These are the evenings for sitting out late
August – the month of harvests and some dry weather sets the clock ticking, the race is on as farmers work into the night, spotlights ranging over their nurtured crops, fields newly shorn, their bounty rolled into neat bales. These are the evenings for sitting out late, making the most of the warmth and the evening light, the pages of a book to be replaced by the stars above.
An August Midnight by Thomas Hardy
A shaded lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter – winged, horned, and spined –
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;
While ‘mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands…
Thus meet we five, in this still place,
At this point of time, at this point in space.
– My guests besmear my new-penned line,
Or bang at the lamp and fall supine.
“God’s humblest, they!” I muse. Yet why?
Note: the dumbledore in Hardy’s poem is an old English word for a bumblebee – the wizard came some years after!
A great fiction book for the summer should be outlandish and expansive, drawing you into an enrapturing world, and Sam Mills’ debut does just that. In The Watermark, Rachel and Jaime’s relationship is tested as they find themselves trapped in a labyrinthine network of novels. Victorian Oxford, harsh Russian winters, and a future dominated by AI are some of the landscapes they traverse, in a wacky tale for book-lovers. Our non-fiction favourite this week, The Green Ages by Annette Kehnel, boasts another kind of eccentric, as Kehnel explores the myriad ways our ancestors were living sustainably. Although rent-a-cow schemes might sound silly, there could be something to learn from the Middle Ages.
More amazing fiction includes the paperback releases of Mona Awad’s Rouge, a daring novel about the insidious nature of the beauty industry, and Victoria Hislop’s The Figurine, a sun-soaked novel about the human cost behind the most sought-after antiquities. And what do we seek from a dream? Miye Lee is here to explore that question in Dallergut Dream Department Store, where dreams of all varieties are sold; this magical tale is the perfect escapist read. In romantasy fiction, Aila must save the phoenix from extinction in her zoo of mythical beasts; with the fate of a species on her shoulders, and her arch-rival at her side, is this a doomed venture?
In non-fiction, Overleaf is an ode to the unsung beauty of leaves, complete with beautiful botanical illustrations and titbits about the uses of our native trees. David Sumpter examines how we can harness the way we think to improve our relationships, career, and health; Dispatches is war correspondent Michael Herr’s devastating account of the Vietnam War; and you can whip up a tantalising breakfast in minutes, Leon-style, with their latest cookbook, Little Leon: Breakfast & Brunch.
For young adults, Karen M. McManus has released a new stand-alone fiction in her signature mysterious style. In Such Charming Liars, Kat’s mum is a jewel thief, and Liam’s dad is a serial scammer, so when the two families descend on a billionaire’s party with their own schemes, what could possibly go wrong? In picture books, The Little Worried Caterpillar adores being a caterpillar, so the idea of becoming a butterfly is quite scary! With the support of her friends, Little Green realises being a butterfly is a beautiful thing.
As always, if there’s something you need help with, or a book you need ordering, please call or email us!
From Sophie
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