CURRENTLY READING

2026

Stay True - Hua Hsu [I think I heard of this book from some social media video of bookstore owner’s recommendations. Didn’t know what it would be about. It is a memoir about an Asian American man growing up in California in the 80s and 90s. He writes mostly about his childhood and college years describing his interests, relationship with parents, and friends. He mentions one friend often enough that I was expecting something to happen with him, either they would fall in love or something would happen to him, and sure enough that friend ends up dying, being murdered. This book was a nice time capsule of a specific time and place, a coming of age story mixed with tragedy. I wasn’t especially captivated by the book or thought it was great, but it did make me reflect, how would it have been if one of my friends died in college, how that would impact your life. I was surprised to find, after finishing the book, that it won the Pulitzer Prize.]

The Year of Magical Thinking- Joan Didion [This has been on my to-read list for awhile, although I had no idea what it was about. Due to the title I thought it would be joyful, but rather it is about grief. This memoir is about the sudden death of Didion’s husband as well as the hospitalization of her daughter at the same time. I definitely could relate to the passing of time and relating everything to the year before after a loved one’s passing. And I suppose I could relate to the grief aspect due to my father’s death, perhaps more so than someone just reading this without having experienced a death of a loved one. I would be open to reading more from her, but I didn’t found this to be profound or anything.]

Beheld - TaraShea Nesbit [I wanted to read a novel after reading two memoirs so I picked this up and got exactly what I wanted, an easy compelling read. I found out after reading that this novel was based on more facts than I anticipated; the location, characters, and some events were real. Set in Plymouth in the 17th century, this story is about the puritans that started a colony there. I found it to be an intriguing storyline and I was able to read this in just a few days.]

In the Shadow of Man - Jane Goodall [My goal is to read the four books of hers that I have, now that she has passed. Highlight of my life is getting to meet her and spend an afternoon with her in Homer, Alaska, when she came out to the bear camp where I was working. I expected this book to be a slog to get through, like a case study, academic and so forth, but immediately her writing was easy and her story compelling. This will probably be my favorite book of the year. I found her research of chimpanzees at Gombe Stream in Tanzania fascinating. Her observations and storytelling about the chimpanzees made them just like characters in a book and I was interested to know what happened to them. All while reading I kept thinking how similar it was to how we would go out and view the bears in Katmai National Park in Alaska for the bear viewing company that I worked for. Her deep love and dedication for her research is incredible. She would observe all hours of the day, everyday. Her work was revelatory and so important for humanity’s understanding of our closest relative. Reading about her experiences with wild chimpanzees made me absolutely want to visit and experience it first-hand. It is now a goal of mine to visit Gombe National Park. A must read. A few things I was surprised by is that her mother accompanied her on her first stay at Gombe. This is in the 1960s. They lived in a tent and she would go out to the forest by herself to observe. They suffered from malaria for two weeks with no medicine and temperature of 105. I was especially interested in her interactions with the chimpanzees, the fact that they fed them in order to have better observations. That is counter to what I learned working for a wildlife viewing company. However, she did recognize and alter her behavior after coming into contact with the chimpanzees and allowing them to play with her. She understood this was a line she should not cross because that could be dangerous in the long run and for other researchers.]

Billy Budd - Herman Melville [I can’t recall what book or article I was recently reading that mentioned this short novella of Melville’s, but it must have motivated me enough to put it on my list to read. I found it difficult to get through; the old language was hard to follow and understand what was going on, and it took quite some time for anything exciting to happen to be invested. I wanted to stop reading it immediately, but I kept on with it since it was short. The main plot point happened and sure it was the climax and afterwards I kept hoping something else might happen, but it ended the way to be expected. Not sure if this was based on a true story or not, but there wasn’t much development other than the main plot point.]

Sing, Unburied, Sing - Jasmyn Ward [Set in Southern Mississippi (maybe Louisiana), about a family and their dynamics with death, prison, and absent parents. I enjoyed it.]

My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh [Not what I was expecting at all. It was quite dark and depressing, but it was compelling and I was able to read it quickly. The main character decided to take drugs to help her sleep most of the year in order to transform by the end, a rebirth after trauma. I enjoyed it.]

