Spring Arrives in Books

 In January I wrote a post about Winter Books  and   I've got library books reserved about winter that I'll not get to read until spring but this was a book about Spring that I read last week - while we are still surviving winter.

Simon Barnes - Spring is the Only Season: How it Works, What it Does and Why it Matters.

This book covers every aspect of spring - From birds and butterflies to agriculture and literature , mythology, religion and art.

The library website says..........

Spring is the time of renewal and rebirth, a celebration of the resilience of life. As the year turns, animals and plants that have struggled to survive the winter find new hope and create the next generation. The season has inspired some of humanity's greatest art and many of its most significant religious festivals. Simon Barnes provides a fresh and compelling look at this period of the year. He explains the science of the seasons, which are caused by the planet's 23.5 degree tilt; he also highlights the music, the paintings and the poetry that have tried to capture it.

This took several days to read, there was so much of interest in it  but it comes with a warning...........

However, while the Earth will continue to spin on its tilting axis, he reveals how our impact on the planet is beginning to destroy the natural course of the seasons, and that elements of the beloved spring - from migrating birds to emerging butterflies - are endangered by climate change. But it's not too late. Not yet. We can still make a difference and so continue to enjoy the pleasures of spring. 

One tiny patch of celandines for spring down the road from home

The  other spring book here that I needed to read before spring arrives as it's due back at the library is 'Spring - The Story of a Season' by Michael Morpurgo. (Second of four books commissioned from authors who usually write fiction, the post about the Winter book is HERE )

This book is a look at the arrival of Spring on the farm and land around where Michael and his wife Clare have lived for many years in a remote area between Dartmoor and Exmoor. Here they are now retired to a small cottage but live next to the farms that are part of the charity started by them 'Farms for City Children'. 

Review from Waterstones website

As the weeks pass, we accompany Michael as he watches the lambing on the farm, walks through the bluebell woods, and feeds the birds in his garden in his wellies and dressing gown. He describes dramatic encounters with sparrowhawks, hares and otters, while sharing other magical discoveries, new poems and reminiscences about childhood and springs gone by.

This is an uplifting burst of springtime joy from one of the nation's best loved authors.

Another Spring book 'The Nature of Spring' by Jim Crumley will go back to the library unread - for the second time. It's just too wordy!

A couple of the Winter themed books I have reserved still have long waiting lists, so I might cancel them and make a note to re-reserve next Autumn ready for next Winter.