When we think about reading, most often we have in mind fiction. Novels, short stories or even flash fiction can be entertaining and engrossing, invoke emotion, take us out of ourselves and give our minds a welcome rest from the things that concern or trouble us in our lives.
But there’s a lot of non-fiction out there too. And while biography and autobiography can often do the same job of storytelling, much non-fiction fulfils a very different role – it’s about education and information, rather than entertainment. It feels more virtuous – as though you’re doing something serious and valuable, rather than just having a good time – but can also add stress to your life. It is important to know what’s going on in the world, but some works of non-fiction can leave you wishing you’d stuck to crime/thriller/literary drama novels.
I’m currently reading a book called ‘This Land is Our Land’, by Marion Shoard. A weighty Tome running to over 500 pages (small print, and in a larger format than most paperbacks), it’s a vigorous investigation into land ownership in Britain. As well as setting out the current situation, she covers the history – how we got to where we are today, with the ordinary people practically excluded from most of the land – and what hope there might be for a fairer system of land ownership and use in the future.
This Land is Our Land is a mighty read, a bit dry and academic at times, but also fascinating and enlightening. It brings home just what mugs we, the British Public, are. It makes me want to rage and to shout, to tear down fences, to run across meadows, deer parks and woodland; along river banks and around lakes. It makes me want to confront those selfish, greedy, ignorant, privileged gits who have stolen our birthright.
A quote Marion Shoard uses in the book, from David Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister (and in 1909, when he said this, Chancellor of the Exchequer) which says it all is:
…who made 10,000 people owners of the soil and the rest of us trespassers in the land of our birth?
It’s a pity we never hear such words from our politicians now.
Reading about such things doesn’t do much for my blood pressure. And although I was already painfully aware of the limited access to nature and land (from frustrating attempts to walk some of the few paths that are supposed to be open to the public, but which often turn out to be obstructed), I needed to read the detail. I needed to understand – we all need to understand – exactly what the situation is.
Everyone in the UK should read this book. It should be on the school curriculum. We need to consider how we let ourselves be dispossessed of something so basic, so essential, as the ground beneath our feet. And then we need to gather together and march on the self-appointed landowners and take back what should be available to everyone, and owned by no-one. Of course, that won’t happen.
I don’t have much time for reading. Which means there’s a conflict between fiction and non-fiction. Do I read the books that will educate me about issues that really matter in the world today? Or do I spend my reading time on novels that will entertain me? It’s difficult getting a balance when time is so limited.
How do you approach the fiction/non-fiction dilemma? Do you favour one over the other? Or do you have time for both?
literarylad 
My go-to reading is fiction, particularly crime novels. Back last century, my cousins gave me their old Enid Blyton Famous Five books (original hardbacks which regrettably are no longer in my possession) and the FF adventures led me to enjoying a mystery/crime read ever since. Admittedly more grown-up, and I recall Adrian McKinty and his Irish cop Sean Duffy series setting a trend. There are some excellent Australian crime writers now but they rarely venture as far as the grim Scottish territory of Stuart McBride. I also like a good parallel universe aka Jasper Fforde but I don’t often venture into fantasy. I do read non-fiction but more out of duty than pleasure! Currently I have been involved in history classes regarding the ‘acquisition’ of Australia. Your quote touched a nerve regarding our Indigenous Population, it is the same situation, they can rightly say “who made 10,000 people owners of the soil and the rest of us trespassers in the land of our birth?” My recent non-fiction reads were for book club “The Girl Who Fell From The Sky” by Emma Carey and works by Richard Flanagan “Question 7” and Richard Fidler “The Book of Roads and Kingdoms”. Thanks for letting me ramble on! G. 📚
You’re absolutely right, there is a parallel between the stealing of the land from the ordinary/working/poor people of Britain, and those indigenous peoples in Australia, and America, and perhaps in other places too. It makes me wonder why nobody sees it. Historically, the poor in Britain have suffered deprivation and ill treatment that compares to that of Australian indigenous people, and also the African slaves in the Caribbean (The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester happened at around the same time as the abolition of slavery, and at that time the conditions of the poor in cities like Manchester were terrible). We like to think the problem is a “Them” and “Us” attitude, without understanding that in many ways the “Them” and “Us” is not one race versus another, but rather rich versus poor. Indeed the history of the union movement shows working people in Britain reaching out to make alliances with their “brothers and sisters” across the world. It’s such a shame so many working people have been so effectively schooled in racist attitudes by right wing propaganda.
I’m happy to hear your “ramblings” Gretchen! I’m interested to hear about your reading preferences (even if it did make me wish I was reading more!)
Thank you for your informative reply, Graham, you delved deeper than I did on the subject and highlighted dangerous aspects of rich versus poor, entitlement versus compassion. In my opinion racism is and always will be unjustifiable. Hope you get to hunker down with some good books over the winter season. G.❄☂
I have just read Mandy Wight’s Peak Reads blog post review of ‘A Garden Against Time’ by Olivia Laing. A fascinating non-fiction exploration of cultural, literary and political ideas around the British garden, and the iniquities of land ownership in the last few hundred years. You probably know it. Link: https://peakreads.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/the-garden-against-time-by-olivia-laing/
This adds another viewpoint to our landownership posts. G 🌼
Interesting. Marion Shoard talks about the big country estates (though she doesn’t cover how those people made their money) and how they are still largely inaccessible to ordinary people. For me, our garden is very much a place of sanctuary, an island of horticultural beauty in a vast, agro-industrial wasteland. A place to commune with nature. However, the landowner has other ideas – he’s put in a planning application to build a housing estate (60 homes) on the field that surrounds our garden. The increase in the value of his twelve acres of land will be something in the region of forty times, which gives yet another perspective on the iniquities of land ownership. We (and some of our neighbours) plan to move. But whether we’ll be able to sell our houses is another matter.
Thanks for the recommendation Gretchen, this looks like a book that is also very beautiful, as well as being interesting.
Graham, I am shattered. That’s awful news for you and the other homeowners. A person should feel safe, secure and serene in their own home. A housing estate of 60 homes! In Brisbane that would be classed as a new suburb with all the relevant infrastructure and tenfold increase in traffic. Then comes shops, schools, businesses etc. My Luddite attitude tends to think it will be detrimental in the long run. Greed is disguised by the word progress. Like the weavers and spinner in their cottages, displaced when mechanisation took over, like AI infiltrating our lives, your environment is being threatened en masse. When I was young our family lived in a small house beside market gardens and gradually I watched as houses sprung up and engulfed the views and noise drove the birds and wildlife away. Without knowing it, this shaped my views (I dislike change) but of course progress is progress and things do change and move forward. Difficult to know if this will be an asset or a liability in your case. I hope there is a solution. My thoughts and best wishes. G.🌻
It seems to be happening everywhere and always. I remember in one of E M Forster’s books he described the ‘red rust’ spreading – the red tiled roofs of the new houses in the suburbs that engulfed (good word, I hope you don’t mind my borrowing it!) London in the mid twentieth century. Thank you for your kind words.
In closing, I guess it’s not all gloom and doom (I should not have written things late at night!) because your current home is, or can be, a green haven of peace and tranquility. I think plants make us happy. My Photo of the Week coffee bean tree flowers always make me smile. G.☕