Well hello, September.

Earlier in the summer, before I took a break from this little space, I mentioned that I would be back with a “bumper issue” of savourites – my subscriber-only Friday list of tasty morsels – at the end of the summer. But it transpires I was pretty burnt out. I spent a week in bed because I couldn’t entirely get out of it. I wasn’t really savouring much because it takes energy, to look closely at things and make the most of them. A few weeks ago I realised that, despite having a summer filled with delicious things, I’d got nothing on the traditional file in my Notes app where I jot down tasty morsels, and I wasn’t even particularly stressed about it; I kind of didn’t have the energy to be.

One major change I did make over the summer was realise that I’m not great at working in the afternoons. So I stopped, and read books and went to the Lido instead. Books have been among my tastiest morsels this summer; they’ve taken me to other places, they’ve forced me to lie down and stop checking my email, they’ve sparked ideas into the flat grey matter that my brain was beginning to feel like.

Summer’s a good time for reading but I’d argue that autumn is better (in fact, in another life, I actually did do this). And so I’ve rounded up brand-new copies of every book I loved this summer to post to a savour member. I really appreciate the grace and space my paying subscribers have offered me over the past few months, sticking with the archive and the quieter updates. If you’d like to enter to win, leave a comment below about a tasty morsel you enjoyed this summer by midnight on Friday 12 September, I’d love to read them. We’ll revive the toddler tombola to choose a winner.

And now, for the best books I read this summer:...