August 8, 2022
by Team Riverside
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
John Spurling – Arcadian Nights
Julia Donaldson – Counting Creatures
Kaouther Adimi – A Bookshop in Algiers
Cecily Gayford – Murder By The Seaside
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Alice Oseman – Heartstopper Volume 2
Charlotte Higgins – Greek Myths
Tom Chivers – London Clay
Oliver Burkeman – Four Thousand Weeks
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Selby Wynn Schwartz – After Sappho
Michael Bond – A Bear Called Paddington
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August 2, 2022
by Team Riverside
Hardback, W&N, £16.99, out now
What is it like to be a marine scientist and conservationist in the time of the climate emergency and the increase in species becoming extinct? How do you keep going? Spring Tides is a well written combination of natural history and memoir that helps answer this question. “My energy comes from looking down into clear water through glossy kelp, studded with blue-rayed limpets, striped with iridescent blue; from swimming on my back at night making glowing wings of phosphorescence; from diving down into the magnetic blue beyond the reef; from drifting at speed past a carnival of coral in the company of mirrored jacks; from learning from a laughing fisherwoman how to find clams with my toes in the soft sand between the seagrass on a remote Indian Ocean shore”.
Fiona Gell left her childhood home on the Isle of Man to travel the world working on marine conservation projects, before returning to do the same work where she grew up. Spring Tides is a useful primer for lay readers on the impact of climate change on our seas and sealife. Her love for marine environments is infectious, and makes you want to get out onto the beach or dive “under water to get out of the rain” (as Trevor Norton had it in his wonderful book about diving, rightly subtitled “a love affair with the sea”). Spring Tides appealed to me in the same way that The Gospel of the Eels by Patrik Svensson did, combining nature writing and memoir.
I liked reading about a woman scientist doing cutting edge work around the world, and also her candid accounts of dealing with family life alongside her work in recent years. Gell explains that engaging with conservation successfully is complex. I found her account of securing a Marine Nature Reserve compelling. It is a story of doing the hard work of listening, advocating, and compromising. She shows how a previous unsuccessful attempt in the Calf of Man area, which had failed to engage successfully with the concerns of local people who earnt their livings from the sea, had left scars: “It had become an example of how the most well-intentioned conservation plans can go awry and had left rifts between people. I wanted to use what I’d learnt about marine protected areas to make protecting the sea possible again”.
Gell also gives a glimpse of Manx culture, and is clear about the impact of the sea on everyday life. I am very envious of anyone who gets to go to the beach almost every day, as she does. And as Olaf Falafel’s endearing new book Blobfish reminds us, we can help clean it up while we are there.
Review by Bethan
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July 31, 2022
by Team Riverside
Delia Owens – Where The Crawdads Sing
Taylor Jenkins Reid – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Jessie Burton – The House of Fortune
Sayaka Murata – Life Ceremony
Kaouther Adimi – A Bookshop in Algiers
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Pat Barker – The Women of Troy
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Mieko Kawakami – All The Lovers In The Night
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Malcolm Gladwell – The Bomber Mafia
Yaa Gyasi – Transcendent Kingdom
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
Colleen Hoover – It Ends With Us
Marion Billet – There Are 101 Things To Find In London
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July 17, 2022
by Team Riverside
Pat Barker – The Women of Troy
Oliver Burkeman – Four Thousand Weeks
Malcolm Gladwell – The Bomber Mafia
Miranda Cowley Heller – The Paper Palace
Sally Rooney – Beautiful World, Where Are You?
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Keith Ridgway – A Shock
Charlotte Higgins – Greek Myths
Tom Chivers – London Clay
Kaouther Adimi – A Bookshop in Algiers
Cecily Gayford – Murder By The Seaside
Ruth Ozeki – The Book of Form and Emptiness
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Elizabeth Day – Magpie
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July 10, 2022
by Team Riverside
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Sally Rooney – Beautiful World, Where Are You?
