It's here, my favourite prize list of the year...
The 2019 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize Longlist:
Underland by Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton)
Wilding by Isabella Tree (Picador)
Lanny by Max Porter (Faber & Faber)
Landfill by Tim Dee (Little Toller Books)
Time Song by Julia Blackburn (Jonathan Cape)
Our Place by Mark Cocker (Jonathan Cape)
How To Catch A Mole by Marc Hamer (Harvill Secker)
The Stopping Places by Damian Le Bas (Chatto & Windus)
Thinking On My Feet by Kate Humble (Aster)
Wild Woman Swimming by Lynne Roper (The Selkie Press)
Out of the Woods by Luke Turner (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
The Easternmost House by Juliet Blaxland (Sandstone Press)
Ghost Trees by Bob Gilbert (Saraband)
Maybe the book I am most thrilled to see alongside those I have shared thoughts on here, Underland, Lanny and Timesong, is Wild Woman Swimming by Lynne Roper. Lynne lived locally and was a regular swimmer on Dartmoor until her death a few years ago. It was her dying wish that her swimming journal be published and hats off to Tanya Shadrick who honoured that wish, set up her own publishing company and made Wild Woman Swimming a reality. Roger Deakin and Waterlog may have sowed the idea years ago, but it was Lynne Roper's inspiration, courage and enthusiasm that finally made me take the plunge in the River Dart last summer, and if it would warm up a bit I'll be having another dip this year too. I also know for a fact that several local friends have also read the book and dipped an unlikely toe in the moorland waters...I like to think Lynne would have been delighted.
I enthused a bit too much about the book to Offspringette, and my copy of the book went back to New Zealand with her at Christmas as a happy reminder for her of Dartmoor from 11,000 miles away. Meanwhile, huge congratulations to all the longlisted authors, and I see I have some catching up to do.
Have you read any of the longlist...
Any recommends...
Wild swimming anyone...
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