Staff Picks December 2024

Non-Fiction

Morecambe Bay, Orford Ness, the Fens, Orkney Islands… all of these written about in A Flat Place. I picked it up like an idiot shopper in hurry, checking those names and its “nature-writing” looking cover. And on page nine there’s “The first time the therapist had mentioned complex trauma…” What? So, add Lahore to the list of places, add dealing with Complex PTSD and you get a very different book than the one I’d hurriedly grabbed for a Friday night read. There is nature too in this complex memoir.

-Ross

A beautiful book on the art of the (until now) unjustly overlooked artist Jamie Reid. Best known for his work with the Sex Pistols -particularly that iconic image of her late majesty- Reid continued producing political art throughout his life, including for XR and Pussy Riot. Reid was also a lifelong Druid, and many of his works were based on the eight druid seasonal festivals. In a delightfully idiosyncratic format, each chapter starts with an article by Philip Carr Gomm, former Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, explaining the symbolism of each festival. Despite giving Reid the authorship it was published posthumously and begins with biography of the artist and includes stories of from his life woven throughout.

–Kate

This is a book I passionately advocate to everyone I know. It deserves all of its fawning and seemingly endless cover quotes. Yes, it will turn everything you thought you knew about the so-called trajectory of history on its head. Yes, it will suggest astounding possibilities you probably haven’t considered. Revolutionary, fascinating, challenging, and entertaining, a book to return to.

-Giselle

This book is primarily about male friendship and friendship with poets at that. Those who’ve been around the literary scene a while will be most interested, but there is also a chapter on Brian Clough who Lucas did not meet but admired, Ted, who the author worked with on a building site almost seventy years ago, and several trad jazz colleagues, who were most definitely not on the literary scene.

-Ross

Fiction, Poetry, etc

A nice short read for a stocking filler or Jolabokaflod gift. This is a weird little book! At under 150 pages, I read this slim Fitzcarraldo novel in an afternoon. It is set in a post-apocalyptic world and our narrator is a zombie who loses her arm in the first paragraph. For what sounds like a potentially whacky premise, this is one of the quietest books I’ve read in a while. Our protagonist haunts the landscape, hungering and observing; all the while remembering the ways in which they were loved, but not the people who loved them. It is a rumination on loss and personhood. Who we are and what we become without memories and names.

-Sarah

I’m a big fan of Kathleen Jamie’s landscape writing, more so than her poetry, which is to say I do like her poetry and really like her landscape writing. But this year we have The Keelie Hawk, a collection of her poems in Scots. The book had me reaching into my childhood to recall the Scots words I used, or heard, back then and wishing I’d paid more attention to what I was losing as Standard English took hold. Thankfully, each poem is accompanied by a prose translation into English, which makes it accessible to all of us.

–Ross

In the day it took to read this book, off and on, the six astronauts in the novel will have circled the earth sixteen times, perhaps zipping across Argentina in the time it has taken to write these few words. They float in their characterless temporary home, they exercise, they tend some plants, they sleep – badly – and look at sights we will never see, thinking of those below. And they think about the Arctic terns that will migrate from one end of the earth to another. Samantha Harvey’s book can be read quickly but best read as a tern would rather than an astronaut. What’s the hurry? Dawn will take a while and this book is dreamlike.

-Ross

ps it’s also our book club book this month 

This is a classic haunted house style narrative, with a Rebecca-esque set up: new wife arrives at the imposing manor house (or, indeed, hacienda) of her new husband, which he shared with his first wife. Spooks ensue! Far less subtle than Du Maurier, this is a book of horrible sights, suspicious deaths and ghostly voices, sure to keep you up at night. Set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, Cañas blends the horror of the personal with the violence the land and its people have witnessed.

-Sarah

Having bought Housmans Peace Diary every year since dinosaurs roamed the earth, I’d be buying The London Review of Books’ London A-Z, because it looks so smart and because it has mini-essays by everyone from Hilary Mantel to Iain Sinclair covering everything from Notting Hill to the Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath. Unless I can find a reason to have two diaries… working on that.

-Ross

A beautiful little book and wonderfully gift-able for the nature and folk music lovers in your life. Written by the author of the annual Almanac, this is a collection of folk customs, songs (including music) and stories, organised by month, with illustrations throughout. I love that it includes the Romani names for the months along side all of the other native languages of Britain, and the stories are drawn both from both British folklore and from the cultures of its many immigrants. It’s small-ish format hardcover in green with gold foil embossed front and back covers and matching gold head and tail bands.

-Kate

Children’s Books

I was thrilled this year to see a new children’s book by Lost Words author Robert Macfarlane. If the intention of Lost Words was to revive the language of nature, this book uses and normalized the names of animals, birds, trees and landscape through a father and son’s walk through a shifting woodland. It’s based on Macfarlane and Flynn’s songwriting so it has a flowing, lyrical feel and gorgeous illustrations I could get lost wandering in.

-Kate

When this arrived in the shop, I set it to one side to read immediately. The cover was so charming, I couldn’t resist. This book tells the Persian folk story of Amu Nowruz (Uncle New Year) and his ill-fated attempts to see Naneh Sarma (Mother Frost) as winter turns to spring. Naneh Sarma’s love of the snow is only matched by her longing for company, but Amu Nowruz finds her sleeping, so doesn’t wake her and instead plants violets in her hand. Khalili has translated Mohammadi’s words so they dance on the page with a joyful whimsy. Safakhoo’s illustrations are a delight! A truly beautiful book for all ages.

–Sarah

A beautiful, poetic love letter to the owl and the world it inhabits. This delightful book would suit adults and children alike with its evocative poetry creating such strong visual imagery you can almost hear the dormouse rustling and smell the damp mossy woodland. The illustrations are stunning and perfectly ethereal. A lovely gift for anybody who appreciates art, poetry and nature or all three.

-Marianne

A beautifully illustrated story of friendship and finding confidence from the author of A Dress With Pockets. The book is about a little girl who has moved to a new home, just in time for Hanukkah. She’s a little lonely but has a tiny dragon for a friend to keep her company, when she meets her neighbour and introduces him both to her dragon and her Hanukkah traditions. The book would be great to read with a non-jewish child to learn about how other people celebrate, or for a Jewish child to inspire confidence and to talk about Hanukkah traditions.

-Kate