The Book Lover's Bucket List by Caroline Taggart

My review

4/5 stars

I bought this book based on the title alone when it was recommended in a readers' Facebook group that I'm part of. It did not disappoint.

The content covers the settings of mostly the classics and other acclaimed literature based around the UK. It features some well-known places that you would expect to find in a place like this (such as Bath, Shakespeare's Globe and Canterbury) but also some hidden gems that you wouldn't necessarily associate with literature at first glance. It was an education as well as a fun read.

The author provided a great mix of rural and urban areas from all over the UK, meaning that if you want to actually go exploring based on what you read, you don't even have to travel that far from home to get started. It was written in a guidebook format, but was definitely not as strait-laced and formal as your standard guidebook - the author clearly has a passion for her subject matter, which allows her to write with humour and emotion in a way that guidebooks don't normally allow for.

Book blurb

Exploring the gardens, monuments, museums, and churches with walks both urban and rural, from the Brontë parsonage in Haworth to Zadie Smith's North London and Shakespeare's Stratford, The Book Lover's Bucket List takes you through some 100 wonderfully described literary sites and landscapes, complete with colour destination photographs and illustrations from the British Library collections.

Start with Chaucer, Dickens and Larkin in Westminster Abbey. Spend an afternoon at Colliers Wood Nature Reserve in Nottinghamshire and take in the lake D. H. Lawrence described as 'all grey and visionary, stretching into the moist, translucent vista of trees and meadow'. Venture south to Cornwall and work your way up to the Scottish Highlands, taking detours to Northern Ireland in the west and Norfolk in the east - or simply drop in on the place nearest to you. Wherever you are in the United Kingdom, you're never far from something associated with a good book.

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You can buy the book here now. It was published by British Library Publishing.

For more on the author, you can head to her website or check out her Goodreads page.