Hayley~ Rainy Day Escapes
The warmer weather is finally starting to appear, however, I have lived through enough British summers to know that not every day will be filled with glorious sunshine. Here are five books I will be diving into on the more drizzly days.
1) This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
Set on the archipelago of Popisho, the sky is pink and some wonder if it will ever be blue again. Each resident is born with magic, a gift from the gods. The island is a paradise, full of natural beauty and abundance. However, there is more brewing beneath the surface. The island ‘Popisho’ takes its name from the Jamaican patois ‘poppy show’ which means ‘puppet show’; a spectacle or someone making a fool out of themselves. Ross worked for fifteen years on this novel and it has been long awaited. A highly creative and exuberant magical realist novel, I cannot wait to be absorbed into this world.
2) Footprints by David Farrier
Rather than the tiny coins and fragments of clay pots that have told us about our ancestors, what we will leave behind looks very different. From plastic, nuclear waste, and the astronomical amount of animal remains from our food, what is the picture we are painting of the twenty-first century for those in the future? David Farrier explores our ever-changing world through the art and objects we are leaving behind, and what might be the long-term effects of these future fossils. As a child I was fascinated with how much historians are able to understand from the limited remains of those who lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago. As our world has become so much more full of stuff I am intrigued about how we might be understood in millennia to come.
3) The Last Stargazers by Emily Levesque
Where more exciting to lose yourself than space! Award-winning astronomer Emily Levesque uncovers the hidden world of the professional astronomer, from Galileo to the robots and AI of the future. Astronomers have long had to travel to the most remote places on Earth, braving sub-zero temperatures and hostile environments all to get the best glimpse of the stars. Levesque celebrates the heroic efforts made by astronomers of the past and investigates what stargazing will look like in the future as technology plays an increasingly important role.
4) Magnolia, 木蘭 by Nina Mingya Powles
Nina Mingya Powles is a poet living in New Zealand and her collection ‘Magnolia, 木蘭’ recently appeared on the longlist for the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2021, a prize which is awarded to work that ‘evokes the spirit of a place’. Through food, rituals, and dream-like memories Nina Mingya Powles’ collection explores the multitudes between English, Mandarin Chinese, Hakka and Māori. Her approach is often tender and personal, in one poem she contemplates the abundance of definitions for each character in her mother’s name. Other poems look outwards as she recounts the work and lives of poets Robin Hyde and Annie Dillard and their individual travels through China.
5) Dalvi : Six Years in the Arctic Tundra by Laura Galloway
Here we follow Laura as she takes her first steps off a plane from her life in New York, to spend six years living in the reindeer-herding town of Kautokeino, which at the time had a population of fewer than three thousand people. Laura was inspired to uproot from her high-flying life following a DNA test that said she shared genetics with the Sami people, an indigenous group who inhabitant Sápmi, a large area that today encompasses large parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula. More a memoir than a travelogue I am intrigued by Laura’s decision and what experiences she gained from such a drastic change to her life.
6) The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura,
Sayaka Murata, author of ‘Convenience Store Woman’ has described this novel as making her feel like she was ‘in an unstable and strange world', which had me sold immediately. The novel follows the Woman in the Purple Skirt, a small, single woman who lives alone in a run-down apartment and is noticed by nobody except for the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. A bestseller in Japan, ‘The Woman in the Purple Skirt’ explores envy and vulnerability, and is a brilliant thriller for fans of the unsettling and uncanny.
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