In August I prioritized reading more, dedicating time after my kid's bedtime to look through books, as well as reading while pushing on the swing at the park. Read some more great stuff this month!
The Earth Said Remember Me: How to Revive Our Memories and Restore the Planet by Jason Dove Mark
I picked this up from the library shelf solely because I liked the cover design, and only then saw that it was a book about environmentalism. It turned out to be a fantastic read! Mark was the editor of Sierra magazine for a long time, and writes with a poetic cadence and a researcher's precision, drawing readers into the premise of the book: remembering the living world as we received it, and passing on those memories, is a vital part of environmentalism. From monarch butterfly and Coho salmon populations to glacier sizes and regional temperatures, the living world can be tricky for our minds to pin down, because we're always adjusting to the new normal. This "shifting baseline syndrome" explains how heat waves and hurricanes start to feel like just part of summer, and how we often fail to notice things like impoverished ecosystems and catastrophically low populations of insects because we don't have the cultural memory of anything different.
Mark's challenge to "go outside, bear witness, make a record, and pass it on" resonated deeply with me, especially as I read most of the book while pushing my kid on a swing at the park. Highly, highly recommend!
The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
A couple years ago my Sunday school class went through a video series based on this book, and I decided to check it out to go into more depth. It's accessible but also detailed, discussing details of translations as well as sweeping overviews of how various passages of the ancient scriptures common to both Christianity and Judaism might have been interpreted in their time, and how various Christian and Jewish factions have interpreted them over the millennia. It's refreshing to see the various perspectives treated with respect: even mutually exclusive interpretations can both be true.
Handmade Gatherings: Recipes and Crafts for Seasonal Celebrations and Portluck Parties by Ashley English
I do love an aesthetically pleasing book, so when I saw this for two dollars at the library book fair, I had to pick it up! It's a recipe book for parties, giving specific blueprints for seasonally-themed potlucks, complete with recipes, decorating ideas, conversation prompts, and more. Although the book was a bit pretentious for me (it assumes that all of your friends cook elaborate dishes from scratch and shop at the farmer's market), I did like the idea of creating a potluck where the decor and activities were shared among the guests, not just the food. And the parties themselves (honeybee-themed, apple-themed, etc.) were very inspiring!
The Wild and Free Garden: Transform Your Outdoor Space with Found Materials, Community Sharing, and Creative Ingenuity by Stephanie Rose
I've been skimming a bunch of gardening books lately, but this is one I read from cover to cover because its emphasis is not necessarily on the gardening itself, but how to garden for free/cheap, and especially how to do so in community. I found myself inspired to do more swapping and be more creative in meeting my needs, both for the garden and otherwise. Definitely recommend for any gardener!
Eco Revolution: Climate Justice, Community, and the Fight for Our Planet by Maya Penn
Picked this one up from the library because of the title, and it was an interesting read, talking about principles for environmentalism based on the author's experiences: she has been a climate activist since she was a kid, and shared a lot of her lessons along the way. The book was a bit vague for my tastes; the overarching ideas were excellent, but I wished that there had been a bit more application, to show how an average person who isn't a full-time climate activist could incorporate them.
(Previous What I've Been Reading posts)
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