and our heroes have a real-life murder to solve. I found this a great whodunnit in that everyone potentially had motives and opportunities and shady pasts, and whilst you have to suspend disbelief in the Club's dealings with the two investigating police officers, nevertheless that didn't stop me just enjoying the ride. It was also very funny in places. Great literature it isn't, but a fun, entertaining read it definitely is, and I loved all the main characters. I'll definitely look out for the next in the series. 4.5/5.

>55 Jackie_K: Totally agree! I have The Man Who Died Twice on hold at my library already.

>56 christina_reads: Jealous! I check the catalogue every day waiting for it to show up ;)

>56 christina_reads: >57 rabbitprincess: I'm going to wait for things to calm down before trying to get it at the library - just recently was the first time that The Thursday Murder Club was available without having to wait. If I have to read a book that was on hold then I feel an awful lot of pressure knowing there's probably lots of people behind me in the queue, and that pressure usually leads to me bailing on the book and returning it before I've finished it!

Category: Celtic
August RandomCAT: On the Road Again
August Non-Fiction Challenge: Transportation



Several years ago I read Ian Mitchell's Isles of the West, about his voyage sailing around the islands of the Hebrides in the 1990s, and the main things I remember about it was that he's a really good writer, he really really doesn't like the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), and he wasn't mad on the idea of community land buy-outs (he visited Eigg before the buy-out there and was very unsupportive of their efforts to raise funds to buy the island). Now I've read his next sailing book, Isles of the North, where he sails from the Hebrides to Rona, Orkney, Shetland and on to Utsira in Norway, a journey he took a few years later, and in this book he's still a really good writer, he still really really doesn't like the RSPB (or SNH - Scottish Natural Heritage - either), but he does like Ardbeg whisky. He does make really good points about conservation bureaucracy and charity/NGO efforts, but it did feel a bit hectoring at times, which is a shame, because this is a fascinating account which tries hard to foreground the voices of local people who are living with the consequences of the bureaucracy of various environmental designations and political decisions. I think I would have liked a little more about his time in Norway - the comparison looked to be really interesting, but I was just getting into it when he sailed back to Scotland, and those two Norway chapters were shorter than all the others, despite spending comparatively quite a lot of time there. 4/5.

Thanks so much for directing me here - I am slowly trying to get caught up with the threads I had been following before my absence. I love travel writing, and so will add both Isles of the West and Isles of the North to The List. Your comments here are very helpful, and I will keep them in mind.

You also hit me with a few other BBs - The Stranger Times and Rhapsody in Green.

I enjoyed your thoughts on both The Summer Book and Let Me Tell You What I Mean - I also read both of those this year. Loved The Summer Book and enjoyed the essays. I do think you will find Didion more accessible in The Year of Magical Thinking. There is also a great documentary about her called The Center Will Not Hold. I actually love her writing and would recommend The White Album - it's an uneven collection, but the title essay is brilliant.

>60 Crazymamie: Thank you very much for the recommendations! And I'm very glad to hit you with so many BBs, I hope you enjoy them!

You are welcome.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
September Non-fiction challenge: Creativity



Philip Pullman's Daemon Voices is a collection of essays and presentations given over several years, about stories and storytelling. He draws a lot on the His Dark Materials trilogy and other books he's written, as well as stories by other authors, to explain his philosophy and approach to writing and storytelling. This was interesting, but as is the nature of talks and presentations in particular, he does recycle some things more than once so there was a good bit of repetition of some points. This also included his side of debates with faith leaders (eg an event in the early 2000s with the Bishop of Oxford). 3.5/5.

Category: Academic



Morality and Health, a collection of work edited by Allan M Brandt and Paul Rozin, is another of the books that I acquired in the latter part of my PhD which I always meant to go back to when I started my eminent post-PhD academic career. That career went the way of most things, and so did the reading of the book, until recently. It looks at various issues (smoking, teenage pregnancy/birth, vegetarianism, tuberculosis, sugar, drink-driving, etc) from the perspective of a number of different academic disciplines and time periods, in particular considering the issues around how imbuing them with moral overtones affects how they are viewed and treated. As usual with these collections, some chapters were more interesting than others to me, but the volume as a whole was worthwhile, even though it is now quite old (published in 1997). I'd be interested to read more recent scholarship on the subject. 3.5/5.

Category: Nature

(may also be in September's Prizewinners RandomCAT, as it's been shortlisted for this year's Wainwright Prize, and the winner is announced on Tuesday!)



James Rebanks' first book, The Shepherd's Life, is one of my favourite ever books, and his second, English Pastoral: An Inheritance, is right up there with it. It chronicles the changing farming methods over the years on his Lake District fell farm - he is now farming with much more of an eye to promoting nature and biodiversity as well as good farming practices. His love of farming, the land, and nature shines on every page, and his call to move away from monoculture farming and artificial 'solutions' to increasing productivity is clear and urgent. 5/5.

