I slowly arose from my feasting-induced state of inertia this weekend, still a bit fuzzy-headed from a lingering high blood-to-gravy ratio, and called up Mark Avery’s blog on my laptop to see what book he had selected for his Sunday Book Review this week. Much to my surprise, and very much in keeping with the spirit of the just concluded U.S. holiday from which I was still recovering, his list of book recommendations was overflowing, not only with his own choices, but with those brought by his guest contributor Stephen Moss as well.
To give due respect to Mark’s honored guest, I first read through the list Mr. Moss provided. There were works by well-established authors such as Jon Dunn and James Lowen, as well as debut works by Kerri Ní Dochartaigh and Nicola Chester. Works of scientific significance such as Vagrancy in Birds by Alexander Lees and James Gilroy, and works of delightful personal observation and reflection, such as Light Rains Sometimes Fall: The British Year Through Japan’s 72 Seasons by Lev Parikian. Which book did he most esteem and upon which bestow the honor of being his 2021 Nature Book of the Year? I wouldn’t dream of letting the tabby out of the tote – you’ll need to visit Mark’s blog and discover the answer there.
Having made sufficient notes of books to investigate further from Mr. Moss’ list, I clicked over to Mark’s list of his contenders for his own 2021 Book of the Year and began to peruse it while I sharpened my pencil. The good gentleman reviewed fifty books this past year! I knew he’d been busy, but I didn’t expect he tallied this many for the period.
All fifty of Mark’s picks from the preceding year are listed, with handy links to each of his reviews. His short list titles are highlighted, and among them are some that I am not at all surprised made this cut – particularly Nicola Chester’s On Gallows Down and Charles Foster’s The Screaming Sky. Which did he declare to be his 2021 Book of the Year? Once again, I’ll not spoil the surprise – you’ll need to visit his blog to uncover the winner.
Links to Dr. Mark Avery’s Sunday book reviews appear in The Well-read Naturalist by special arrangement. You can find all of Mark’s past reviews as well as a wide-ranging collection of his other writings on his Standing Up for Nature website. Mark’s opinions regarding the books he reviews are entirely his own.
