RLB’s weekly recommendations
Charlie Mackesy, was an artist, cartoonist and book illustrator when he first started posting a series of unique drawings on Instagram. They highlighted simple truths – like the courage it can take to ask for help or the importance of taking that first step to a distant destination. The drawings became an online sensation shared … Continue reading Book of the week, November 23rd 2019
Orford Ness, the 10-mile-long shingle spit the stretches down from Aldeburgh is a strange, ever shifting landscape and a unique habitat for wildlife now looked after by the National Trust. For most of the 20th century it was one of the most secret experimental military sites in the country and rusting army relics are scattered … Continue reading Book of the Week, November 16th 2019
Schizophrenia is the most dramatic and terrifying of mental health conditions. It is probably also the most misunderstood. Nathan Filer, a mental health nurse, takes us into the ward to meet some of the people his has cared for and in doing so blows away much of the stigma and confusion that surround mental illness. … Continue reading Book of the Week, November 9th 2019
‘The Book of Dust‘ Volume Two This is the second book of a sequence that follows the enormously popular fantasy trilogy, ‘His Dark Materials’– coming to a TV screen near you very soon. In the first, Lyra was a baby, saved from a flooded world by 11-year-old Malcolm. Now Lyra is 20 and a student … Continue reading Book of the Week, November 2nd 2019
Fifty years ago John le Carre’s spy novels defined the genre. His latest is set in 2018 and the themes are entirely contemporary. Nat is an aging MI6 spymaster and after 25 years of recruiting and running agents in Europe he is withdrawn from the field and shuffled off to a low-profile desk job in … Continue reading Book of the Week, October 26th 2019
We may be made of over 70% water but microscopic amounts of a vast array of rare elements are needed to make a fully functioning adult human and the to buy all the raw materials would cost over £95,000. Our bodies are a miracle of design and packaging. Unpacked our lungs would cover a tennis … Continue reading Book of the Week, October 19th 2019