Books I want to remember
Kat Arney sets out to understand how our genes work and, as her book title suggests, this is not going to be an easy task. She takes us on a journey, quite literally, as she flits across the world to meet a variety of geneticists, from those at the heart of the major genetic discoveries of the last century to those at the cutting edge of genetics... See more
James Hamlin • Herding Hemingway’s Cats: Understanding How Our Genes Work
Women fill with fury at waste, eco-apocalypse and the pressure to be flawless in a lyrical and oblique short story collection
Lauren Elkin • Florida by Lauren Groff review – rage and refusal as Earth reaps the whirlwind
mist comes right then, laying the salt air gently on the fruit, you have something that money can’t buy and chefs can’t create. A perfect, lightly salted blackberry. You can’t make them; it has to come with time and nature. They’re a gift, when you think summer’s over and the good stuff has all gone. They’re a gift.”’ Our path, our magnificent walk, was slipping away from him. Hold on to it, Moth, hold it tight; it’s ours, our bright light in the mess of our lives.
The dreamy, slippery novel melds adventure with climate fiction as its protagonist follows the last remaining Arctic terns on their final migration amid mass extinction
Fiona Wright • The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy review– aching, poignant and pressing debut
Leaves, soil and seeds. Not normally words that make your pulse race. But they do light a fire in the mind and heart of Hope Jahren. In her hands, you will never feel the same way about these words again. Leaves become elegant machines, soil is the interface between the living and the dead, and seeds, well, they are transformed into the most... See more
Lucie Green • Lab Girl: A Story of Trees, Science and Love by Hope Jahren – review
Way Out There is an account of J. Robert Harris’s extraordinary exploits while backpacking in some of the world’s most tantalizing places―largely alone and unsupported. And after almost fifty years of wilderness travel, “J. R.,” as he’s known, has plenty of tales to tell! His stories are by turns funny, tragic, and uplifting, and are all told in... See more
Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker
Gathering, Priya Parker