My October Reads 2024 - Special Edition: Outdoor Life
Living in the forest, long-distance hiking in the UK, outdoor adventures across Europe, a winter in the Kosovar mountains - and Fox & the City
October brought more outdoor adventures (well, reading about them from the safe space of my home, obviously).
What would nature be without the wildlife? Foxes have fascinated me quite a while now and I wanted to learn more about them.
I’m usually not one for seasonal reading. I read whatever I want whenever I want. Reading seasonally would feel like a restriction to me and that’s something I really, really don’t like when it comes to books. I love being transported to other places and times, so it doesn’t matter what time of year it is - neither here nor there.
The children’s book I’ve read this month, however, happened to have a very good timing. So, October it is, in fiction and in real life. And that’s fine, too.
Children’s book
October, October, Katya Balen
October lives with her father in a forest hut, in harmony with nature and far away from other people. Secret hiding places among the trees, winter swimming in the pond, night-time campfires and a rescued owl chick: this is October's world since she was born.
Until her eleventh birthday, when her father has a serious accident. While he recovers, October has to move in with her mother, who she hasn’t spoken to for seven years.
Everything is strange in the big city of London: the terraced house, all white and sterile on the inside; the school, grey and full of cloned-looking kids in their uniforms; the woman who is her mother. October feels uprooted. Anger, fear, worry, sadness, guilt and the absolute overload caused by this stark contrast to her previous life are absolutely heartbreaking.
She first has to find new wild places and friends to get better and in the end she can embrace the best of both worlds.
A wonderful, empathetic, moving story that I instantly fell in love with. The beautiful, almost poetic language also makes this book very special.
The most outstanding children's book I’ve read this year! Highly recommended!
Oh, and I’ve never heard of mudlarking before. Truly fascinating!
Non-fiction books
Landlines, Raynor Winn
(German title: Überland)
Raynor Winn’s first book is one of my favourite books about setting one foot in front of the other, so I was very much looking forward to this one.
With her husband's health declining again, they decide to go on another hike. Walking long distances and becoming one with nature being the only remedy that had ever worked. So they hope it’ll work again and they get more time together.
Raynor and Moth embark on an incredible thousand-mile journey from Scotland’s remotest mountains and lochs back to the familiar shores of Cornwall.
I simply loved the book! It’s nature writing at its best, capturing the wilderness and wildlife beautifully while effortlessly weaving in her personal journey. It’s full of love and compassion, humour, insights, and true grit. An inspirational book!
Wandern. Radeln. Paddeln: 12000 Kilometer Abenteuer in Europa, Christine Thürmer
Note: It’s a German title (and translates as: Hiking. Cycling. Paddling: 12000 kilometres of adventure in Europe), but the author has a website in English.
Having liked reading Christine Thürmer’s first book last month, I was looking forward to her new adventures.
This time she takes the reader with her on three tours in Europe. She humorously describes exciting encounters, the pitfalls of inadequate route descriptions, the difficult weather conditions and the magnificent nature.
Within 14 months she hiked about 4000 kilometres from Koblenz (Germany) to Tarifa (Spain), the southernmost point of mainland Europe, cycled more than 7000 kilometres from Berlin through Poland and the Baltic States to and around Finland and paddled 850 kilometres all the way across Sweden.
I liked the variety of countries and means of transport this time. That made for an interesting and diverse read, although I prefer her tales of hiking in the United States a bit more, well, actually only because of the wilderness.
Having led an outdoor life for more than seven years back then, Christine Thürmer’s enthusiasm about her freedom to do what makes her deeply happy and about the joy of her adventures shines through in every line. Very inspiring!
Verfluchte Berge: Von einem, der eingeschneit wurde und das Fürchten verlernte, Jörg Martin Dauscher
Note: It’s a German title (and translates roughly as: Cursed mountains: about someone who was snowed in and lost his fear).
I really like adventures in the snow. Give me winter, a remote cabin in the snow, being on your own in a harsh natural environment, and I’m a very happy reader.
This book, however, was a bit different.
When the author moves into a remote log cabin in the Kosovar highlands, in the so-called Cursed Mountains, in December, he has to learn how to use an axe, how to read animal tracks and the dangers of hiking in the snow first. When much more snow falls overnight than expected, he is cut off from the outside world.
This book is more a reflection than a hands-on adventure, with a leaning towards philosophical and psychological aspects. A large part of the book revolves around the author's self-realisation of what absolute silence, isolation, nature, the mountains and the snow can do to you psychologically.
It could have been a very interesting approach, but I actually got bored in the middle. The detached writing style left me indifferent. A pity!
However, I learnt a lot about the complex, difficult history of the region. I enjoyed getting to know the people, their history, their mentality. It brought me closer to an area I had only superficial knowledge of. That was ultimately more interesting for me than the actual story.
Von Füchsen und Menschen: auf den Spuren unserer schlauen Nachbarn – als Wildbiologin unterwegs in der Großstadt, Sophia Kimmig
Note: It’s a German title (and translates roughly as: Of foxes and humans: on the trail of our clever neighbours - as a wildlife biologist out and about in the big city).
It’s the first book on urban ecology that I’ve read. Interesting subject, albeit with mixed feelings for me, as it clearly shows how we humans are changing and restricting the habitat of wild animals enormously.
However, this book taught me a whole lot about foxes. I learned very interesting and also surprising things. For example, I had no idea that foxes carefully pull earthworms out of the soil with their teeth, or that they pluck blackberries and raspberries from the bushes, berry by berry.
It’s not just a fact book about foxes, though. It’s also a personal report of Sophia Kimmig’s observations and findings of studying red foxes in the city, which find food and shelter here. Berlin is one example of how foxes are increasingly invading cities and living between garden sheds, railway embankments and cemeteries.
Her casual writing style made the book very easy to read.
Oh, and if you are as enthusiastic about foxes as I am, if you think of London as a wonderfully interesting city (as I do) and if you like urban fantasy (which I dip into occasionaly), I recommend Ben Aaronovitch’s novella “What Abigail did that summer”. It’s part of his wonderful and funny River of London series with PC and wizard apprentice Peter Grant. London’s foxes are the best, they can talk (or at least Abigail can communicate with them) and they think they’re spies. They even have an organisation, including a strict command hierarchy. They are also hilariously funny!
I’m looking forward to November and new reading adventures!
Interested in my previous reading months?