>65 Jackie_K: I have The Shepherd's Life in a TBR pile. Perhaps I should dig it out to fill that "nature" square on the BINGO card.

>65 Jackie_K: I loved The Shepherd's Life as well. I'll have to look for this one.

>66 thornton37814: I hope you like it - it is a bit 'earthy' in places, but I thought it was a really important book.
>67 JayneCM: If you loved The Shepherd's Life I'm sure you'll love this one too!

Category: Non-fiction (general)
September Non-fiction challenge: Creativity



Will Storr's The Science of Storytelling is a fascinating book looking at exactly that - particularly the psychology of why people do what they do in certain situations, and then applying it to character development in creative writing. Even though I don't write fiction I found this really interesting, and I would definitely highly recommend it to anyone I know who is writing any kind of fiction. His argument is that character development, really getting deep into who the characters are, is the best defence against cliche, and he provides loads of examples from literature and film to illustrate his points. Very good read. 4/5.

>64 Jackie_K: Morality and Health sounds really interesting, though I don't know if I'll go after it given you note it's from 1997. It's an interesting connection. How did you come across this one?

>69 pammab: Yes, there will be lots of more up to date material on the subject now, for sure. I got it as my PhD (which looked at sexual and reproductive health in eastern Europe) ended up with a much larger focus than I was expecting on issues of morality, so I was looking for further academic literature to try and make sense of what I was finding. I graduated 10 years ago, so this wasn't so old then! (much like all of us, I guess).

I thought you might be interested in knowing James Rebanks was on CBS Saturday news show here in the U.S. this morning. The interview was done on his farm and his message came through clearly. I read A Farmer's Life several years ago and will get his new one too. When I grew up my family lived in a small town but most of my relatives were still on farms and I really thought I would live on a farm as an adult, I spent most of my summers with farm cousins and loved their life. Instead of me going to the farm, they came to town. Only one farm out of 4 is still in the hands of the family and it isn't really farmed anymore, just a few cattle. I'm glad my dad died before he saw the farm he grew up on, the third generation to live there, become primarily housing developments.

>71 clue: Wow, how interesting! It's sad to see the old family farms either getting swallowed up into huge industrial-size farms, or lost to farming altogether. That must have been a sad time for your family. I think townies (like me) romanticise the farming life, but especially with how the economy of farming is structured these days it must be very hard to make a living if you're working a small family farm.

>71 clue:
>72 Jackie_K:

Same story of my family, both sides, small farmers and sold out to a mega farm that produces genetic seeds.

>71 clue: >72 Jackie_K: >73 Tess_W: We lose so much when our commercial industries and our roots/connections/community operate in independent spheres. I think this might be a controversial sentiment, but it rings increasingly true to me. Very interesting to hear your stories.

>71 clue: >73 Tess_W: >74 pammab: Yes, I agree - it's fascinating to hear where people's roots are, and sad to see where those roots are being disconnected.

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)



Don't Step in the Leadership is one of Scott Adams' early Dilbert collections. More tales of pointless work life in the cubicle, incompetent managers and evil executives. This has been on my shelf for years and years. 3/5.

Category: Celtic



This month's library book is a travel book by TV presenter Paul Murton (who presents the Grand Tour of the Scottish Islands programme). The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland is a lovely book with nice paper and gorgeous photos. He is able to go into a bit more detail than the segments in his TV show, as he travels round most of the inhabited isles that make up the Northern Isles of Scotland. Great for island-philes and travel book-philes. 4/5.

>76 Jackie_K: This might be a book bullet.

>77 thornton37814: I think you'd like it, Lori. It's undemanding but very informative, and the pictures really make me want to visit! The Norse history of the two island groups comes out very strongly here. I'm tempted to buy my own copy.

>78 Jackie_K: I'm fascinated by the Shetlands and Orkneys -- and if the LivingDNA ethnicity estimate has any validity, I may have ancestors from those islands. I haven't uncovered them yet.

>79 thornton37814: They are certainly fascinating places. I've never been to Orkney, but have been to Shetland briefly, and I loved it. I'm definitely overdue a return visit!

