What an extraordinary book, Griffiths has such a good voice, so easy to read and much to learn within these pages. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief, nodding along whilst chuckling and blown away by my lack of knowledge. Griffiths has split the book into four parts, it feels like it is structured around the seasons, the essay length starts off long and as the year gets to the end and the nights are drawing in the essays start to get shorter, I haven’t actually counted the pages but this is how it felt, I could almost see myself reading the last chapters sat around a fire. Each essay also has it’s focus on a particular theme or word, singing, hearth, hospitality and trickster are a few examples, having this word as a focus gives the writing a poetic feel and makes in much easier to understand what Griffiths is describing to the reader.

Favourite chapters were about the trickster, where Boris Johnston receives a dressing down, I loved at how easily Griffiths destroys him, words are powerful and Griffiths knows how to use them (Tory opposition should read this book for inspiration for the next general election). The laughter in West Papua started off with a smile and concludes with the genocide that has been going on over there for years whilst supported by the western world, I was shocked that this has been going on for so long and I’d never heard about it before, just goes to show how politicians and media spin things and only let you know what they want you to know about. Hospitality was another interesting essay, the origins of the word, how it was used in the Bible and throughout history and how it compares to today in the UK with treatment of the homeless…how to spend that council money, free shelter or bars on benches to keep the place tidy.

The essay I got the most out of was due to a conversation I had the day before reading it with a colleague at work, they love ice skating and I think it is the most boring thing you can do, going round and round in a circle trying to avoid other clumsy skaters. Griffiths has opened my eyes to “wild” ice skating, out on a lake or a frozen field, now this is what I could get into, the wind in me beard, the restrictions mostly lifted, the potential solitude and that it wouldn’t cost me 30 quid to have a go. I think I’ve been converted…just gotta hope that somehow the climate crisis will given me a chance to give this a go.

A fantastic collection that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading, something to learn in each essay. Griffiths has an original voice and one that is a joy to read.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/07/24/nemesis-my-friend-journeys-through-the-turning-times-by-jay-griffiths/