The New Year is now underway and, in February, I have the feeling the world is waking up. The snowdrops, hellebores and the aconites are all braving the damp and chill as the wonders of a new spring emerge. I for one definitely have the urge to hibernate, like a local hedgehog who has appeared, eaten and then gone back, we presume, to sleep – how very wise!
This month I am listing some books just read together with some that have caught my eye or I have been told about by others who keep distracting me by saying “you must read this” as I am led down another rabbit hole. Just like Alice, you never know where you may find yourself. Such fun! I feel you may be in the same situation.
Wintering by Katherine May. I find myself each year drawn back to her beautiful writing. A perfect reassurance that it’s fine, and important, to go slowly and embrace the winter period as a time of retreat, recovery and thoughtfulness, till spring warms our backs.
Propagating Plants, How to Create New Plants for Free by Alan Toogood. Too often one can be overwhelmed by facts and still be none the wiser. Some books end up being rather dry and technical and leaving the reader daunted. This well laid out book is clear, leaving you no excuses. What fun you will have, trust me!
We Made a Garden by Margery Fish. Here is a perfect book that has withstood the test of time and rarely, if ever, has been out of print since 1956. Many may remember past editions on bookcases of old. Margery and her husband Walter created a cottage garden at East Lambrook Manor in Somerset (you can visit it still). She was one of the twentieth century’s greatest plantswomen, well respected by gardeners. She died in 1969. The book recounts the trials and tribulations along with success and failures in creating an acre of heaven, not forgetting her battles with Walter who had rather different views!
The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. The fall of Nicholas II and the autocratic Romanov dynasty and the execution of him and his family led to a period of unrest in Russia. Civil war and the eventual rise of what was to be called the Soviet Union followed. Much has been written and Nicholas and his family are looked on as tragic puppets of the time. New information questions how much of this was due to him and those around him. He was unable to understand the situation and the need for change, rejecting comprise. He showed poor leadership along with a disregard of the struggles of his country and people. If he and his close advisers had listened, what would Russia have become? And how might it have looked today? For those interested, a must read.
This is Happiness by Niall Williams. Till recently I had never read any of the works of this writer, the most brilliant and beautiful writer that I have come across for a while. You know when you find a line is so perfect you want to underline it, well in this book you would end up underlining most lines. It tells the story of seventeen-year-old Noel who, having dropped out of the seminary, returns to his grandparents in Faha a small parish in rural southern Ireland in the 1950’s. There nothing changes including the rain, till it does stop! Electricity is coming and this brings Christy, a cable layer, who has things from his past that will come to light as well. Things are changing, I won’t say too much but to read it is to be transported to a time long gone. There will be more next month but this book has just bowled me over, I felt I should leave it there, His recent book, Time of Child, is on the list to read now.