Haruki Murakami Abandoning a Cat Harvill, 20th, £14.99, HB, 9781787305724


“It’s the accumulation of insignificant things that has made me the person I am.” Originally published in the New Yorker in 2019, this meditation by Murakami on fathers, memory, family and attempted cat abandonment is now available in this unabridged, illustrated gift edition.


George Orwell, Rebecca Solnit (ed) Orwell’s Pleasures


Penguin Classics, 29th, £16.99, HB, 9780241727140


Edited by the awesome Solnit, I have had a small preview to give a flavour of this gifty anthology of Orwell’s writing, designed to show him in a surprisingly jaunty light with essays extolling the joys and pleasures of everything from pubs to puddings, murder mysteries to “good bad books”. Written during the winter of 1945-6 when he was recently widowed, in poor health and living in bombed- out London, they are a “lesson to us all in valuing ordinary joys”.


Terry Pratchett, Paul Kidby (illustrator) The Discworld Bestiary


Doubleday, 15th, £30, HB, 9780857529497


From the best way to care for the Terrible Man-Eating Sloth of Clup to the startling prevalence of ominous ducks in cosmic matters, step into the weird and wonderful world of Pratchett’s Discworld universe with this richly illustrated guide, packed with extra advice from Rincewind,


Unseen University’s latest professor of Perplexing Beasts.


Mary Ruefle ( 11) Golden Crumbs Fitzcarraldo, 8th, £14.99, PB, 9781804272824


Bringing together three previous collections of her prose, this is the first UK publication for the work of a much acclaimed US poet and essayist. “Ruefle’s voice and style enacts a playful magic that allows us to query art and ourselves in equal measure,” says Fitzcarraldo.


Alexandra Shulman Black Coffee and Red Lipstick: Notes on Living


Mitchell Beazley, 1st, £20, HB, 9781846017780


Friendship, siblings, gardening and grey hair are among the topics explored in this new collection of “thought- provoking and engaging” memoir-based essays from the columnist and the longest serving editor-in-chief of British Vogue.


Mind, body & spirit


Rebecca Beattie The Season of Frost and Fire: A Witch’s Winter in 13 Rituals


Elliott & Thompson, 8th, £16.99, HB, 9781783969548


“What if there was a way to lean into winter, instead of trying to resist it?” Wiccan priestess Beattie helps us to embrace the deep magic of winter through 13 week-by-week rituals and spells, including tarot and nature-based ceremonies, all designed to bring back the light and honour our desire for inspiration and transformation.


Alison Flood, Emma Tudor-Bloch (illus) Botanica Fantastica: The Illustrated Guide to Fantastical Plants from Fictional Worlds


Welbeck, 15th, £27, HB, 9781035438822


By author and journalist Flood – formerly of The Bookseller parish – and published in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, a compendium of the astonishing fictional plant creations of SFF authors – from Suzanne Collins’ Nightlock and JRR Tolkien’s Ents to Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Lethe’s Bramble.


Malcolm Gaskill Worlds of Fear and Wonder: Living with the Supernatural, Past and Present


Profile, 8th, £12.99, PB, 9781805229391


Aiming to unlock a deeper understanding of the past through the supernatural, the author of The Ruin of All Witches examines our haunted past, from alchemical dens to witchcraft trails, and through uncanny encounters with mediums, vampires and flying nuns.


Luke Adam Hawker The Tree Zodiac: 13 Trees for 13 Moons – Which Tree Are You?


Magic Cat, 1st, £18.99, HB, 9781911766544


From children’s publisher Magic Cat but designed to be enjoyed by art and nature lovers of all ages, this “breathtakingly beautiful” book contains a mystical zodiac of 13 lunar months, and 13 symbolic trees, designed to help you unearth your Celtic tree sign and embark on a journey of self-discovery.


Alastair Horne Encyclopedia of Dragons & Mythical Creatures


Amber, 20th, £19.99, HB, 9781838867348


Richly illustrated bestiary of fantastical animals drawn from literature and folklore and from cultures all around the world.


Nature & pets


Justin Anderson Wilderness Songs: Nature’s Hidden Sounds and What They Teach Us About the Wild


Batsford, 1st, £15.99, HB, 9781837330669


“Our planet is alive with natural sound. There has never been a more important time to eavesdrop on what it is saying.” With QR codes that link to recordings, award-winning wildlife documentary film-maker Anderson guides us through sounds of the wilderness, from blue whales that can converse between global hemispheres, to the individual names elephants use for different members of the herd, and the elusive whistling of the Northern Lights


Mark Cocker The Nature of Seeing: Finding Wonder in the Living World


Cape, 8th, £20, HB, 9781787336469


What does it mean to truly see the natural world? Through a series of diary entries describing his own encounters, the author and naturalist encourages us to reclaim our sense of wonder and pay close attention to the living world around us.


Frans de Waal Minds I’ve Met: From Denying to Embracing the Inner Lives of Animals


Granta, 22nd, £20, HB, 9781803511443


From the reconciliatory kisses of chimpanzees and the politics of elephants to the three-inch fish that can recognise itself in a mirror, a wonderfully illuminating account by the renowned late primatologist of the discoveries that have transformed our view of the animal mind from one driven by pure instinct and little intelligence to one that respects animals as endowed with an inner life.


Geoffrey Grigson A British Flora: Aaron’s Beard to Yellow-wort


11 20


Doubleday, 15th, £25, HB, 9781529994094


One of the loveliest but also most useful illustrated gift books of the season is this new edition of a classic 1955 reference guide to British flowers and plants. From Aaron’s Beard to Yellow-wort, it lists the mythical, culinary and medicinal properties of each plant, along with rhymes, proverbs and vernacular names. Foreword by John Lewis- Stempel, who reveals that almost every book he has written in the past two decades has been informed by this one.


Stephanie Howard-Smith Yap! A Short History of Small Dogs


Granta, 8th, £16.99, HB, 9781803513591


Drawing on the author’s experience as that rare thing, a pet historian, as well as a pug owner, this is a hugely enjoyable scamper through the history of little dogs and their humans from ancient times to the present day, including the Roman predilection for lapdogs, Charles II’s spaniels to Paris Hilton’s chihuahuas.


Stephen Moss The Puffin: A Biography Chatto, 15th, £14.99, HB, 9781784746599


This latest edition to Moss’ glorious series of Bird biographies profiles the “charming, comic, yet mysterious” puffin.


Tony Putman Bob the Robin & Friends: A Love Letter to British Garden Birds


Gaia, 1st, £16.99, HB, 9781856756051


This sequel to Putman’s birding book Bob the Robin continues the story of the birds he encounters in the garden. He has a growing following on Instagram.


Katherine Rundell Napoleon’s Orangutan: A Collection of Miraculous Creatures


Faber, 8th, £10, HB, 9780571404230


Exquisitely illustrated by Chris Wormell, this new pocket-sized wonder from the author of The Golden Mole contains more spellbinding portraits of a dozen animals we should treasure, from the pig taught to differentiate between Bach and a brass band to Napoleon’s orangutan Rose who ate turnips at the dinner table and stood when guests came into the room.


Peter John Watson Counting Penguins: One Hundred Life


Books New Titles: Non-Fiction


LIBBY LEWIS PHOTOGRAPHY


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44