Tom Chivers – London Clay
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Adam Hargreaves – Mr Men in London
Kaouther Adimi – A Bookshop in Algiers
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Malcolm Gladwell – Blink
Elizabeth Day – Magpie
Lea Ypi – Free
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
Miranda Cowley Heller – The Paper Palace
John Le Carre – Silverview
Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
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July 3, 2022
by Team Riverside
Ruth Ozeki – The Book of Form and Emptiness
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Eliot Higgins – We Are Bellingcat
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Cecily Gayford – Murder By The Seaside
Malcolm Gladwell – The Bomber Mafia
Lea Ypi – Free
Elizabeth Day – Magpie
Daniel Kahneman – Noise
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Katherine Rundell – The Explorer
Lauren Groff – Matrix
Maggie Shipstead – Great Circle
Gwendoline Riley – My Phantoms
Agatha Christie – And Then There Were None
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June 28, 2022
by Team Riverside
Hardback, Granta, £12.99, out now
A Norwegian woman inherits a tiny cabin in a remote location. There’s no running water, but there is a river. There’s no electricity, but there is a woodburning stove. And there’s no toilet, but there is Siri Helle’s determination to make a loo in a hut, with her own two hands.
Don’t be put off by the ‘mindfulness’ in the title: I like mindfulness probably much more than the next person, but there is enough discussion of chainsaw technique and what proper tool sharpening consists of to make it clear that this is not a ‘wellness’ book. It really is about building a toilet shed, and learning how to do it along the way.
Helle is a journalist and agronomist in Norway. There are thoughtful reflections on the lack of practical and manual skills taught in formal education, and what this might mean about our relationship to making and to our hands.
I am not really sure how to classify this book – it is nature writing, crafts, travel? Culture or philosophy? Probably all of these things. I do like a genre-defying book. I borrowed it from the library on spec and really enjoyed it as a good holiday read. It’s very relaxing to read about other people working hard outdoors!
This is definitely one that I will be buying for multiple people come Christmas. It’d be great for anyone who: is a maker or who wants to be one; has a love of the outdoors; is thinking about their relationship with their own body, and how they use it.
Review by Bethan
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June 19, 2022
by Team Riverside
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Ruth Ozeki – The Book of Form and Emptiness
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Tee Dobinson – The Tower Bridge Cat
Richard Osman – The Man Who Died Twice
Pat Barker – The Women of Troy
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
Sally Rooney – Normal People
The Secret Barrister – Nothing But The Truth
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Tom Chivers – London Clay
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Bernadine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other
John le Carre – Silverview
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June 12, 2022
by Team Riverside
Pat Barker – The Women of Troy
Jonathon Lee – The Great Mistake
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Sally Rooney – Beautiful World, Where Are You?
Oliver Burkeman – Four Thousand Weeks
Malcolm Gladwell – The Bomber Mafia
Richard Osman – The Man Who Died Twice
Elif Shafak – The Isand of The Missing Trees
Miranda Cowley Heller – The Paper Palace
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Alice Oseman – Heartstopper: Volume One
Phil Knight – Shoe Dog
Marion Billet – Busy London
Elizabeth Mcneal – Circus of Wonders
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June 5, 2022
by Team Riverside
Bob Mortimer – And Away…
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
Akwaeke Emezi – You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty
Mieko Kawakami – All The Lovers In The Night
Douglas Stuart – Young Mungo
Lea Ypi – Free
Elizabeth Day – Magpie
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Kazuo Ishiguro – The Remains of The Day
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Alice Oseman – Loveless
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Bella Mackie – How to Kill Your Family
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June 1, 2022
by Team Riverside
Hardback, Simon and Schuster, £20, out now
This autobiography of an outstanding civil rights lawyer, who has specialised in inquests, doubles as an incisive and detailed account of many of the most important human rights cases of the last 30 years. Thomas always puts the people involved at the heart of his account. I felt that the book, while being candid about his own story including his legal learning curves and sometime errors, was an opportunity for him to foreground the lives of those whose stories are often ignored.
