Looking ahead - some non-fiction to come

 

    Publishers' catalogues are instruments of temptation, and with the latest one from Granta Books arriving this morning, my 'would like to read' list has got a little longer. Here are three non-fiction titles which particularly caught my eye and which I hope will interest you, too:

 

     I loved Sarah Moss's novel Night Waking (out in paperback early next month), and her new book Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland, her account of "uprooting her young family and moving to a country with an endless winter, few vegetables and and no sense of risk", gets a rave review from Adèle. Recording intriguing cultural discoveries in a fascinating Northern land, this is "inquisitive, beautifully written and often very funny", and will be out in July.

 

    A blend of memoir, literary history and travel book, Miriam Darlington's Otter Country: In Search of the Wild Otter (coming in September) charts her journey through the remote places of Britain on the trail of that shy and elusive animal. "Written in magical prose and with a wonderful warmth and wit", I hope this book will be as enjoyable as Robert Macfarlane's The Wild Places (post on it here)  - and by the way, Macfarlane fans will want to look out for his new book The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot in June.

 

    I haven't read Sara Maitland's A Book of Silence, although it has been on my wish list for some time, but her new book Gossip from the Forest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairytales appeals just as much. This is "a magical exploration of the deep-rooted connections between forests and fairytales published [in November] to coincide with the bicentenary of the Grimm brothers' classic ... From the exquisite green of a beech wood in spring to the muffled stillness of a snowy pine wood in winter, Sara Maitland shows us how fairy stories grew out of the ancient world of the forest. Each chapter ends with the re-telling of a fairy story ... a unique and bewitching blend of nature writing, history and imaginative fiction".

Comments

[LizF]

All now on my list apart from A Book of Silence and The Wild Places which are both on my shelf, although I have to confess to not yet having read either!
In this case it is probably a good thing that the other books are not yet published as it will give me at least a chance to clear some space before they hit the shelves!

[Cornflower]

I often think that too, but it doesn't seem to work out that way!

[Fran H-B]

A Book of Silence is one of those books you need to read more than once, or very,very slowly to take it all in, I have it on my re-read pile right now. Thanks for the other recommendations, the Maitland and Macfarlene both at the top of the must have list.

[Cornflower]

Thanks, Fran, I thought A Book of Silence might be that sort of book - good to know in advance.