Black Mutiny: The Revolt on the Schooner Amistad - William A. Owens [Based on the true story of Mendi Africans kidnapped, tortured, and sent by ship to Cuba where they were sold as slaves, this version is a dramatic retelling based on facts. The Mendis, lead by Cinqué, escaped their chains and killed the captain of the schooner Amistad when it was sailing to deliver them to the slave owner. They killed two men aboard, two escaped, and the last two they kept as prisoners to help them sail the ship back to Africa. The man Montes who helped them sail East during daylight, altered course to North West during the Night. They wound up near land off Long Island. The Africans went ashore to try to get supplies but were stopped by locals and the ship was commandeered. They were arrested and sent to Connecticut where they remained in jail while they case went to court. The first case set them free, but was appealed to the next court, decision was the same, appealed to Supreme Court. So over the course of a year and half they kept going to trial with the Supreme Court eventually declaring them free to return to Africa. The remaining Africans went back with missionaries to their homeland. The timing of this case proved essential to their freedom, years earlier and the public opinion on slavery might have transpired to treating them like property rather than men, and they could have been returned to the Spanish and sent back to Cuba to be slaves. Remarkable true story.]

Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison [Sad to say that I didn’t really like this book. I understand that it’s important read on a black man’s identity, but I found the writing and language hard to follow at times. I felt as though important moments things were left unwritten, unsaid, which made it hard to understand the meaning. You feel for the main character and continue to hope things will turn out well, but it doesn’t ever seem that he gets there. The story seemed to drag on with really no plot point. The side stories would be somewhat interesting, but one of the last ones reagarding a woman I found to be completely unnecessary. I think Ellison could have made his point more clearly and in a lot less pages. I do think however that a lot of it is still relatable, in terms of organizing, growing movements, and black folks interaction with police and white folks.]

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell [Based on a couple of truths but the rest is fictionalized. Story about William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes (in the book), and their three children during the time of the plague. Agnes’ character is interesting and unusual. All in all I found it to be quite sad and moving. I then watched the movie and found it to be sad and beautiful as well. Something about the book just stuck with me.]

Fire on the Mountain - Edward Abbey (currently reading)

2025

American Gods - Neil Gaiman [I was recommended this one by a river guide on my CO river trip. Gotta say I didn’t care for it at all. The storyline was confusing and I didn’t care for the characters or the storyline in general. I enjoy mythology, but this didn’t do anything for me. I wouldn’t recommend.]

Lone Women - Victor Lavalle [This was a NYTimes rec and one that I actually liked. It started off mysterious and a typical Western period piece novel set in the early 1900s, but turned a bit sci-fi about halfway through once the mystery was revealed. The main character Adelaide is a Black farmer who moved from California to Montana hoping to start a new life but is tied to her past with a mysterious burden. A compelling storyline made more interesting due to the time period and setting.]

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot [Recommended by a friend, I found this book and story of Henrietta and her family fascinating. Basically Henrietta Lacks was a Black woman who died of cancer in the early 1950s. The doctor had taken samples of her cancerous tumor and put them in culture and the cells survived and replicated. Her cells have been used in research all over the world and has helped in many medical and scientific discoveries. However, Henrietta did not give her consent (and this was before consent was even required) to collect the cells. Her children and family had no idea her cells were being sold and studied all over the world. The author helps investigate the story and talks to the family. A big part of the book is the lives of Henrietta’s children.]

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia [A fun light read with some magical and suspenseful elements. Set in Mexico in the 50s.]

Basta! Land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas - George A. Collier [I wanted a book focused on Latin America to read in Central America. This is more of an academic book about a movement in the 1990s in Mexico that I learned about last year from Angela Davis’ book.The Zapatistas consist of indigenous peoples and peasants of Chiapas that fought for land reform, education, healthcare, etc. They were used and manipulated under the Mexican government and wanted a new constitution.]

Leaving the Atocha Station - Ben Lerner [This book was only on my radar because a friend mentioned he was told by another friend that he was similar to the main character, which intrigued me. I found the book entertaining enough and was analyzing the character perhaps more intently than I would have otherwise.]

Daddy Was A Number Runner - Louise Meriwether [About a year in the life of a young Black girl living in Harlem during the Great Depression. The story was compelling yet bleak; sad that folks have lives such as these, and especially as a young girl always having boys touching on them. A perspective important to read about.]

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens [I read David Copperfield last year and was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it after thinking I didn’t like Dickens ever since reading Great Expectations in high school, so I decided to check out the rest of his oeuvre. I didn’t enjoy this one as much and I feel like I missed a bit of the background info listening to it on audiobook. I could follow along the main plot points, but the extraneous elements didn’t capture my attention. The two cities in question are London and Paris, during the French Revolution. About a reunited family, marriage, and a plot twist of history coming back to haunt and convict. That’s pretty vague but there’s too much to summarize.]

