Hidden Reads
December 20, 2016 8:49 AM Subscribe
Hidden gems of 2016: the best books you may have missed. Writers and critics at the Guardian point out the ones that you may have missed or not even heard about.
e.g. Kate Kellaway: "Though aimed at children, there is nothing childish about the anthology A Poem for Every Night of the Year, edited by Allie Esiri (Macmillan £16.99) – a reminder that poetry is for everyone and for every day (or night). It would be easy – but a pity – for adults to miss out. There is not even a trace of condescension towards readers – although poems are prefaced with serviceable politesse, as though a door were being opened by a friend. It is a brilliant idea to divide the year up with a poem for every night – it gets round the feeling of defeat that can set in with unwieldy anthologies: where to start? Why this poem and not that?"
e.g. Anita Sethi: "Abundant with hidden gems of another kind is the wonderfully illustrated Atlas of Improbable Places: A Journey to the World’s Most Unusual Corners (Aurum Press £20) by Travis Elborough and Alan Horsfield. This compendium of curiosities showcases the world’s lesser-known wonders, from the relics of ancient cities to extraordinary land formations. But the world’s hidden horrors are also elucidated (a British Indian penal settlement in the Andaman archipelago, for example, where freedom fighters were forced to construct their own prisons). From an underground cold war spy tunnel to the mist- and myth-wreathed Mount Roraima, this engrossing book traverses the heights and depths, the beauty and terror, of our world."
e.g. Rachel Cook: "As the year ends, however, my main cause is to try and convert people, in the manner of some crazed evangelist, to Christopher de Hamel’s Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts (Penguin £30), a spellbinding book that I have come, embarrassingly, almost to revere. I know it had some wonderful reviews. But I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s read it. Perhaps I move in the wrong circles. More likely, though, its great girth – this isn’t one for your clutch bag – puts people off. The keeper of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, de Hamel has probably handled more illuminated manuscripts than any person who ever lived, and this is his guide to some of the most rare and lusted after: objects that the public hardly ever gets to see, and which they will never be allowed to touch. Among those included are the Book of Kells and the Hengwrt Chaucer. A scholar who can convey his enthusiasm and erudition to the lay person without ever seeming to patronise, his tone is so urbane and wise, you find yourself absorbing the most arcane and complicated stuff – the history of handwriting, say – almost by osmosis. The religious texts he describes, born of endless labour and unfathomable (to us) faith, seem not to connect at all with our own times, and yet they do, in ways I cannot begin to describe here. In a digital world that cares less and less for facts, moreover, de Hamel’s book, the product of a lifetime’s learning, is the ultimate analogue consolation."
e.g. Kate Kellaway: "Though aimed at children, there is nothing childish about the anthology A Poem for Every Night of the Year, edited by Allie Esiri (Macmillan £16.99) – a reminder that poetry is for everyone and for every day (or night). It would be easy – but a pity – for adults to miss out. There is not even a trace of condescension towards readers – although poems are prefaced with serviceable politesse, as though a door were being opened by a friend. It is a brilliant idea to divide the year up with a poem for every night – it gets round the feeling of defeat that can set in with unwieldy anthologies: where to start? Why this poem and not that?"
e.g. Anita Sethi: "Abundant with hidden gems of another kind is the wonderfully illustrated Atlas of Improbable Places: A Journey to the World’s Most Unusual Corners (Aurum Press £20) by Travis Elborough and Alan Horsfield. This compendium of curiosities showcases the world’s lesser-known wonders, from the relics of ancient cities to extraordinary land formations. But the world’s hidden horrors are also elucidated (a British Indian penal settlement in the Andaman archipelago, for example, where freedom fighters were forced to construct their own prisons). From an underground cold war spy tunnel to the mist- and myth-wreathed Mount Roraima, this engrossing book traverses the heights and depths, the beauty and terror, of our world."
e.g. Rachel Cook: "As the year ends, however, my main cause is to try and convert people, in the manner of some crazed evangelist, to Christopher de Hamel’s Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts (Penguin £30), a spellbinding book that I have come, embarrassingly, almost to revere. I know it had some wonderful reviews. But I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s read it. Perhaps I move in the wrong circles. More likely, though, its great girth – this isn’t one for your clutch bag – puts people off. The keeper of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, de Hamel has probably handled more illuminated manuscripts than any person who ever lived, and this is his guide to some of the most rare and lusted after: objects that the public hardly ever gets to see, and which they will never be allowed to touch. Among those included are the Book of Kells and the Hengwrt Chaucer. A scholar who can convey his enthusiasm and erudition to the lay person without ever seeming to patronise, his tone is so urbane and wise, you find yourself absorbing the most arcane and complicated stuff – the history of handwriting, say – almost by osmosis. The religious texts he describes, born of endless labour and unfathomable (to us) faith, seem not to connect at all with our own times, and yet they do, in ways I cannot begin to describe here. In a digital world that cares less and less for facts, moreover, de Hamel’s book, the product of a lifetime’s learning, is the ultimate analogue consolation."
Thanks for this. I pick the shortlist for my book club and always need suggestions for books that are not YA, are recent but not huge bestsellers, are not focused on romance or coming-of-age, of more complexity than genre fiction but not oppressively artistic/high concept, and suitable for a diverse group of older adults. I have very peculiar personal taste and I have to keep the book club going no matter what, so I can't just go by what I like.
After I go through this list I still have to go down the list again to rule out the books that don't have enough copies I can pull from the system, which is the frustrating part. Looks like some winners here!
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:51 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
After I go through this list I still have to go down the list again to rule out the books that don't have enough copies I can pull from the system, which is the frustrating part. Looks like some winners here!
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:51 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
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