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saskia_ej's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
jbbooks's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
Beautifully written, magical nature writing, very funny in places and so calming to read.
mckenziesbookshelf's review
It felt a little repetitive and I found the writing style quite difficult to read.
bluestarfish's review
5.0
Roger Deakin had a moat! Amazing. In this book we get to hear about the year when he went off and swam in all sorts of amazing places: rivers, the sea, lidos, estuaries all around Britain. His descriptions of splashing and gliding though various water definitely made me want to go swimming too (and sad about the fact I only have a chlorinated pool near me). He really gets to some beautiful places and describes them all for us. We also get smatterings of history and thoughts and anecdotes and ribbing of the Environment Agency inbetween all the swimming. A different take of this isle and a very joyous and irreverent one too.
gabe_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
A very relaxing and rather whimsical swim through the UK. There was interesting history for the various locations and waterways themselves, along with lovely descriptions of the places and the experience of swimming in them. It's in no way exhaustive but gives a wide range of different types of open water, giving me lots of ideas of places to visit!! Overall it's a very nice and easygoing novel.
Something I did find slightly grating was the way he referenced literature or language that very much placed him as someone who went to public school and then Cambridge. It may have been great for people who recognised them and have the same cultural context as him, but wasn't for me.
Something I did find slightly grating was the way he referenced literature or language that very much placed him as someone who went to public school and then Cambridge. It may have been great for people who recognised them and have the same cultural context as him, but wasn't for me.
shiloniz's review against another edition
4.0
"I started to dream even more exclusively of water. Swimming and dreaming were becoming indistinguishable. I grew convinced that following water, flowing with it, would be a way of getting under the skin of things, of learning something new."