CURRENTLY READING

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 (currently reading)

2023

Dune - Frank Herbert [I usually like to read the book before watching the movie version, but I saw the new adaptation first and in this case I think it helped to have something to visualize since there’s so many characters and strange vocabulary/terminology in this sci-fi world. Since it’s a big book, I thought it’d take forever to get through, and it took me a couple months, but I eventually got hooked and wanted to keep reading. I found a bit of the language dated, yes, even when describing a fictitious world, mostly due to how the author wrote the characters and the conversations between them. I did appreciate the attention to water importance on the desert planet of Arrakis; it really showed how different peoples can view the same thing as in abundance or in scarcity. However, I didn’t like (and think is dated) how the author wrote that the dreams of the native people of Arrakis’, the Fremen’s, one goal was for their desert planet to become more of an oasis and implied that it was possible. I find this ideology of man controlling nature dangerous and false, but again, when this was written man “tried” to control nature through dams and the like. And sure you might say, “why do you have to be so critical of a fictitious book and reach for these environmental/ideological critiques” and some shit, to which I would say, “have you ever taken a literature class?” You always dissect books for symbols and deeper meanings; our books are our culture and influence culture and thus behavior, and this book clearly exemplifies the prevalent thought (of the time) — that man can (and should) control nature, and can alter it from one extreme to the other…But, to the author’s credit for touching upon another seemingly controversial topic, I think the main theme/plot point of the book revolved around colonization and the relationship between colonizer and indigenous peoples. He clearly made the colonizers out to be horrible people extracting natural resources from Arrakis and the indigenous peoples, the Fremen, the heroes defending their land and people.… Although I enjoyed the book, I don’t think I’ll read any others in the series, just because I don’t want to take time away from all the other books I feel compelled to read in order to continue the series. Now I’m going to watch the original movie adaptation (which was just horrible, sorry Twin Peaks/David Lynch fans.]

So you want to talk about race - Ijeoma Oluo [Another educational tool for your toolkit when it comes to dismantling white supremacy and fighting for racial justice.]

If Beale Street Could Talk - James Baldwin [It took me half the book to realize that this was not in fact going to be set in Memphis, on Beale Street, but rather just in Harlem. That was kinda why I wanted to read this classic Baldwin piece, cause I thought it was going to be set in the South, where I’m from. Alas, it was still a great book and the themes are still relevant today: racial profiling, unjustly locking up black people, poverty, and the criminal (un)justice system. Although parts of the language and culture are dated, it’s set in the 70s, it is a timeless piece and at the root a beautiful love story. …I enjoyed the movie adaptation, and the love between Tish and Fonny radiated beyond words. I didn’t care for the different ending than the book though. The book’s ending felt more hopeful.]

Untamed - Glennon Doyle [Found in a free library box. I knew it was popular so I grabbed it, but I wouldn’t normally have read it. Had some good takeaways, but these kind of self-help/empowering books are not for me. I don’t need to be told that what society has taught us is wrong and that I am a whole person, yada yada yada. I was lucky to learn this at a young age and have created my own nontraditional path, thus I can’t relate to books like this and don’t respond to the performative therapist tone. Plus I didn’t like the structure, it just felt like random paragraphs put together to make a book. No offense to Doyle she seems like a cool person.]

The Testaments- Margaret Atwood [Sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, 30+ years after it was published. Read The Handmaid’s Tale, watched the series, and am invested enough to be curious as to what happens later in this dystopian future.]

Nowhere for Very Long - Brianna Madia [I follow her on Instagram and connect with her unconventional lifestyle. Inspiring for working on my own memoir.]

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens [I know this is a popular book, but I didn’t really care to read it although I was recommended it. I listened to the audio book and struggled listening to the cringe southern accent but the story was compelling and I finished it quickly. I enjoyed the focus on nature throughout the book, but didn’t always like the main character Kya. She let her abandonment issues rule her life and prevented herself from growing.]

The Book of Delights - Ross Gay [Recommended by a fellow hiker I met on the Arizona Trail. I had listened to This American Life’s The Show of Delights where the author shared stories, the episode which I enjoyed. However, the writing style really distracted me from the delights. Gay uses so.many.commas. and again his writing is different than I am accustomed to and it made it difficult for me to thoroughly enjoy reading. Commas tend to cut flow and so much was added from the initial delight that it became distracting. But I love the premise of this as I have recently, over the past year, been focused on practicing gratitude. I hope to read this book many more times, and I hope to always be inspired to look for and notice delights all around me.]

