I am a bookworm. I think books are my longest lasting love. So I thought I'd write something every day about some of the books I've read recently. Some of them I've read in paper form and others are on my Kindle. They aren't in any particular order - it's more of a pick and mix.

1. The Way I Found Her – Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain is one of my favourite writers, so I was pleased to find a novel of hers I hadn’t read - The Way I Found Her. It is narrated by a precocious teenage boy, Lewis Little. He lives in Devon with his father, Hugh and his mother Alice, who is a translator. When Valentina, a successful writer of romances, demands that Alice goes to Paris to work with her, Lewis goes too. They stay in Valentina’s grand apartment and Lewis explores Paris. Valentina is a glamorous Russian lady with a lover and a complicated past. Lewis falls in love with the city and with Valentina. However, when Valentina goes missing, Lewis sets out to find out what happened to her and his efforts lead him into danger.

I found the first book rather slow but, once Valentina disappears, the narrative speeds up and becomes exciting. What I like about Rose Tremain is the subtlety of her characterisations. Although Lewis is obviously clever and well aware of adult peculiarities, he is still a child in some ways and we are never sure how far we can trust his judgement. Valentina may seem arrogant but, when her past catches up with her, she is rendered helpless. Alice seems like a conscientious mother but, once in Paris, she starts an affair and neglects her son.  

2. The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy by Michael McCarthy

Michael McCarthy is a leading writer on the environment. In this book, he argues that the joy which we experience in the natural world should used as a defence against its destruction. He describes how he came to fall in love with butterflies, when his family disintegrated in his boyhood. However, since then, the natural world has been denuded of many of its wonders. He argues that neither the concept of sustainable development, nor the attempt to put a value on the world’s ecosystems have been enough to stop the destruction.

He writes lyrically about the joy of discovering the beauty of nature, whether it involves watching waders on the Dee estuary, or being amazed by the colours of the morpho butterfly. He writes about the wonder of witnessing the revival of spring and watching dolphins. However, he also writes with despair about the destruction of a bay which provided a haven for migrating birds in South Korea and about the loss of wildlife in Britain, largely due to intensive agriculture. He talks about the rise of megacities and a generation of urban people who have hardly any contact with nature. He writes about love, his own fractured family life and about huge environmental pressures.

I found this book deeply moving. I have been interested in nature and wildlife since I was eleven. Oddly enough, it started when we moved from Rugby in Warwickshire to outer London, but there was an oak tree at the bottom of our garden. I loved the birds, from blue tits to greater spotted woodpeckers. One special place which I discovered in my teens is Elmley on the Isle of Sheppey. My father had built a boat and wanted a place to moor it. We arrived at a strange and mournful place. Flat, green pasture crossed by drainage channels gave way to grey water and, when the tide went out, sheets of deep mud. I wasn’t much interested in sailing, but I was captivated by the wildlife. I remember, even now, seeing adders and stoats and watching clouds of oystercatchers taking off from the mudflats. The sailing club to which we belonged was a ramshackle business and eventually folded. To my delight, it became an RSPB reserve.

3. Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead – Olga Tokarczuk

I found this a dark and troubling book. The author is Polish and, although I hadn’t heard of her before, she is well-known in her own country. The narrator, Janina Dusjzeko, is an eccentric woman in her sixties, who lives on her own in a remote Polish village. She is fascinated by astrology, prefers animals to humans and reads William Blake’s poetry. When we meet her she is still mourning her two dogs. One of her neighbours, who she calls Bigfoot, is found dead. He is a hunter and appears to have choked on a bone from the deer that he’d killed and eaten. When other members of the local hunting group start dying in mysterious circumstances, Mrs Dusjzeko proclaims a theory that animals are fighting back. She fights a battle with the police, who don’t take her seriously.

Mrs Dusjzeko is an unreliable narrator and a remarkable characterisation. Although she seems so eccentric, she is a shrewd judge of the characters of those around her. I found her astrological theories irritating but sympathised with her dislike of hunting. Although the book takes the form of a murder mystery it raises questions about the relationship between humans and animals, and that between ordinary people and the authorities.

4. The Alchemist - Paul Coelho

I know that The Alchemist has become something of a publishing sensation, but I hadn’t read it until recently. I don’t know quite what to make of it, although I might classify is as myth if I had to.

The story follows a boy, who is a shepherd in Andalusia. His family wanted him to become a priest, but he chose to become a shepherd, because it gave him a chance to explore new places. He has a dream of going to the Pyramids in Egypt and finding a treasure. He meets a strange man, called Melchidedek, who tells the boy he has succeeded in discovering his Personal Legend, and promises to tell him how to find the treasure. He says it is near the Pyramids and, to find it, the boy will have to follow the omens. He also gives the boy two stones, called Urimm and Thummim which will help him make decisions. Having sold his sheep, the boy goes to Africa.

The boy is robbed in Tangier, but goes and works for a crystal merchant, and helps him build his business.After a while, he is able to join a caravan across the desert. On the way, he meets an Englishman who is looking for the alchemist. When the caravan stops at an oasis, the boy meets and falls in love with a woman, andsees an omen that convinces him an army is about to attack. When hewarns the tribal chiefs, he meets the mysterious alchemist, who promises to help him find the treasure.

I can understand the popularity of this book. Descriptions of the desert and its people combine with myth and religion to create an atmosphere of mystery and magic. In addition, the story gives an aspirational message: saying that, if a person follows his Personal Legend, he can succeed. I am not sure, however, that I would regard it as a reliable guide to living. It’s arguable it’s better to take the opportunities open to one and make the best of them.