This is the story of a South London working class Black man who gets to the top of his profession doing cutting edge legal work. Much of Thomas’s early life was lived in Battersea, Clapham and Balham, and Riverside readers will find many places they know. As a Queen’s Counsel (senior barrister) Leslie Thomas has represented bereaved families in inquests in many deaths in custody and police shootings. His work includes landmark cases such as those of Azelle Rodney and Mark Duggan. He has also played a critical part in legal examinations of disasters including such as the Grenfell Tower fire and Hillsborough, as well as developing a practice in the Caribbean, and all of this work is discussed in detail. The chapter dealing with the second inquest into the New Cross Fire, moving in itself, also shows a moment of revelation for Thomas: “…it made me realise that what mattered wasn’t the lawyers’ political spin on the case, which is sometimes very easy to do, but what was best for the clients”.
One of the things I liked most about Do Right and Fear No One was its accessibility. Areas that may be unfamiliar to readers, such as what the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights are and how they apply to real life, or how inquests work and what they are for, are explained clearly and concisely without this feeling patronising. I found this so useful. Demystifying the law is vital, particularly areas that people may feel no connection with until they erupt into their own lives – for example when they suddenly have to attend an inquest for someone close to them.
Thomas gives due credit to families, colleagues and others who he has worked alongside, placing his legal work in context. For anyone who visited the outstanding ICA exhibition War Inna Babylon – the Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights last year, Do Right and Fear No-one will be an essential read (see https://www.ica.art/exhibitions/war-inna-babylon).
Thomas’s mother Pearl sounds like a truly remarkable woman, working all hours and supporting her children to do their best. Talking about his father Godfrey, who he had a difficult relationship with at times, his account reminded me at times of David Harewood’s story in Maybe I Don’t Belong Here (https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/david-harewood/maybe-i-dont-belong-here/9781529064131). Both men reflect on the racism their fathers faced, and the long-lasting effects this had on their health, especially in later life.
My one criticism of the book is that the publisher did not include an index. This detailed book should be widely read and easily searchable. Publisher: please commission an index for the paperback. If anyone needs convincing of why indexes are great, see my review of Dennis Duncan’s excellent book on just this subject.
On a lighter note, I really liked Thomas noting that he used to talk fast “as South Londoners do” – this is definitely true of me. This is a great read.
Review by Bethan
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May 29, 2022
by Team Riverside
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Richard Osman – The Man Who Died Twice
Sally Rooney – Normal People
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Douglas Stuart – Young Mungo
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Natasha Brown – Assembly
Akwaeke Emezi – You made a Fool of Death with your Beauty
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May 24, 2022
by Team Riverside
Paperback, Repeater Books, £12.99, out now
The editors of Welsh Plural have gathered some of the most interesting and relevant writers from Wales to consider what Welsh identity means today. This is anything but niche: for anyone thinking about what identity, belonging and borders mean or could come to mean, this is helpful. It is no surprise that this anthology has won praise from Nikesh Shukla and Gary Younge.
The book’s cover illustrates a willingness to engage in critical thinking that characterises this collection. It shows a beautiful section of the Wrexham Quilt, made by a military tailor in the mid-nineteenth century. “Like this book, it conveys a patchwork of experiences, from religious scenes to tributes to the industrial heritage of Wales. Other motifs show giraffes, elephants and palm trees – souvenirs of Wales’ part in the conquests of the British Empire, made possible by armies clothed by tailors such as James Williams”.
The range of topics covered and approaches make this a compelling read. There is a Choose Your Own Adventure style guide to being a Welsh novelist by Gary Raymond. Charlotte Williams, who is examining outcomes for children of colour in Welsh education for the Welsh Government, discusses this alongside her own experience of being the only child of colour in her Welsh classroom in the 1960s. Darren Chetty explores Welsh pubs called The Black Boy, both their history and how they handle their name now. And there is much more.
I felt I had been given a gift of original and challenging thoughts. Some themes came out strongly for me, particularly the intersection of racialised people and Welshness. Several writers give valuable and vital accounts related this. There are also conflicts and disagreements between the pieces, which suggests that the editors intended to allow space for complexity, nuance and difference. I found this approach invigorating, and helpful. I was grateful that the book was in English, allowing me as a non-Welsh speaker access. Diolch yn fawr iawn, pawb.
