The Little Book of Murder - Neil R. Storey

'The cases of murder spattered across the pages of history provide a dark mirror for so many aspects of the less seemly world of the past.'

Written by true crime historian Neil R. Storey, The Little Book of Murder brings together in one slim hardback volume the details of many chilling, horrifying and terrible murderous crimes from history, including unusual facts and trivia about some of these cases and about the perpetrators, and featuring numerous black and white sketches alongside the text. 

The contents of the book are divided into twelve sections, including 'Serial Killers', 'Murder not Proven', 'Infamous Murders', and 'Poisoners - Masters of the Silent Killer.' The part entitled 'Murderous Britain' is divided into regions, with details of crimes given according to where they occurred. 'The Black Museum' chapter lists the fascinating and sometimes bizarre items that are held in various crime museums and private collections across the world, including the Crime Museum at Scotland Yard, from knives and guns to a rolling pin and a tin opener. The pages within 'A Date with Murder' allow you to identify crimes with reference to the date they were committed.

The author states in his introduction that the book 'is aimed at all those armchair crime buffs who, like me, occasionally scratch their heads and try to recall the basic facts of some notorious or curious case of murder from the past.'

It's one of those books which you can very easily dip into, intending to read just an excerpt or two, but then find yourself reading just a little more as it's so gruesomely fascinating…! There were many that I had heard of through other books I've read, the Ratcliffe Highway Murders and the Road Hill House Murder being two examples, or through films I've seen, such as  Fritz Lang's 'M' about the Monster of Duesseldorf, and there were many that I hadn't heard of before. If this book leaves you wanting more, the author has included suggestions at the back of the book for further reading, and has also listed 'some cinema and TV films based on true murder cases.'

Even though reading about some of these murders frightens me, and I don't recommend reading this book last thing at night or in a dark place alone unless you're of a strong constitution, there is a macabre intrigue to these accounts and an ongoing fascination with such notorious crimes. It will appeal greatly to curious readers, whether crime fiction enthusiasts or true crime fact fans, who have a craving for more information about crime scenes, murderers and their victims, unsolved mysteries, and detecting criminals.  

Source - review copy

Publisher - The History Press

Poems to Learn by Heart - Ana Sampson

'To store up a memory bank of poems is to build up your own unique library for life. The verses are your personal armoury…' - Ana Sampson

I don't read as much poetry as I'd like to, so when I do read some, I often reach for a collection like this, which offers a mix that I can dip in to, and then prompts me to revisit my shelves/a bookshop/the library to read more from a favourite or someone I have newly discovered. I personally found this an interesting, varied, enjoyable and satisfying selection, with some of my favourite poems included, as well as some I knew a little of, and then some that I didn't know at all before reading them here. 

The poems here are grouped into nineteen chapters, each with a theme, and each theme has a short passage introducing it and relating it to the medium of poetry. There's magic, adventure, love, reflection, family, death, war, courage, faith, advice, anger, nature and more. At the end of some of the sets of poems grouped under a particular theme, there is a quote relating to poetry and to learning it. At the back there's an index of poets and an index of titles, first lines and well-known lines.

When I pick up a book like this, it always reminds me of the joy of poetry and how some poems capture a moment, a dream, a thought or an emotion perfectly sometimes.

The focus here is on the idea of having some of these poems that you love, or connect most with, stored in your mind so that you can bring the words to mind whenever, wherever you are. The compiler writes: ' I hope that you will discover and cherish the pleasures of learning and knowing poetry by heart.' I remember learning a lot of poems as a schoolchild, and though there was always the element of 'having' to know them for the purposes of reproducting elements of them in essays and exams, I've found as the years have gone by that some of the poems I learnt back then have always stayed with me, and indeed mean more to me now than they did then. 

As with any such collection, there are always omissions, but there is certainly a broad enough selection here to prompt me to investigate some of the poets further, and also to return to my own copies of more in-depth collections by my favourites, such as Dylan Thomas and John Donne. For some of the longer poems featured here just an extract is given. 

This is a very nicely presented hardback volume; it would be lovely to give as a gift to someone special, to someone who is interested in poetry and is looking for an accessible place to start, or indeed as a gift to yourself! There's a place on the endpaper to write who it is a gift for, and who it is from, should you wish to. This is a book that I will treasure.

Some of my favourites from this collection are: 
The Good-Morrow - John Donne
To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - Dylan Thomas
Anthem for Doomed Youth - Wilfred Owen
The Soldier - Rupert Brooke
Night Mail - W.H. Auden
Not Waving But Drowning - Stevie Smith
This Be the Verse - Philip Larkin


Do you have a favourite poem that you know by heart, or have always meant to learn?

Source - publisher

Publisher - Michael O'Mara