| Title | : | Ring the Hill |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 340 |
| Publication | : | Published October 3, 2019 |
These hills can leads to an exploration of an intimate relationship with a beach, a journey into Cox's past or a lesson from an expert in what goes into the mapping of hills themselves. Because a good walk in the hills is never just about the hills; it will take your mind to many other places.
Ring the Hill Reviews
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There are countless books written about mountains, just take a look around the travel section of a bookshop. However, there are not so many written about hills, in particular, the small inconsequential hills that abound the landscape in our country. A hill might not have the majesty or presence of a mountain, but for Cox, these are more accessible, and still have as much mystery and lore and their larger cousins.
Beginning in Somerset under the ever-watchful eye of the Tor and the inland sea that is the Somerset levels he wanders from Britain’s smallest hill, in Norfolk no less, to the highest point on the South Coast. Yet another house move takes him to a house most of the way up a hill in Derbyshire; he is snowed in and it is a place that alarms his cats, and he is often woken at 3.44 in the morning from a nightmare and he would often hear things being moved in the loft… Not many things scare him, sitting with his feet over the edge of Golden Cap is no problem, but halfway up some mechanical edifice is enough to freak Cox out.
He wades through some family history when he discovers that his great grandmother who lived on Dartmoor, prior to moving to Nottingham. He finds that Dartmoor is at its most eerie in the summer when the heat makes time move like treacle. He spends time walking across Dorset’s hills spotting his third hare since moving to the West Country and amusing himself over alternative meanings for the village names in the area. Just seeing a hill on a car journey and then finding on an OS map late is a thrill, especially if there is access to walk up it later.
As I drive the roads, I watch the hills. I always notice the interesting ones, and none of them aren’t interesting, so I notice them all.
Ring the Hill is not quite a sequel to 21st Century Yokel, more of a slightly lairy companion. He seems to be one of the fastest funded authors on the publisher Unbound as he doesn’t really fit in any of the niches that a regular publisher has. Preferring to write widely about whatever the hell takes his fancy, from folklore to the music that works best when he is walking in a place. It is this wide-ranging fascination with all that he sees is what makes this book such a delight. Hares permeate the book too, not just the scant physical ones that he sees out and about, but the way that they are interwoven into the natural and spiritual worlds. I thought that this was a wonderful book, full of tangents and glimpses of things that fascinate him. I love the traditional linocut illustrations of hares that have been created by his mother and I was glad to see that his very LOUD DAD was back in the book again. -
A genial, occasionally very funny account of assorted rambles around and residencies in the British countryside, taking as its starting point the way that there's a lot written about the grandeur of mountains, but not enough about the gentler charm of hills. It's not going to win over anyone concerned about how much of the nature writing revival seems to centre on white guys with the sort of security that lets them hop into rivers or wander off through the woods whenever the urge takes them, though he's not entirely a middle class cliché, coming, like me, from the End Of The Middle (in his case Nottingham) and with at least one accented parent. For all of which, Cox is amiable enough company, and he does evoke the landscapes well, from that lingering sense of sea-ness which pervades the Somerset Levels to the arsiness of Dartmoor's ponies. And who among us would not be curious upon learning that a nearby village has a street named 'Teapot Lane (Worms Lane)'?
One darker interlude follows his ill-advised winter in the grim heart of the Peak District, the bit nobody visits for a daytrip – just up out of Eyam, only 500 feet off being a mountain. I can confirm that, extreme as this section may sometimes read, having once and only once in all my years in Derbyshire ended up in these parts, if anything he's underselling it. There are bleak places up there. And here as elsewhere, Cox has that lovely balance of not going full believer about the supernatural, but not disbelieving either, just recounting the stories as they stand, and (in Ken Campbell's formulation) supposing.
