In days of too much Netflix what better way to spend time than with a good book. But what to read? Well we have a number of bookworms in the village that are happy to pass on what they’ve enjoyed. If you’ve got a recommendation just send your contribution in the contact form. Also if you’re aware of someone who would benefit from library books delivered to their door then check out this service.
Give me the Mountains: the mostly true story of growing up and doing the Season as a debutante
A glorious fictionalised memoir of a young woman’s journey through wartime schooling, Finishing School, the London Season as a debutante, and more, with poetry from present day life.
GENRE FICTION Inspired by true events
BRIEF SYNOPSIS In 1940’s England, three generations of women share their stories. The youngest of them is being prepared for a good marriage. She navigates life at a country boarding school. She takes lessons on deportment at a prestigious Finishing School, and gets ready to be launched onto the marriage market as an elegant debutante. But determined and independent, this young woman wants a different life. Can she follow her own path and find freedom?
THE AUTHOR Under the name of Anne Swan, Anne’s childhood was idyllic, with dogs and ponies, happy schools and holidays abroad. Her work as a secretary both in the UK and overseas was interesting and enjoyable. Later, she was happily married. Anne is also a pianist and composer.
Reflections in the Landscape
A collaboration between Richard Martin, Editor of The Parish Pump, and photographer Giles Edwards, this book tells the story in pictures of the fifteen villages in the West Oxfordshire Cotswolds – including Black Bourton – through the pandemic.
GENRE Fact
SPECIFICATION 136 pages including 108 full-page A4 photographs. £14.95 from Cotswold Woollen Weavers Filkins sales@naturalbest.co.uk
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Christy Lefteri is the child of Cypriot refugees and a lecturer in creative writing at Brunel University. The Beekeeper of Aleppo is an international bestseller, selling over half a million copies worldwide.
GENRE Fiction
BRIEF SYNOPSIS This is the story of Nuri and his wife Afra who have to flee from their home in Syria. It tells of their perilous journey through Turkey and Greece as they try to reach Britain. Nuri was a beekeeper in Aleppo which he loved, you can almost smell the honey when he talks about it. It is a very sad story but beautifully written and gives insight in to what it is like to be a refugee and leave the home you love.
Although this story is fiction the author worked as a volunteer for Unicef supporting refugees in Athens and it is based on reality and the stories she heard from all the people she met there.
Doreen Hart
Sunfall
Jim Al-Khalili is the renowned theoretical physicist, broadcaster (The Life Scientific BBC Radio 4) and author whose thrilling debut novel draws on cutting-edge science.
GENRE Science Fiction
BRIEF SYNOPSIS It is 2041. Our planet is in trouble. Extreme weather events coincide with catastrophic technological failures. Planes plummet out of the skies. Mega-storms devastate coastlines . The magnetic field that protects all life on Earth is failing. Can anything be done to save humankind?
WHY I ENJOYED IT AND WOULD RECOMMEND It zips along at a cracking pace. A great mix of science fact and science fiction and very appropriate for our time.
David Hart
Lifting the Latch
A Life on the Land – Based on the Life of Mont Abbott of Enstone, Oxfordshire
Sheila Stewart died aged 86 in 2014. She specialised in recounting the lives of working people in their own words. In 1974 her radio play based on Country Kate won the Writers’ Guild award for best radio feature script.
GENRE True story
BRIEF SYNOPSIS For eighty years Mont Abbott lived and worked on the land in Oxfordshire. In this record, Mont ‘lifts the latch’ and takes us into a forgotten world of roly-poly puddings and street fairs, describing his lost skills of carting and shepherding to the joys of singing in the church choir, and the loyalty of a rural community.
WHY I ENJOYED IT AND WOULD RECOMMEND The book I always recommend. An easy read book. I was fascinated by the descriptions of his life then compared with life today and how hard working, and skilled he was.
Barbara Bence
Once Upon a River
Diane Setterfield’s third book. She lives near Oxford by the River Thames.
GENRE Fiction
BRIEF SYNOPSIS Set in the eighteen hundreds everything is believable. There is an old Inn by the River Thames where the locals are enjoying a drink and telling stories when the door bursts open and an injured stranger enters holding the corpse of a drowned child. Hours later she takes a breath and returns to life! Who is she? Who does she belong to? The story unravels in many directions.
WHY I ENJOYED IT AND WOULD RECOMMEND I loved this book because you can absolutely lose yourself in it. Set by the Thames between Buscot and Oxford is an added attraction. There are characters to love and those to fear and others to sympathise with, they are all engaging. This is the right time of year to curl up by the fire and be transported back in time.
Doreen Hart
Touching the Void
By Joe Simpson, former mountaineer and author of several best selling books.
GENRE True story
BRIEF SYNOPSIS In the summer of 1985 Joe Simpson and fellow mountaineer Simon Yates set off to conquer an unclimbed route on the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian mountains. What unfolds is truly a story of incredible bravery and fortitude.
WHY I ENJOYED IT AND WOULD RECOMMEND – Absorbing from start to finish, so well written I could imagine I was there caught up in the drama.
Wendy Taylor
The Nightingale
By Kristin Hannah, a New York bestselling author. A lawyer turned writer.
GENRE Fiction
BRIEF SYNOPSIS The story of two sisters, embarking on their own dangerous paths towards survival, in war-torn France, during World War Two.
WHY I ENJOYED IT AND WOULD RECOMMEND I was captivated by the resilience of the two main characters in this story, amidst all the trauma of their everyday lives. A great read!!
Wendy Taylor
The Salt Path
By Raynor Winn, a British writer and long-distance walker, who has written on nature, homelessness and wild camping.
GENRE True story
BRIEF SYNOPSIS This is a story which will stay with me for a long time. Raynor and her husband Moth were made homeless in the same week that Moth was diagnosed with a terminal disease. While hiding under the stairs to avoid the bailiffs they decide to walk the 630 miles of the South West Path.
WHY I ENJOYED IT AND WOULD RECOMMEND I walked every mile with them. My shoulders hurt from the straps of the rucksack, my legs ached and my feet were sore, I felt their hunger. The reactions of the people they met, the wildlife they came across, their will to survive, Ray’s descriptions are wonderful. This book is an inspiration. It shows the strength people find when they are pushed to the limit.
Doreen Hart
The Body
A Guide for Occupants
By Bill Bryson. Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1951. He was Chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. His bestselling books include Notes from a Small Island, voted the book that best represents Britain.
GENRE Non-fiction
BRIEF SYNOPSIS This book is about the human body; the beginning of our lives, the end of our lives, the different parts of our body, how they all work, what happens when they don’t work, and what is needed to help them work. It is not a human biology text book and yet it is rammed with scientific information. It was the Sunday Times Science Book of the Year 2019.
WHY I ENJOYED IT AND WOULD RECOMMEND I admit to being a fan of Bill Bryson’s books possibly because I enjoy observational humour. I worried this book maybe too “text bookey”. I needn’t have worried, like his other books, it was a very good read and had lots of Bryson humour throughout. As well as huge amounts of scientific information, all written for the lay person, it also contains information on some of the people involved in discoveries, science and medicine in this field and lots of anecdotes and incredibly surprising facts. As soon as I had finished this book, I knew I was going to have to read it again, firstly because I found it fascinating and secondly in the hopes that more of the incredible information would stick in my head.
Rachel Alexander