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)
September RandomCAT: Prizewinners



Kate Atkinson's Life After Life is a wonderful, wonderful novel, and I absolutely loved it. Ursula is the third child of Sylvie and Hugh, born just before WW1, and this is the story of her many lives. Not reincarnation, not time travel (although the book's structure is time-hopping all over the place), but deja vu taken to the extreme, where she gets the chance to live bits of her life over again with different outcomes. It's very cleverly done - Ursula doesn't necessarily know what awful thing is going to happen, but the deja vu feeling means that she does *something* to change the outcome of what could have happened (and did, in another parallel life). There are a lot of difficult events - war, rape, backstreet abortion, Nazism, teenage pregnancy, murder, suicide, domestic violence, amongst others - and poor Bridget, the family maid, has a particularly hard time as Ursula tries several times to stop her from catching the Spanish flu at the end of WW1 and infecting the household. In some lives Ursula is a mother, in others she is a maiden aunt with a history, in some she lives in Nazi Germany, in others she is in London, but throughout, each timeline is believable even as you know you're suspending disbelief. It's not a short book, and I'll need to decompress with some non-fiction now, but I'll definitely be picking up her related novel, A God in Ruins (primarily about Ursula's brother Teddy - thank goodness it's not about her brother Maurice!), in the next few months before the characters start to fade in my mind. 4.5/5.

As you know, I loved that one, too. Terrific review of a book that is very hard to describe - if you posted that, I will add my thumb. I am wanting to get to A God in Ruins soon - I'll probably read it next month before I forget all the little details of the first book.

>80 Jackie_K: Excellent! The thing that I couldn't decide was what made the last life the last one - what was there about that one that was "right". I felt like she stopped writing rather than she got to the end, if that makes sense.

>80 Jackie_K: I have that on my e-reader TBR. You wrote an excellent review! You're review was so excellent that I may now not want to read this book! I don't like the suspension of belief, other "lives", etc. Plus I did not realize it was so long--512 pages. Yes, this one may languish!

>80 Jackie_K: Great review! Wasn't Life after life a fantastic novel! If anything, I enjoyed A God in Ruins even more. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I love anything Atkinson writes and I'm planning to re-read everything sometime soon.

>81 Crazymamie: Yes, I want to get to A God in Ruins before I forget too much - I'll probably save it for January.
>82 Helenliz: I think I just assumed it wasn't necessarily 'the last life', just the last life that was written about, if that makes sense. I read it more as a tale of what if we get the chance to make different choices at certain points of our lives, how would our lives pan out, and the book showed just some of those possibilities, rather than all of them. Does that make sense?
>83 Tess_W: I'm OK with suspending belief when the writing is as good as it was here. If the writing's no good then I'm with you, but this really was worth a try, I always felt like I was in the hands of a writer who really knew what they were doing.
>84 VivienneR: Yes, it really was - I'm glad to hear that you liked A God in Ruins too. The only other Kate Atkinson book I've read (years ago) was her very first, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, I don't remember much about it (apart from a scene where someone is killed by a crate of Spam, which had me howling with laughter), but I do remember really enjoying it, and I'd be happy to read it again.

>85 Jackie_K: Yes, I think it does.

>85 Jackie_K: That's how I felt about the ending, too. I actually loved that it ended like that. You explained it much better than I did when I tried.

I love Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series, and have reread the books several times. All except for the last one - I am hoarding that for an emergency. They made an excellent tv series of it, too, featuring Jason Isaacs as Jackson.

I have Behind the Scenes at the Museum in the stacks, and you are making me want to get to it right now.

>80 Jackie_K: - I really liked the premise of this book and I liked A God in Ruins too. I never really got into the Jackson Brodie series. I read a couple but I didn't find I liked them.

>86 Helenliz: I'm glad, I wasn't sure if I was rambling!
>87 Crazymamie: >88 dudes22: The Jackson Brodie series have never particularly appealed to me - I'm not a big crime/police/etc reader. But if I was going to read anything in that genre I'd probably put them near the top of the pile!

Category: Autobiography/biography/memoir/true story
October Non-Fiction Challenge: Heroes & Villains



I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb, is Malala's memoir of growing up in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, until she was shot by the Taliban for her campaigning for education for girls, and through her hospital stay in Birmingham (UK) and her ongoing life and campaigning. The bulk of the book, whilst detailing the politics and events in Swat and Pakistan, and the deterioration in civil society, also reads very much as a love letter to the Swat Valley, and to her family. The shooting and its aftermath take up the last quarter of the book; the rest is full of descriptions of her home, her school, her family and friends, and the campaigning that she and her father were involved in as the Taliban gained traction in Swat and beyond. It's impossible not to be full of admiration for this remarkable young woman, still now only in her early 20s, and all she has achieved. 4.5/5.

>89 Jackie_K: I read that a while ago. The thing that struck me was her father's role. He was the spark to her flame.

>90 Helenliz: Oh yes, that's exactly what I thought too. And I think she is very aware of that, and keen that his role and influence is made clear.

>89 Jackie_K: Several years ago I had a student choose Malala for her National Day of History project. She did an excellent job and I learned a lot. It is on my WL.