Reading this on holiday in Wales at the time of the local elections felt important. I am most envious of anyone who got to attend the related event in Machynlleth (which I heard about from colleagues at the smashing Pen’rallt Gallery Bookshop – it sounded like an excellent evening). Reading Welsh Plural also brought the small publisher Repeater Books to my attention, whose range looks well worth digging into.
By coincidence, I followed this up by reading Nick Hayes’ The Book of Trespass (paperback, Bloomsbury, £9.99). Hayes’ investigation into what the idea and law of trespass means in the UK now also engages with the issues of land, walls and identities. As in Welsh Plural, there are moments of joy and celebration among the sometimes difficult content. Hayes and his dog see a row of deer appear by magic as they walk through a wood: “This kind of moment is only available off the path. It is prosaic, but it feels like a miracle, it feels meaningful, and it leaves me with my heart thumping in my throat… I would swap a hundred nice walks along a pretty Right of Way for this one moment of magic”.
Review by Bethan
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May 22, 2022
by Team Riverside
Elizabeth Strout – Oh William!
Elizabeth Day – Magpie
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Marion Billet – Busy London
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Natasha Brown – Assembly
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
Mieko Kawakami – All The Lovers In The Night
Douglas Stuart – Young Mungo
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Flann O’Brien – The Third Policeman
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May 13, 2022
by Team Riverside
Elizabeth Strout – Oh William!
John Le Carre – Silverview
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Cecily Gayford – Murder by The Seaside
Elizabeth Day – Magpie
Sally Rooney – Conversations With Friends
Daisy Buchanan – Insatiable
Rutger Bregman – Humankind
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Marion Billet – Busy London
bell hooks – All About Love
Colm Toibin – The Magician
Bernadine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other
Chris Power – A Lonely Man
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May 8, 2022
by Team Riverside
Elizabeth Strout – Oh William!
John Le Carre – Silverview
Emily St. John Mandel – Sea of Tranquility
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
bell hooks – All About Love
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Oliver Burkeman – Four Thousand Weeks
Caroline Criado Perez – Invisible Women
M.H. Eccleston – The Trust
Min Jin Lee – Pachinko
Clara Vulliamy – Marshmallow Pie: The Cat Superstar
Oliver Jeffers – Here We Are
Elizabeth Day – Magpie
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May 1, 2022
by Team Riverside
Meg Mason – Sorrow and Bliss
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Daisy Buchanan – Insatiable
Marion Billet – Busy London
Caleb Azumah Nelson – Open Water
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Taylor Jenkins Reid – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Alice Oseman – Heartstopper Volume 2
Douglas Stuart – Young Mungo
Joseph Hone – The Paper Chase
Nicholas Nassim Taleb – Antifragile
Shirley Jackson – The Missing Girl
Catherine Belton – Putin’s People
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Emily Danforth – Plain Bad Heroines
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April 30, 2022
by Team Riverside
Hardback, Macmillan, £12.99, out now
Epic Adventures is a pleasingly large non-fiction picture book for children about great train journeys. From the Shinkansen bullet train in Japan to the Trans-Siberian express, this colourfully illustrated book inspires the wish to jump on a train and head off on an adventure. As we are just opposite London Bridge station, this urge is particularly strong just now!
You can tell this was written by a real train fan, as it has excellent facts and is suffused with enthusiasm. Sedgman is also author of train-based adventure stories for children including The Highland Falcon Thief, and the accessible prose in Epic Adventures shows that he is used to writing for children. He addresses the colonial heritage of some of the railways concerned, and the displacement they caused, which is important. I also appreciated the emphasis on rail as a more environmentally friendly form of travel.
My favourite of the many colourful illustrations is the northern lights overhead as the Arctic Sleeper speeds through to Norway.
As a fan of armchair rail travel (see The World’s Most Scenic Rail Journeys and Mighty Trains, on television) this inspires me to do some actual rail travel as soon as possible. Good for perhaps age 7 and up, Epic Adventures has history and geography, festivals and food. A nicely exciting gift for a young would-be traveller.
