Booklist

Bee My Valentine

Selected by the Bookshop


It’s getting close to the feast day of St. Valentine, the patron saint of epilepsy, the city of Terni in central Italy, and (most importantly) beekeepers. To celebrate, we’ve selected a few books on those white-hatted wonders the apiarists, including Dave Goulson’s Gardening for Bumblebees, Bernard Mandeville’s immortal Fable of the Bees, deeply strange bee-themed science fiction from Laline Paull, bee-themed poetry from Sylvia Plath, lyric commentary on Sylvia Plath’s bee-themed poetry from Sean Borodale, and plenty more. 

Any of these books would also make a fine romantic gift, if you happened to be stuck for a romantic gift at any point in the next few days.

From the publisher:
'Go on, have a flutter! Take a few tips from the new book by biologist Dave Goulson and it's a safe bet that beautiful butterflies will start gathering in your garden' Daily MailFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Sting In The…

From the publisher:
A physician with a particular interest in psychological disorders and satirist, Mandeville published versions of his notorious Fable of the Bees from 1714 to 1732. Each was a defence and elaboration of his short satirical…

From the publisher:
A wonder of nature is about to unfold...Turn the pages to follow the miraculous little bee and its journey from flower to flower in this delightful peep-through picture book. Brought to life by the lyrical text and stunning artwork from the…

From the publisher:
In The Beekeeper of Sinjar, the acclaimed poet and journalist Dunya Mikhail tells the harrowing stories of women from across Iraq who have managed to escape the clutches of ISIS. Since 2014, ISIS has been persecuting the Yazidi people,…

From the publisher:
The poems in Sylvia Plath’s Ariel, including many of her best-known such as ‘Lady Lazarus’, ‘Daddy’, ‘Edge’ and ‘Paralytic’, were all written between the publication in 1960 of…

From the publisher:
Re-Dreaming Sylvia Plath as a Queen Bee draws connection between the Ariel poems of Sylvia Plath and the esteemed bee-science of her father/beekeeper, Otto Emil Plath. This reading of Plath's poetry and its closeness to a science,…

From the publisher:
Ever since men first hunted for honeycomb in rocks and daubed pictures of it on cave walls, the honeybee has been seen as one of the wonders of nature: social, industrious, beautiful, terrifying. No other creature has inspired in humans an…

From the publisher:
'This book has found a special place in my heart. It's as strange, beautiful and unexpected, as precise and exquisite in its movings, as bees in a hive. I loved it' HELEN MACDONALD, author of H IS FOR HAWK 'Everyone should own A Honeybee…

From the publisher:
'This delightful memoir is an inspiring account of changing direction in mid-life, and a passionate plea on behalf of the honeybee.' Daily Mail'A light-hearted account of midlife, a yearning for adventure, the plight of bees, the quest for…

From the publisher:
Shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2015…

From the publisher:
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE…

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