>92 Tess_W: It's well worth a read when you get to it, Tess.

Category: Autobiography / biography / memoir / true story
October RandomCAT: Gifts



60 Postcards by Rachael Chadwick is the memoir of a project the author undertook in memory of her mum, who died very quickly after a cancer diagnosis a few months short of her 60th birthday. She went to Paris, and left 60 postcards around the city stating that she was visiting in memory of her mum and asking those who found one of the postcards to contact her to tell her what they were doing when they found it. The project quickly grew arms and legs as the replies started coming back, and she clearly gained a great deal of comfort from the contact with people from around the world.

The first part of the book deals with the 16 days between diagnosis and her mum's death, plus the funeral and the first few months, until the idea of the postcard project took shape. Then there's the trip to Paris, the replies, and their aftermath - a second trip to New York to leave more cards, and the contacts and friends and stories from the replies. Overall it was a moving account, although particularly at the beginning I felt quite voyeuristic reading the very personal story of someone with whom I have no connection. It's left me with lots to think about about memoir in writing - I'm not averse to reading memoirs, including of 'normal', non-celebrities, but I think I need to think about why this one made me feel like that. It's had really good reviews so I think mine is a personal thing rather than something abotu this book per se - it's me, not her, definitely! 3/5.

>93 Jackie_K: Sounds interesting--a BB for me!

I am sorry to confess that once again in 2021 I did not do well with my own Jar of Fate challenge. I plan to send it on to try again in 2022!

>94 Tess_W: I'm catching you with a few BBs at the moment, Tess!
>95 LadyoftheLodge: No need to apologise to me, I haven't trademarked the Jar of Fate! If you find it useful then go for it, otherwise do whatever works at the time :)

Category: Non-Fiction (General)



Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May is a lovely book, where she explores the experience of 'wintering' in life through observing places and nature and people who have learnt to anticipate and prepare for the wintering experience rather than trying to power through it. During her own wintering time - illness in both her and her husband's life, stress at work which ultimately required her to resign while she dealt with her health, and troubles with her son at school necessitating a period of home schooling - she acknowledges her need to stop and linger and allow the experiences to take their course, noting that it is really common for plants and animals throughout nature to spend the summer times preparing for the hard winter, ie that it's an inevitable part of life, rather than an unfortunate setback. She also spends time in Norway and Iceland, and closer to home swimming at her local beach. This is a gentle, non-judgmental exploration that I feel has huge resonance in these stressful times. 4.5/5.

>97 Jackie_K: Sounds like a philosophy I can embrace. Mine was always "make hay while the sun shines", because there will be a time with no sun and you need a storehouse. (I'm not really talking about the physical things, either.) I'm sure this author explains it much better than I!

>97 Jackie_K: - I think I'll put this on a list; maybe not a BB but close.

>97 Jackie_K: It has a lovely cover too!

>98 Tess_W: Yes, I'm very on board with her philosophy of slowing down and preparing for the leaner times. In this era of needing constant entertainment and endless stuff, it's a powerful reminder.
>99 dudes22: I have a list like that too! Just in case my BB list ever gets used-up (haha we all know that's going to happen) and I need more!
>100 thornton37814: Yes, doesn't it? This is the UK cover, I think the US cover is different, but that is lovely too.

Category: Biography; autobiography; memoir; true story



Well, I enjoyed this month's library book so much I immediately went and bought my own copy! Stephen McGann is the actor who plays Doctor Turner on Call the Midwife (he's also one of the McGann acting brothers - probably his best-known brother is Paul McGann, who was in Withnail & I, and was briefly Doctor Who in a TV special between the old and nu-Who eras). His book Flesh and Blood: A History of my Family in Seven Sicknesses is a really fascinating mix of family memoir, genealogy, and social history. He traces his family back to its mid-19th century Irish roots, through to their emigration to Liverpool, eventually through to he and his brothers escaping the poverty of their family history to forge their own way. Through this story, he is able to cover a number of historical and more contemporary historical events that have touched his family - the Irish potato famine, the sinking of the Titanic, the D-Day landings, the Hillsborough disaster, the Alder Hey organ harvesting scandal, and others - and the developments in public health, sanitation and medicine which occurred contemporary to his family story throughout the 20th century. It's really well-written, and the fusion of family genealogy and wider social history works so well as a framework for the narrative. Definitely a cut above the usual celeb memoir. 4.5/5.

>101 Jackie_K: Hope the Anglophile collections manager at my local library will order this one!

>102 rabbitprincess: I think you'd like it! I am more likely to try "man off the telly" books from the library first, in case I don't like them, but this one was excellent.

