Fiction: Lanny by Max Porter
Lanny, published just over four years ago, is a short, nature-centric novel that was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Max Porter spins a taut, intriguing tale that explores the tensions and complications of family and community dynamics. It is a fast-paced tale infused with some of the darker strains of English folklore, and will transport you out of the Robbo and into the magical wilderness.
Poetry: Briggflatts by Basil Bunting
About this time last year, I chose to write about Briggflatts for one of my final undergraduate essays. It is a modernist epic poem by the Geordie poet Basil Bunting, which, not dissimilarly to Lanny, draws heavily on the beauty and drama of the natural world. Its resonant opening lines: "Brag, sweet tenor bull, / descant on Rawthey's madrigal" are even better when read by Bunting himself; if you don't fancy reading it, pop over to Youtube and spend just under an hour in pure poetry heaven.
Lanny is a fast-paced tale infused with some of the darker strains of English folklore that will transport you out of the Robbo and into the magical wilderness
Non-fiction: Letters written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was many things: iconic proto-feminist, mother of Mary Shelley (yes, the woman who wrote Frankenstein! and maybe also had sex on her mother's grave, but let's gloss over that for now), and, as Letters demonstrates, a traveller. Wollstonecraft's letters give you an intimate insight into the time she spent in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and are as witty as they are heartbreaking.