(Netgalley ARC) -
It’s impossible to imagine a more genial, candid, or generous tour guide than Tom Cox, whose fascinating, enlightening and moving accounts of his meanderings through the English countryside fill the pages of Ring the Hill. This is by no means a conventional travel book: the information it provides regarding towns, villages, hamlets, hills, rivers, fields, historical sites and monuments that are on Cox’s itinerary is secondary to the author’s often humorous, sometimes sobering reflections on being alive, and the story of his own life in progress: the relationships, observations, learning opportunities and personal decisions that have bestowed on him an uncommon degree of self-awareness and a vivid sense of his place in the world and, indeed, the cosmos. Tom Cox is less traveler than nomad: a man who moves house with unusual regularity, not out of dissatisfaction, but more out of restless curiosity, driven, one imagines, by a yearning for a new and different experience. Once settled into new digs—sometimes before settling—his custom is to go out and explore, compulsively and in any weather, the surrounding countryside and jot down his findings and commentary in a journal. In the six sections of Ring the Hill, Cox reports on ramblings through, among others, Glastonbury, The Peak District, Dartmoor and Dartington. Interspersed among descriptions of his discoveries and sightings are accounts of events taking place in his life at the time: visits with his Mom and Dad, encounters with locals (human and animal), the music he’s listening to, an obsession with climbing hills, an equal obsession with swimming, extreme weather, the adventures of his cats, his struggles to keep a tidy garden. Cox writes from a perspective of great compassion for the natural world and for those among us who strive to nurture and protect that world: his critiques are generally reserved for the disfiguring scars that recent human activity has left upon the landscape. He is knowledgeable, a retainer and purveyor of facts, but also easily distracted: we often witness him changing course on a whim when something off the beaten path catches his eye. He is flawed but aware of and admirably at peace with his shortcomings. Discussions of the ways in which natural phenomena influence his moods cause us to suspect that here is someone highly attuned and sensitive to the rhythms of the planet. Casual references to the presence of the dead within the land of the living and the influence of ancient rites and customs upon the present lend a mystical note to the narrative. Make of me what you will, he seems to be saying, this is who I am. The overall tone in these pieces is wise and conversational, and it is a conversation that will leave you hungry for more while lingering in your mind long after you have finished reading the book.
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Is Ring the Hill Tom's best written book yet?
I rarely have more than an hour of reading time a day, but by these standards I've pretty much inhaled this book - it took me a week - that's a sign of a book so well written I can't even bring myself to savour it, because I can't put it down.
If you read Tom's blogs a lot of the book will be familiar, but setting the pieces in the larger context of the intention of this work obviously makes the whole even richer and...magical? (Just a tiny bit.)
I think my favourite chapter was the cursed house on almost-mountain one. In the way that I'm glad that somebody lived it and lived to write about it, without me having to experience it for myself, not in a tee-hee kind of way.
And obviously, I also loved the final chapter, even though I might have dreaded reading it just a teeny tiny bit - because I knew it would make me cry (and it did).
Reading Ring the Hill has been one of my favourite reading experiences of the year and I'm glad I helped getting it published - even if only in just a very small way.
P.S. Jo Cox's lino prints that adorn some of the pages of the book are the cutest/coolest thing and it makes me sad she likely won't be able to make more. But following her on Instagram was the best thing I did on Instagram this year...because garden delights! Her account out-delights even Monty Don's as far as I'm concerned. -
It's very interesting to read this straight after Tom Cox’s earlier books. Then, his writing was witty and entertaining. Now there's an added dimension and depth to his writing, with more poetic imagery, more quirky and wonderful perspectives on things. Each section is about different hills around England.
The first bit is about when he lived in Somerset near Glastonbury Tor. Lots of evocative descriptions of the Somerset Levels and the town of Bruton. I particularly liked the descriptions of the Levels as a dry sea; in a sense that's what they are, as they frequently get flooded and the Tor, Burrow Mump, and Athelney (where King Alfred hid from the Danes and burned the cakes) were islands once. The second bit is about his sojourn near Eyam in a very high, cold, haunted house. I remember reading his blogposts when he was living there: very scary. But the experience created the amazing title story of Help the Witch, which is probably what you might call suffering for your art.
I love the way his writing is so evocative of landscape. It helps that I'm very familiar with the landscapes he's writing about, but even if I wasn't, I think I'd still enjoy reading it. It's also interesting getting someone else's perspective on a landscape that you know well (a bit like book clubs at their best. There should be a landscape club!) and it helps that he's also interested in folklore and history and wildlife.
The book deals with so many landscapes and hills I've known and loved: the area around Glastonbury, Crook Peak, Brent Knoll, Blackdown, Dartington (which I've visited twice, once for a trade union training, and once for the classic music summer school), Eyam (and some that I haven't visited, but would like to make the acquaintance of) that it was like visiting a selection of old friends. This book will be going on the sacred bookshelf containing William Dalrymple and Patrick Leigh Fermor. -
I read this book through The Pigeonhole, which meant it came stave by stave. I think that was the perfect way to read this, as each chapter is entire in itself.
