Book Club

Books for Wanderers

This has to be one of the most haphazard book clubs I’ve written! But I’m starting with my favourite of the collection – one’s that anyone will be happy to receive as gifts this time of year.

Wanderers: A history of women walking – Kerri Andrews

Loved, loved, loved this! It was full of facts about authors I’ve read and admired that I didn’t know and yet all to do with how nature and the act / art of walking inspired their works. Beautiful research and writing, as well as a list for further reading for anyone interested. I have to say my favourite chapters were ‘Elizabeth Carter’, ‘Dorothy Wordsworth’, ‘Virginia Woolf’!!!, and ‘Nan Shepherd’.

During the time I read this book and for many months later (even now) I’m reminded about the beauty and mystery of paths walked – who walked them before us, how they thread of the same ground, what their lives where and what they became – the rhythm and silences of our walking. . .Did I say I loved it?!

(For more On Walking check out my reflections @commonrouts – in the CommonRouts highlight)

The Overstory: A novel – Richard Powers

This gigantic fable is quite a handful but it is beautiful, I feel that you can’t let it go for too long as you might get lost in the stories and find yourself returning to previous pages to remind yourself were you left off, but in truth perhaps getting lost in the piece is part of the wonder. It does allow you to enter and see the world from a different perspective, from the point of view of the trees. . .

‘The pine she leans against says: Listen. There’s something you need to hear.’

The Gifts of Reading – Robert Macfarlane

Granted this is just an essay (not a book) but it’s gorgeous. It’s an insight into Macfarlane’s life, the affect of books given and received. . .revealing how books can shape the course of our lives!

Around the World in 80 Books – David Damrosch

A lovely play on the novel ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ this one was written during a time when travel was limited and so I feel it’s quite an interesting play on what books do anyways – they take us to a different place, a different world. Here Damrosch gives us the taste of cities through different authors and their books. From London to Paris, Cairo to the Congo, and Bar Harbor to New York, it’s a true adventure!

Beloved – Toni Morrison

Quite a haunted and haunting read but so beautifully put together. I really enjoy reading Morrison and I have another one of her books to read next – they’re ones I keep coming back to really.

If Women Rose Rooted – Sharon Blackie

I’m not sure where to start with this one really. I was really hoping and thinking I would enjoy it but in truth I didn’t actually finish it. . .I’m hoping to return to it, sometime soon. It turned out to be a little too feminist for my liking, changing the way we view and interpret certain myths and fairytales for what seems to me a feminist agenda. Having said this I kept on reading as far as I could because there definitely are some golden nuggets that I highlighted. I guess it’s all about taste, but one to have on your bookshelf – after all if we cannot appreciate different perspectives (whether we agree or disagree) then how can we carry on with an open mind and heart?!

Enjoy your reading!