BOOK NOOK; Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink

 

"Reading has saved my life, again and again, and has held my hand through every difficult time.  Now, if I start to fray around the edges I know I need to reverse out of watching the news, deactivate social media, curfew myself on technology and banish all devices from my bedroom.  I need to get in the bath or go to bed with a book."

It is a frigidly cold night in Yorkshire and more snow is expected tonight.  I am enjoying a day of hibernation, with a cup of Spiced Gingerbread tea, burning Frankincense&Myrrh scented candles and nibbling some of the vast quantities of chocolates left over from Christmas time.  It has been one of those days where I don't want to move from my cosy nook and I've been curled up by the fire reading all day long.

Dear Reader; The Comfort and Joy of Books is a marvelous work of non-fiction.  The author is coming into my university later this semester to be one of our guest lecturers and I'm very much looking forward to her seminar.  I wanted to read this book beforehand, because I think it is only polite to do so and I'm so glad I did.  I would have purchased this book even if it wasn't on the required reading list as it is ideal for any bookworm.  Every page is so relatable and I loved it. 

Part reading log, part love letter to publishing,  I can best describe Dear Reader as a bibliographical memoir, wherein the author explores her relationship with books and reading, from her earliest childhood memories, through to her adult life as a writer.  She talks of how books have always been her go-to place for comfort in darker times, her solace as she grieves losses, her celebration when things are going well.

I have always described books as being my best friends and often joke that my therapist is called Paige - as in, the pages of a book or my journal - so it is just lovely to finally find a book that describes this kind of visceral relationship so eloquently and elegantly.  Reading this book was like looking in a mirror and I frequently found myself within its pages, from working behind bars in village pubs and writing in my spare time, to working in Waterstones and getting dizzy with the scent of glossy newly printed books, to the feeling of impostor syndrome when first stepping into the world of publishing. It seems that I have shared many of the same experiences as the author. 

As a book of essays, it reminded me a lot of the works of Sarah Ban Breathnach.  It has that same tone of voice and feels as if you are sharing time with a kindred spirit.  It also feels similar to Julia Cameron's books on creativity, but while Cameron encourages her readers to write, Dear Reader is basically one long permission slip to curl up with a huge stack of books and never move again!  

It acts as a list of book recommendations too, with the author writing brief blurbs on many of her favourite books.  Some will be familiar to you already, such as the Narnia and the Harry Potter books, while others will be books that you might never have heard of.  In a way, this book acts as a single-volume portable book-club - there are so many books recommended here that it is worth reading just for those introductions. 

Dear Reader in a very cosy book. It draws you in from the first page and encourages you to keep reading, to read more deeply, more frequently, more indulgently.  As the author shares her personal experience of books, it makes you want to re-read old favourites, discover new gems and spend a few happy days rearranging your bookcases, appreciating the personal library you have created, no matter how large or small it is.   

As the subtitle suggests, this is a book that explores and actively encourages readers to find comfort and joy in books; to turn to them in moments of crisis when life gets too overwhelming; to use them to switch off from the world of technology where we are expected to be constantly on call at a moments notice; to drop out of the fray and take time out to read meditatively, as a sacred daily practice.  

Dear Reader is the best kind of bibliotherapy and it has earned a permanent place in my library.  I can't recommend it highly enough.   If you enjoy the essays of SBB or Julia Cameron and you consider yourself to be a bookworm, then you will greatly appreciate this wonderful book.  Every blue-stocking should have a copy!

Happy reading,

BB Marie x

BOOK NOOK; The Nesting by C.J. Cooke

 

"The nokk act on behalf of Mother Nature.  They punish humans who overstep the mark.  They might make shallow pools deepen and drown people who abuse nature. I've heard of crops that turned poisonous when the earth was not given proper stewardship."

I have just finished reading The Nesting, which is a Norwegian thriller/ghost story.  Written in a fairytale style and incorporating Norse mythology and legend, it follows a young woman who runs off to Norway to escape a troubled life in England.  There she takes up the position of nanny, looking after the two young daughters of an ambitious architect.

The architect, Tom, is busy building his dream house by the fjord in honour of his dead wife.  He feels that he knows all about nature and how to build an eco-friendly abode, using only sustainable materials and recycled products.   But he doesn't know about the old ways.  He has no concept of the old gods of river, rock and forest, no understanding of the fragile truce that exists between them and humankind.  He wants to build a great house, but the river is in the way.  So he moves it.  He creates a damn and redirects the river that has flowed the same course for centuries.  And that's when all the trouble starts. 

The nanny has secrets of her own.  Her life in England might be in the past, but she lives with the uncertainty that one day her secrets will be discovered and she will lose her position.  Without it she has nothing.  She builds a trusting relationship with the two girls in her care, adopts a baby raven and begins to feel safe in her new life.  But then she starts seeing things - elk hoof-prints in the house, a shadowy figure in the background, the Sad Lady with no eyes that haunts the little girl's nightmares.  It's all a bit spooky and when the diary of Tom's late wife is placed in her bedroom, she learns that he might not be all that he seems and she must protect the girls at all costs. 

This novel is at once bright and dark.  It is a delight of snow scapes and winter wonderlands, of fjords and reindeer, yet it holds the dark melancholy of the Norwegian soul.  It is gripping and magical, with a fairytale atmosphere in the descriptive passages of endless snow falling in the shadowy forest.  In some ways it reminded me of the novel The Twisted Tree, also set in Norway. 

The Nesting is a very engaging story that will keep you up late into the night, lost within the pages of this wintry Norwegian mystery.  So if, like me,  you dream of holidays in Norway and want to escape to a snowy world during our second national lock-down, this is the book for you and it is best enjoyed with a melting cheese pot  and warm mulled wine. 

I hope you are enjoying the winter season so far!

BB Marie x