My review:????

Indoor Kitchen Gardening Handbook by Elizabeth Millard is a guide for how you can grow plants inside, including micro greens – seedling forms of the larger plant – to things like carrots and chard.

The book goes through things like sunlight, through flow of air, pests (mice adore seeds), and other advice.

If you’re wanting to get in to growing plants for food, and are thinking about growing them inside, then this is a good book for you.  It doesn’t pull it’s punches about all of the things that you need to consider, and also gives tips like what electric lights you can use.

Indoor Kitchen Gardening Handbook was published on 8th September 2020, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones and your local independent bookshop.

You can follow Elizabeth Millard on Twitter and Instagram.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, and so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quatro Publishing.

My review: ?????

The Gift by Edith Eger is a self help book from a woman who survived Auschwitz, and later in life became a therapist as she realised that she had been running from the trauma she suffered.

It’s a book with real life scenarios and advice for how to overcome them.  From things like recognising your own behaviour when you say someone else is cold and unfeeling, to loving yourself, and the power of saying that to yourself.

This is a very positive read, with lots of encouragement, and love (she calls the reader pet names at times), and gives you tools and thought points for how to help you.

I enjoyed the book, and at some point I would like to read her first book, The Choice.

The Gift was published on 3rd September 2020, and is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones, and your local independent bookshop.

You can follow Edith Eger on her website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Random House Ebury Publishing.

 

My review: ????

Houseplant Party by Lisa Eldred Steinkopf has some tips for what kind of plants to get as someone new to plants in their house, and then it has some projects for how you can elevate your plants, and make them more of a feature.

It has lots of information about looking after plants, such as certain plants only liking certain windows in the house, depending on which direction it faces, and which how to water plants.

It’s a good first guide to plants, and will help you think about the way you care for them.  I found there were more projects than tips, but now that you’ve been forewarned, you can enjoy the book for what it is.

Houseplant Party was published on 4th August 2020, and is available to buy on Amazon and Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Lisa Eldred Steinkopf on Facebook and Instagram.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, and so my thanks to NetGalley, and to Quatro Publishing Group (the publishers) for this book. 

My review: ????

Mesopotamia: Civilisation Begins by J Paul Getty Museum was produced to accompany an exhibition at the J Paul Getty museum in March to July 2020. 

It’s a beautiful book, with essays at the beginning that give you the context of Mesopotamia, and the objects you are looking at.

There are lots of photos throughout the book from the exhibition, and photos of Iraq, for context.

I enjoyed reading the essays, and having the photos made the essays more enjoyable, such as examples of cuneiform writing, how it evolved, and how it looks on pottery.

Mesopotamia: Civilisation Begins was published on 7th April 2020.  You can buy it on Amazon, Waterstones and from your local independent bookshop.

You can follow J Paul Getty museum on Twitter and on their website.

I was given this book in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Getty Publications.

Just Draw Botanicals by Helen BirchMy review: ????

 

Just Draw Botanicals is a lovely book, full of pictures, and is aimed at people who can already draw. 

It is about working with different mediums, and how to approach drawing plants, flowers and fruit 

I really liked the pictures, and I think if you are an artist then it would be helpful for you to read and approach things in a different way.

I’m afraid I don’t know enough about art for this to be as useful to me as I feel it would be!

Just Draw Botanicals is to be published on 3rd March 2020,  and is available to pre-order on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Helen Birch on Twitter or through her blog.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quarto (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

My review: ????

Heida is a farmer in Iceland, in the highlands.  She is a former model, and lives with her mother on the farm.  

It’s a really interesting account of her life, giving you insight to what it really must be like to live up there, have 500 sheep with the lambing, shearing, scanning for pregnancies, and herding them in for the winter.  All whilst living next to a volcano.

This reads as a mix between diary, flow of consciousness and interview.  There doesn’t always seem to be a link between paragraphs, but it is a really interesting account of Heida trying to keep a hydro-electric dam from taking some of her land, and how she had to balance her farm with going in to politics.

I did enjoy Heida, it’s an enjoyable adventure to a completely different life, and one that I feel is very apt for January as Heida’s life is so matter of fact and without unnecessary waste, which is what we often want in January!

Heida was published on 18th April 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Steinunn Sigurðardóttir on Facebook, or through her website.

If you’re interested in other stories of women’s lives, then here’s some others I’ve reviewed:

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo ????

The Art of Love: The Romantic and Explosive Stories Behind Art’s Greatest Couples by Kate Bryan and illustrations by Asli Yazan  ????

Furious Hours; Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep ?????


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to John Murray Press (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

My review: ????

You Smell! is a fascinating book aimed at children all about how we smell, what we smell, and what different things smell of!

There’s lots of interesting facts that you know a little one would be eager to tell all of their friends, their parents, and any adult at the most embarrassing time.  Particularly how often we fart.  Enjoy that moment!

It is illustrated well, and was a good read.  Because it looks at the molecules behind the smells, everyone will learn something from it!

You Smell! was published on 7th October 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Clive Gifford on Twitter, or through his website.

You can follow Pete Gamlen on Instagram, or through his website.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Laurence King Publishing (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

My review: ????

An Edited Life: Simple Steps to Streamlining Your Life, at Work and at Home by Anna Newton, and is full of lists and ideas for how to make life easier for you, with suggestions for how to easily arrange to see friends with Doodle.  You could also use it for meetings!

I found this to be an easy read, as I was curious about what Anna Newton does, but also because I’ve been reading this type of life style guides for years, and enjoy finding new ideas like Doodle, and having it reinforced that you should buy one thing that is expensive, and will last, than five things that aren’t.

It’s full of life hacks, and suggestions, so if you need some life help, this is a good book to read!

An Edited Life was published on 10th January 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Anna Newton on Twitter, or through her website.  I follow her on Instagram, and she also has a YouTube channel, where she talks about capsule wardrobes, skincare, beauty, and vlogs!

If you’re interested in other self help books, then here’s some others I’ve reviewed:

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!


My review: ????

The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll is from the inventor of the bullet journal system, and so it goes into the background of how he came up with the system in the first place.  

It’s a really interesting read, and tells you about how it’s evolved with Ryder Carroll, and then when he let it loose into the world, how it’s evolved with others.

If you’re new to bullet journalling, then this has a very good way of setting you up, and giving you insight into why certain things are done.


I’ve been a fan of bullet journals for a while now, and so consider this post one in a series on bullet journals and other organising tools.

The Bullet Journal Method was published on 23rd October 2018,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Ryder Carroll on Twitter, or through his website.


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins UK (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

My review: ????

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo is about three very different women, each with their own problems to do with sex, and is a work of non fiction.

Lina is married to a man who doesn’t want to touch her.  Sloane is married to a man who likes to watch others touching her.  Maggie is a young woman who realises that the relationship she had with a teacher was actually very different to what she thought it was at the time.


These three women have told their lives to Lisa Taddeo, and so these events are recounted to us with what was said word for word, action for action.  As no one has perfect recall, some of this must have had imagination used, but used to put you in that time and place very effectively.

This is a strong, emotional and upsetting book in places, but a powerful one, that shows these women finding themselves, and understanding their own history a little more.  I did enjoy the book, but it is one of those that comes with trigger warnings!

Three Women was published on 9th July 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Lisa Taddeo on Twitter, or through her website.


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Bloomsbury Circus (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!