Books about mushrooms, the Harlem Renaissance, art, and war
Mushrooming: An Illustrated Guide to the Fantastic, Delicious, Deadly, and Strange World of Fungi by Diane Borsato
I picked up this book because of the cover art, and it was both fun and informative to read, giving an illustrated introduction to some of the most interesting mushrooms of North America. While there is some emphasis on identification and usage, it's not a field guide: the book mostly encourages the readers to use it as a jumping-off point for getting to know the mushrooms in their area. Interspersed with the mushroom profiles are stories of people using mushrooms in creative ways (as performance art, as inspiration, as medicine), as well as profiles of non-mushroom entities you might come across in your foraging (such as slime molds). I really enjoyed reading it!
The Big Sea: An Autobiography by Langston Hughes (TW: sexual assault)
I knew pretty much nothing about Langston Hughes other than that he was a famous poet born in Missouri, and so reading this autobiography was fascinating. (Thank you Rachel for loaning it to me!) He talks about growing up in Kansas, spending a summer in Mexico with his father, taking to the sea and going to Africa as a sailor when he was in his early twenties, living penniless in Paris, being swept up in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and struggling to navigate his identity as a mixed-race Black man at the intersection of race, class, and gender.
The book was an utterly gripping read, but also very emotionally draining. His writing style has very little commentary, meaning that extremely intense moments— such as the scene early on when the crew of the ship he was on gang-raped a prostitute— pass by with stark description and no comment (or clarification as to whether or not he participated). He strings together the story with little judgement and lets the readers make sense of it, which often makes for difficult emotions. When he does pause for commentary, it hits hard, and throughout the course of the story, you begin to see how various events of his life connect to each other, creating complex themes.
Definitely worth the read if you can handle the emotional intensity. (I need to remind myself to check out a book of his poetry, too— the poems he included were gritty and gorgeous.)
Look Again: How to Experience the Old Masters by Ossian Ward
Found this at random at the library and enjoyed reading it: it discusses various ways of approaching classical art, encouraging the readers to look more deeply and through different lenses in order to appreciate the art more. The writing was a bit pretentious, but it had good ideas, and made me want to visit the Art Museum.
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park
My sister lent me this young adult book, and it was a gripping read! It's a dramatization of a true story (the real-life protagonist of the story wrote the post-script, giving his stamp of approval on the adaptation), following the parallel stories of a girl getting a well drilled at her village in Sudan and another boy in South Sudan fleeing violence and walking thousands of miles to various refugee camps in an attempt to survive. Since it's a young-adult novel it's a very quick read, and the writing is stark but moving, describing the horrendous events with simple emotion. I definitely cried while reading it. Would recommend!
Previously on What I've Been Reading:
All What I've Been Reading posts
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