A Little Light Reading • Lynne Garner

My first collection of short stories
that take place on Moon Meadow Farm

Over the last few months the only writing I've completed has been connected to my day job - I teach writing and craft related subjects. So, it's been handouts and those dreaded schemes of work. It's taken a few months but I'm now missing my characters who live on Moon Meadow Farm. So, I decided to build a small library of non-fiction books that would help me write the third in the series (Hare of Moon Meadow Farm).

The first book in my new library was 'The Inner Life of Animals (Surprising Observations of a Hidden World)' by Peter Wohlleben. A thoroughly enjoyable read, insightful and it confirmed what I already believed about animals. That in many ways we are exactly the same as they are. I have also added to my reading list one of his other books 'The Secret Network of Nature.'

I have also read and enjoyed 'The Wood - The Life and Times of Cockshutt Wood' by John Lewis-Stempel. Again an enjoyable read, made easier by the fact that each chapter is a day in the year. So, on a day when I had plenty of time to read I could just keep reading. Whilst on others days when I was sneaking in five minutes there was always a good place to stop. I enjoyed the snippets of poetry included and the recipes for things such as crab-apple jelly, chestnut soup and hazelnut and mushroom pate. All of which I intend to have a go at making.  


The next book 'A Natural History of the Hedgerow and ditches, dykes and dry stone walls' by John Wright I'm about a third of the way through. It's a drier read than the other books but I've learnt lots of useful/useless fun facts. A couple of these facts will definitely make it into a Moon Meadow Farm story. If not in my book featuring Hare then the fourth in the series which will feature Badger.

Another book to make it to my list is 'The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs' by Tristan Gooley. I have started to read this book - I just couldn't help myself. But I have put it to one side for the moment. Not because it's a bad read but I struggle to read more than one book at a time. However, I can't wait to get back to it because within the first couple of chapters the book has given me a few short scenes.

The last two books on my reading list I discovered lurking on the shelves of our local charity book shop. The first 'Norwegian Folktales' is my wild card as it's not non-fiction. But I'm sure a snippet or two of the stories held within its cover will make it into at least one of my planned books. Finally 'A Pocket Guide to Superstitions of the British Isles.' Because this book is designed for the reader to dip in and out of I have already started the animal and nature section. And within the first few pages I have a couple of scenes based on some of the superstitions included in this book.

So, creating this new library has already started to work for me and the first few scribbles featuring Hare and the other animals on Moon Meadow Farm have started to fill yet another note book.

Blatant plug time

Love a short story? 

Then check out my short story collections (available as ebooks and paperback):

Hedgehog of Moon Meadow Farm (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Fox of Moon Meadow Farm (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Ten Tales of Brer Rabbit (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Ten Tales of Coyote  (ebook 99p/99¢ - 10 stories)

Anansi The Trickster Spider (ebook £1.49/$1.49 - 16 stories)