How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi [I read his Stamped remix book last year and I have another one of his books on my list. I didn’t really get into this book so much cause I listened to the audio book and got caught up in his way of speaking that somewhat, sometimes was distracting, preacher like sermony. I much preferred the parts where he shared personal stories to the more educational parts. I wanted to read this because I think it’s important to read as many accounts of a wide range of people’s lives.]

The Beach - Alex Garland [I wanted to read this since visiting Thailand years ago, so I figured it’d be a good ‘beach’ read, even if I was in Mexico and not Thailand. I never saw the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio but I knew something sinister or scary was going to happen just from the vibes around what I remember about the movie trailer, so I kept waiting for something wild to happen. Not quite what I expected, but I found it a page turner and compelling. Also the references to Ko Phangan helped me imagine the setting since I visited that island when I went to Thailand. I then watched the movie which is just a snapshot in time of young Leo and the early 2000s. I wanted to like it but I didn’t like how it diverged from the book. Feels dated.]

Shipwrecked - Deedee Presser [One of my friends’ books about her experience working (and getting fired) on a cruise ship. She’s one of my most traveled friends and is very funny, so reading the book I could distinctly hear her voice and it proved to be very witty and entertaining.]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins [Easily fell back into the Panem world of the Hunger Games trilogy. Easy and entertaining reading. About President Snow when he was in school, before he became president. Gave more of a background on how the hunger games started and Snow’s input into it.]

The Water Dancer - Ta-Nehisi Coates [I loved his writing in Between the World and Me but this wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Set in Virginia during slavery the main character Hiram, the son of the master and enslaved, tried to run and ended up working with the underground. Some ways they were able to free enslaved peoples were through the supernatural action of conduction, which I didn’t care for. I’m not sure the reasoning to implant supernatural elements into stories about slavery, other than to have a new exciting way to talk about it, but I think it detracts from the real human heroes and courageousness it took without supernatural abilities.]

The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett [Another popular book that I didn’t know anything about beforehand and it was not what I expected. I didn’t especially care for it although the story line about a twin sister leaving her family and starting a new life while passing as white kept me reading, I felt like it was drawn out and didn’t wrap up in the way that I had hoped.]

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith [Picked this up at a friends of the library bookshop and didn’t know what it was about. Just an hour in to the audiobook I didn’t care for it and considered stopping it, but it’s hard for me to quit a book so I kept listening. Then I was driving over a thousand miles and had plenty of time to listen to it and the simplicity was easy to follow and I didn’t feel bad if I lost track. Basically the story is about a young girl Francie and her family who lives in Brooklyn in the early 1900s. The writing is basic and the story basic, but it does represent a slice of time in this country. Mostly I’m appalled at how women were treated then, for example, there’s an immigrant woman who becomes pregnant without marrying and the father locks her in her room and only feeds her bread and water in hopes that she and her unborn baby will die. Like wtf. Obviously this is fiction, but fiction takes a lot from true events and I’m sure something like this has happened thousands of times and probably still does. The way women are treated as secondclass citizens, they didn’t have the right to vote in the time period of this book, and how people translated religion to be oppressive and inhumane is appalling. Time offers this hindsight, just as we are still facing oppressive and inhumane treatment on the basis of religion till this day.]

Solito - Javier Zamora [Heart wrenching and heart breaking true account of a 9 year old Salvadoran’s experience trying to get to the USA and to his parents. This country needs a major overhaul of the immigration system and more compassion for others trying to seek asylum and have a better life.]

House of Cotton - Monica Brashears [listened to audiobook while on trail. I don’t recommend it; I didn’t like it at all, which is surprising because it was recommended on a New York Times morning newsletter. I thought the characters were not as fleshed out and they felt forced to seem eccentric but they came across as more stereotypical. The concept (spoiler) where families pay money for an actor to play their dead loved one is bizarre, as well as the personal grief and supernatural element that the lead character Magnolia deals with.]

