Books like The Honey Month

This is a delightful little book, quite remarkable. It is based on a very simple idea and on a simple gift. A friend of El-Mohtar’s gave her a gift of some samples of different types of honey. With this gift she wrote a set of tasting notes and reflections for each honey; 28 in all. El-Mohtar is a poet and writer of speculative fiction and she puts her talent to good use. This is an example of one of the tasting notes:“Day 10 – French Rhododendron HoneyColour: The colour of sugar dissolving in hot water; that white cloudiness, with a faint yellow tint I can only see when looking at it slantwise, to the left of me, not when I hold it up to the light.Smell: Strange, it has almost no scent at all; it’s also crystallised, so it’s a bit difficult to scoop some out with the wand, but it smells cold with an elusive citrus squirt hovering about its edges.Taste: There is a kind of sugar cube my grandfather used to give my sister and me every morning when we were small, not so much a cube as a cabochon, irregularly rounded, clear and cloudy by turns. It was called sikkar nabet, which is “plant sugar.” This tastes like it. The honey taste is so pale, so faint, it really is almost sugar water. I’m reminded of maple sap in buckets, right at the beginning of the boiling process that produces maple syrup, where it’s still water enough to be used for steeping tea.”After each set of tasting notes is a piece of fiction or poetry. These are very varied: poems, gothic and unusual tales, some are very sensual and erotic, some are almost fairy tales and mythical. She drinks the light like lemonade,Sips it bit by liquid bit,Until the day falls dark and softLicked slow as honey cleanHer throat is wide as an open doorInviting. honest, full of song,And the light, it wants it, tumbles inLike a girl after a rabbitShe swallows every now and thenLicks her lips, parts them for more.Every now and then she sleepsWhile she does the Moonish manBuilds his nets, chases his dog.She would take him by the hand,Look into his eyes and say. Love you should know better nowThe world is not for catching, loveNot for having, not for keeping.The world is all for sipping, loveSo tilt back your head and drink.But he will never hear her, sopreocuppied with precious plans.He has no willing ear to lend,While he mutters on and on.She wakes to quiet loneliness,Dresses, walks to her windowsill,And sip by sip, lick by lick,Draws night back home again.There are nods to Goblin Market, Angela Carter and more, but this is really very original stuff. Temptation, awakening, attraction, seduction and interesting undercurrents abound. The art work and illustrations are excellent. It’s very short and best read in small chunks, but the whole is a delight.