Books to Read Month By Month Through the Year
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ธ.ค. 2024
- I enjoy being in tune with the seasons as much as possible, which for me means thinking about seasonal reading as much as seasonal eating and living. In this video, I'm sharing my curated collection of books that I enjoy reading month-by-month throughout the year. These books are a collection of nature writing, diaries, journals and food anthologies that enhance each month of the year by their observations and beautiful illustrations. Are you tempted to curate a shelf or bedside table with books you can read month-by-month? Do you have any favourite books to share?
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My blog is: mirandasnoteboo...
You can find me on instagram at: @mirandasnotebook and @mirandasbookcase
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BOOKS MENTIONED IN VIDEO:
(links to uk.bookshop.org are affiliate links)
A Year in the Country by Alison Uttley (out of print)
The Country Diaries edited by Alan Taylor: uk.bookshop.or...
The Morville Year by Katherine Swift: uk.bookshop.or...
One Woman's Year by Stella Martin Currey: persephonebook...
Notes from Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin: uk.bookshop.or...
In Your Garden by Vita Sackville-West (out of print):
Diary of a French Herb Garden by Geraldine Holt (out of print)
Four Hedges by Claire Leighton: uk.bookshop.or...
The Farmer's Year by Claire Leighton: uk.bookshop.or...
Bottengoms Farm by Ronald Blythe: blackwells.co....
Stour Seasons by Ronald Blythe (out of print)
A Year Around our House by Kate Mears: www.katemears.c...
All My Eggs in One Basket by Francine Raymond: www.kitchen-gar...
A Nature Diary by Richard Adams (out of print)
Claxton by Mark Cocker: uk.bookshop.or...
A Claxton Diary by Mark Cocker: uk.bookshop.or...
A Farmer's Diary by Sally Urwin: uk.bookshop.or...
The Stubborn Light of Things by Melissa Harrison: uk.bookshop.or...
My Garden World by Monty Don: uk.bookshop.or...
Farm from Home by Amanda Brooks: uk.bookshop.or...
The Unfolding Year by Hockley Clark (out of print)
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden: uk.bookshop.or...
The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden (out of print)
Nature Diary by Janet Marsh (out of print)
Portrait of a Country Garden by Rosanne Sanders (out of print)
The Forager's Calendar by John Wright: uk.bookshop.or...
Bee Journal by Sean Borodale: uk.bookshop.or...
Orchard by Benedict Macdonald & Nicholas Gates: uk.bookshop.or...
Still Water by John Lewis-Stempel: uk.bookshop.or...
The Wood by John Lewis-Stempel: uk.bookshop.or...
Jane's Country Year by Malcolm Saville (out of print)
Enid Blyton's Nature Lover's Book (out of print)
The Food Almanac by Miranda York: uk.bookshop.or...
The Kitchen Diaries (Volume 1) by Nigel Slater: uk.bookshop.or...
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ABOUT ME: I'm Miranda Mills, a freelance writer and photographer living in Yorkshire.
Nature and reading are both so comforting during difficult times, the best of the two worlds is reading nature writing. Besides the fact that you speak so well about books , we can see the dedication to it , the work of looking for the right books on the shelves, to select them, to think so carefully to present them.. these are some factors those make your videos so enjoyable.I am a slow reader, I am still reading some your recomendations for Autumm! Thank you Miranda😍😍😍😍😍
Thank you so much for your kind words! Nature writing is indeed a balm at difficult times 💚
Alison Uttley is very under rated. My favorite story is the one I first discovered as a child at a jumble sale, in the late 1960s - Little Grey Rabbit makes Lace. Enchanting.
I love the Little Grey Rabbit books too!
Another wonderful video and so pertinent for this time. With children at home and trying to work with the constant barrage of "Mummy" every five seconds, my concentration levels only allow for 'snack' reading. These suggestions are perfect. You are costing me a fortune lol.
Haha, thank you so much Corinne! Yes, I agree these books make perfect short reads for when your attention & time are too much in demand! Take care and hope you can find a bit of reading time for yourself xxx
What a collection.!! Wow. I may need professional help with my book envy. 😂. I also got a cramp in my hand writing down all these books. Next time I'll get a bigger piece of paper to use. My goodness you are good at this. I have a lot of books , but want more especially from your lists. Enjoyed very much. Thank you. ❤️
Haha thank you! Just so you know (and can save your hand!), I list all the books I mention in the description box underneath the video, with links to ones available xxx
@@MirandaMills I saw the list. That's one of my favorite things about your vlogs. The lists. I may complain a tiny bit ( in jest) but I love lists and love making lists so... Having a physical list on my desk makes me happy.😉
That’s great!
