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RHS Little Book of Small-Space Gardening

Anyone else stuck in Lockdown Berlin, nomading between crowded parks, barred from almost any allotment waiting list and sadly contemplating where to get their nature fix from now? Fear not - Katy Maguire is here to help! Because even if the only outdoor space you can claim is a north-facing measly window sill up on the 14th floor (you actually have pretty good light on the 14th floor - ed), she has got some suggestions for you. Fundamentally optimistic and pragmatic, this little book is a great help to get you started on the adventure of growing plants: full of good advice, encouragement - and even an instruction on how to create a small pond on your balcony.

Confessions of the Fox

There is something very unique and important about the way that Rosenberg's debut novel tampers with history. Its hero, Jack Sheppard, is one of the most notorious criminals London history has to offer - he is also, at least in this story, trans. From this slight but significant change onwards unspools a strange, mischievous thing that interlaces the trans experience with the precarious state of being a rogue and life in (and of) the city. By placing all of this inside the narrative frame of a historian discovering the material and encountering all sorts of discrimination on his journey to publish it, Rosenberg cleverly lends a modern political (but still funny) context to his playful agenda. I was in awe of the elegance and ease with which he brings all these seemingly disparate elements together - if I'm taking one star off, it is only because the thread of the plot gets lost a bit in the second half. But this one is more about atmosphere than plot anyways: and in that, it excels.

Polysecure

It's the same old story: as children we look for reference figures who can guarantee our survival. But most of the time things do not work out as they should. The result? Unbalanced attachment patterns. Our love relationships become a battleground, where we have a whole arsenal of emotional weapons at our disposal, ranging from self-isolation to complete annihilation. The key word is "insecurity". The situation is already complicated if we are talking about monogamous relationships, but what happens if the paradigm shifts from the monogamous mindset to that of polyamory, when the imperative becomes I'm with you because you are special and unique, but not the only one? That is what Jessica Fern explains in this The Ethical Slut 2.0, applying attachment theory to CNM (acronym for Consensual Non-monogamy). The bottom line? "The establishment of a secure relationship with our self is needed to fully embody healthy attachment with others". Well... Amen!

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

Nic has lived in many flats with her dad and in many cities they have barely arrived when they have to leave again to get used to a new place and a new home. Making friends is hard, and not just because of the many changes of location, Nic and her dad are Remarkable in the Unremarkable world. Manifestors with the gift. Nic hopes that on her twelfth birthday her dad will finally start teaching her how to use her gift. But her dad is keeping a lot of secrets.
And there's this powerful prophecy...
Angie Thomas creates an enchanting, magical world and skilfully weaves folktales from the African diaspora and American history into the start of her magnificent fantasy trilogy about Nic Blake.

A Village in the Third Reich

We might all once have felt that the moment of saturation for books about the Third Reich might be approaching when British writers start writing fairy in depth histories of not very significant Bavarian villages during the period. And Julia Boyd is not even the first British person to analyse the social history of smaller places in the era (I think Ian Kershaw might be able to make that claim). This book is however a valuable and well-written addition to the popular history of Nazi Germany. Boyd's cast of characters is kept small enough to mean you begin to understand the internal politics of the village and she faithfully tells stories in an unembellished way. Boyd is not an academic and it sometimes shows in both positive and negative ways. There are a few small inaccuracies in the book but her empathy for her characters shines through (occasionally to an almost jarring extent). In short, even if this is the moment of saturation, I think we might be best off just adding more water.

The Club

I don't believe in full-on hatchet jobs (and especially not on debut novels) but just occasionally one reads a book so bad that it is genuinely perplexing that it ever got published. Würger's debut takes place in Cambridge, where he apparently also studied. This biographical fact seems odd given that Charlotte Collins (the excellent translator of this book) had to rework it in order that its manifold inaccuracices would not be too disturbing for a British reader.
Its leaden plot, whose only purpose is to provide access to the setting of posh Cambridge, further bleakens the picture and to top it all, once within this setting, Würger himself can't resist the racism of those he pretends to satirise. The corrupt African prince, and nerdy, perpetually masturbating Chinese student are such crass and offensive cliches that they render a book already inaccurate and boring actively reprehensible. There are great young German novelists out there. Takis Würger is not (yet?) among them.

Wish I Was Here

Renowned science fiction writer M. John Harrison looks back on his impressive career and reflects on his life as well as his stance on literature and writing - what might sound like a fairly straightforward and possibly lacklustre endeavour ends up being the complete opposite. As Harrison is skeptical about the memoir itself (he calls his an "anti-memoir"), reading "Wish I was here" feels like finding a bunch of blurry snapshots in an old box, all out of order or context. The passages in which he lays out political ideas or describes his writing process cut through this dreamlike scenario like a knife; not only because of how precisely they are phrased, but also because of how interesting, unusual and sometimes provocative they are (in a good way). I can safely say I've never read a memoir - or a creative writing guidebook - that comes close to this one!

The Lies That Bind

When we think about how to sum up identity, we most likely think about such markers as nationality, religion, sexuality or skin colour. But how fitting are these labels to actually identify us? In his thought-provoking and well-argued book, Appiah sets out to demolish most of these identifiers, arguing that most people are much more diverse and can often lay claim to several or contradicting labels. Most of them date back to colonial times and may have lived out their usefulness ages ago. Drawing on history and sociology and often taking himself as an example, Appiah makes a strong and enlightening case for coming up with better terms in order to identify multi-faceted humanity.

Why the Germans Do It Better

Despite its unambiguous-sounding title, this is a book marked out by its nuanced approach. Kampfner, a British journalist with German-Jewish ancestry, who lived in Bonn in the 1980s, combines his own observations as a (now) outsider with a series of interviews with subjects from across German society, and is fully aware that saying "Germans do it perfectly' would not be the right title. Better is the keyword and he mainly means better than the US and better than the UK.

From history to immigration to the economy, Kampfner handles complex and sometimes controversial topics with an experienced journalist's skill for explaining without dumbing down and a lightness of style that makes this book far more compelling than I had initially imagined (I read it in little more than one sitting). A fantastic introduction to Germany for the uninitiated and a useful reminder for the very familiar that while Germany may not be perfect, it is far better off than Kampfner's (any my) native Britain.

Come as You Are

Rightly seen as a modern classic on the subject, Nagoski sets out to reframe most of what we thought we knew about sex. Aided by a long career as a sex educator and scientist, the author briskly sets out to measure up myths about sexuality to the actual science behind it. The more theoretical parts of the book are interspersed with the case studies of three different women, who struggled with their sex lives and came to Nagoski for help. A fair amount of what she explains is truly astonishing and likely to make the reader rethink her/his entire approach to sex. The book also includes questionnaires and tasks, which will help in this regard. My only caveat is Nagoski's overly bubbly and chummy style, which tends to put strong emphasis on click-bait structure and overwrought and sligtly confusing metaphors around gardening. Considering the input though, this is a minor squibble and doesn't detract from the book's overall achievement.

Kala

This is a compelling combination - a coming of age story and a thriller. I especially enjoyed the interweaving of flashbacks and present day and the different voices of the three narrators - Helen, Mush and Joe.

The Examiner

I was entertained from the start and didn´t want to stop reading, constantly awaiting what would be revealed next. There were satisfying twists and an ending that wrapped up nicely. I love a case written via a series of emails, texts, IMs and this time grading assignments!

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