Love Letter. Sunday, December 31, 2017 Add Comment 2017, growing up, love Edit You never actually expected it to happen. Your nitty-gritty was broken, but yous kept your mentum upwards together with set a mistaken grin ... Read More
Martin Green - A Landscape Revealed: 10,000 Years On A Chalkland Farm Thursday, December 28, 2017 Add Comment ancient history, archaeology Edit While seemingly a rather specialised topic, Martin Green's history of the neolithic, bronze and iron ages as understood through studies ... Read More
Stephen Baxter And Alastair Reynolds - The Medusa Chronicles Add Comment SF and F Edit Bloody terrible. This novel is intended as a tribute to Arthur C. Clarke, extending his classic tale A Meeting With Medusa . But it combines... Read More
Andrew Norman - The Story Of George Loveless And The Tolpuddle Martyrs Add Comment agriculture, biography, modern history, politics Edit This short and readable account of the Tolpuddle Martyrs focuses on the life of the key figure in their struggle, George Loveless. Loveless ... Read More
Christophe Bonneuil & Jean-Baptiste Fressoz - The Shock Of The Anthropocene Wednesday, December 27, 2017 Add Comment climate and environment, marxism, modern history, politics Edit I found The Shock of the Anthropocene a very interesting book that has a lot to say about the multiple environmental crises that we are cur... Read More
Philip Pullman - Northern Lights Add Comment SF and F Edit Ahead of Philip Pullman releasing the companion books to the His Dark Materials trilogy I've been re-reading the original novels, ones ... Read More
Joyce Marlow - The Tolpuddle Martyrs Add Comment agriculture, modern history Edit Joyce Marlow's history of The Tolpuddle Martyrs is a classic of its period. It tells the story of the Martyrs well, allowing for occasi... Read More
Francis Parkman, Jr. - The Oregon Trail Add Comment biography, Travel Edit This fascinating account of North America in the mid 19th century is a description of Francis Parkman's expedition into lands remote fro... Read More
Pamela Horn - Joseph Arch Tuesday, December 26, 2017 Add Comment agriculture, biography, modern history, politics Edit The life of Joseph Arch, agricultural labourer, Methodist preacher, trade union leader and liberal MP, is a fascinating one that Pamela Ho... Read More
Philip Pullman - The Subtle Knife Add Comment SF and F Edit The Subtle Knife is where Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy moves from a slightly foreboding children's fantasy to a truly d... Read More
Jonathan Martineau - Time, Capitalism And Alienation Add Comment marxism, modern history, politics Edit famous studies of the Nuer people, the anthropologist Evans-Pritchard noted, for instance, that those Nilotic cattle farmers had more time ... Read More
Ian Angus - A Redder Shade Of Green: Intersections Of Science And Socialism Add Comment climate and environment, marxism, science Edit This new collection of essays from one of the world's leading Marxist environmentalists is an important contribution to discussions abou... Read More
Dave Sherry - Russia 1917: Workers' Revolution And The Bazar Of The Oppressed Monday, December 25, 2017 Add Comment 1917, marxism, modern history, politics, Russia, socialist, WW1 Edit I've already reviewed Dave Sherry's new book on the Russian Revolution for Socialist Worker , and I hope you'll read that in con... Read More
Ragnar Jónasson - Snow Blind Add Comment Crime Fiction Edit There is no polite way to say this, but Ragnar Jónasson's novel is terrible. It is badly written, has a contrived plot and a jumble of i... Read More
Philip Pullman - The Amber Spyglass Add Comment SF and F Edit The first two books of the Dark Materials trilogy are great novels. But really they simply are setting the scene for the brilliant climax th... Read More
R.S. Attack - John Clare: Voice Of Freedom Add Comment agriculture, culture, politics Edit The poet John Clare (1793-1864) was a remarkable figure. Coming from a poor labouring family in Northamptonshire where, despite his families... Read More
Fred Archer - A Distant Scene Sunday, December 24, 2017 Add Comment agriculture, biography Edit Fred Archer was a celebrated author and farmer who documented the lives of the people of the small village of Ashton in the Vale of Evesham.... Read More
Reg Groves - Sharpen The Sickle! The History Of The Farm Workers' Union Add Comment agriculture, modern history, politics Edit This lively account of the history of British agricultural trade unionism is written by one the UK left's most interesting characters. R... Read More
Pat Mills & Kevin O'neill - Serial Killer Add Comment Crime Fiction Edit Its been quite a long time since I've read a novel quite this weird. And I mean weird in a good way. Crime fiction about serial kille... Read More
Charles Forsdick & Christian Høgsbjerg - Toussaint Louverture: A Black Jacobin In The Age Of Revolutions Add Comment modern history, politics, socialist Edit French Revolution , defeated a Napoleonic invasion intent on restoring slavery. Louverture played a crucial part, inspiring, leading and org... Read More
Becky Chambers - The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet Saturday, December 23, 2017 Add Comment SF and F Edit Various reviewers have described The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet as a "joy" or "delightful". It is certainly ente... Read More
John Le Carré - A Murder Of Quality Add Comment Crime Fiction Edit In hindsight it is strange to read a John le Carré novel where George Smiley is taken out of the espionage circles he normally inhabits and ... Read More
Katrina Navickas - Protest & The Politics Of Space & Place 1789-1848 Add Comment modern history, politics, socialist Edit Katrina Navickas' book is an interesting and refreshing look at the protest movements that took place during a crucial period in the dev... Read More