What a wonderful selection thank you!☺️✨
You’re welcome. So glad you enjoyed 😊
Last year I kept a daily diary and I have continued to do that for 2021 but watching this video has inspired me to make it more nature focused as although I love writing in it daily I think it lacks a bit of focus sometimes. I’m not writing it for any particular reason but not a lot seems to change in my day to day life in lockdown so I think a nature focus will make it more enjoyable for me to write. I am on a bit of a book buying ban but i am going to let myself break it for some nature writing inspiration.
So glad this video inspired you! I have started making more nature notes in my own journal, and I'm really enjoying it xxx
Beautiful list of gorgeous books..
Thank You ❤️
Glad you like them! 😊 📚
Amazingly well curated list - beautifully done thank you!
Miranda you are always introducing me to new Genres of books or new Authors...I’ve never read any books on Nature but now I have to 🥰 I have one book with the word “garden” in it and this book was also a recommendation from you...it’s titled “Life in the Garden” by Penelope Lively but I haven’t read it yet! Yesterday I literally crashed down on my bed with remote in hand, hit TH-cam and there you were😂🥰...Thank you Miranda,...oh no wait!!!!! I have “ I AM THE SEED THAT GREW THE TREE” that book is big and GORGEOUS!!!! Thank you for that one too..but I always forget I own it because my daughter likes it too🤷🏾♀️
Oh, I hope you enjoy 'Life in the Garden' when you get to it, Kiki! I love that one, and I'm so pleased your daughter is also a fan of 'I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree' - it's such a beautiful book! xxx
Again, an enjoyable video - absolutely a lovely idea - must start a bookcase of just my nature book collection. Thank you.
Thank you very much! Hope you enjoy curating your own nature bookcase 😊📚🌱
Lovely video Miranda. I also enjoy Gladys Taber’s seasonal books.
Thank you! Yes, they’re lovely too xxx
I was inspired .
Inspired to collate my nature and seasonal books.
Inspired to buy a few more particularly the journals and the Enid Blyton book.
Inspired to read my own collection.
Love country folk lore have you read any of Mary Webb?
Thank you . I loved the bit when you reached for another big pile of books to share with us and i thought oh goody and theres more!!!
Sending some Oz warmth to you and your Mum we have so much to spare!!!
So glad this video inspired you, Julie! Thanks for the lovely comment. I hope you enjoy looking through your collection of books each month 😊 xxx
Just ordered The Morville Year and Bottengom's Farm! Thank you for this video Miranda. I love to read seasonally - have been reading Hal Borland's Twelve Moons of the Year, Richard Adam's A Nature Diary (as well as his Nature Through the Seasons), Gladys Tabor's Stillmeadow Calendar, The New England Butt'ry Shelf Almanac, and One Woman's Year. Lovely dipping!
You are so welcome! Hope you enjoy them 😊 📚
I have the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, and I love it. I’m adding several of these to my wish list now too. Thank you❤️
Oh wonderful! That is such a gorgeous book, isn't it? xxx
I love it! Have you ever seen the old BBC/ITV/PBS version? th-cam.com/video/TGozIY2eiJk/w-d-xo.html has the trailer.
Lovely recommendations, Miranda! 💛
Thank you! xxx
This must now be my most favourite video of yours ever, just wonderful! Nature diaries is the thing I've been most drawn to reading after the holiday and your list is truly inspiring, thank you, Miranda!
I’m so glad, Georgia - thank you! Xxx
Love this so much! I agree, reading seasonally is so comforting - these recommendations are wonderful and have exploded my wish list. But what I really couldn't take my eyes off was the line of cream-colored paperbacks over your left shoulder. Can you please share the publisher/collection? Love all of your videos!