Beyond the Wall - Edward Abbey [I’m conflicted to read Abbey because he was a sexist and a racist and we don’t need to hear their opinions or writings. He was an environmentalist and that is the reason I have read his books. I wanted to be transported back to the desert to get in the mind frame for my upcoming desert hike out West, which just so happens to be on a trail named after one of his book characters. I finished the book after my hike and it was a treat to read about areas I had just walked through. I could perfectly envision the area. He is a damn good writer. ]

We Call the Canyon Home - Indigenous Peoples of the Grand Canyon Region [I bought this at the GCNP after my Hayduke hike because the river guide quoted from this book and I am obsessed with anything about the canyon now. Written by each of the 11 Traditionally Associated Tribes whose homeland or origin stories take place in the Grand Canyon. I learned so much about each tribe and their history with the canyon and the tragedy of being displaced/forcibly removed/murdered in their homeland.]

Pieces of White Shell - Terry Tempest Williams [Williams spent time teaching on the Navajo Nation and each chapter of the book revolves around an item she picked up (owl feather, sage, wool, bone, etc) and the Navajo stories that are associated with the item. I’ve read other works by Williams and she is a beautiful writer, but I couldn’t really get over something she said in the beginning that kind of tainted my perception for the rest of the book. I just believe that if I’m learning about Navajo stories it should come from them and not a white woman.]

Counting Descent - Clint Smith [I first heard of Clint on the podcast Pod Save the People where he was a co-host. Last year I read is book How the Word is Passed and other writings. This is a book of poems and he is one of my favorite poets. He’s also a great orator and hearing him read his poems is powerful.]

Sáanii Dahataal/The Women Are Singing - Luci Tapahonso [My Navajo friend lent me this book of poems and stories by a Navajo woman to read while on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Nice stories and perspectives]

The Journey Home - Edward Abbey [Another Abbey book due to being out West. This is another compilation of short stories inspired by living in the West. Some about being a fire lookout at the North Rim and in Glacier, some about the destruction of the land from strip mining and a call to action for preservation. Some things he writes about like tossing beer cans out the window to make an area look more natural blows my mind but then other times when he discusses how capitalism is unsustainable and predicts what future economies/countries will look like is on point. I also appreciate his harsh directness.]

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr [Listened to the audiobook while road tripping. I had no idea what the book was about and wasn’t too interested going in but I had bought the book at a thrift store and figured listening to it would go by faster, and after several hours I got hooked. Since I wasn’t paying as close attention at the beginning it was hard to follow the back and forth between Werner’s story/timeline and Marie-Laure’s as well as the chapters going back and forth between years. I found the story compelling with lots of characters and various plots happening all at once, but didn’t exactly like the idea that the writing made the reader feel sympathetic to Werner even though he is a Nazi. So.. didn’t like that, but I see what the author is trying to do— make villains out to still be human with all the complexities that come with it. …I see there is an adapted screenplay coming to Netflix in November and I guess I’ll watch it.]

Shane - Jack Schaefer [Recommended as a favorite book to teach by fellow Hayduker who is an English teacher. I really enjoyed this and Schaefer wrote in a way that made you feel as though you were on the farm. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of auras, looks, and eyes to introduce you to Shane. The glances and the energy radiates off of Shane the way Schaefer writes and you don’t need dialogue.]

Chemistry - Weike Wang [I can’t remember who recommended this book but I just wanted something light and quick to read and I ended up reading this in a day. I enjoyed Wang’s writing style and how she segmented her writing made it easy to take breaks. I’m not sure if Wang used stories from her own life as it seems as though there are many similarities there but I did find the main character frustrating in her indecisiveness and her seemingingly lack of trying to get better. However, the more you learn about her family situation it becomes clear that she just hasn’t processed that plus the differences in the Chinese and American cultures and how they express love. I recommend this book.]

Gigi - Colette [A short novella set it Paris about a young girl guided by her grandmother and great aunt in a coming of age story turned love story. Short and cute, I guess, if you don’t place present-day norms with how it was back in the day when a 15 year old could be paired with a 33 year old.]

