THE BOOK PAGE

THE BOOK PAGE in association with CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Winstone’s Bookshop

Rural Reader’s own choice of books for gift giving includes new titles, the best of 2020 and an old favourite.

(Faber & Faber £8.99) with convincingly drawn characters and brilliant blending of humour, drama, trumph and tragedy. It’s her masterpiece.

Starting with my Book of the Year: the compelling ‘Apeirogon’ (Bloomsbury £18.99) by Colum McCann. The story of two men, one an Israeli, the other a Palestinian, brought together by fate, torn apart by events and ultimately united by a common cause. Beautifully, lyrically written, copious thanks will come from recipients who revel in discovery.

Cooking: A cook book they’ll actually use: Ottolenghi’s ‘Flavour’ (Ebury £27.00). On nature and the environment: itwillbe hard to match ‘EnglishPastoral’ byJames Rebanks (Penguin £20) a captivating story of a family and a farm, of a landscape and a legacy and the possibility that, environmentally, all may not be lost. ‘Tresspass’ (Nick Hayes, Bloomsbury £18) favourably reviewed here in September, with its superb illustrations, also makes a fine impression. Old favourite: those of you who have already read any of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels, and there must be many, will not be surprised at the inclusionof

‘The Poisonwood Bible’

Fiction: recent novelsfromfour authorswhose reputationsgo beforethem. HasAnne Tylerever written a bad book?

The latestis

right

uptherewith her best. ‘Redheadby theside oftheRoad’(Vintage £14.99)showcasesherobservational powerstothefull.AnthonyHorowitzhas written a sequel to the best selling ‘Magpie Murders’. ‘Moonflower Murders’ (illustration above, Cornerstone £20) looks like being just as successful.

Those who read the recent column on D H Lawrence will detect parallels with ‘Shuggie Bain’ (Picador £14.99) by Douglas Stuart, a magnetic, sometimes sorrowful but never maudlin story of the eponymous Shuggie and his mother, fighting to realise their dreams in 80s Glasgow. A fresh talent which seems all the more astonishing given this is a first novel. William Boyd is back on form with ‘Trio’ (Viking £18.99) set in 1968, the year of Martin Luther King, Bobbie Kennedy and the Paris student riots. As global events swirl, the trio of the title set out to make a swinging sixties movie. Stirring. Ghost Story: (but a real one )Kate Summerscale’s ‘The Haunting of

Alma Fielding- a True Ghost

Story’ is a spectral tour de force.

Poetry: Clive James was a life-long devotee, and this anthology is his final recollection of the poems that had most made their mark on him. ‘The Fire of

Joy: Roughly 80 Poems to Get by Heart and Say

Aloud’ (Pan Macmillan £20) is inspirational for enthusiasts and converts alike. ‘Paris. A poem’ by Hope Mirrlees (Faber & Faber £9.99) is back in print, rightly so for an achievement that predated (and for some near matched) TS Eliot’s epic ‘Wasteland’. But the top recommendation for children is the follow up to ‘The Lost Worlds’ (which sold 500,000 copies): ‘The Lost Spells’ by Robert McFarlane (Penguin £14.99) illustrated by Jackie Morris

(this is a sample of her brilliant work) in which they weave more magical poetry and painting. Biography: thefirst of a two-volume memoir of Obama’s Whitehouse years will be published on November 17. (‘A Promised Land’ Penguin £35). Shortly after you receive your WVM we will know if the world’s turned back to sanity with the ousting of Trump. If not, Obama’s lucid prose may sooth us. There’s just room to mention Rachel Holmes’s biography ‘Sylvia Pankurst: A Natural Born Rebel’ (Bloomsbury £35) and Julie Welch’s ‘The Fleet Street Girls’ (Orion £19.99) which we can call a biography of the crusading women who stormed the male bastion of Fleet St. in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Boisterous. Happy Christmas reading..

Grandchildren’s corner:

Based on the thumbs up of five grandchildren 3 to 12 years and starting from the youngest: ‘The Smeds and the Smoos’ (Julia Donaldson, Scholastic £12.99). Any of the ‘Goosebumps (RL Stine, Scholastic £4.99) and ‘Frog and Toad’ (Arnold Lobel, Harper Collins Various Prices) Collections;‘The Worlds Worst Parents’ (David Walliams, Harper Collins £14.99). ‘The Danger Gang’ Tom Fletcher (Random House £12.99). For older children, any of the many Penguin ‘Originals’ now in new covers (right) and, for the imaginative, any of the five books in Orson Scott Card’s exciting ‘Ender Wiggin Saga’ (Little Brown 8.99)

Rural Reader

Get 10% off all these books at Winstone’s

when you mention Wriggle Valley Magazine when buying. 8 Cheap St., Sherborne, DT9 3PX. tel: 01935 816128 e: winstonebooks1@gmail.com www.winstonebooks.co.uk