#amy jeffs

[thejaymo]

Accessions 11/Jan/2023

[ghostflowerdreams]

Book Review - Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain by Amy Jeffs

By the bestselling author of Storyland. Sheer cliffs, salt spray, explosive sea spume, thunderous clouds, icy waves, whales with mountains on their backs, sleet, bitter winds, bleak, impenetrable marshes, howling wolves, forests, the unceasing cries of birds and the death grip of subterranean vaults that have never seen the these are wild landscapes of a world almost familiar. In Wild, Amy Jeffs journeys - on foot and through medieval texts - from landscapes of desolation to hope, offering the reader an insight into a world at once distant and profoundly close to home. The seven chapters, entitled Earth, Ocean, Forest, Beast, Fen, Catastrophe, Paradise, open with fiction and close with reflection. They blend reflections of travels through fen, forest and cave, with retelling of medieval texts that offer rich depictions of the natural world. From the Old English elegies to the englynion and immrama of the Celtic world - stories that largely represent figures whose voices are not generally heard in the corpus of medieval women, outcasts, animals. Illustrated with original wood engravings, evoking an atmospheric world of whales, wolves, caves, cuckoos and reeds, Tales From Early Medieval Britain will leave readers feeling 'westendream': delight in the wilderness.

This was a lovely read. It’s well researched and well written, and the accompanying wood engraving illustrations add a beautiful touch. This book serves as a great introduction to Old English poems from the Exeter Book, especially for those new to the subject or interested but unsure where to start. I absolutely love that there’s a further reading section, as I appreciate the opportunity to explore the topic in more depth.

It’s not just the translated poems—you also get a bit of historical background that really helps put them into context. Plus, the author shares personal experiences from visiting the places where these tales originated, adding another layer that makes them feel more tangible.

[thejaymo]

A person reading a book isn’t signalling productivity, or trying to optimise their commute. They’re simply inhabiting time differently.

Happy With My E-reader | Weeknotes

[thejaymo]

I found myself thinking about everything that has happened in the world since some of those flowers were alive — all the stories, seasons, upheavals, joys, and griefs that have unfolded in the intervening years.

Flowers at Saatchi | Weeknotes

[thejaymo]

Xmas 2024 | Weeknotes

I got back from a super chill week at home. Spent the train ride back re-reading my Year End posts going back to 2012. Currently wondering what to write about 2024, what a weird year.

Beneath my soles a living death. Flint, chalk, and sand Histories hide,corners turn to stories—smugglers’ tunnels, and ghosts that linger in names. Low sun sketches shadows,field and fingers aligned. Xmas 2024 Permanently Moved Photo 365 The Ministry Of My Own Labour Terminal Access Dipping the Stacks Reading Music Remember Kids: Xmas 2024 I got back from The Chalk yesterday evening…

Xmas 2024 | Weeknotes

[wherekizzialives]

2024 in books: July

This has been a month of excellent book choices, with six out of the nine new-to-me books I finished getting a 5 star rating, plus my latest re-reading the Discworld in publishing order book, Reaper Man, I also rate as 5 star! For once I actually cannot pick out a “if you don’t have time for them all, this is the one to read” book from my reviews but I can offer the following advice: whichever…

2024 in books: July

[pageadaytale]

BOOK REVIEW - Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain by Amy Jeffs

The second book I've read this year - I'm on fire!

To be fair, I had a travel-heavy weekend which helped with this one. Storyland is nonfiction, in that it's exploring the history of Britain, but it does so through the myths and legends which pervaded the island in medieval times, passed down orally until they were scribed in monasteries or written in now-crumbling scrolls.

Amy Jeffs skillfully weaves ancient tales into modern forms, exploring the role of women, religion, and ancestry in these stories, and how they shaped British image and the idea of Englishness in the dark ages. She also examines how Roman ruins factored into English myth - the tale of "Bath and the Fall of Bladud" making particularly poignant use of the ancient Roman baths which had faded by the late 800's.

The stories are all beautifully crafted, and Jeffs expands on them with commentary of the myths origins, its meaning, and at times the local geography she has journeyed to explore in researching these tales. Alongside each story is a beautiful, if abstract at times, printed illustration using later-period techniques Jeffs learned for her PhD and this book.

Storyland is a brief exploration of some of Britain's founding myths, skewed through a medieval Christian lens which gives context, aided by Jeffs's commentary, to an England with ideals of conquest attempting to unite its island under a single banner.

[wherekizzialives]

June Reads

Nine books read and reviewed this month, thanks to the combination of an increase in sleepless nights and the start of a new reading challenge over on Storygraph; History Girl Summer. As the ten prompts for historical fiction are intended to be completed over three months – June, July and August – this is more easy going, time wise, than Fantasy February so I only aimed to read three in June…

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