Searching for John Hughes - Jason Diamond [I had picked this up at a thrift store a couple years ago and read it just so I could clean out my bookcase. I like some of Hughes’ films, particularly The Breakfast Club, so I thought I’d be interested in this, but the book was bad. I wanted to quit reading it many time but I find satisfaction in finishing things so I stuck with it hoping I could gleam something from it to take with me in my life. The only part I actually enjoyed reading was when he talked about his childhood and the utter chaos it was; I felt sorry for him. But the rest of the book consisted of him talking about how he struggled writing a book about John Hughes, seriously that’s what he kept writing about for two hundred pages. Ugh, really a waste of my time reading this.]

Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult - Maria Bamford [I watched her Netflix comedy show Lady Dynamite years ago and was entertained by her quirky behavior so when I saw this book come out I was intrigued. The title is a bit misleading as this is more of a memoir and the cults she joined have been ‘the cult of showbiz’ and several 12 step programs like Debtors Anonymous. And she narrated the audiobook so it was fun to listen to her different voices and her strange humor. She admits to oversharing and she does in this book by including very specific details of her life like her debts and her struggles with mental health. She’s fun and it’s a quick read/listen.]

No Death, No Fear - Thich Nhat Hang [A friend gave me this book years ago and I read it then but this is a practice that needs to be constantly revisited. And I reread it now after the death of my father. The premise is repetitive, which is necessary when having to unlearn things we are taught about life and death. The author was a Buddhist monk and in this book he shares Buddhist teachings about impermanence. I may not fully comprehend everything or even agree with some of the teachings, but some I do, some feel true to me. In summary, I am more than my body, I was not born and I will not die, but rather my life is a continuation, manifestation of conditions. “There is no birth, no death, no coming, no going, no being, no non being.” With an open mind and an open heart this book and these practices can help reduce suffering and help through healing."]

2022

Naturalist - Edward O. Wilson [E.O. Wilson recently passed away in December 2021 at the age of 92. I first heard about him in undergrad at The University of Alabama when he came to speak on campus and I got his book The Creation signed. He is from Alabama, went to UA, and went on to teach at Harvard for 46 years. He was a Pulitzer Prize Winning Author and well-renown scientist. I used his biophilia work as a theoretical framework for my masters thesis. I have a few other of his books so I wanted to read one in memory of his passing.]

My Life on the Road - Gloria Steinem [I first saw this book on a list of women on the road books and since I knew of Steinem as a notable feminist I was interested to check it out. Also since I recently took a road trip 1700miles cross country I thought reading it was apropos.I loved this book and felt a deep connection with her as a traveler/activist. I learned a lot about her organizing and activism over decades around the country. Highly recommend this book.]

How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America - Clint Smith III [I first heard of Clint Smith on the podcast Pod Save the People where he was a co-host. I read some of his shorter pieces and poems and he quickly became one of my favorite poets. He talked about writing this book for years on the podcast and so when it finally came out it was on my list to check out. I’m happy to have received this signed copy for Christmas. This is such an important book and I highly recommend you read it. He travels to different locations around the country that has ties to slavery and he shares what he learned to the reader in beautiful prose.]

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death - Caitlin Doughty [I first learned of Caitlin from my funeral director friend who told me about her YouTube channel Ask a Mortician. In 2019 I read her book From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death during a time when I was dealing with the loss of the love of my life-my beloved pet of 16 years. I found that book to be one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. I loved learning about how different cultures deal with death and the bodies of their loved ones, plus I learned a ton. That’s how I came to learn of Recompose, a revolutionary way of composting human bodies, which I am all about for various reasons mostly being the most natural way, avoiding chemicals and excess energy of more traditional death care systems. I don’t particularly love talking about my loved ones dying but I sure do think about it a lot, and it’s a subject that most of us in the western world tend to not talk about, which is not particularly healthy seeing as that we all will die. Therefore, I think learning more about the process is a way to help ease the grief and trauma that will inevitably come with the loss of my loved ones. Caitlin is also very funny and this book asks crazy wild questions about death and Caitlin answers in both humorous and educating ways, which is the best way to do it, in my opinion.

Hidden Valley Road - Robert Kolker [A super intense look at a family with 12 kids where 6 have schizophrenia. Goes back and forth between the family and the research/progress in schizophrenia. Very interesting.]

