At last there’s a little warmth in the air
lush 1. = abundant, green, flourishing,verdant. 2. = luxurious, grand, elaborate, lavish, extravagant, sumptuous, plush (informal), ornate.
An abundance of luxury is exactly what’s called for, and there right before our eyes is what we have been given. All that springtime rain needed somewhere to go, and we can now see where it went. The plumpness of the green is exceptional, each leaf appears to have been over-inflated, a little extra psi from nature’s pump and a gentle softness is complete.
The ticking hands of the year have passed the solstice, spring drifts into summer, at last there’s a little warmth in the air and those longed for evenings of a book being read in the garden may finally be here – lush!
‘Spring’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
Our top fiction pick this week is the poignant sequel from Satoshi Yagisawa, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. Launched back into Jimbocho, Tokyo’s sprawling bookshop neighbourhood, we meet Takako and a mysterious lady with a red umbrella. Left in charge of the bookshop, Takako discovers that the people who frequent the shop are alive with stories just as vivid as those confined to the pages of books. Our non-fiction favourite is Sally Coulthard’s The Wildlife Year, a beautifully illustrated guide to the annual natural cycle. Coulthard will inspire you to observe wild animals and the calming phenomena of planetary events, no matter if you’re surrounded by urban sprawl or wandering across outstretched fields.
In crime fiction, The Curtain Twitcher’s Guide to Murder is set on a street where the neighbours know each other well and killing seems to be the answer for everything. In general fiction: Freakslaw is a queer punk masterpiece featuring a gaggle of circus misfits, hellbent on revenge in the repressed Scottish town, Pitlaw; Kate Mosse’s The Ghost Ship sails high seas in a swashbuckling, romantic adventure where the hunters become the hunted, with a deep secret to keep; and Gill Sims’ hilarious Why Mummy Drinks on Holiday sees Mummy Ellen’s girls’ trip crumble as riotous kids crash the party and friend, Hannah, goes MIA.
In non-fiction, More Than a Game by David Horspool is the remarkable story of how sport shaped Britain by influencing our attitudes toward race and class; Torsten Bell offers a hopeful, egalitarian remedy to a stagnant economy and unjust living standards; Matthew Lewis charts the extraordinary development of Medieval England, from witchcraft to the year of three kings; and Hugh Wilford’s The CIA: An Imperial History investigates how US intelligence forces became the bedrock for covert operations, born from an egoist Western empire.
For younger readers, The Children’s Book of the Future takes inspiration from the latest scientific research and technology to deliver an optimistic message about the future for 7-9 year olds; and Little Lion Girl by Olivia Hope is a sweet picture book about self-belief and imagination.
As always, if there’s something you need help with, or a book you need ordering, please call or email us!
From Sophie
Click on any of the book covers below for more info.
The full newsletter with links to books – including this week’s Signed Editions – can be found HERE
