Writer Alice Mah recommends some of her favourite reads. Her latest book, Red Pockets, is out now…
Alice Mah is a Chinese-Canadian- British writer and professor of urban and environmental studies at the University of Glasgow. Her book Red Pockets is a poignant personal narrative about family, cultural history, and ecology, and a quest to understand what we owe both our ancestors and our descendants.
Stuck for some reading inspiration? Mah recommends her top literary picks below…
Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (2009)
Wise, funny and delightfully disruptive, this existential thriller set in a village in rural Poland offers profound insights into ecological balance, social injustice and animal rights.
On Time and Water by Andri Snær Magnason (2019)
A moving elegy for lost glaciers, folklore and the traditional cultures of Iceland that gestures towards hope by tracing connections across generations and continents.
Elixir by Kapka Kassabova (2024)
A search for healing through wild plants and place-based knowledge on a journey from Scotland to the Mesta Valley in Bulgaria.
Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica J Lee (2019)
A poetic, evocative journey of personal reconnection through the inspiring natural and cultural landscapes of Taiwan.
The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh (2016)
Keenly observed and remarkably prescient, this book asks why climate change has been downplayed in literature, culture and politics.
Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh (2021)
A moving account of both the traumatic legacy of Northern Ireland’s Troubles and the restorative power of nature.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (2013)
This beautiful novel reflects on loss, spiritual yearning and transcultural belonging in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Regenesis by George Monbiot (2022)
A brave and unflinching examination of the myriad environmental problems associated with farming and a passionate plea to change the food system.