Category: Religious



Margaret Silf's Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey turned out to be a very good religious complement to Katherine May's secular Wintering (thank you, Jar of Fate!). It's kind of an introduction to Ignatian spirituality, without being an in-depth dissection of Ignatius' writing, specifically looking at slowing down to deepen our spiritual life, and looking at starting from where we are and finding those pointers to help us explore and discover more in our faith (I don't think I'm describing it very well!). I'm thinking about returning to this in Lent next year and going through it more thoroughly, it struck me as a really good Lent companion, although it's not written as such. 4/5.

>103 Jackie_K: This sounds like a good selection for Lent for me as well. I hope you will remind me about it then!

>104 LadyoftheLodge: If I manage to remind myself then I'll try and remember to remind you too, but no promises! :)

Category: Nature



The Consolation of Nature: Spring in the Time of Coronavirus by Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott & Peter Marren is a lovely gentle book, chronicling the emergence of spring nature during 2020 when the UK was under its first lockdown. They live, respectively, in suburban SW London, rural Suffolk, and rural Wiltshire, and each day from mid-March to the end of May has an entry from at least one of them about what they're noticing in terms of nature, sound, weather, as well of course as what is going on in the country at the time with rising covid deaths and ongoing lockdown. I will admit to an ulterior motive in buying this book, in that the book that I am currently writing is doing something very similar to this (it's sufficiently different that I think I'm tapping into the zeitgeist rather than rueing the fact they've got there before me!). Certainly discussion of that extraordinary spring, where nature seemed so vibrant even as society shut down, was everywhere, and this is a really nice addition to that discussion. 4/5.

>105 Jackie_K: Sounds like an interesting book.

>106 thornton37814: It is, and very gentle which is sometimes just what I need!

Category: Academic



Although I'm no longer on the academic gravy train, I do still appreciate a well-written and accessible academic book, even more so if it's from my own former research field (broadly, Central & East European Studies) and Jennifer J. Carroll's Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine doesn't disappoint. The result of several years research throughout Ukraine between 2007-2014, this is an ethnography of drug services in Ukraine (specifically opiate replacement therapies such as methadone and buprenorphine and the clinics where they are dispensed) and the people who work in and use these services. Set against the backdrop of separatist unrest and political turmoil in Ukraine, and the competing demands of Western funders and government authorities, this powerful account details how competing discourses of addiction and citizenship play out in the lives of service users and workers. Fizzing with humanity and righteous anger, this is a really important study challenging taken-for-granted discourses and perceptions, and appealing to a recognition of our common humanity. 5/5.

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)



The Swordsman's Intent by G.M. White is a prequel novella to the author's Royal Champion series, book 1 of which I'm about to start now I've finished the novella. If swordfights and swashbuckling is your thing then this is a good series to check out. Belasko, a decorated soldier from a humble farming background, is summoned along with the best swordfighters in the country by Markus, the current Royal Champion (swordsman and companion to the King), to train and duel to become his successor. This novella fills in the backstory of how the position was filled, and where Belasko's enemies came from. I'm looking forward to book 1. 3.5/5.

>101 Jackie_K: That's a BB for me!

>105 Jackie_K: Nature seems to be consoling us here too. After the drought, disastrous wildfires, and unheard-of heat dome that we experienced this year we are now having a spectacularly colourful Fall.

>101 Jackie_K: I hope you enjoy it if you get to it, Vivienne! I thought it was really interesting. And I'm glad nature is putting on a show this year, it's been a rough year for you for sure.

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)



Following on from The Swordsman's Intent, I went straight into G.M. White's The Swordsman's Lament, the first in his Royal Champion series (the first one is a prequel novella, which I'm glad I read first as it helped make sense of some of the relationships in the novel, which takes place many years later). Swordsman Belasko, the Royal Champion, finds that absolute loyalty and integrity count for nothing when the heir to the throne, Prince Kellan, is poisoned and Belasko finds himself accused of the murder. He slips into the nooks and crannies of the kingdom, determined to clear his name and find the true murderer. I much preferred the book at this length rather than novella-length (although the novella was good too), and was pleased that I (as per usual) didn't see the twist at the end coming. The next book is out next year, and I'll definitely read it. 4/5.

Category: Sexual & Reproductive health/rights; parenting; children; gender



Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking with Children About Race by Pragya Agarwal is a short but vital book looking at issues of race and racism, and how to talk about them with children in an age-appropriate way. I particularly thought the section talking through issues with 10-12 year olds was excellent. 4.5/5.

