Book Recommendations | Nature Inspired
I try and read daily, and it probably doesn't come as a surprise that I gravitate towards anything nature or travel related. Though I do like a bit of sci-fi every now and again - I'm a big J.G. Ballard fan.
I love to read to switch off at the end of the day, but I also get a lot of inspiration for my works from reading; through descriptive writing and the images they conjure up, often highlighting or noting down words and phrases for ideas to use as or incorporate into titles, or for colour inspiration etc. so I’m sharing some of my favourite books that I've read…
The Outermost House | Henry Beston
“The winter sea was a mirror in a cold, half-lighted room, the summer sea is a mirror in a room burning with light. So abundant is the light and so huge the mirror that the whole of a summer day floats reflected on the glass. Colours gather there, sunrise and twilight, cloud shadows and cloud reflections, the pewter dullness of gathering rain, the blue, burning splendour of space swept free of every cloud. Light transfixes ocean, and some warmth steals in with the light, but the waves that glint in the sun are still a tingling cold.”
In The Outermost House, Henry Beston shares his solitary experience of living in his beach hut on Cape Cod for a year. He rarely sees anybody apart from the coast guards who are stationed nearby. In his time spent amongst the sand dunes, he observes the changing seasons, the beauty of nature, but also the impact humans were already having on it. I enjoyed this book but I would say it was quite bird heavy in parts - a good gift if you know any bird watchers.
Between The Sunset And The Sea | Simon Ingram
“From this elevated perch, the way the landscape interlocked and related seemed so clear. There was the river, the valley it cut, the sea it fed, the mountains that fed it, the sky that fed them. And the mountains, falling to earth through shades of rust-red sandstone to the grey of their quartzite flanks, to the green of the lowland scored with the deep black creases of gully and ravine.”
Simon Ingram takes you on a journey to sixteen of Britain’s most evocative mountainous landscapes, through all seasons and types of weather. If you’re going to read Between The Sunset And The Sea, I’d recommend reading Mountains Of The Mind (that I mention below) first, as I feel like it touches on elements of this book - the history of mountains etc. and some of the people mentioned in it, so you’d have a better understanding in parts.
Arctic Dreams | Barry Lopez
“The violet and saffron streaks of the sunset had long been on the wane. They had gone to pastels, muted, like slow water or interstellar currents, rolling over. They had become the colors of sunrise. The celestial light on an arctic cusp.”
I enjoyed Arcitc Dreams by nature writer, Barry Lopez, from his experience and time spent exploring the Arctic landscape. From his magical descriptions of the frozen landscape, to the animals and the social and cultural history of the Arctic and it’s vastness, you realise it really is like another world.
A Woman In The Polar Night | Christiane Ritter
"The whole sky is deep lilac, lightening into a tender cobalt blue at the horizon, over the sea of ice. From the east a pale-yellow brightness spreads, and the sea frozen, reflecting the heavenly colours, shines like an immense opal. Where the sea and land meet, and where the tidal water thrusts through to the surface around the heavy masses of ice, the colours of the sky are reflected as brightly as in a mirror.”
One of my favourite books I've read is, A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter. This was a real page turner for me and I just didn't want to put it down each night and was sad when it ended.
Christiane shares her journey and adventure to the Arctic in 1933 where she joined her husband on the island of Spitsbergen (Svalbard). Aside from the amazing descriptions of the spellbinding environment, she also shares the hardships of the freezing climate and remoteness of the polar night, as she spent weeks alone in the hut while her husband went hunting for food.
Mountains Of The Mind | Robert Macfarlane
“The glacier had a different character for each part of the day. In the cold mornings it was crisply white. At noon the sun carved the surface of the ice into groves of tiny, perishable ice trees, each one only a few inches high: a miniature silver and blue forest which stretched away for miles up and down the glacier. The late afternoon light – a rich, liquid light – turned the big dun rocks on the ice into tawny beasts, and made the pools of meltwater which gathered in the glacier’s hollows glint like black lacquer.”
Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane is another book I’ve enjoyed, and whether you like climbing, skiing, hiking or simply appreciating the beautiful views, I definitely recommend giving this a read. It's a fascinating read on the history of mountains; the geology of mountains, when people first began to take up mountaineering, why people are attracted to them despite their dangers, and John Ruskin's encounters with mountains and the sublime.
The Overstory | Richard Powers
“Clouds of gold leaf glint on thin trunks tinted the palest green.
Shades of orange, terra-cotta, and cinnamon.
Leaves curl and scorch to the hue of cinnamon.”
I’m currently reading, The Overstory by Richard Powers - I’m almost halfway through and I’m loving it. Unlike the other books mentioned above, this is fiction. The overarching theme of the book is trees, and in some way or another, each character and their story within the book relates to trees and their passion for them. From a scientist discovering that trees communicate to each other, to a student falling out of one and creating his own games that become really successful. Promise it’s better than I’ve made it sound!
Please let me know if you have any book recommendations. I have a few others on my list but I’m always on the lookout for more.
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