Brave the Wild River - Melissa L. Sevigny [I attended this author’s book talk at the Moab library in ‘23 and since I’m obsessed with anything about the Colorado River this book about two women Botanists going down the river captured my attention. What a treat to be able to listen to this book while traveling in the country they are speaking about. Also it really helps to have been down the river in the canyon to set this book to life since I can envision the areas in which these stories take place. And I do know how hard and dangerous the trip is so it’s even more impressive that these women were the first to go down the river in a time where people were dying and Nevilles build the boat. I love learning about the history of explorers going down the river.]

The Serviceberry - Robin Wall Kimmerer [I was excited to hear about this new release by Kimmerer since I love her Braiding Sweetgrass. This short book is another great reminder to switch perspectives of life away from consumerism and consumption to gratitude and reciprocity.]

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel [Must have been recommended this book on some sort of NYTimes list. Written in 2014 about a post apocalyptic society after a pandemic. Reading it I couldn’t help but think of the similarities of how the COVID pandemic halted society, but not to the extent as this book. Therefore, I found some basics of the plot to be ridiculous, like they didn’t have electricity, come on we’ve still got solar panels. So I found it a little difficult to fully commit to the premise of the book, but it was still exciting and kept my attention with all the different timelines and connections.]

Sunk Without a Sound - Brad Dimock [The story of Glen and Bessie Hyde who disappeared on their honeymoon float of the Colorado River in 1928. I’m into all things Colorado River and Grand Canyon so I had to read about one of the most famous accidents. Enjoyed learning about them and I even got to share that knowledge with a group on a river rafting trip down the Colorado River while I was getting a hitch from Deer Creek to Kanab Creek. And I also heard a boatsman mentioned his friend Brad who built a scow, and I was like I just read his book! I love being in this place. And since I read this at the Grand Canyon I visited Kolb Studio and was able to put an image to the stories about regarding the Kolb Brothers.]

All My Rivers Are Gone - Katie Lee [I was recommended her folks songs of the Colorado River and her book Sandstone Seduction by a river guide on my trip down through the Grand Canyon. I love the songs and I read her Sandstone Seduction last year while hiking down the Paria River to the confluence with the CO River. This year I read this book while hiking through the Gems on the Tonto Trail in the Grand Canyon and on the banks of the Colorado River at Bass Rapids and Lees Ferry. In this book Lee shares her journals and notes from her many trips down the Colorado River through Glen Canyon, her love for the magical place, and her despair of it being drowned by the Glen Canyon Dam. Since my love of the river and canyon I ached for a place I will never know. I felt understood and seen in Lee’s writing of her adoration and life changing experience on the river.]

The Message - Ta-Nehisi Coates [I’ve read a couple of his books and heard this new one was a bit controversial so I wanted to check it out. Maybe since I was listening to it rather than reading it but it didn’t seem to flow. I didn’t understand how the three chapters were connected. His visit to Senegal, his visit to a school board meeting debating banning his book Between the World and Me, and the last chapter about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It seems that the last chapter about Israel and Palestine is what is controversial due to his critic of Israeli policies, but in light of the war going on over there, I found what he wrote to be pretty understandable. But the critic of his critic is that he’s viewing it from an American perspective and doesn’t include the Israeli perspective. But I think it’s pretty clear that it is an apartheid state.]

Sunrise on the Reaping - Suzanne Collins [Another Hunger Games novel, this one about Haymitch Abernathy’s backstory. As we know from the first Hunger Games book, he was the sole victor from District 12. So this book is about his experience in the games. Compelling book that I couldn’t put down.]

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro [Listed on NYTimes 100 Best Books of 21st century, I must have put it on my list because it was listed as dystopian fiction like similar books I’ve read. It was compelling at first, hinting at something that wasn’t explained. So it started as just a coming of age story of the narrator, Kathy. Then as you progress you learn why Kathy and her friends are different. I found it interesting, but I did think there was too much filler in there and the dystopian element was much more subtle. It wouldn’t be on my 100 best list.]

The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood [I read Oryx and Crake in grad school and there are two more books in the trilogy. And since I’m watching the final season of Handmaid’s Tale and just finished another dystopian book I figured it was time to finish this series. Maybe it’s because I listened to the audiobook, but it was hard to keep track of all the characters and I didn’t feel like I really got into it until over halfway. But as I was reading it I was thinking how I wouldn’t keep the books, it’s not something I cared to have. I just wanted to finish the series.]

MaddAddam - Margaret Atwood [The last book in the series. I had gotten more into it by the end of the last book, but still didn’t feel like it was anything I needed to keep in my bookcase. Dystopian story.]

