News

Traditions, rituals and habits have all been disrupted this year and now that Christmas is imminent, we probably need to be a little more inventive and self-sufficient when it comes to entertainment and celebrations at this special time.

The national message is to support the high street and boost the economy by entering into a - socially-distanced - spending frenzy, but the past few months might have left us wanting to be a bit more discerning in our purchases.

In all that we've experienced, many of us have appreciated our natural environment afresh (listen to The Stubborn Light of Things podcasts by nature writer Melissa Harrison if you'd like to relive the highlights of the summer). But we have also been confronted with the fragility of our existence like never before. So perhaps our spending habits will change this year.

We'll be getting adventurous with the cooking at home rather than partying, and completing jigsaws rather than pulling crackers, maybe. And the newspapers, magazines and television programmes are urging us to be more creative with our giving, too: parcel up homemade biscuits, knit socks, blankets or a woolly hat, make decorations from paper and recycle magazine pages for wrapping.

There's much to be said for the simpler things in life, says TV presenter Kate Humble. Her new book is called 'A Year of Living Simply' (see below) and it's full of great ideas and inspiring stories of people who've stripped the trappings of their lives down to the essentials. She describes how the experience has left them empowered and liberated. The decisions made aren't for everyone, and Kate Humble isn't berating us or campaigning that we should all sell up and follow suit. Instead, these joyful examples are inspiring and encouraging.

So this is yet another book which I think would make a perfect present (because books are the best presents of all, in my opinion!). I've put together some suggestions here and will be adding more as we move through the month.

But I was reminded of an Icelandic Christmas tradition this week. It's called Jolabokaflod, which means Christmas book flood. Books are given to loved ones on Christmas Eve, so that friends and family can stay in together reading, listening to stories and drinking hot chocolate. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

It's been quite a year and already the papers and magazines are filling their pages with retrospective features, highlighting the key events of the past twelve months. So much of what we've experienced this year is unprecedented and here's another first.

The Oxford English Dictionary will not be declaring a word of the year. Instead, 2020 has been described as "a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word".

The rival dictionary, Collins, opted for 'lockdown' as its word of the year. And there were many other contenders - 'unmute', 'bubbles', 'key workers', 'staycation', 'face masks', 'circuit breaker', 'coronavirus', of course, and 'pandemic'.

The extent to which scientific terms have been adopted in ordinary conversation has been notable this year, the OED team has said. We have all become armchair epidemiologists as we have debated 'bringing the R below 1', 'flattening the curve' and 'community transmission'. And 'following the science' has increased in usage by more than 1,000 per cent compared with 2019.

"I've never witnessed a year in language like the one we've just had," said the president of Oxford Dictionaries, Casper Grathwohl. "It's both unprecedented and a little ironic - in a year that has left us speechless, 2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other."

The publication last week of 'A Promised Land', the latest memoir of Barack Obama, caused quite a stir. Whether we're all longing to be reminded of the recent past when things were safer and more predictable, or we're relishing the opportunity to dwell in the company of someone who conveys a calm, reassuring composure, it's encouraging to see that the book has topped the sales charts.

There's a depth and thoughtfulness to Obama which is very attractive in a leader, so it's interesting, I think, to be reminded of how he has said he finds solace, wisdom, insight and compassion through reading novels.

In an interview a few years ago, he said: "the most important stuff I’ve learned I think I’ve learned from novels. It has to do with empathy. It has to do with being comfortable with the notion that the world is complicated and full of greys, but there’s still truth there to be found, and that you have to strive for that and work for that. And the notion that it’s possible to connect with some[one] else even though they’re very different from you.”

If you remember, in the summer, crime writer, Val McDermid commented on this too. Governments that seem to have done best in our current crisis, she said, “are led by people who read fiction”, naming Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland, Jacinda Ahern in New Zealand, Katrin Jakobsdottir in Iceland and Sanna Marin in Finland.