Category: Nature



My other library book this month was Back to Nature: How to love life - and save it, by TV presenters and naturalists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin. Ultimately this book is about the biodiversity crisis that the world currently faces, and forms of activism and practical action to try and address it. It was born out of their lockdown experience last year of doing the daily Self Isolating Bird Club on social media, as well as the lockdown Springwatch (which I still think was the best yet), both experiences showing them how much people were reconnecting with nature. Mostly it is Chris discussing (and ranting) in detail about the issues, and then Megan occasionally comes in with factoids about recent scientific discoveries about various species, and she also writes the bits at the end of the chapters about the specific projects they're focusing on. I found it both fascinating and a bit frustrating - they are definitely preaching to the converted in this particular reader, but I found the structure a bit annoying, and wondered if it wouldn't have been better with the species factoids more fully integrated into the overall narrative. That did knock off half a star for me, but there's no doubting the importance of the message, and the need for action. 3.5/5.

Category: Travel



David Greene's Midnight in Siberia is a travelogue of a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The author was the Bureau Chief of NPR's Moscow office for 3 years and he had done the trip once, in 2011, but after he returned to the US he got the opportunity to do the trip again, which he did with his Russian NPR colleague Sergei. They stop at various places (some more obscure than others) meeting interesting and ordinary people, as well as chatting with the people they were sharing their carriage with en route. I think if this had been his first and only experience of either Russia or the Trans-Siberian then this would have been a bit sparse, but as well as the travelogue he draws on anecdotes from his time in Russia, as well as his previous journey on the Trans-Siberian, and so there is a depth here which I really appreciated. This book is an excellent way of armchair travelling (that's a compliment! I love armchair travelling when I can't do the real thing), and a really good insight into a (huge) part of Russia that's less well-known than Moscow and St Petersburg. 4.5/5.

>112 Jackie_K: Definitely a BB for me!

>113 Tess_W: I hope you enjoy it!

Category: Nature Writing



Martin Summer's book Connecting with Life: Finding Nature in an Urban World looks at how humans have become increasingly disconnected from nature over the millennia, and what we can do - particularly if we live in an urban environment - to reconnect with the natural world, as well as get more of a balance between nature and technology. It's well-written, although I personally felt that other authors have covered this subject in more depth (I'd recommend Florence Williams' The Nature Fix as a good example). However, as an introduction to the subject it was very good. 3.5/5.

Category: Contemporary fiction (1969-present)
November GenreCAT: SFF



Anyone even vaguely familiar with my taste in books will know that military sci-fi is not my most read genre. In fact, I think Jan Kotouc's Frontiers of the Imperium, translated from the Czech by Isabel Stainsby (who is my very good friend, and who gave me the book) is the first military sci-fi book I've ever read. So I feel a bit of a fraud reviewing it, as I don't really have anything else to compare it to. That said, as something completely different it did hold my interest, and if the next books in the series find their way to my bookshelves I will be interested to see where the story goes from here.

This is the book's blurb:

Daniel Hankerson was perfectly happy being just a midlevel spy, genetically enhanced low-ranking member of the royal family and an avid poker player.

Then the war started, someone tried to murder him, he met a strange war correspondent with an even stranger secret, and he found himself aboard a prototype warship going to the fringes of the Central Imperium.

Then things got worse.

An ancient enemy is approaching with a large fleet aided by people Daniel thought he could trust. Now Daniel must use his analytical skills to figure out a way to stop them before millions die.

As the first book in the series there was quite a lot of world-building going on, and a huge number of characters (although I found once I stopped trying to remember who was who and just read further on that it was clear enough for me). There were a lot of weapons and science and explosions, and thankfully just the one (short) sex scene that wasn't cringey. I liked that there were a lot of powerful women who were equals as leaders and commanders. The book ends with the Central Imperium in disarray and their enemies in the ascendency, and the 1 page Epilogue drops a clanger which sets up the next books in the series.

So, not my usual cup of tea at all, and I don't know that I'll be rushing to read more military sci-fi but I'd read the next books in this series. 3.5/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)
November Non-Fiction Challenge: Business, the Economy and Politics



Economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis' book Talking to my Daughter About the Economy: A Brief History of Capitalism is an introduction to the principles underpinning economics, written as though he is answering the questions of his then-15 year old daughter. It's therefore accessible and very readable, drawing a lot on cultural references such as the Greek myths and the film The Matrix. Personally I think I would have liked something a little bit more academic (with references), and I might try some of his other books which are more academic in scope. Though as a beginner's guide I mostly thought this was good, and his chapter on the market as expounded by a British POW who used his training as an economist to interpret his experiences in a German POW camp was fascinating. 3.5/5.

>116 Jackie_K: sound good....going to search for it!

>117 Tess_W: I hope you like it - I can imagine it (much like the author himself) would be a bit of a Marmite read (you either love it or hate it!).

>112 Jackie_K: And also one I'd love to read. This journey is on my travel wishlist (for when I win the lottery!)