Unreasonable Hospitality - Will Guidara [Recommended by a friend who worked in the restaurant industry. Guidara was a former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, which is a 3 Michelin star restaurant and won best in the world while Guidara was the manager. In this book Guidara shares his trajectory to EMP and how they were constantly growing and changing to become the best in the world. I found the book to be very interesting and enjoyed all the connections I was making in real time. For example, Guidara mentions the restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, and I was in Copenhagen so I looked into the restaurant and ended up visiting their Noma Projects PopUp, one of their former bakers bakery, Hart Bagari, and their burger place they started during covid, POPL burger. I kept finding remembering parts from the show The Bear and the movie The Menu which are both about fine dining restaurants.]

Triology - Jon Fosse [I asked the man at the Oslo Pilgrim Center to recommend a book by a Norwegian author and this is one of his recommendations. Fosse also received the Nobel prize in literature. This book is three short stories, written years apart, but with the same characters. I found his writing style to be unusual; he rarely uses punctuation therefore the sentences go on and on. And the speaker is sometimes confusing and they repeat what the other says. But I found the stories to be compelling and I enjoyed reading the book during my St Olav’s Way pilgrimage hike across Norway.]

The Women - Kristin Hannah [I heard a lot of buzz about this book so I placed a hold for an audiobook and it came available while I was hiking St Olav’s Way in Norway. I ended up finishing it in three days, but I found that listening to it for hours while hiking put me in a weird mindframe, especially due to the tragic and violent story of Vietnam War. So basically the book is told from Frankie, a nurse who served in the Vietnam War for two tours and her experience over there as well as her experience coming back to California. Lots of graphic and gruesome stories from war as well as depressing stories from life back home. I can see why it’s a popular book, but after awhile I kind of became annoyed just because I felt like the author just threw everything onto the main character, like everything that could go wrong went wrong. She struggled but eventually overcame. So I started to not really like the main character for her behaviors and annoyed by the author that made her have to go through so much, making it overly unrelatable.]

Heartwood - Amity Gaige [Loosely based on the true story of an Appalachian Trail hiker who got lost, subsequently died, and her remains were found two years later. Even though the book is about a subject I love, the AT, I did not care for the book. I felt as though the characters and topic weren’t as authentic. And spoiler: the ending was not like the true story. They also added an element to the hiker being lost than what really happened.]

Dopamine Nation - Anna Lembke [Mostly about a psychiatrist’s look at addiction in different forms with roots in pain and pleasure. Interesting read, but not sure much stayed with me.]

Briefly Perfectly Human - Alua Arthur [Basically a memoir of how the author came to be a death doula. The book was a combination of stories about clients and their deaths along with stories of her childhood to adulthood and the struggles she faced. I expected it to be focused more on the death doula part and I enjoyed the stories of her clients and how she prepared and assisted them, but I found the book to be more about her and how she came to the work (which isn’t bad I just wanted more on the death doula part).]

Barracoon - Zora Neale Hurston [This was an interview with a man, living in Alabama, who was stolen and carried in the last slave ship, Clotilda, about his capture and life as an enslaved man.]

Widening Circles - Joanna Macy [Macy recently passed so I wanted to be reminded of her activist voice. I’ve read two other books of hers while in grad school. This was a memoir starting early in her childhood and spanning her life. I found it all super impressive what she did in her life from going to college back when women didn’t really do that to living in several different countries abroad while her husband worked for the Peace Corp to raising children, being a professor, and starting activist organizations. Learning about and studying Buddhism in India was one of her main priorities and she even secretly entered Tibet at one time. Her stories were interesting and dense making the book slow to get through, but she lived an incredible life and impacted it for the better.]

A Marriage at Sea - Sophie Elmhirst [spoiler-A thrilling tale of an English couple who survived 118 days lost in the Pacific Ocean after their boat sunk back in the early ‘70s. Truly remarkable the will, hope, and luck that led them to survive. From catching and eating turtles and sharks to catching a turtle to make it a pet, it was fascinating to learn what they did to survive.]

How to Blow Up a Pipeline - Andreas Malm [This book was gifted to me due to being an environmentalist, but I found the book to be a slog to get through. The language and formatting made it so I didn’t always understand what I was reading or the position of the author. Basically he describes past movements and different actions they took in comparison to the climate movement. He discussed climate fatalism and pacifism and I believe argued for sabotage, which some view as violence toward objects. Basically at what point do we have to do more than civil disobedience in order to make change (in other movements like apartheid, civil rights, etc) to save people, the planet.]

