Lauren Brown

‘Raw, intense and absorbing.’ Matt Haig ‘As tender and funny as it is painful.’ TLS ‘I didn’t give my hands much thought before they turned against me. … They have been chipping away at my life, slowly, slowly, in a way I could never have predicted.’ Lauren Brown is anxious. And when she feels worried, she picks at her skin. Secretly, quietly, but increasingly compulsively, her skin-picking begins to affect her day-to-day life until she realizes she must unravel the reasons behind it. This sparkling memoir follows the thread of Lauren’s anxiety – tangled and frayed – back to its source. Written with rare wit and insight, it is an attempt to redirect the anxiety that’s pooled in her fingertips for as long as she can remember, released in odd bursts in caravan parks, on European holidays, at GP surgeries and on the wind-stung north-east coast. It is a moving and joyful exploration of obsession, forgiveness, stigma and healing, and a true love-song to the north. Thoughtful, unsparing and at times darkly comic, Hands is the masterful debut of a luminous new talent.

Do you love reading and want to track all the info on the books you read in a year? Do you also not want to spend the time setting up a journal to do so? Then this journal is for you I created this journal for me and other readers who want to keep track of goals, books read, and so much more for a year. There is enough room to track up to 500 books each year. Each month has space for a dedicated tbr, upcoming books, 40 detailed reviews, and a monthly wrap-up. There are also trackers at the front of the journal for a master tbr, borrowed and lent books, a wishlist, and more. Lastly at the end of the journal, there are stats pages to help you analyze your year's reading, notes pages, and plenty of blank pages for you to create your own unique spreads.

A portable, practical and expertly illustrated field guide to over one hundred grasses, sedges, and rushes—winner of 2020 Library Journal Best Reference Pick of the Year in the Science & Technology category “No one will be able to claim that the identification of grasses, sedges, and rushes . . . are simply ‘too difficult’ after they have learned to use this excellent guide.”—Peter Raven, President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden This elegant and easy-to-use guide is an updated and amended revision of Lauren Brown’s seminal Grasses: An Identification Guide, which was first published in 1979. While maintaining the spirit and goals of the original edition—a portable, straightforward, and user-friendly guide for naturalists and plant enthusiasts—the new edition features more than one hundred grasses, sedges, and rushes that are presented with line drawings and color photographs, concise descriptions, and details on the uses of various plants throughout history. In addition, the authors are careful to highlight the subtle differences in similar species to avoid confusion, as well as offering relevant notes on plant survival strategies, invasiveness, and how different plants fit within the broader ecological landscape. Devoid of technical jargon, this volume is an indispensable tool for those curious about the often-overlooked grasses, sedges, and rushes that surround us.

When it was first published, Roger Tory Peterson said of Weeds and Wildflowers in Winter (originally published as Wildflowers and Winter Weeds), "this book will be a joy to those wood-walkers and strollers who have been puzzled by the skeletal remains of herbaceous plants that they see in winter." And indeed, it has been in print for decades, helping both wood-walkers and botanists identify and better understand the weeds we see in winter. This charming guide identifies more than 135 common species of wildflowers and weeds found in the northeastern United States. Each plant is superbly illustrated with a full-page drawing accompanied by an elegant description of the plant's key characteristics. In addition, a step-by-step key to plant identifications and an illustrated glossary of common plant parts and botanical terms make this book an even more valuable resource. If you've ever wanted to know what those plants you see sticking up out the snow are, you'll appreciate this lovely, useful book.

Points out the colors, heights, flowering times, habitats, cultivation, and uses of one hundred thirty-five common species of grasses found in the northeastern United States, which are keyed with matching letters in the numerous pen-and-ink drawings and the text