>119 charl08: I love the *idea* of the Trans-Siberian, I'm just not sure how I'd cope with the reality of the 6000+miles! Having said that, I have a couple of friends who did it a few years ago and they said that it was amazing.

Category: Biography; autobiography; memoir; true events



My latest library book is the delightful biography Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. After being unable to get far in his Little Dribbling book (too grumpy old man even for me) I was hopeful that this book would be less grumpy and more playful, like his best books, and I wasn't disappointed. This is a biography of what we know for sure about Shakespeare, which, it turns out, is remarkably little, but even so Bryson is able to paint a colourful picture of late 17th/early 18th century life and fill out the picture very entertainingly. He devotes his final chapter to the conspiracy theories about Shakespeare's works being written by people who weren't actually Shakespeare, making the useful point that there is even less evidence for any of them than there is about Shakespeare himself. That chapter was particularly entertaining, in this thoroughly entertaining book. 4/5.

>121 Jackie_K: put that on my list for the Shakespeare CAT next year!

>122 Tess_W: I hope you like it! I'm sure it won't find its way onto any university syllabus, but I did find it both interesting and entertaining, which is always a good combination!

>121 Jackie_K: I agree with you about The Road to Little Dribbling. What a misery! I was going to put Shakespeare on the wish list but found I'd already read it, and apparently liked it.

>121 Jackie_K: That's good to know, I've got this on the TBR.

>121 Jackie_K: Looks interesting!

>124 pamelad: I was so disappointed, I normally find his books such a joy to read!
>125 MissWatson: Hope you enjoy it!
>126 thornton37814: It was! The discussions about the (lack of) historical evidence especially were really interesting!

Category: Non-fiction (general)
December Non-Fiction Challenge: Go Anywhere!



Reece Jones' Violent Borders is a very interesting discussion of the role of state borders in the violence experienced by refugees and migrants around the world. His main thesis is that the violence and death experienced by migrants is largely caused by strengthening borders, rather than that strengthening borders is an effective response to a growing problem of migration. It's not a take I've heard, but his argument was pretty convincing. He doesn't just consider the usual suspects (EU borders, and the border between Mexico and the US), but others around the world too to illustrate his point, as well as a fascinating discussion of the impact of the so-called Law of the Sea (LoS). I'd recommend this, and I'm sure I'll read it again. 4/5.

Category: Non-fiction (general)



Hinterland is a literary magazine which showcases creative non-fiction writing. Issue 8 is the first one I've read, and I've subscribed to it as I enjoyed these various pieces very much. Although they don't issue themed calls for submissions, they do group pieces on similar themes together, and so several of the essays in this collection, plus the author interview with Anna Jones, were on the subject of food. I particularly enjoyed Pragya Agarwal's essay The Slow Dance, but there were several that I'd definitely read again. 4/5.

Category: Central & Eastern Europe; former Soviet Union



Every so often I read a book in Romanian to try and keep up my increasingly rusty language skills. So for the past month+ I've been reading Comunism Si Represiune in Romania: Istoria Tematica a Unui Fratricid National, edited and compiled by Ruxandra Cesereanu. This is an account, by (as far as I can tell) primarily academic historians in Romania, about the repressive legacies of Communism in Romania. It covered all sorts of issues - dissidents, armed resistance, penitenciaries, the Securitate, collectivisation, torture, deportations, the Church, as well as a couple of the more well-known protests prior to 1989 (the Jiu Valley miners' strike in 1977, and the Brasov factory workers protests in 1987). I'll admit that some chapters were less easy to understand than others, but overall I was pretty pleased with how much of the gist of it I did get. The final 3 chapters (about the two aforementioned strikes, and about the case of the dissident Doina Cornea) I found particularly moving. My one criticism is that there was no mention at all of the repression of women through the extreme policing of reproduction - I know there have been lots of books written about this, but I think a book about Communist repression in Romania really has to include a chapter about reproductive repression. 4/5.

>127 Jackie_K: I'll look for this one. Sounds like useful reading.

>130 RidgewayGirl: It really was, I'll definitely go back to it.

Category: Religious
December RandomCAT: Seasonal Reading: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa



I always do a study at Lent, and have thought for a few years I'd like to do an Advent study too, so this year I started with Walter Brueggemann's Names for the Messiah, as recommended by a friend. This small book looks at the four names in Isaiah 9:6, probably best known from the chorus from Handel's Messiah (certainly every time I read them I've got Handel's wonderful tune in my head): Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Each chapter takes one of these names in turn, and looks at how Jesus may (or may not) be their fulfilment. Each one ends with a prayer and a few questions to ponder.