You Better Be Lightning - Andrea Gibson [One of my favorite poets that I had the privilege of seeing perform their spoken word in Flagstaff over a decade ago. They recently passed away from cancer at the age of 49. So heartbreaking but they were a light of love in this world and their wisdom gained while dying is incredible. Reading this work of poetry in their memory.]

God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian - Kurt Vonnegut [Read this short book I recently picked up at a thrift store in order to hit 30 books read this year. I picked the book up because I have read many Vonnegut books in the past. The premise of this fictionalized journalism is that Dr. Kevorkian is administering a near-death experience for Vonnegut so he can interview dead people in heaven. According to Vonnegut there is no hell, and he interviews people like Shakespeare and some random people. Each story is quite short and doesn’t really provide any deep philosophical message from his time in the blue tunnel.]

2024

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & Other lessons from the Crematory - Caitlin Doughty [The third book I’ve read by Doughty, known as Ask a Mortician on YouTube. The book is about her time working at a crematory, going to mortuary school, and her evolution when it comes to her own mortality and how she views the death care industry. The book goes into graphic detail about corpses, but I believe it’s important to learn about since Western culture’s suppression of death and what happens to our bodies when we die is unnatural and unhealthy. I think our instinct, taught by society, is revulsion when talking about dead bodies thus leading to the suppression of a natural cycle that we will all participate in. Since “death happens to us all” I want to acknowledge it and come to terms with my own mortality and the mortality of my loved ones. I also believe learning more and talking about death more makes it easier to process when a loved one dies or when we are facing death. “Denying that we will die and hiding bodies from our sight. Making that choice means we will continue to be terrified and ignorant of death, and the high role it plays in how we live our lives.” I am passionate about this subject as well as death care in general. Her book From Here to Eternity is one of the most fascinating books I’ve ever read and I recommend it to everyone. It’s also how I learned about Recompose (human composting) which is now available in certain states that have passed legislation to allow it.]

Footprint of a Heart - Shayla Paradeis [Shayla is my Appalachian Trail hiking partner and good friend. She is extremely talented whether it comes to singing, songwriting, and writing, and I’m one of her biggest fans. This is a beautiful book documenting her hikes as well as her personal growth over the years.]

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver [Since I’ve read several of her books this new one was on my radar. I was going to listen to the audiobook and started reading it before it came available and then ended up reading it all in three days. Going in I had no idea what it was about and after reading her introduction I was kinda turned off cause it was set in Appalachia and was about the opioid crisis but her saying it was her version of Charles Dickens David Copperfield intrigued me and I gave it a go. She said she had wanted to write about this topic for awhile but didn’t know how to approach it and so when she was inspired by Dickens she thought it needed to come from a child’s perspective. The story was compelling and I couldn’t put it down. Recommend.]

Hope in the Dark - Rebecca Solnit [I didn’t know what this book was about beforehand, just that a friend recommended it. I really wanted to like this but the writing and topic (which is important) gave me flashbacks to grad school reading (which I still read plenty of). In this book Solnit speaks on activism and the urgency to participate in changing the world, a call to action, and she shares past movements and the sometimes slow progress it takes. I’m surprised I didn’t read this for grad school as it is right up my alley. To be honest, I found my mind wandering while reading big academic words. I know what she was trying to do, but I feel as though I am moved more from personal stories than overviews. I did however learn about a movement I had previously been ignorant of, the Zapatistas in Mexico, and I am intrigued and will continue to learn more about that.]

The Soul of a Woman - Isabel Allende [Since doing a project on Allende in high school Spanish class I have read a few of her books and when I heard about her recent memoir I was intrigued, but I didn’t care for it. It was a quick listen though. She briefly talked about her childhood in Chile, her husbands, and kids, but most of the book was her perspective on feminism. I felt like she could have talked more about her family’s connection to Chile’s president’s assassination and exile to Venezuela but she didn’t even touch on that.]

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee [This fictional book follows four generations of a Korean family starting off in Korea and then immigrating to Japan. There are stories about every family member and even friends of the family. From hardships to successes, during occupation, war, and post war. Underlining theme is the poor way Koreans were viewed by Japanese as well as the women in the family suffering.]

The World Without Us - Alan Weisman [This book has been unread on my shelf for years but hasn’t been a high priority book to read but when I found it as an audiobook I knew I could get through it quickly as I listen at a 1.75xspeed. It proved interesting discussing in a variety of categories how Earth will function if all humans were gone, for instance what would happen to the animals, structures, lands and rivers, and the most terrifying are when looking at the future of the fossil fuel industry and nuclear. Seems like we are and have been operating under a very narrow and short term when it comes to looking at the future. And of course looking at how the world would be without humans also just shows how much of an impact we have made on this planet and it’s quite frightening the narrow ledge we are on.]

