Read This: Books under the Radar is a weekly post written by a guest author – often a friend of mine, someone I’ve met on my writerly travels, or an author I admire – who recommends three books they think deserve more recognition. If you’re interested in buying any of the books, please click on the covers and give these hidden gems some love. You can see the full list of books which have been selected, as well as the author’s latest book on Bookshop.org, where you can have a browse and buy any that take your fancy. Happy reading!

Read This: Leena Norms

A while ago I read Leena’s poetry collection, Bargain-Bin Rom Com, and this is what I wrote about it: funny, smart, sad, and wise. And book-ended by the two most perfect poems (that’s in no way to say the ones in the middle aren’t brilliant too), but I love how I can hear Leena’s voice in them both, saying it’s ok, you don’t need to read this, and then by the end, it’s ok, you can go now. Actually I would have been happy to stay much longer. I was lucky enough to meet her in person when she came on the Arvon Editing Fiction and Non-fiction course I taught (and am teaching again in January 2025), and now her next book has just been published: Half-Arse Human – How to Live Better without Burning Out. Here’s what she has to say about herself:

Leena has spent almost a decade and a half forming communities online, creating video essays about books, eco-conscious style and how we can all participate in ‘positive panic’ about the climate crisis. Her first poetry collection, Bargain-Bin Rom Com and her ‘slap-dash self help’ essay collection,  Half-Arse Human, was published this month by John Murray. 

Find Leena here on Instagram.

Read on to find out which three books Leena recommends.

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