Such a thoughtfully curated selection to share. Thank you! One of your Tea Reads enticed me to buy The Farmer's Year, and I'm so glad I did. I made myself wait until this month to start it. What a gorgeous read, text and images. I'm not a knitter, but your beautifully written review of The Golden Fleece makes me think I may want to be. And what an interesting observation about knitting in Virginia Woolf's novels. It made me think of that portrait of her by Vanessa where she sits knitting in an orange armchair. I always forget that she's knitting, not reading.
Thank you so much, Pamela! So glad you got The Farmer's Year; it's a stunning book! I highly recommend The Golden Fleece, and I too was fascinated to think of Virginia Woolf as a knitter as well as a writer. I think Esther writes about that painting in her book. Such a beautiful one! xxx
What a wonderful selection of nature writing. I have quite a few nature books that I like to dip in to, but had not thought of collecting them all in one place, which I will do now! May I also recommend ‘The Magic Apple Tree’ by Susan Hill which is wonderfully written and follows her year living in a cottage in Oxfordshire. I must look out for the Geraldine Holt book you recommended, her ‘Country House Cooking’ is one of my all time favourite cookery books. Thank you for another inspiring video! X
So glad you enjoyed this selection, Penny, and I hope you can track down a copy of Geraldine Holt's book. Yes, The Magic Apple Tree is such a good choice too xxx
Most of the books here are now in my TBR list on Goodreads! Oh.. How I wish they're nearby.. 😊❤
Hope you're able to track them down!
I also have a little bookcase ( it actually doubles as my bedside table) with seasonal reads. I love to dip into a few first thing in the morning with a coffee, or just before I go to sleep. I have several of the ones you've mentioned (One Women's Year is a huge favourite), but I'm always looking for more ☺️! I'd also recommend The Assassin's Cloak - an anthology of the world's greatest diarists.
I’ve got that book on my wish list! Definitely one I want to get at some point 📚❤️
I was so excited about your video🙌🏽. I love nature writing, and you are the nature writing ‘whisperer’😁. I have a couple of the books you spoke of and am looking forward to expanding my collection. It’s especially comforting to read nature literature being locked down. 🥴. I appreciate all the effort you put into your videos Miranda thank you so much for this🤗
Haha, thanks so much Deb! So glad you enjoyed this video. I agree that nature writing is a real solace at this time. Thank you for your kind words! Take care xxx
Hi Amanda such a good selection of books some I have I was given Monty Don’s book at Christmas I am really enjoying his writing and I love Nigel Slaters kitchen diaries having always lived in the country seasonal food and nature have always been important to me. I now have a few more books to add to my list that I would like to read this year 😊 Janet xx
Thanks so much, Janet! I agree Monty Don and Nigel Slater are such great writers; I've been really enjoying going back over the Kitchen Diaries volumes again. Miranda xxx
A lovely collection, Miranda and I am happy to have so many of them in my own library and seeing them curated in this way has inspired me to make a shelf of my own as I enjoyed the Christmas one so much which was also inspired by your wonderful videos! Teresa 💖📚💖
Wonderful! I'm so happy to hear that, Teresa! Thank you xxx
Great video Miranda. This is very enjoyable since I love reading and nature. I may have to get some of your recommendations 😉
Yay, thank you! xxx
As a seasonal\mood reader I greatly appreciate this list. Thank you! I've found several titles that I must add to my library.
I don't know if you've ever read Desert Solitaire a season in the wilderness by Edward Abbey. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves autobiographical reflections of nature, lyrical prose or poetry. The author joins the national parks service for one year and his physical experiences in Arches national park in Utah and his emotional experiences with a disappearing wilderness.
A side note the Author is American but studied at the University of Edinburgh.