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs [First account of an enslaved woman I have read. The mental toughness and perseverance she had is astounding, most notably when she hid for seven years in the attic of a shed where she couldn’t even sit up or stand up, after leaving her slave master. Unlike most enslaved peoples stories this ended up as best as can be hoped for, she got herself and two kids free.]

Jazz - Toni Morrison [The third book I’ve read by Morrison and leaves me still pondering it all. Morrison’s writing style is different than most and at times hard to follow. She starts with the big event of the book and the rest of the book moves back and forth in time as well as narrator’s and viewpoints. And as always Morrison makes the characters so complex, living in a gray zone rather than black and white, which makes the reader not able to villanize anyone. Learning the character’s backgrounds after knowing what they did helps alter perspective you thought you made a boundary.]

Sister Outsider - Audre Lorde [I listened to an audiobook of this collection of essays and speeches but it was harder to follow than fiction so I will have to reread a hard copy at some point. Lorde is well-known for her activism, her teachings, and poetry about intersectional feminism. She speaks on her lived experience as a Black lesbian and the intersection between race, class, gender, and sexuality. Some places banned this book.]

Not Without Laughter - Langston Hughes [A simple story of a Black Midwest family in the early 1900s. We need more stories of Black people just living their lives.]

Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer [Recommended by a friend as it is her favorite book. I listened to it as an audiobook and found that I could not listen to it at 1.75x like other audiobooks, because I felt I needed to pay attention acutely as I might miss something, which is the downside of listening and not reading. It was a slow burn that was compelling with an underlying thrill where I expected something dramatic to happen or some plot twist that I didn’t see coming. The narrator and the main character seemed robotic and was hard to connect with which gave the book a more observing tone which I think is exactly what the author was going for as the premise is a scientific exploration. It was compelling to the very end, making the reader want more.]

Waste - Catherine Coleman Flowers [This book is part memoir, part call to action. Flowers shares stories of her role in activism from childhood through adult life leading to her life’s work and the main story for this book. Set in the Black Belt, specifically Lowndes County, Alabama, near Montgomery, where Flowers was raised, she exposes the intersection between environmental injustice and poverty in rural Alabama. Poor residents of Lowndes County, mostly Black residents, live in homes without proper wastewater treatment such as septic systems and where their raw sewage is piped out into their yard. I had heard about Flowers and this issue years ago and was appalled that this was happening in my home state. I reached out in hopes that I could help connect Flowers with Earthship Biotecture, off-grid homes who I had worked with before, thinking off-grid solutions could help, especially since EB has built homes in natural disaster areas. In this book, Flowers shares how she started working to help, inviting politicians to witness first-hand, and the progress made over twenty years. She also instigated a parasite study which results showed that 34% of individuals were positive for hookworm, and other diseases not common in first world countries. She also guided a United Nations Special Rapporteur to visit the area who reported back to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Flowers has helped to expose this injustice and is dedicated to creating solutions.]

The Fraud - Zadie Smith [Perhaps if I read this book instead of listening to it I would have liked it more, but I never got into it or the jumping storylines. I thought about stopping listening to it constantly, but it’s hard for me to quit things. The only positive I can say is that the author who narrates the audiobook did an excellent job with multiple accents including British, Scottish, and Jamaican.]

This Republic of Suffering - Drew Gilpin Faust [I must have put this on my list because I saw it on a list on The NY Times, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Basically the whole book is about death during the Civil War, much more than any person could ever want to know. I’m sure it took a long time to research and compile all the documents and I found all the first hand accounts to make it more personal. This is our history and this book gave me a deeper look into it through a different perspective you don’t hear about much. Each chapter focused on a different element of death, starting with how the soldiers didn’t want to kill, then changed into machines that found some enjoyment in killing, to letters back home telling the death of a loved one, embalmers, bodies disinterred and moved back home, etc. Again, more than you would ever want to know. Most of the book is filled with quotes from people during that time talking about all the above, which sheds light on what actually happened rather than some author summarizing way after the fact.]

Martita, I Remember You - Sandra Cisneros [This was on a list of Latina author’s memoirs, along with Isabel Allende’s which I read earlier this year. Quick sweet read of memories and letters from friends.]

Come As You Are - Emily Nagoski [Science and Sexuality. Always good to learn new things.]