I enjoyed this book so much. It was like having a really fascinating conversation with a really interesting bloke in a country pub on a cold, wet January night,when nobody has anywhere they really need to be. Tom goes for walks, gets lost, spends a winter snowed in, watches his cats - and observes the world as he does so. He shares those observations with you - funny, intriguing, mundane and a little bit mystical at times. His expeditions are really "doable" - he left me inspired to walk more, watch more and think more. And read more of his books, obviously. -
I spent nearly half a year reading this book, not because I didn't like it, but because some books just makes you feel better about things. And this book made me feel better about a lot of thing. I really appreciate its ability to take you along on a stroll in the English countryside and beyond- into the fey places.
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a lovely exploration of hills and their stories, some cats, a few people, and some very interesting houses.
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Love Tom's style and attitude. A beautiful journey across and about England. WOFFAL!
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This is one of those naturey non-fiction books that defies categorisation. The description on the back says it's about hills, but that's not truly the case? Hills do feature in it, quite prominently in some chapters, but then there's no clear hill in others. There's not really a specific topic that is addressed, or issue, etc.
If you are someone who generally likes their books to be about a specific something, don't let this put you off. It's really well-written and Tom Cox is a really funny writer. The kind of funny that feels almost accidental, as if he's trying to give you a chuckle but doesn't expect you to end up laughing out loud.
And then in the final chapter, which has a large section devoted to his four cats, he made me cry quite badly as I ended up thinking about our late cat and her elderly years. So yes, I definitely recommend this book and will be picking up more of TC's writing in the future. -
I love pretty much everything I've read from Tom Cox, and this nature-memoir is no different. It's all lovely, informative, and funny too, with some bonus spooky elements. Just as it should be. Looking forward to the next one.
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Genial, funny memoir of place(s). At times made me feel particularly square and risk-averse, but then I probably knew that about myself anyway. Good stuff.
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Review to come :)
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Essentially, Ring the Hill is a collection of autobiographical stories based around or near hills in England, but it so much more. This book is a balm - an antidote to crazy modern living - and one which I have fallen in love with. I relished hanging out in between the pages of these stories. They calmed me and made me long for the hills!
Divided into six sections, each one is directly or loosely based on a hill located near where Cox was living at some point in the last decade. Tom shares stories, anecdotes and observations on topics ranging from local history, folklore, family history, SHOUTY DAD shenanigans, cat love, OS maps, places of wonder and colourful characters he has met whilst out rambling.
Beautiful prints by Tom's mum, artist Jo Cox, are shared throughout the book, along with some wonderfully evocative black and white snaps of different locations written about in the book.
I found each of the sections enjoyable, very entertaining and as individual as the hills that they are based on. The storytelling meanders masterfully, like Tom's expeditions.
I absolutely loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys nature, rambling, hills, folklore or just damn good writing. -
Beautiful prose-writing. Proud to have been a supporter of this with Unbound
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Thank you to Anne Cater for my invitation and to Unbound for my copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.
This was my first Tom Cox read and it certainly will not be the last, what can I say. I have followed Tom on Twitter for a long time with his cat adventures and a friend of mine loves his books and always had them on order at the library we worked at.
I loved it the writing was gorgeous and as I began I felt like I was accompanying Tom on the walks in his new home in Somerset. I love the narrative that often accompanied the tours through the hills and the anecdotes like that John Steinbeck had once lived in Bruton amongst many others.
There were laugh out loud moments and also some of the walks felt very meditative and reflective.
I liked how to past and present were intertwined and I would recommend this book to any one who loves folklore, nature, travel and a really honest at times a very touching read.
It is about place and being present and I found it soothing and interesting and my favourite chapter is set in my home county of Devon fabulously named The Lion,The Witch and the Dress code and more specifically on the Dartington Estate near Totnes and Tom's time living there with his cats, make sure you have a tissue ready, I was in bits.
A really unique book with wonderful illustrations and photographs that I totally fell in love with.
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Thank you to Unbound for a digital edition via NetGalley of ‘Ring the Hill’ by Tom Cox in exchange for an honest review.
My thanks also to The Pigeonhole for hosting a group read where I was able to share my thoughts and exchange comments with other members as we read the daily chapters.
From Tom’s Unbound page: “A book about hills. Actually, that’s not true. It’s a book around hills: the magical names we have given hills over the centuries, the legends associated with them, the history hidden in their folds, the exhilarated feeling you get when you’ve walked at pace to the top of one on a crisp autumn day, the perspective they give us on the land, on life.”
