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Reading and Climate Activism: What Young People Are Reading Now
A month or so ago, I came across a great article written by Kelly Jenson about what young climate activists are reading (and writing!) today. In light of the fact that Greta Thunberg has a book out this week, I wanted to share these additional climate books with you. I find it really interesting to see how the current young generation’s climate activism is subtly different than even the activism I was raised with, and I am curious to pick up some of the books below, especially the fiction books, to see what they are like. As an aside, Kelly Jenson, is also a writer and the editor of three…
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January Reads: Leadership, New (and Old) Children’s Classics, and Great Non-Fiction
Hello Everyone, It is hard to believe that the first month of 2023 has already come and gone! This month has been hectic and stressful for me on a personal level, and I am hoping that February brings a little more clarity and sense of purpose. I am struggling to focus on reading right now, and I am recognizing that the next few months will perhaps be a little less full of books than I would like. That being said, I have a lot to share with you today. One of my goals for this year is to read more books I truly love and to figure out which books…
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My 2023 in Books: From Satisfying Mysteries to Quirky Sci-Fi
This was a strange reading year, because hiking the PCT had a massive impact on what kind of books I was reading and how I was reading them. For example, I read almost 20 books on my kindle, which was a new experience for me, and one I didn’t hate, although nothing can replace the joys of paper books. I haven’t opened my kindle since getting off the trail, but the appeal of library books I can’t get anywhere else my end up changing that. Similarly, I listened to a lot of books. This isn’t necessarily new, but the proportion of books I listened to while on the trail was…
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Bookish Connections: Travels around Great Britain
I always love it when things line up suddenly, and today, I have a fun story about a surprise book connection, and with it, a couple very back-list books that may interest you. To start with, when I was 13, my family moved to England for a year as part of a Fulbright teacher exchange. As was usual for me, I read everything I could get my hands on, and as we traveled that was often whatever books were at the rentals and places we stayed. Somewhere in our travels, I picked up an old trade paperback called The Kingdom by the Sea, which was written by a travel writer…
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What I’ve Been Reading Lately: Deep Connections
I have spent the last couple months trying to figure out a way to get “back into” my blog, and I think the easiest way is to simply dive in with a general update and a sense of what I have been reading lately! This past summer, my husband and I spent 5 months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which was the experience of a lifetime. We documented it over on Instagram at @emma_mike_pct if you want a little more about that, and I do have a book related PCT post in the works! It was impossible, wonderful and generally the hardest and best thing I have ever done. Nowadays,…
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February 2021: Beautiful writing is its own kind of joy
Hello everyone, This month, I think I may have hit a saturation point for pure comfort reading, and I found myself reaching out for other books. What I discovered (remembered?, rediscovered?) is that while there is joy in simple, easy stories and mysteries, there is another level of joy to be found in beautifully written books. The three books/series that I want to highlight today share very little except for this fact: they are all exceptionally written and their language enchanted and delighted me. Non Fiction Essays – Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver is an wonderful novelist who has written some of the most haunting and beautiful books…
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August: diverse genre books (and slumps)
Eek, First of all, where has this summer gone!?! One minute it was June, and now I feel like I blinked and it was September. Honestly this month has been the most “splumpy” I have had this year (although I did get married and write my organization’s annual budget, so perhaps there is a reason for the slump. This month, I have what I consider to be a small success which is that the majority of my books were by BIPOC authors, which leads me to be give you a few recommendations of the diverse author variety, particularly in diverse genre fiction. One of the things I am working on…
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My Reading Month: May
I didn’t really have much of a reading month in May to be honest – we went back to work (in the midst of a pandemic) and between dealing with that AND a move, reading wasn’t at the top of the list of things I was eager to do when I got home at night! Also, with everything going on the world, it feels self serving to post too much about my little reading project now. What I will say is that I am working on a post that looks at books about racial equity, racism and racialized violence, and I HIGHLY encourage you to take a minute to look…
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My Reading Month: February
Hello! I “slowed down” this month in terms of reading, mostly meaning I listened to a few more audiobooks, and made it through fewer actual books. This was because I hit a slump with a few books that were tough to get through, and because it has just been a busy month. I have also been struggling because the political events of the past few months have left me feeling very raw, particularly as I look at who the media and the powers that be seem to want to tell stories about, and how blatant that can be and still be considered to be acceptable. I will likely have more…
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My Reading Month: January
Last year, I started slow, but a stressful fall meant that I leaned into reading to keep myself sane, and I ended up finishing over 100 books in 2019. I don’t say this to brag because I do sometimes worry that the quantity of what I read can decrease the quality of my enjoyment. I feel ambivalent about it all, but the truth is, if I love a book, I love a book, no matter how quickly I read it, and that has to count for something. That reading momentum also meant that I finished the year feeling jazzed and motivated about reading, which is a wonderful feeling to have!…
because stories are important