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens [I never cared to read Dickens, even when I went through my era of reading all the classics. Having just read Great Expectations in 9th grade, I remember it as boring. I never bothered to revisit the author…until I read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver earlier this year which was inspired by David Copperfield. Then once it was in my head I started recognizing Dickens references everywhere and figured I should give it a shot. And now having read it, I don’t know why I didn’t like Dickens. I enjoyed the book. It was long but always engaging. I consider the story about the life of DC written as DC to be simple in premise following his life as a child to an adult full of tragic and struggling events, but nothing too extravagant or depressing as Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. I guess I’m going to read more of Dickens oeuvre.]

Sandstone Seduction - Katie Lee [Recommended by Colorado River guide on my trip through the Grand Canyon. I first learned of Katie Lee on the CO river trip and listened to her Folk Songs of the Grand Canyon after the trip on repeat. I read this book camped by the CO River in the Grand Canyon, car camping on the South Rim, and while backpacking through Buckskin Gulch to Lee’s Ferry. I can visualize most places she writes about because I too have been there, besides the Glen Canyon before the dam. This book of stories is exactly what I want to write. Some stories are more compelling than others but some also help explain her character and personality for when she later gets into mischief. I especially loved how I would read a chapter and it mentioned something that I just experienced while backpacking. Nowhere better to read this book than in a canyon.]

All In: An Autobiography - Billie Jean King [Listened to audiobook on road trip. I bought this book as set decoration for the practice set at the U.S. Open and at the end of the tournament I got to keep the book. I enjoy tennis and after working at 5 U.S. Open slams I figured I should learn more about BJK. She’s an impressive woman and the book chronicles her achievements on and off the court. Her work pushing for equal pay and women’s rights in sports (and life) and then later on with gay rights is commendable. I’m grateful for her work and fight.]

Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River - David Owen [This book along with Cadillac Desert is a crash course on Western Water; this book focuses on the Colorado River. I learned a lot specifically about the Law of the River and prior appropriation, Colorado River Compact, dams, etc. My familiarity with this area and specific sections of the river majorly helps to have a picture in my mind when the author writes about places along the river. It means so much more than just reading about since I have memories and images in my head of those places. Just like Cadillac Desert this book will rile you up and give you anxiety about the future of water in the West. There are sooooo many complex intersectional factors tied in, such as agriculture, population, conservation, economic, etc. It’s overwhelming but this is so important and an often overlooked issue, especially for those that don’t live in the West.]

March : Book One - John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell [A graphic novel about Congressman John Lewis’ childhood and how he got started with his nonviolent activism for civil rights in particular Nashville sit-ins that led to his arrest and then integration at lunch counters. I enjoyed this medium and was still able to learn more about John Lewis through art.]

Freedom is a Constant Struggle - Angela Y. Davis [Comprised of interviews with and speeches by the activist Davis. I didn’t love the structure of the book or even that the speeches weren’t chronological but that’s secondary to the purpose of the book. I found her words repetitive but necessary, underscoring building and organizing movements of people to fight systemic institutional racism by way of abolishing prisons, stopping genocide, among others. She gave speeches abroad in an effort to build worldwide movements and support in solidarity. She gives for example apartheid in South Africa and compares that to Jim Crow in the South and to the apartheid in Palestine. The interviews and speeches were given during the time of the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson after the police killed Michael Brown and she speaks on how although we need to hold individuals to account (convicting the police officer) we need to acknowledge and revolutionize society that has created this racism which has influenced the militarization of police, the prison industrial complex, etc. The intersectionality of it all.]

The Overstory - Richard Powers [I was told by a friend that I would like this book and I see why— it’s about trees and activism. I also can see why this author won the Pulitzer Prize for this book— the writing, the structure, and topic were exemplary. I liked the book, but I didn’t love it. I’m not sure if it’s because I listened to the audiobook rather than read it but with so many characters it was hard to follow with the jumping around to different storylines. Basically, the book is about several different people and their relationship with trees, and some people’s storylines end up connecting with others. There is an environmental activism element which I appreciated but the stories and characters didn’t actually feel super genuine, more like a stereotype of radical activism. Sometimes gave me Monkeywrench Gang vibes.]

The Plague - Albert Camus [Found this account of a small town quarantined by plague somewhat relatable to the COVID pandemic. Besides detailing the account of how the plague ravished a town and the progression of isolation of the people, I think Camus probably touched on deeper meanings, but I struggled at finding them.]

The Blue Zones - Dan Buettner [Blue Zones are areas in the world with people who have lived exceptionally long, specifically people over 80. This author interviews hundreds of centenarians in Sardinia, Okinawa, Loma Linda, and Costa Rica and asks them about their life including tips and advice for living long lives.]

