Books & Reading Adventures | July 2025
Going slow | A penguin story | Adapting in a changing world | When Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey
It’s been some time since I’ve shared a recap of a regular reading month.
I love to read broadly and tend to dive in deeply when a new topic captures my interest. This is why a reading month can have a focus like rivers and canals or night and darkness.
In July, however, I’ve read a broader and quite lovely mix of books. (You won’t be surprised that nature, history and mystery still played a major role, right?)
Here’s to some interesting and inspiring books!
Non-Fiction Books
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating (Elisabeth Tova Bailey)
My favourite book this month was this beautiful nature memoir.
While a severe illness keeps her bedridden for months, hardly being able to move, Bailey watches a wild snail (Neohelix albolabris) that has taken up residence on her nightstand. She discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this small mysterious creature brings.
The author learns about her companion, what she eats, where she likes to hide, how sensitive she is to change of the external conditions, but also how curious and how modest she is.
While Bailey experiences isolation and exhaustion, the wild snail offers a small, peaceful world that gives her strength.
I really enjoyed the author's astute and amused observervations and liked to follow how she comes to terms with her own situation. A very moving, sweet and surprisingly interesting book. I also learned so much.
Highly recommended, I'd never thought reading about snails would be so fascinating!
The Penguin Lessons: What I Learned From a Remarkable Bird (Tom Michell)
I also really enjoyed the charming memoir about the surprising bond between a young teacher and the penguin he rescued.
In 1976, 23-year-old Englishman Tom Michell follows his wanderlust to Argentina to work as a teacher at a prestigious boarding school. What he is looking for is a great adventure. He didn’t expect it to find it on vacation in Uruguay, when he rescues a penguin covered in oil from an ocean spill, cleans the bird up, and attempts to return him to the sea.
The penguin refuses to leave his rescuer’s side and follows him wherever he goes, so Michell sees no other option than to smuggle the penguin across the border, through customs, and back to school to his campus apartment. (A hilarious story!)
Word spreads about the young Englishman’s unusual roommate and the penguin, named Juan Salvador, is suddenly the centre of attention. Whether it's as the rugby team's mascot, the housekeeper's confidant, the perfect listener to everyone’s sorrows or an unexpected swimming coach, Juan Salvador transforms the lives of all he meets. And as for Tom, he discovers in Juan Salvador a compadre like no other.
The story is set against the backdrop of Argentina's turbulent years following the collapse of the Perónist regime and amid the country’s economic and political strife. It was interesting to learn more about this part of history that I didn’t know much about before.
A light-hearted, entertaining, witty, humorous and heartwarming memoir I truly enjoyed and read in just one day. A true feel-good book for me!
(It has also just been made into a film, starring Steve Coogan as Tom Michell.)
Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change (Thor Hanson)
Thor Hanson focuses on three questions: What problems does climate change pose for animals and plants? How do the individual species react to it? What conclusions can we draw for the future - theirs and ours?
It could have been a very bleak book that is hard to bear because of everything that is happening to the world because of climate change. But Hanson uses a very different approach to show us how the natural world is responding.
The US-American biologist and nature writer uses his contagious curiosity to unvail fascinating stories of how plants and animals are adjusting, adapting, and sometimes measurably evolving. He shows the reader many very different examples like the Caribbean lizards that have grown larger toe pads to grip trees more tightly during frequent hurricanes; or how the 'plasticity' of squid has allowed them to change their body size and breeding habits to cope with altered sea temperatures; or how trees ‘wander’ to more suitable habitats.
Hanson is a great storyteller with the natural curiosity of a scientist, a sense of humour and a talent for analogy. He describes science so vividly, it’s a delight. Hanson interweaves his own formative experiences into the narrative, also experiments he did together with his son. He talked to lots of colleagues about their special area of expertise. This mix is interesting and exciting to follow, also very well written.
The author never downplays the seriousness of the situation, the looming extinctions and the challenges we as well as animals and plants are facing, but overall he has a forward-looking approach, encourages the readers’ curiosity and shows what we can learn from nature’s strategies.
Fiction
Phyllida Bright Mystery Series (Colleen Cambridge)
When I was looking for more Agatha Christie books in our library catalogue, I stumbled across Colleen Cambridge's historical cosy mystery series, which is set in the 1930s at Mallowan Hall, the fictional manor home of Agatha Christie and her second husband Max Mallowan. It introduces Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper and friend of the famed mystery novelist, as an amateur sleuth. Murder, mystery and a lot of fun ensue!
Murder at Mallowan Hall (#1)
When Phyllida Bright finds a mystery man murdered in Agatha Christie’s personal library on the first morning of a house party at Mallowan Hall, she knows that publicity is to be avoided at all costs. The energetic housekeeper has a houseful of demanding guests on her hands, and a distracted, anxious staff as well. Not impressed by the investigations the police are doing, Phyllida decides to follow in the footsteps of her revered Hercule Poirot. She is determined to solve the case, much to the chagrin of Scotland Yard Inspector Cork, and return the house to normal. When another murder occurs, Phyllida has to use all her wits to keep track of suspicious servants, guests and others, while reporters are lurking in the garden.
I really liked the confident, clever and shrewd Phyllida. I also loved the secondary characters, the staff members and others, they all add something to it.
Murder at Mallowan Hall is a well-plotted, often humorous, entertaining country house murder mystery in the classic style, an amusing, charming book and a great start to the series.
A Trace of Poison (#2)
I was so delighted by the first book, I started the second one right away.
Phyllida Bright is this year's co-organiser of the ‘Murder Festival’ in the neighbouring village of Listleigh. Members of the famous Detection Club - a group of celebrated authors such as G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Agatha Christie herself - come to to raise funds for the orphanage and judge the local writing contest for aspiring authors. The winner gets a publishing contract, and entrants have gathered for a cocktail party. But before it gets underway, a guest collapses dead at the reception. Phyllida investigates among guests who all are experts on murder and how to get away with it.
The second book builds on the strength of the first one with the engaging characters, the historic backdrop and a lovely tribute to the real life mystery writers. Lots of twists and turns, numerous suspects and a well-crafted story, it’s entertaining, amusing and exciting, cosy crime at its best!
What I especially enjoyed were Phyllida’s exchanges with Bradford, the chauffeur, and Mr Dobble, the butler, and also how Phyllida deals with Inspector Cork. She is confident and therefore very convincing, quick to think and to draw conclusions. “It’s all a matter of presentation”, as my mother-in-law would have said. Phyllida has everything under control - not only the household, but also the murder investigations. It’s very much fun to follow her, even though (or especially because) she doesn’t get everything right straightaway.
Two things stand out about the series: First, the meta-play on Christie's novels which might be, I imagine, a delight for readers who are familiar with her work. Second, the Downton Abbey vibes (only funnier). The books are told in a unique manner from the perspective of the staff belowstairs rather than the upper class above. It’s a wonderful combination for me!
My latest reading adventures
Where Nature and Civilisation Meet: My Love For Rivers
My Month in Books | April 2025 - Special Edition: Night & Nature
My Month in Books (and an Exhibition) | March 2025
I must be living under a rock, I've never heard of any of these. Momentarily I'm stuck on reading non-fiction, it just feels more "real" in a world that's already so made-up. Thanks for the reading list!
Such inspiration Claudia! I struggle reading novels in the summer ( no idea why!) I read lots of non fiction dipping in and out but you have given me inspiration to pick up one of these - thank you 🙏🌻