Review by Bethan
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April 24, 2022
by Team Riverside
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Eliot Higgins – We Are Bellingcat
Jeremy Atherton Lin – Gay Bar
Tim Marshall – Prisoners of Geography
Julian Barnes – Elizabeth Finch
Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451
Catherine Belton – Putin’s People
Sarah Winman – Still Life
Bella Mackie – How to Kill Your Family
Emily Danforth – Plain Bad Heroines
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Luke Kennard – The Answer to Everything
Albert Camus – The Plague
Sathnam Sanghera – Empireland
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April 19, 2022
by Team Riverside
Thank you to Jeremy Atherton Lin for visiting to sign copies of Gay Bar! Nab one before they go.
Posted in News, Non fiction, Signed Copies |
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April 18, 2022
by Team Riverside
Elif Shafak – The Island of The Missing Trees
Taylor Jenkins Reid – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Stanley Tucci – Taste
Ali Smith – Companion Piece
Douglas Stuart – Young Mungo
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Patrick Radden Keefe – Empire of Pain
Michael Lewis – The Premonition
Sathnam Sanghera – Empireland
Caleb Azumah Nelson – Open Water
Frank Tallis – The Act of Living
Adam Hargreaves – Mr. Men in London
Eliot Higgins – We Are Bellingcat
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Mary Lawson – A Town Solace
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April 10, 2022
by Team Riverside
Elif Shafak – Island of The Missing Trees
Michael Lewis – The Premonition
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now
Taylor Jenkins Reid – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Eliot Higgins – We Are Bellingcat
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Damon Galgut – The Promise
Michael Bond – Paddington
Stanley Tucci – Taste
Colm Toibin – The Magician
Dave Eggers – The Every
David Baddiel – Jews Don’t Count
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April 2, 2022
by Team Riverside
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Kae Tempest – On Connection
Taylor Jenkins Reid – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Marion Billet – Busy London
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
Colm Toibin – The Magician
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
Matthew Green – Shadowlands
Daisy Buchanan – Careering
Tom Chivers – London Clay
Susanna Clarke – Piranesi
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Agatha Christie – Miss Marple and Mystery
Michael Lewis – The Premonition
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March 20, 2022
by Team Riverside
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Catherine Belton – Putin’s People
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Rutger Bregman – Humankind
Marion Billet – Busy London
Caroline Criado Perez – Invisible Women
Tom Burgis – Kleptopia
John Preston – Fall
Eliot Higgins – We Are Bellingcat
Charlotte Mendelson – The Exhibitionist
Kotaro Isaka – Bullet Train
Tim Marshal – The Power of Geography
Rebecca F. John – Fannie
David Baddiel – Jews Don’t Count
Siobhan Dowd – The London Eye Mystery
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March 11, 2022
by Team Riverside
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Damon Galgut – The Promise
Colm Toibin – The Magician
Margaret Atwood – Burning Questions
Rutger Bregman – Humankind
Patrick Radden Keefe – Empire of Pain
Natasha Lunn – Conversations on Love
Caleb Azumah Nelson – Open Water
Frank Tallis – The Act of Living
Georgia Pritchett – My Mess is a Bit of a Life
Taylor Jenkins Reid – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Adam Rutherford – Control
Michelle Zauner – Crying in H Mart
Victoria Mas – The Mad Woman’s Ball
Coco Mellors – Cleopatra and Frankenstein
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March 4, 2022
by Team Riverside
Tim Marshall – The Power of Geography
Caleb Azumah Nelson – Open Water
Frank Tallis – The Act of Living
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
Patrick Radden Keefe – Empire of Pain
Karen McManus – One Of Us is Lying
David Baddiel – Jews Don’t Count
Gertrude Stein – Food
bell hooks – All About Love
John Preston – Fall
Sathnam Sanghera – Empireland
Natasha Lunn – Conversations On Love
Marian Keyes – Rachel’s Holiday
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
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February 25, 2022
by Team Riverside
Natasha Lunn – Conversations On Love
Rutger Bregman – Humankind
Taylor Jenkins Reid – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Susanna Clarke – Piranesi
