A collection of writings about spring – what could be nicer? This book is one of four on the seasons. Are there really four seasons, I wonder? I’m not totally sure that summer exists – doesn’t spring (March-June) just fade into autumn (July- December) and then there is a bit of winter (January and February),…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – Rivers Run by Kevin Parr
Kevin Parr wrote the book that I selected as my favourite of 2014, The Twitch – that one was a black comedy, though very funny, I thought, about a murderous twitcher. This book is very different, and is about Parr’s greater love – fishing. And it’s not a laddish tale of bonking, drinking and murder…
Bank Holiday Monday book review – Summer’s Guests by Theunis Piersma
I’ve lived with House Martins in the streets where I live, and sometimes next door, but never on my home, for more than half my life. Their return, ahead of the screaming Swifts, is looked for and appreciated when it happens. And they are there, chirrupping in flight, all summer long and sometimes daring to…
Sunday book review – How did we get into this mess by George Monbiot
George Monbiot writes so well – I envy him. And he knows so much – I envy him! The subtitle to this book is ‘Politics, Equality and Nature’ and it really is that wide-ranging. If you are familiar with George’s Guardian column you will currently be missing it as he is having a break and…
Books that I am reading
I hope to review George Monbiot’s new book ‘How did we get into this mess‘ on Sunday. I’m still reading it. But then I am also reading Mike Dilger’s book ‘Nightingales in November‘, Theunis Piersma’s Guests of Summer, and Kevin Parr’s Rivers Run too. Since Monday is a Bank Holiday, and therefore like a Sunday,…
Sunday book review – Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by Chris Packham
If you are expecting a book of rather sweet wildlife tales from your favourite TV personality then this book may not be for you. This is a brave and powerful book. It’s brave because it is a self-portrait of a rather weird kid – not good with people and not a bundle of laughs, it…
I’m reading…
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I’m reading Chris Packham’s book – out in May – Fingers in the Sparkle Jar. I hope to review it next week. But, wow!
Sunday book review – Wild Kingdom by Stephen Moss
Britain’s wildlife is going down the pan, isn’t it? Yes, it is! But it isn’t all bad. In this personal account of the fate of our wildlife Stephen Moss visits a wide variety of places and habitats – and sees species on the up as well as on the down track. It’s an entertaining journey…
Sunday book review – Devon Bird Atlas by Stella Beavan and Mike Lock
I was talking in Devon on Wednesday evening – and very nice it was too! Devon is big – big and grassy. Seen by some as a place to get through in order to cross the Tamar into Cornwall, there are reasons to stay and explore. Devon has two coasts and more coastline than most…
Sunday book review – The Most Perfect Thing by Tim Birkhead
In this book Tim Birkhead has unscrambled the complexities of the biology of eggs with writing as smooth and rounded as an eggshell. As I sit writing this review I am listening to a dawn chorus dominated by Blackbird song, and I am thinking of the female Blackbird who is sitting on a nest containing…