Book Picnic: June 2024

Every month, GWL team members and volunteers share what we’ve read recently at our Book Picnic. Here’s what we’ve been reading recently:

Hex by Jenni Fagan

Gaby recommended this short read (around 100 pages) which is set in a prison cell in High Street in Edinburgh, where a young woman has been accused of witchcraft and is awaiting her execution by hanging. She is visited by another young woman, Iris, who is from the 21st century and they talk during her last hours. Gaby found it profoundly shocking and moving but really loved it.

Against White Feminism by Rafia Zakaria

Gaby also recommended Against White Feminism, explaining that it’s not against white women who are feminists, just against feminism that centres the experiences of white women and ignores other perspectives, and the work that has been done by those who are not white. She’s really pleased to have come across this book and feels it’s an important read for all feminists.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Jordan has been reading Anne of Green Gables, the children’s classic about a young and imaginative orphan who is given a second chance. It’s a story she has always been fond of and which she has finally got round to reading. She enjoyed the first book and found nuggets of early feminism in it, but she found the more religious overtones of the second book a bit difficult.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Jordan has also been reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, the story of a young and isolated woman who has been through extremely traumatic childhood experiences she does not fully remember, who it trying to make her way in the world. Jordan really enjoyed it although she also found it quite shocking. She enjoyed the balance of finding kindness through difficulty and recovery from deeply traumatic experiences.

May Day by Jackie Kay

Pauline has been reading Jackie Kay’s new poetry collection, May Day, which features poems about activism as well as grief and the loss of her adoptive parents whom she attended many protests with from a very young age. It’s also an elegy and a celebration of her parents and is in turns both moving and funny. She touches so many emotions and Pauline found the collection to be absolutely brilliant. Highly recommended.

Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood

Pauline has also been reading this book of short stories that features a long-married couple called Nell and Tig as well as an interview with the ghost of George Orwell. There is also an entertaining story called ‘My Evil Mother’ about a teenager having an argument with her mother.

Salma: Filming a Poet in her Village by Rajathi Salma & Kim Longinotto

Aileen recommended this book which she bought in 2014 when Salma visited GWL for a poetry event. There was also a film screening at the Glasgow Film Theatre of the documentary made by Longinotto, depicting the struggles and triumphs of Salma’s life in South India (it’s currently available on Amazon Prime). Forced into marriage at a young age by her family, Salma was unable to go outside for nearly two and a half decades. She began writing poems on scraps of paper and getting them smuggled outside, and eventually she became a renowned Tamil poet and human rights activist.

Aileen remembered Salma’s warmth and her down to earth nature and felt she would like more people to be aware of Salma’s work. The book features the story of Salma’s life and the making of the documentary as well as many of Salma’s poems. Aileen read a poem from the book entitled ‘Contract’, which the group found powerful and moving.

Weyward by Emelia Hart

Elaine has been reading Weyward, which is a novel about a woman who has been on trial for witchcraft, intertwined with stories of women from different eras. She really liked the character Altha, who has been thrown in jail, implicated in the death of a local man.

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing

Anna recommended this book which is non-fiction but not a gardening book. She found it to be a beautiful book with stories of different gardens as well as poetry, exploring topics such as what happened to the gardens during the blitz. It made her laugh but also moved her to tears at times. The author is a historian and novelist and Anna thought she was a very good writer.

Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree

The book tells the true story of the ‘Knepp experiment’ in West Sussex. A woman and her husband owned an unprofitable farm, so they let it go back to nature, deciding to work with nature rather than against it. This book is about their experience of doing that, as well as being a guide to rewilding the land, encouraging rare and beautiful species to thrive.