“What fiction gives you is the gift of imagination and the gift of empathy," she said. "You see a life outside your own bubble. If you’re sitting there reading your endless biographies of Churchill or Attlee or whatever, you’re not looking at the world outside your window. You’re not understanding the lives of ordinary people who populate the country you’re supposed to be governing.

“My advice to any politician is: go and read a novel and you’ll understand the world better and you can imagine a changed world better.”

It's good to learn, then, that fiction sales are on the rise. Although the past few years had seen a decline, during the pandemic the sales of novels has grown by 13 per cent. And, apparently, there was a similar upturn in reading novels during the second world war.

When the news has seemed relentlessly grim in the past few months, the events of last week have been novel and, dare I say it, uplifting. Change in both the White House and Number 10, and growing confidence in an imminent vaccine have at least given us something different to talk about. 

We need to find hope, happiness and reassurance where we can in these difficult times. I find I'm seeking out upbeat television, radio and online events - and books -  to help boost my mood.

I was pleased to see this reflected in a short feature in the 'Guardian' this weekend where novelist Amanda Craig listed 'Books to bring cheer' (I'm not able to find a link to share, so let me know if you'd like more details!).

Of course she mentioned PG Wodehouse, but also Eva Ibbotson and Frances Hodgson Burnett who are best known for their books for children.

She highlighted, too, the solace to be found in nature writing.

Although the weather has taken a turn for the worse this weekend, there is still so much to appreciate in the outdoors.

In 'Vesper Flights', the author Helen Macdonald shares her passion for birds, and urges us to look up to the skies. The lifecycle of swifts is certainly awe-inspiring. They will fly constantly for two or three years, only sleeping when they ascend on a 'vesper flight' recorded as being a height of 10,000 feet.

What we can learn from swifts and other astonishing birds, mammals and plants is densely packed in a beautifully rich collection of essays. Scroll down for more details about this wonderful book, or read my article about Helen and her first book 'H is for Hawk' here.

Another fabulous nature writer is Melissa Harrison. You may remember we discussed Melissa's first novel 'Clay' at Browsers Book Group several years ago, and gave it considerable praise. More recently, she has received great acclaim for 'All Among the Barley' set in an imagined 1930s Suffolk.

Melissa also writes nature columns in various newspapers and magazines. A compilation of her writing for 'The Times' forms 'The Stubborn Light of Things', her beautiful new book, delighting in nature through the months and seasons in both the city and countryside.

Melissa will be talking to me about this new book in a special event for The Cut in Halesworth on Wednesday 2 December. Taking place online (of course), donations are invited for your ticketed attendance, with all funds raised used to support this glorious Suffolk arts centre.

The doors may be shut and we can no longer wander the shelves of our bookshops and libraries, but there are still plenty of books easily available to carry us through the next few weeks.

Reviews and recommendations will be even more valuable in finding the right titles to suit our moods and circumstances - and will perhaps prompt us to think about some Christmas purchases.

If you listened to my item on BBC Radio Suffolk last week, you'll have heard my suggestions for a few gift books. These are aimed at children but which will appeal to all ages. You can take a look here, or listen to my chat with presenter Lesley Dolphin here. I'll be adding more titles in the next few days and weeks.

As you get ideas for book purchases, please do remember to use your local high street bookshop. This is such a difficult time for them to be closed and they're all trying their best to find ways to allow us to shop safely.

But perhaps you've read about the new online bookshop initiative this week? It's called bookshop.org and has proved very successful in the USA where it was launched by former booksellers keen to provide an alternative to the global reach of a certain internet supplier.

There are curated booklists to browse, drawn up by booksellers and reviewers and, for every purchase made through the site, independent bookshops receive a commission. You can read more about it in the Guardian article here. I've linked the reviews on my website so that you can purchase online if you wish (and I will receive a small commission for each purchase, with a further commission going to all independent bookshops). You can also search for titles through my page here. However, please note that it is still best to order direct from your local high street bookshop!