The Daily Journey of Reading

A journey can be defined as so much more than simply going from one place to another. It’s all those experiences we have over time, especially when they change us in some way. At the end of the year, it feels natural to look back on the previous year’s journey – the highs, the lows, the challenges, the wins. (The books read.)

We tend to think of journeys as something that requires movement: a packed bag, a ticket, a new place to discover. But you don’t have to leave your house to have that kind of experience, to be changed. (The most extreme example I can think of is the 18th-century book A Journey Around My Room by the French writer Xavier de Maistre.) For me, some of the most meaningful journeys happen through books.

There are few things I enjoy more than when one book leads to another and then another and another. (Hands up all you lovers of footnotes and bibliographies!) It’s a way of meandering through books, following the scent of inspiration. It’s a journey that could take a lifetime, like an ongoing conversation with the best of friends. Usually, it seems, I lose track of the pathway somewhere along the way. Which is what made my time this year—365 days—with the book Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year such a unique journey.

I first spotted this book on the Sherlock & Pages online shop toward the end of 2024. This gorgeous bookshop in Frome, England has become one of my favorites over the past couple of years. The sheer amount of inspiration owner Luke Sherlock shares on their Instagram is already a wonder. Specializing in nature writing, heritage, and conservation topics, it’s a little bookshop making a big impact. It was a highlight of my time in Bath earlier this year to take a jaunt over to Frome – an absolutely charming town.

So it was only natural that I order the book from them. (Well before I had any idea I’d actually make it there in person last spring!) Over the year, it has been a treasured part of my morning routine. Breakfast, tea, and reaching for the book with the thought, “Hmmm … I wonder what today will bring.” Right from day one, with a beautiful passage by Flora Thompson—an English novelist I had never heard of—I knew it would be a special book.

I kept a tally throughout the year of “New to Me” writers, familiar names, and favorite authors. By the end of the year, I had an incredible 83 marks on my “New to Me” list. 83! Granted, a lot of those might be more familiar to British readers, but it was a joy for me. Just imagine, 83 new writers who have come into my life over the course of one year. Each time I met one, I’d look them up and make some notes, returning back to them if their name popped up again in the book. It’s a wonderfully varied list of writers, spanning centuries, selected by Jane McMorland Hunter, who also works part-time at Hatchards Bookshop in London – its five floors an endless source of literary inspiration.

At some point during the year, I started to mark the authors that really stuck with me in one way or another. By the end of the year, I had quite a list. Along with Flora Thompson, there was Aldo Leopold, Edward Thomas, Roger Deakin, W.N.P. Barbellion, and J.L. Carr, to mention just a handful. That then led me to want to read more by those authors. I think you can probably guess where this is heading. The bibliophile version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie …

Listen, it’s not entirely my fault.

It all started with Wilkie Collins, a favorite writer that a dear friend introduced me to not that many years ago. So it’s a name I tend to look out for, and one I didn’t expect to encounter four times while reading Nature Writing. Then, back in June, I also learned about his book Rambles Beyond Railways via travel writer Tim Hannigan, who mentioned to me that it was an early example of comic travel writing. (Which, by the way, is one of my favorite sub-genres.) It’s about a walking tour Collins took through Cornwall and was first published in 1851. Lo and behold, not long after—on July 7th—there was a passage from Rambles Beyond Railways in my morning reading of Nature Writing. Of course, right?

When a book is supposed to be in your life, it’ll do everything it can to get your attention. Even fall off a bookshelf on your foot. (Just ask my mom!)

So now I am the proud owner of a beautiful edition of Rambles Beyond Railways that I found online from TimKC Books in Penzance. From one rocky coastline full of history to another – the journey continues.

Throughout the year, these daily passages also inspired me to spend time with some familiar authors, but looking closer at their travel writing and time in Italy. (Literary travelers being my all time favorite genre.) That included Nathaniel Hawthorne and George Eliot. Hawthorne’s journal as he traveled through Tuscany and Florence is a delight. And did you know that George Eliot visited Amalfi? So I hope to be spending more time with both of those writers over the next year too.

From there, the list expanded into a plan to read many more books inspired by the Nature Writing book throughout the coming year. I’ve planned a few seasonally: Aldo Leopold’s A Sand Country Almanac while visiting Nebraska in early spring, and in March Edward Thomas’s In Pursuit of Spring about his bike ride from London to Somerset in 1913. Carr’s A Month in the Country sounds perfect for summer. It’s a list that is still in the works, but I love the idea of following how this journey continues to take shape. And, in keeping with the original source of inspiration, I plan to order books from Sherlock & Pages – or pick them up at bookshops as I travel this year.

And the inspiration continues! After enjoying Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year so much, I checked out more of the offerings from London-based independent publisher Batsford Books. There are so many tempting options! But, since I had already planned to focus on letter writing in 2026, I couldn’t resist A Literary Letter for Every Day of the Year, edited by Liz Ison. It promises another year of inspiration, with many more meanderings through books still to come.

This one I ordered and picked up from another favorite bookshop, the Paperback Exchange in Florence. It’s ready and waiting for my tea tomorrow morning. Then I might just set off for a ramble around Cornwall with Wilkie Collins …

Happy reading in 2026 – may the journey be a beautiful one!