"Simply stunning, the seasons within the countryside are celebrated with different lists, poems, excerpts from novels, recipes, and sayings, and all are accompanied by the most beautiful linocut illustrations."
What a gorgeous companion book this is, with beautiful illustrations perfectly accompanying the words. The history of the commonplace book is explained by Miranda Mills, as: “a type of journal used to record favourite quotes, excerpts from books, poems, anecdotes, proverbs, wise sayings, lists, recipes, prayers, and song lyrics”. This book is arranged through the seasons of the year, and highlights the country side and life that the author so adores. She invites you to join her in starting a commonplace book as she shares some of the things she loves about our natural world. Some of my highlights include her lists where she mentions her favourite collective nouns for birds (I adore a quarrel of sparrows and a chime of wrens), and apple varieties with unusual names (Kentish Fillbasket and D’Arcy Spice sound delicious!). She chooses words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Emily Bronte; while recipes included baked apples and lavender shortbread. The linocut illustrations by Debbie Powell deserve to be celebrated, they are simply striking, and bring each season to vivid life. This is a truly lovely book and would make a rather special gift, and so it has been chosen as a LoveReading Star Book. The Countryside Commonplace Book is an extremely satisfying and rewarding book delivering joy and contentment in our natural world.
A seasonal touchstone packed full of quotes, book lists, recipes, poems and observations on the natural world to keep close at hand and to accompany you through the year.
Commonplace books have been kept for centuries, and have historically been used to record favourite passages from books, poetry, anecdotes, extracts from letters, proverbs, lists, shared recipes, quotes, prayers and lyrics. ‘Commonplacing’ has seen a recent revival and can now be seen more as a highly personal anthology – a joyful place where the keeper can develop a deeper sense of self by selecting fragments of language that feel meaningful and reflect their tastes, beliefs and values.
In this book, delve into blogger, Instagrammer and YouTuber Miranda Mills' ultimate commonplace book, a carefully curated guide to the seasons. Including poetry by Robert Browning, Emily Brontë, Sara Teasdale, Lemn Sissay, and with extracts from Edith Wharton, George Eliot, Alison Uttley, Louisa May Alcott, Adrian Bell and many, many more. Connect more deeply with yourself and your creative impulses as you explore everything each season has to offer, and even be inspired to create your own personalised commonplace book.
A Country Commonplace Book features in the following genres: Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Star Books, Gift Books, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Anthologies: general, Miscellanies and compendia, Antiques, vintage and collectables: books, manuscripts, ephemera and printed matter, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Anthologies: general, Gift Books, Nature and the natural world: general interest, The countryside, country life: general interest
A Country Commonplace Book is available in Hardback
A Country Commonplace Book was written by Miranda Mills and published by Batsford
A Country Commonplace Book has 256 pages
£18.00
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