Hello Beautiful - Ann Napolitano [A beautiful account of a family in Chicago and the ways they were pulled apart and found each other through love. Almost soap opera level of dramas.]

The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells [Not sure how I heard of this book by this classic author but I must have read about it somewhere. I was able to listen to the audiobook in one day and I was hoping that something would trigger a memory of how I was recommended this, but nothing came. A science fiction story set on an island with a doctor who combined animals and made them human-like. Disturbing and somewhat of a thriller not knowing what was going to happen next.]

The Vegetarian - Han Kang [Written by a South Korean set in South Korea. About a woman who has a dream that causes her to stop eating meat. I’m not sure if this is culturally a big deal there but the story makes it a big deal, which doesn’t seem relatable. She becomes withdrawn, lots of bad stuff happens, and she ends up in a mental hospital. I didn’t like the story at all, but I suppose there’s a deeper meaning about Korean society and feminism. I’m quite literally shocked that Kang just won the Nobel Prize in Literature.]

The Puttermesser Papers - Cynthia Ozick [I heard of this book from an actress/director that I like, Natasha Lyonne, as she mentioned it as a favorite. I didn’t care for it at all. Several different novellas that were hard to follow. It was confusing to understand if they were supposed to relate or not. In one story the main character Ruth Puttermesser creates a golem and becomes mayor of New York City. In another story it tells of her cousin’s daughter who comes from Russia to stay with her. Since I didn’t like it I wondered if there was something I wasn’t picking up on that made it a book Lyonne would recommend, but I found it a slog to get through and didn’t enjoy it.]

North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail - Scott Jurek [Jurek is a renowned ultra runner who also happens to be vegan. I read his book Eat and Run years ago and flipped out when I saw him in a Boulder Trader Joe’s once. This book is about his FKT of the Appalachian Trail in 2015. I heard the buzz when he was running it and this book shows how difficult it was to achieve. Also to be noted that his record was broken the following year and now ever year sometimes multiple people vie to break the AT FKT. I knew reading this book would make me want to go hike a long trail again and it did.]

Out of the Dust - Karen Hesse [A short children’s book but my friend recommended it to me so I listened to the audiobook. About a young girl in Oklahoma during the dust bowl in the 1930s. A coming of age story and dealing with loss.]

My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante [I put this on my to-read list because The New York Times listed it recently as the best book of the 21st century. Now after listening to the audiobook I am baffled as to why. I really didn’t care for it and I don’t see why it was listed as best book. It’s also the first book in the series and I will not be reading the rest. I do like that it’s a look into Italian life and culture in the 50s, but I didn’t care for the overwhelming tone/plot/etc of envy and comparison that the author/narrator has when talking about her friend. Sure it’s admiringly but it’s an obsessive comparison and I found it annoying. I also found the anger/temper/violence of the people and the men in particular to be frustrating. I wouldn’t recommend it.]

The Hidden Life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben [I listened to this audiobook on a road trip and it didn’t keep my attention as it was more educational/science/academic than I expected so I’m not sure I retained much about this deep dive about trees.]

James - Percival Everett [Published this year, this novel is narrated and about the slave Jim of Mark Twain’s Huck Finn book. Full of adventure (survival) and twists and turns you don’t see coming. I felt as though the first part of the book could be read by middle school children but part two got darker and showed more of the evils of slavery. I enjoyed this new perspective of a classic.]

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ‘72 - Hunter S. Thompson [I started reading this in October as a lead up to the election but it was a slog to get through. I was hoping Thompson would make the campaign journey a fun read but even his gonzo journalism still couldn’t make it compelling. It was difficult for me to follow because there were a lot of people he wrote about and not having lived through that time I think made it harder to connect with as I didn’t really know any of the people he talked about and only vaguely know anything about Nixon. The worst part was probably the transcription of a conversation he had post democratic convention with someone discussing how McGovern got the delegates. It sounded so complicated and I couldn’t follow at all. But as the book closed I found McGovern’s loss to Nixon eerily similar to this year’s election of tr*mp over Harris. Both were a shock (McGovern’s wasn’t that much of a shock but the margins were), a big upset, against an obviously horrible candidate, that both threw the Democratic Party into shambles and has shown an unclear path forward. How Nixon and trmp had a lot against them and the Democrats thought anyone would be able to beat them, but that people didn’t show up to vote and Nixon and trmp got reelected. The similar despair at the loss and for the future of the country. Now I’m gonna watch Shirley on Netflix about Shirley Chisholm’s campaign for that same year.]