What a treat and what a fabulously beautiful collection of books 😍. Inspired very much by your videos over the last few months, I have started to build a little library of non fiction and, in particular, nature books. Reading month by month is such a great way of enjoying and understanding our amazing natural world especially as so many of us are seeing so much more of it during these stay at home days 🙃
Thank you so much. I'm so happy to hear you've started to grow your own library of nature books. Take care 😊 xxx
Miranda, thank you for all of the insightful recommendations!! My copy of Word Perfect by Susie Dent arrived in the mail today. I plan to read January 1st to January 12th tomorrow to get caught up, and then keep pace with each daily word entry until the end of the year. I am also reading Kitchen diaries 2 & 3 by entry date as well, along with Miranda York's The Food Almanac (which is a fabulous book). All of these books were inspired by your earlier videos from the fall, so it was such a delight to watch this special video where so many were included together!! You have once again inspired me to to pre-order some more books, Monty Don's book will be released here in Canada in June, and The Stubborn Light of Things releases in April. I am really looking forward to those two, and the Morville Years. On a complete side note I hope you and your mum are considering pitching a Tea Reads Book to a publisher; complete with the recipes baked, the book recommendations provided, & beautiful photos from each Tea Reads episode. I'd be first in line to buy it! 😊
Oh thank you for your very kind words! Your own month-by-month and day-by-day collections sound fabulous, and I hope you'll enjoy those additions when they're published in the spring. Wouldn't a book be lovely? Who knows! Hopefully one day xxx
So many to add to the reading list 😂 thanks
I’m doing a seasonal read of the 2019 release of A Way to Garden by Margaret Roach this year. Each chapter covers two months. Very good way to keep in touch with the season ❄️🌷🌞🍁🙂
Sounds like a great project!
I need that Food Almanac by Miranda York. Thanks, I'd never heard of it. May I recommend for you Gossip from the Forest by Sara Maitland. It's more forests than gardens, and she adds a smidge of a fairy tale twist
Thank you for the recommendations Miranda! I have never read any book about nature or related to the different seasons. I am going to give it a try because it seems very interesting.
I hope you enjoy giving one a go! Nature writing has become one of my favourite genres 💚🌱📚
I love this video! So many beautiful and inspirational books- I want to read them all! This year I'm dipping in and out of My Garden World by Monty Don.
Thank you very much. That's such a good read! xxx
Even if there are some repeats from previous lists, I’d highly value your take on seasonal reads especially for Spring and Summer every year. There are many lists for Fall and Winter, maybe because of Halloween and Christmas, but the other seasons don’t get as much attention, imo.
Thank you for another lovely collection of books Miranda, I have added a couple more to my long wish list yet again!
Could I please also ask you what are the collection of books next to the Sarah Waters ones on your shelf, the spines look beautiful and I'd love to know what they are. Thank you! 📚😍
Thanks very much! Those books with the white spines are the P. D. James set, published by Faber, with gorgeous cover illustrations by Angela Harding xxx
@@MirandaMills Thank you for your reply, I appreciate that. I've just looked up the series and they are indeed gorgeous - looks like I'll be adding a few more books to my wish list! 😉 😂
Very nice 👍
Love this. Nature writing is my favorite. I looked each book up and most of them aren’t available in the US. Makes me want to go there just to book shop! Do you know of a good bookstore that ships internationally? I’ve ordered from Persephone before but that’s obviously “specialty”. 🤍
Blackwells ships internationally and always has a good selection xxx
@@MirandaMills Thank you!
Amazing timing! I just posted my current "calendar" reads on my Instagram and your video gave me such wonderful suggestions! In this category of books, I'm currently reading 'A Poem for Every Winter Day', 'Living Earth Devotional' by Clean Danaan, 'Your True Home' by Thich Nhat Hahn, 'Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge' by Gladys Taber and doing daily watercolor painting exercises in 'One Color a Day Sketchbook' by Courtney Cerruti. If you had to recommend only 3 books from your list to me, which ones would they be? I can't decide which books to buy and I would love your help! Thank you so much for this video - I love monthly calendar reads! :D *hugs!!*
So glad this video gave you inspiration for more titles! It's really hard to pick just three, but I'd certainly recommend The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, which I think you'd love if you don't have it already. Also The Morville Hours / The Morville Year and either Claire Leighton book! xxx
@@MirandaMills Thank you so much!
Another lovely video, Miranda. Thank you so much. This was such an enjoyable and interesting theme to explore through books. I'm in lockdown London and finding reading about nature helps to expand my rather limited world! At the moment I'm dipping into Emma Mitchell's The Wild Remedy, which combines a nature journal with beautiful illustrations by the author, and explores the mental health benefits, too. And I've just placed an order with Persephone Books for One Woman's Year, to brighten up my month.
A Year Around Our House: In Words and Watercolours seems almost unobtainable in the USA
try 'a year in the country' by stephen prince.
The Lifegiving Home by Sally Clarkson is beautiful and is broken down every month of the year. It is a Christian faith book.
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