World Book-Giving Day: February Reading List by Culture Syndicates

We compiled a short list of books we've been delving into this month to celebrate World Book-Giving Day, from classic novels and travel memoirs to a contemporary thriller set in Nottingham. Keep an eye out for an updated list next month and leave a comment below letting us know what you've been reading!



The British Perfumer, 1822
Charles Lillie, ed. by Colin MacKenzie
Archive


'Being a Collection of Choice Receipts and Observations Made During an Extensive Practice of Thirty Years, by which Any Lady Or Gentleman May Prepare Their Own Articles of the Best Quality, Whether of Perfumery, Snuffs, Or Colours.' Interested in colour and fragrance? Trade? Biopolitics? This archival text of 1822 by London-born perfume merchant Charles Lillie provokes thought on trade and imperialism in the creations of 'recipes' for domestic production. Blurred boundaries between what we eat, heal with, and wear; between nature, laboratory, and the home. https://archive.org/details/b22026290



Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte
Novel

The book follows the story of an orphan child (Jane Eyre) into her adulthood, with all the tribulations that go along with it. Apparently, when it was first published in 1847, it was quite controversial because it explored themes that went against societal norms, such as independence, equality and life from a woman’s perspective. Parents didn’t want to give the book to their daughters to read until they were much older. I’m only 1/4 way through the book so far and I'm really enjoying it. It has good imagery, it’s gripping and definitely perfect for a winter read.
-Nisha, Heritage Assistant




A Woman in the Polar Night 
Christiane Ritter
Memoir/Travel

I came across the recommendation for Ritter's 1938 memoir via the Royal Geographical Society as I looked for an immersive winter read. She is an Austrian painter who joins her husband and a huntsman in Spitsbergen, navigating precarious shelters, both touching and gruelling animal encounters, and survival for a year. This is a great read for those who want to embrace the colder months for a poetic account of the rugged yet enchanting Polar landscape of Spitsbergen, Norway.
-Alia, Marketing Assistant





The Catch 
T. M. Logan
Thriller

This thriller is set in West Bridgford, Nottingham and Derbyshire.  It is gripping with you doubting your judgement on the characters as you try and work out whose side you believe.  I listened to this as an audio book and I listened to it in record time for me (five days).  The descriptions are so familiar, you can imagine the characters on Central Avenue in West Bridgford.  T M Logan is Deputy Director of Communications at the University of Nottingham and lives in Nottinghamshire. 
-Elizabeth, Head of Workforce Inclusion 



The Age of Islands: In Search of New and Disappearing Islands
Alastair Bonnett
Travel

This is an endlessly exciting book that explores a vast number of island contexts all over the world and at different points in history. Bonnett has travelled across many of the terrains he reports on, on a journey to find out what has been done with islands and what is planned for them as climate change concerns underpin their future. For those interested in heritage, the long global history of artificial island-building, the strange uses of aristocratic islands, as quarantines, colonial, and industrial sites, is especially interesting.
-Alia


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