Love Letter to the Earth -Thich Nhat Hanh [First read in grad school, now I reread whenever I’m on trail]

The Road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell [Documents living conditions of working class in England and makes the case for Socialism. More of an essay and I think it was commissioned. Relates similar information he wrote in Down and Out in Paris and London.]

How Much of these Hills is Gold - C Pam Zhang [Saw this on some recommended list to read and it proved to be interesting and compelling to listen to while on trail. I haven’t read much (if any) Chinese authors and I liked this author’s writing style.]

Ariel - Sylvia Plath [Plath’s most famous work, this book of poetry written mostly just weeks before she killed herself. Most of the poems I couldn’t even comprehend—will probably need several more readings. But for the ones I could follow, I found her talk about trying to kill herself in the past and her suffering to be remarkably straight forward and written in a matter of fact way, rather than hiding it or using metaphors.]

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy - Jenny Odell [Listened to this while on trail. I appreciated the concept and the ability to deep dive on this topic as it is similarly connected to other philosophical musings I’ve been working through lately. Basically living in a capitalist society that values productivity and attaches that to a person’s worth. As far as the book, I enjoyed the introduction but I was disappointed with the rest of the book. Maybe it would have been different reading it rather than listening to it but it didn’t seem to have a good flow and jumped around from references and sources to others. I felt like the abundance of references were distracting and felt forced. Regardless it’s an interesting topic and something I will return to.

Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger [It was alright. Felt old and not relatable. Not sure there’s anything else to say about this book.]

The Other Black Girl - Zakiya Dalila Harris [Listened to while on trail. Not what I expected but passed the time.]

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You - Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds [This is a shorter “remix” of Kendi’s Stamped From the Beginning book. I liked the layout of the book and how it progressed through time citing notable events and people concerning slavery and civil rights in the U.S. They repeat that this is not a history book, but the way it’s written makes it easy to process this history.]

Beautiful World, Where are You - Sally Rooney [Listened to while caretaking on trail. Watched the adaptation of her book Normal People on Hulu and figured I’d give this a go. I enjoyed the Irish accent on the audiobook, and listened to the book in two days, but it’s nothing great and I didn’t particularly like it.]

How to Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan [I’ve read several of Pollan’s books, beginning with the vegetarian’s bible, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and found this to be fascinating. Pollan goes into the history of the research on psychedelics as well as where research stands now dealing with addiction, depression, and death. Pollan also takes the reader on the journey of his own experiences with psychedelics. There is so much about the world/universe/and our brains that we don’t know, or can comprehend and the ability to experience an expansion of consciousness or to allow your ego to fall away is intriguing, and all from molecules found growing on this planet, in fungi.]

The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell - Aldous Huxley [Same vein as the above book. Didn’t enjoy it.]

The Stranger - Albert Camus [Wanted a quick read and this proved interesting and kept me reading. Set in Algeria with a main character written in a way I am still unsure about. Looking forward to reading more by Camus.]

This is Your Mind on Plants - Michael Pollan [Another Pollan book and this one takes a deep dive on mind-altering drugs: Poppy plants (opium), coffee/tea (caffeine), and mescalin (peyote). Interesting enough.]

White Fragility - Robin DiAngelo [Important education for white people to acknowledge their presence (and history) with racism. Race is a social construct (like gender) however racism is built in our institutions and culture due to white supremacy. Of all the anti racism books out there, this one is written by a white woman, and for that I think makes it easier for white people to swallow, due to the stereotypes (and racism) if a person of color were to “call out” racism in a white person then they would feel threatened. As reminded in the book it is also important to acknowledge that it is not people of color’s job (or burden) to educate white people on racism and their place in it nor is it to sympathize with white people’s ignorant “innocence” in perpetuating it, which has historically and presently caused harm. There’s a lot to unpack and I think DiAngelo does a good job (she is a consultant and facilitator who talks to companies/organizations about racial justice) explaining the common reactions white people have when faced with their own racism, and those reactions are telling in and of themselves. Defensiveness, guilt, and even tears all show white fragility and once again shifts the focus on how the white person (aggressor, if even unintentional) suffers over the person of color who has had racism perpetuated upon. Understanding our behaviors is how we progress and grow; this is important for all to be educated upon. Claiming ignorance (and keeping silent) are not excuses but rather actions perpetuating harm.]