Golden Hour #028: The Book Pharmacy is open

... the Doctor will see you now

We all know people who will find this Christmas difficult. Grief and loss and estrangement take many shapes and forms, and can make gift-giving feel like a fraught and trying experience.

Unsurprisingly, I have always found books the ideal present for those who find this time of year difficult to bear. With that in mind, I’ve opened up my book pharmacy, and put together a list of prescriptions for 2023.

Some of these books are new, others have been out for a while, all come with my hearty endorsement.

Grace

This is PART ONE. PART TWO will follow tomorrow, and will include prescriptions for any ailments left in today’s comments.

NOBODY TOLD ME: Poetry and Parenthood by Hollie McNish

I was given this book following my less-than-ideal labour and I inhaled it over the course of a week. Reading isn’t going to be the top of any new mother’s to-do list, but this book follows Hollie’s own journey into parenthood through a combination of poetry and diary entries which are easy to dip in and out of. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

WEIRD WALK: Wanderings and Wonderings through the British Ritual Year

You may be familiar with the Weird Walk zines, which offer a pint-size entry point into the mystical rambling routes of Britain. Now the founders of Weird Walk have produced a complete guide to ‘Britain’s Strange and Ancient Places’ which offers different walks according to the rhythms and rituals of each season. Ideal for the romantic, hard-to-pin-down man in your life.