This was another recommendation. This time from folk singer Beans on Toast. ‘The Book of Trespass’ seeks to expose and challenge the power that landownership exerts on this country.
The vast majority of our country is entirely unknown to us because we are banned from setting foot on it. By law of trespass, we are excluded from 92 per cent of the land and 97 per cent of its waterways, blocked by walls whose legitimacy is rarely questioned.
A really good book – definitely worth a read. Let’s trespass!
A thriller set in the aftermath of a nuclear war. A group of people are holed up in a hotel. Then a body is found. The race is on to find the killer, and survive.
I’ve a few books on the side to read – not decided which one is next 🤷♂️
I really liked this book – I nearly gave it 5 stars – not sure why I didn’t. I’m still slightly confused with my own star rating system!
It follows the comedian Paul Tonkinson on his journey to a run a sub-3 marathon. no spoilers here – although you can probably guess the outcome. 😳
It is structured with paragraphs covering the running of the marathon, interspersed with stories of training up to the big day. It’s an inspiring, comic odyssey of running redemption.
I’m definitely off to book in a marathon!
In the postscript Paul references that time back in 2020, after he had run the marathon, when things were very different:
In a world suddenly tipped into chaos, running offered a means of claiming control. In a world where we exhorted to stay indoors to save other people’s lives, we took the invitation to burst outside and save our own. During this time the experience of running was visceral: I had never needed it more. That hour of sweat offered a startling reprieve from the spiralling panic of the news cycle. In the woods, alone, there were moments when I forgot the madness.
Yep, I know, it’s another running book. But you don’t like running books I hear you say. You always say they are monotonous and repetitive. Well…I suppose I have a love/hate relationship with running books.
I love to read about people running and overcoming obstacles in life as they do, it is inspiring.
But I just hate the whole ‘I got up and went for a run. I was very tired. I wanted to stop. It was never going to finish. It was impossible….oh I just got a world record’ thing.
This book didn’t disappoint on both counts.
I loved it: it is about a fella from Sweden who loves to run on his own. He actually went off into the forest and lived in a wigwam for four years. Just running and getting really cold.
I hated it: there was a lot of running and a lot of getting cold. Not so much of the running and winning races – which is great. Just not a lot about his life. But a lot of running in the snow and getting very cold.
Put on your shoes, open the door and go out on the streets and the paths. Run through the woods. Run without a watch. See your heart. Let your blood circulate. Think big thoughts.
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