I was a little disappointed with this book - it didn't feel like there was very much 'meat' here (although the final chapter did make me think a bit more). I'm reading another book too, covering Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, and I think if I wasn't reading that as well and had only read this one then I'd have felt a bit short-changed. I suspect this book would be better as a small group study guide, rather than for individual study. 3/5.

>131 Jackie_K: - I was so excited by your first paragraph and then let down by the second. I'll have to ponder a bit more. I could see though that this idea would make for a group of wonderfully connected sermons for church during December.

>132 dudes22: Yes, absolutely. I think the idea is great, but it was just too short.

You have read so many interesting books, Jackie! I haven't read much non-fiction this year, but I can see that there are so many great topics to read about. I'll try to do better next year.

>134 Chrischi_HH: I know I'm never going to run out of fascinating and well-written books about all sorts of topics I'd otherwise know nothing about!

----------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry I've not had the chance to visit everyone's threads, but wanted to pop in here to wish all my Category Challenge friends here the happiest Christmas, full of peace, love, and health (and books, obvs). I'm probably going to finish one of my current books tomorrow, but we'll see if I manage to make it online then :)

>135 Jackie_K: I've not had the chance to visit everyone's threads either with my Christmas wishes. Your message is lovely. And I wish you all the best for a happy Christmas and good health in the coming year.

>136 VivienneR: Thank you Vivienne! Hope you're having a good day! :)

Category: Nature Writing
December Non-Fiction Challenge: Go Anywhere!



During the first long lockdown in 2020, one of the things that helped keep me sane was a wonderful podcast called "The Stubborn Light of Things" by nature writer Melissa Harrison. Once a week she'd take her listeners round her local Suffolk countryside, listening to birds and streams and church bells, laughing with her at the sudden unexpected sight of an owl, and enjoying with her the diaries of the 18th century parson-naturalist Gilbert White. Each week she also read out an excerpt from her past columns for the Times nature notebook, which she'd been writing for the last few years. This book, also called The Stubborn Light of Things, is a collection of those nature columns, and is a delightful glimpse of the nature that can be found, when we properly look, both in urban and countryside environments (when she started the columns she was living in south London, so the first half of the book mainly consists of London nature observations, and then the latter half are after she moves to rural Suffolk. Like the podcast, these columns were gentle, tantalising but still satisfying glimpses into the nature that we need to treasure before we lose it. 4.5/5.

Category: Celtic



Scottish by Inclination is the first foray into non-fiction of children's fiction writer Barbara Henderson. She is German, but has lived in Scotland for over 30 years since coming to Edinburgh University, is married to a Scot and has 3 Scottish children, and her fiction is all based on Scottish history and legend. This book explores her story of living in Scotland and feeling 'Scottish by Inclination' (an expression that we heard quite a lot of during the 2014 independence referendum), particularly in the light of the Brexit referendum where the UK as a whole voted to leave the EU which had enabled her, and so many like her, to move and put down roots here and give so much to our society. At the end of each chapter she includes a short interview with someone else from the EU who has made their home in Scotland - entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, business people, all sorts - exploring briefly their own journeys to Scotland, and what Brexit has meant to them. Although I'm a Brit, I'm English, but have settled in Scotland and have no desire to move away, this is definitely home now, so plenty here resonated with me. We are so lucky to have Barbara, and so many others, as part of Scotland's rich tapestry. 3.5/5.

Happy new year to all my category challenge chums!

I have two more books to round off the year:

Category: Nature Writing



Every Day Nature by Andy Beer is a book I've been reading since January 1st - it has a short entry for every day of the year of British nature and wild life. Some of the entries are accompanied by beautiful watercolour sketches. It has been a really lovely accompaniment to the year. 4/5.

Category: Contemporary Fiction (1969-present)



Babes in the Wood is the second of Mark Stay's Witches of Woodville trilogy (the third is out next year), the first being The Crow Folk which was a 5* read for me earlier this year. The action in this book takes place a month after the events of The Crow Folk, so around the time of the Battle of Britain in 1940. The village of Woodville is thrown into chaos when a plane explodes and lands on the village garage, where novice witch Faye Bright notices a car with children trapped by the flames. She rescues the children and the young man with them, and discovers that they are kindertransport children with their cousin. Every time she touches them she gets a vision of their death. The children and their cousin are billetted in the posh home at the edge of the village, home of Lord and Lady Aston, but things are not as they seem. When the children's cousin is found dead in the house's orchard, Faye realises they are all in danger. Featuring an evil Nazi occultist, a posh twerp, anti-Semitism, a mysterious glowing artwork, and the Ur-tree (tree of eternal youth), can Faye and the other witches of Woodville save the kindertransport children and stop the Ur-tree from getting into the hands of the Third Reich? This book felt darker than the previous one, but there were still plenty of laughs and quirkiness as well. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series. 5/5.