I have read and enjoyed a number of Tom Cox’s memoirs, though mainly those that were focused on his adventures with his various cats. This was a little different in its focus though his cats also made appearances.
This was a delight to read. It’s as though you are sitting around a cosy fire being entertained by a friend who is a gifted storyteller. It’s very rich in imagery and infused with Tom Cox’s deep love of nature, the landscape and history. There is certainly a great deal of humour throughout and yes a few tears as well.
It also sparked memories of my own visits to the various locations especially those in Somerset and Devon.
Highly recommended. -
Stumbled across this by accident and loved it. Gentle, humorous memoir/nature book/walking guide/reflective journal that both defies description and yet feels like a warm welcome home. If you the vagaries of the English countryside seen through a dry sense of humour this is worth a read.
‘Did you know that it took 33 years for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s masterpiece, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, to be completed, and that Brunel died five years before its 1864 completion, although he had only narrowly escaped death much earlier in the bridge’s construction, in 1843, when he had to have a tracheotomy to remove a coin he’d swallowed while performing a magic trick for a child? Or that the first member of public to cross the bridge was 21 year-old Mary Griffiths, an impressive harelike runner who – after paying the one penny toll, and lifting up her skirts – raced and beat a young man to the other side, by several yards? I do, because I have visited the Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum three times in eighteen months. The reason I have visited so often, besides my slight obsession with the Avon Gorge, is that I don’t fully believe the bridge exists and feel the matter needs investigating. How did they make it meet in the middle? It all seems very fishy to me. ‘ -
This is a really hard book to categorize. Tom Cox muses about a lot of things - geography, the many many houses he's lived in (he moves a lot), the ghosts in those houses, swimming (he loves it no matter how cold or wild the water is), the many walks up and down hills around Britain, the weather (the trudging through the snow and sliding off the road in his car are highlights and remind me how cold some parts of Britain are), his many cats, and the critters in the yard. He even muses on his accent, describing it as “the end of the middle” and never having met a university educated person. I particularly loved the shouty dad. Oh my gosh, he was funny and charming and quirky (one sees where Tom Cox's quirkiness comes from). I enjoyed the narration. Tom Cox does a lovely job of that.
I didn't love the stories that followed although the one about the seance was just hysterical. The idea that you get to do the thing you loved forever after dying even though doing it forever might not be so awesome. But the idea that the dead person loved cycling but is communicating through the seance to find a good place to ride his bike was just hysterical (and quirky). -
"I didn't have a hair style. I had hair. On some days, it had zero caterpillars in it. The was about as good as it got."
I went into this book thinking it was going to be short stories, but I was actually pleasantly surprised to find it was non-fiction. This book is part memoir, part ode to the English countryside, 100% Tom cataloguing the cats, pheasants and horses he comes across
I've followed Tom on twitter for a long time and have always loved seeing pictures of his favourite trees, cows and, of course, his many cats over the years. Myself and my best friend often send pictures of his cat, Ralph, to each other in place of conversation
I loved the section about regional accents across England and the northern/midlands/southern divide. Accents and where you're from are things that English peopletake very seriously
Even though I was already well aware of the passing of Tom's cats, The Bear and Shipley, listening to the section detailing the end of their lives made me weep silently at my desk. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to rush home and kiss my cat Evie on her little black head
The book also made me laugh out loud at points too, so basically the person I share an office with must have thought I was having a very odd day that day, emotionally -
I helped crowdfund the publication of this book, as a huge fan of Tom Cox’s work and having followed his blogs and posts on social media for many years. So I had received my signed hardback copy when it first came out. But my local library had the audiobook version on BorrowBox and I couldn’t resist hearing Tom read the book himself.
