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Adam Colclough (3 KP) rated The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain in Books

Apr 19, 2018  
The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain
The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain
Christopher Somerville | 2017 | Natural World
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A charming and thoughtful book about life, family, nature and the joy of walking (0 more)
Nothing (0 more)
The Long and Winding Road
The relationship between fathers and sons is contested ground. An emotional boxing match with incomprehension at golden opportunities wasted in one corner, and frustration at being held to impossible standards in the other.

The sometimes awkward, but always close, relationship between journalist Christopher Somerville and his war hero father is at the heart of this hugely engaging mix of memoir and nature writing. Their shared love of walking was the bond that united two very different characters in a story that unfolds against a backdrop of profound social change.

The quiet stoicism that saw a generation of men through the war giving way to rebellion born of affluence, then morphing into the busy atomisation of twenty first century life. This could make for a maudlin exercise in chin stroking, but is saved from it by Somerville’s good humour and inherent optimism.

Added to this is a deep love of nature and the English countryside and the people who have painted, written about or made their living from it over the centuries. Somerville is able to translate this into nature writing that carries the message that we should value what we’ve got without being either sentimental or didactic.

As a memoirist, he has an eye for the eccentricities of family life and a welcome sense of empathy with the experience of his parent’s generation and how it shaped their outlook. Being reserved is not the same thing as being distant, love strong enough to last a lifetime doesn’t need to announce itself with flowers and candy hearts; it manifests in the little acts that make up a life.

This is also a resolutely practical book, something Somerville senior would have approved of, with several associated walks that can be downloaded. Even if the journey from the bookcase to your easy chair is the closest you get to hiking, it is still worth reading.
  
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Bookapotamus (289 KP) rated Starting with Goodbye: A Daughter's Memoir of Love after Loss in Books

May 29, 2018  
SW
Starting with Goodbye: A Daughter's Memoir of Love after Loss
Lisa Romeo | 2018
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
An intimate portrayal of Lisa Romeos larger-than-life father, Starting With Goodbye is so raw and emotional it gave me all the feels. All of them. This narrative hits particularly close to home, realizing how hard it is to come to terms with aging parents, and our aging selves.

This is a hard book to rate. You watch Lisa go through these feelings, ups and downs, and roller-coasters of emotions, yet I see the privilege and the money and just can't connect, and in some instances - I can't feel for her. But this is her story - I can't fault her for having what I did not.

Having this intimate look inside of her grief feels almost like spying, like we don't belong here, this isn't our story to read. But it's all part of it. But loss is loss, and it's sad all around and it's so very interesting to see inside someones head at their most painful moments.

I marvel in how she processes the loss of her father. It's brave. It's commendable. The things she does, and admits - I don't know if I could. I feel like I learned a lot, yet I'll still be unprepared as the same moments in life come for myself.

I believe if every person wrote the memoir of a beloved parents passing - they'd all be so different. Different stories and heartfelt memories of the past and completely unalike ways of grieving and how one handles it. But they'd all be the same: raw, sad, and beautiful.

I read this because I was curious... who would write something so personal, and so private? But I didn't find myself all that sad reading this. I was sad FOR her, but mostly I admired Lisa (and her eloquent prose), I adored her "mobster" dad, Tony, and I smiled at her story - because she wrote an ode to her hero and was courageous in doing so. It was like the ultimate love story between a daughter and her father.