Kate Summerscale

my favourite reads of November 2025

Art Work by Sally Mann (2025)

Part memoir and part advice to young photographers and artists of all kinds.

I wasn’t familiar with Sally Mann or her work before stumbling across this book, but I found her really funny and interesting and wise. 

Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (2006)

Short pieces on film-making, transcendental meditation, reminiscences and his philosophies on life. 

I didn’t like it as much as Sally Mann’s Art Work, but I enjoyed his perspective. It’s just a book, of course, but I get the feeling he was a pretty decent, thoughtful kind of guy.

Every Salad Ever by Greta Podleski (2025)

I’ve always avoided those Looneyspoons cookbooks because the cartoons and overwhelming punniness are definitely not my thing, but this is cartoon-free and minimally punny and the recipes are very do-able in terms of time, effort and ordinary ingredients. I also like that the author wanted to keep it Canadian and off of Amazon. Gotta love a person with principles.

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession (2019)

Follows two quiet, gentle bachelors through some ordinary ups-and-downs of life. 

I kept waiting for terrible characters to come along and hurt them, but this is a world populated by mostly good and kind people. It’s a nice, ordinary story about nice, ordinary people.

Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham (1931)

Albert Campion helps the Gyrth family save an ancient chalice, a family heirloom, from thieves contracted to steal it for a wealthy buyer.

Very entertaining. I’m starting to think Margery Allingham might be my favourite author from The Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

A huge thanks to the Edmonton Public Library for sending a copy all the way to NS.

The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale (2024)

The fascinating and enraging story of the horrific murders committed by Reg Christie in London in the 1950s, as well as the effects that covering the story had on journalists and journalism.

Excellent, compelling reading, just like all Kate Summerscale’s books.

what I read in June 2022

Bare Minimum Dinners by Jenna Helwig
2021

I wholeheartedly support the philosophy of just doing enough cooking to get by – god, I am so sick of preparing meals every single day for 30 years – but most of the recipes were very meaty.

The Best Cast Iron Baking Book by Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore
2021

At least one of those godforsaken meals I prepare every single godforsaken day is cooked in one of my grandmother’s cast iron pans so this was right up my street.

Body Harmony by Nicole Berrie
2022

If you, like the author, are heavily into juicing, food combining rules, and sitting on the table with your bare feet beside the bowl of salad you’re tossing, then this book is for you.

Charles Dowding’s Skills for Growing
2022

A really enjoyable, informative book on vegetable growing. I love his spirit of experimentation.

Cookies: The New Classics by Jesse Szewczyk
2021

Some interesting ideas, but I think I prefer the old classics.

Down to Earth by Lauren Liess
2019

Decorating for rich people with homes that are already extraordinary.

Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
1927

Young Judith Earle grows up next to a country house occupied by five cousins slightly older than her and longs to fit in with them. The complicated relationships among them all continue into their twenties, with immature, naïve Judith learning hard life lessons along the way.

I wasn’t sure about this one at first, but it grew on me. It’s surprisingly modern for a book written almost a hundred years ago.

Flea Market Garden Style by Caroline McKenzie
2022

Books like this always confuse me. Are there really people who decorate their yards with mirrors and rugs and pillows and such? Do they carry them in and out of the house every day or they do they leave everything outside to be ruined within a week?

From Burnout to Balance by Patricia Bannan
2022

Filled with such groundbreaking advice as: eat lots of vegetables, get enough sleep, find a kind of movement you enjoy and do it, etc.

Get Messy Art by Caylee Grey
2021

I expected this to be about lightening up on expectations for artmaking in general, but it’s about creating art journals, which is fine, but not a particular interest of mine.

Knit Like a Latvian…Accessories by Ieva Ozoliņa
2021

Not many patterns I’d make, but I love the colourwork charts. Really lovely work.

Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace by Kate Summerscale
2012

True story: In the mid-19th century, Isabella Robinson was trapped in a marriage to a philandering, money-grubbing, uncaring arsehole and made the mistake of confessing to her journal her lust for the other men in her life. Mr Robinson snooped through the journal while she was ill, became outraged, and took her to divorce court with the journal as a very public Exhibit A.

Depressing and infuriating, but it’s my pick for most fascinating of the month, for sure.