Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, and it is now being hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads. For details of all of the latest prompts for October to December, see Meeghan’s post here.

Today the topic is Books I meant to read in 2024. There are so many books I would have loved to read this year but haven’t – yet. These five are nonfiction, because I mainly read fiction and forget to look at my nonfiction TBRs.

Highland Journey: a Sketching Tour of Scotland by Mairi Hedderwick

In Highland Journey Mairi Hedderwick retraces the steps of an obscure Victorian artist, John T. Reid, who made a sketching tour around Scotland in 1876. Hedderwick, a witty and immensely readable author of children’s books, achieves so much more than simply following in Reid’s footsteps; wonderfully realised, her quest becomes obsessional at times as she struggles to understand her mentor and guide with whom she shares a passion to conserve Scotland’s wild places and record them faithfully with exquisite illustration and insightful comment. I love her paintings.

Square Hunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade

Mecklenburgh Square, on the radical fringes of interwar Bloomsbury, was home to activists, experimenters and revolutionaries; among them were the modernist poet H. D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and writer and publisher Virginia Woolf. They each alighted there seeking a space where they could live, love and, above all, work independently.

Francesca Wade’s spellbinding group biography explores how these trailblazing women pushed the boundaries of literature, scholarship, and social norms, forging careers that would have been impossible without these rooms of their own.

Plenty: a memoir of food and family by Hannah Howard

Hannah shares difficult moments along her foodie journey, such as when her joy for food is dimmed by an eating disorder. She also opens up about her struggle to start a family in an industry that takes her around the world and into the lives of people worldwide who help bring food to our tables. Their personal stories of love, discovery, and passion for food as a means of nourishing and connecting us all is a reminder that we’re all on the same journey.

Plenty is a love letter to the enterprising farmers, vintners, cheesemakers, baristas, and food people everywhere who have felt a calling to this community. Bon appétit!

Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to Happiness: funny, personal and meditative essays about happiness from a national treasure 

Comedian, musician & Strictly Come Dancing winner Bill Bailey brings a welcome breath of fresh air to our troubled times.
Bailey admits he doesn’t have the key to happiness, but in this book he does suggest plenty of ways to help you on the way. He covers topics as wide ranging as art, singing & playing crazy golf. The chapter in which he discusses a visit to an American zoo is hysterical, especially when he describes how difficult it is to refuse someone trying to give him something free when he buys his lunch.
Bill Bailey may not have the answer to happiness, but his book certainly made me laugh.

The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Survive and Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron

Do you have a keen imagination and vivid dreams? Is time alone each day as essential to you as food and water? Are you “too shy” or “too sensitive” according to others? Do noise and confusion quickly overwhelm you? If your answers are yes, you may be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).

Most of us feel overstimulated every once in a while, but for the HSP, it’s a way of life. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Elaine Aron, a clinical psychologist, workshop leader, and an HSP herself, shows you how to identify this trait in yourself and make the most of it in everyday situations. Drawing on her many years of research and hundreds of interviews, she shows how you can better understand yourself and your trait to create a fuller, richer life.