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
John Preston – Fall
Caleb Azumah Nelson – Open Water
Sathnam Sanghera – Empireland
Marian Keyes – Again, Rachel
Bernadine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other
Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and The Sun
Hanya Yanigahara – A Little Life
Cho Nam-Joo – Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Marion Billet – Busy London
Adam Kay – This Is Going To Hurt
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February 17, 2022
by Team Riverside
Frank Herbert – Dune
Tim Marshall – The Power of Geography
Riku Onda – The Aosawa Murders
Stanley Tucci – Taste
Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club
They – Kay Dick
Delia Owens – Where The Crawdads Sing
Hafsa Zayyan – We Are All Birds of Uganda
Mariana Enriquez – The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
Lorraine Mariner eds. – Ten Poems About Love
Bella Mackie – How To Kill Your Family
James Baldwin – Giovanni’s Room
Gertrude Stein – Food
Anna Malaika Tubbs – Three Mothers
Luke Kennard – The Answer To Everything
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February 16, 2022
by Team Riverside
Paperback, W H Allen, £9.99, out now
The Madhouse at the End of the Earth is an engrossing account of a journey to Antarctica in 1897. One thing after another goes wrong for the crew of the Belgian whaling ship the Belgica, and they get stranded for the whole of the winter darkness, their ship frozen in a sea of ice.
Among those on board is a doctor, Dr Frederick Cook, who will later be imprisoned in his native USA for fraud. But as those on the ship suffer the effects of cold, dark, and malnutrition, his innovation and care keeps his colleagues alive. As things get worse, and the Captain withdraws, Cook seems able to turn his hand to anything. One part of the story that stayed with me was Cook creating a treatment for crew members suffering from scurvy and depression (among other things) of standing unclothed and in private in front of a fire. As Sancton notes: “His wild idea to have his ailing shipmates stand naked in front of a blazing fire is the first known application of light therapy, used today to treat sleep disorders and depression, among other things.”
The Madhouse at the End of the Earth works in many different ways. It’s a story of adventure and survival, failures of leadership, and physical and mental courage. It contributes to the history of medicine, as Sancton discovers that Cook’s case study is still used by Jack Stuster, a behavioural scientist who works with NASA, among others. As a study of how people cope, or don’t, under extreme strain, it is fascinating.
Also on the unlucky ship is Roald Amundsen, later famous as an epic Antarctic explorer in his own right. The insight given here into his early life is intriguing. He emerges as stoic in himself, and unbending in his attitude to others.
Sancton evokes the harshness of the Antarctic landscape and the claustrophobia of the trapped ship very well. “Where the water ended, the snow began, as if the ocean had risen half way up the Himalayas”. The descriptions of sounds of rats eating the crew’s limited food are suitably revolting. His impressive use of archive materials including the ship’s logs, crew diaries, and accounts published later by those who had been on board lends credibility to his review of the psychological states and emotions of those he is writing about.
He notes the colonial context to this journey, namely Belgium’s grotesque history in Africa at the time of the expedition. I was troubled by the title, uneasy about the use of ‘madhouse’, but I eventually felt it made sense for the time Sancton was writing about.
I read it over two days while on holiday, and felt lucky to have the chance to race through it. Because the story was unfamiliar to me, despite my having read a lot about Antarctic exploration, I tensely awaited each new development. It held me till the last page.
Review by Bethan
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February 13, 2022
by Team Riverside
Tim Marshall – The Power of Geography
Patricia Lockwood – No One Is Talking About This
Hafsa Zayyan – We Are All Birds of Uganda
Natasha Lunn – Conversations on Love
Virginia Woolf – Flush
Sathnam Sanghera – Empireland
Stanley Tucci – Taste
Frank Herbert – Dune
Sally Rooney – Conversations With Friends
Abdulrazak Gurnah – Afterlives
Mo Willems – Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus
Lorraine Mariner – Ten Poems on Love
Anna Malaika Tubbs – Three Mothers
Karen McManus – One of Us Is Lying
Peppa Pig – Peppa’s Magical Unicorn
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