His writing has just fleshed out so beautifully over the years, and this book is a total and magical delight. A lyrical, rambling love song to the countryside Tom has lived and walked in, with the history and folk tales that underpin it, and woven through are anecdotes about his life, family. friends and of course cats. His descriptions of place are so vivid you could close your eyes and imagine being right there in his footsteps. Gentle self-deprecating and wry humour jostles alongside moments of genuine sadness and tragedy, occasionally verging on horror, but the overall feeling of reading/listening to this book is dreamy and comforting like listening to a good friend chatting in front of a warm log fire. -
I came to Tom Cox's writing via his fabulous books about his brilliant cats and have been captivated by his work ever since. His writing has expanded to cover so many different topics that his books defy categorisation and are much like taking a walk in the wilderness, knowing where you are headed but with no clear idea of quite how you will get there. This collection of writings are lightly based around hills, and mounds and other high places. It touches on natural history, folklore, biography, social commentary and everything between. I particular loved the parts about Glastonbury and the Tor and it made me long to return there one day. There is a gentle rhythm to the author's work that soothes the soul and takes you along on his walks and musings and leaves you feeling better for it. The book is beautiful illustrated with gorgeous linocuts done by Jo Cox and they add a touch of extra whimsy to an already whimsical and magical book. If you've not read Tom Cox before then this is a good a place as any to start but I would also recommend checking out his website at
www.tom-cox.com. -
How to review this book?
It's like nothing else I've read (tbf I do tend to go heavy on the Historical and Literary). 'Ring the Hill' is gloriously refreshing in it's approachability and strange kind of familiarity. Not only is it a pleasure to say I am familiar with a few of the places Cox writes of (Ebbor Gorge, Barrow Mump, Warren House Inn, Glastonbury Tor...) but I really felt Cox's warm affection for the land he describes, especially that bit of it known generally as the West Country. A deep love I, and I suspect many of his readers share! Cox's observations and thoughts are amusing without feeling forced or contrived. His philosophy is gentle and visceral. Lived, not just thought. The last section where he speaks of the death of a dearly beloved cat had me blinking back tears (my husband and I have three cats and I dread 'that' day coming)!
I was barely a hundred pages in when I knew immediately I had to order more books by Tom Cox. I genuinely lovely experience. One to keep and reread, and possibly rereread! -
Having read 21st Century Yokel and Help the Witch, I did expect a unique experience. I did not expect a book this stunning. Tom Cox's voice, already established in his previous books, has further evolved in how lyrical and yet simple, whimsical and clear it becomes - the writing grips you with its evocative language and rich content, which shows deep knowledge of and love for folklore and history. The book is loosely structured around the author's moving around England, with each location being explored and evoked in the context of history and nature. More than that, you get the feeling of each place, its atmosphere and its people. The connecting themes are intricately woven throughout the book - the idea of home, the curiosity of a rambler, the unwavering love of the natural world. Truth is, my words can't do the book justice. It's lovely and I loved it and will definitely return to it many times.
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A rather special meditation of a book, with the same confusing geography of a dream and all the same frustrations of never being quite sure where you are: but a poetic meditation all the same. Tom Cox starts his nomadic relocations in Somerset, although that turns out to be where he’s currently living and we get there again, on the last page, as he leaves the penultimate house on this pilgrimage. In the meantime we spend a hard, cold winter in Derbyshire; Norfolk is mentioned but never appears as even a minor character. The main protagonist is always Devon, a mercurial Heathcliffe of a county with a hint of menace and more than a touch of magic. There’s plenty of walking, lots of swimming, and some cat-stroking. Lots of cats, in fact, who prowl through the book like a cast of familiars. A wonderful read for anyone who thinks the journey of a book is more important than its destination.
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Having thoroughly enjoyed Cox’s previous book (the short story collection ‘Help The Witch’), being a keen hill-walker and seeing that he was crowdfunding a new book about hills, I immediately backed ‘Ring The Hill’. What a disappointment. This is partly my own fault, not having read any of Cox’s non-fiction before, but given that the blurb will have you believe that this is a book about hills I expected them to play a much larger part in the narrative. What this is instead is a collection of Cox’s thoughts and ramblings about nature, cats, moving house and his family history.
Yes, the book is well written and occasionally humorous but it is not “a book written around, and about, hills”. If this is indicative of his non-fiction in general I’ll be avoiding reading any more and will wait for Cox to release his first novel. -
What a lovely, rambling quirky book - my first Tom Cox. Tom wanders through Somerset (particularly Glastonbury), Dorset and Devon, with a bleak, cold diversion to an eerie damp house high up near Eyam in the Peak District. I enjoyed his Dad speaking in shouty capitals and his time at Dartington with its hippy feel. I am not a cat person but they seemed like extra interesting characters in the book and I hate swimming but his accounts of wild swimming made me long for it! This purports to be a book about hills but they are quite unobtrusive and the Ring the Hill of the title refers to one of the old names for a hare.
I read this book on The Pigeonhole online book club which delivered it over ten days which was just perfect.
