I guess you’re supposed to be reading light fiction — or so-called beach reads — this time of year, apparently because delving into Dostoevsky or something isn’t allowed or very wise when the days are long and hot. But now summer’s coming to an end, even if the high temperatures aren’t, and the days are getting longer and we’ll all have more time to binge watch television and binge read big books. So what are you reading/planning to read/have you read/hope to read in the not present and not so distant past and future?
I’ll start:
I’m doing my fiction thriller duty with an oldie (2001) that I somehow missed, In the Moon of Red Ponies by James Lee Burke. It’s classic JLB stuff, set in Montana, which is always fun.
I’ve also been rereading the poetry of Simon Ortiz in the form of his Woven Stone, a comprehensive collection of his work. I’d highly recommend it.
And I’m reading a book on welding. More on that later.
Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth. Actually, I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy of this one and it’s wonderful. Laura Paskus edits this collection of essays from some of the West’s best environmental writers, journalists, and thinkers, including Chris La Tray, Ruxandra Guidi, Daniel Rothberg, Aaron Abeyta and more. It looks like it’s coming out this October from Torrey House Press.
I love anything by Lydia Millet, especially her novels. They’re wonderfully zany and perceptive and just a joy to read — her short stories, too. I mean, Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, in which Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Leo Szilard appear in Santa Fe in 2003 is so damned good. They should have made that into a movie rather than that bloated Oppenheimer thing. Anyway, We Loved It All, her memoir or anti-memoir, if you prefer, came out earlier this year. I’ve been reticent to read it, since it’s non-fiction and I like her fiction so much. But I will!
LOVED -A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedorko! I loved it so much I ready it twice, right in a row. And am sure I will read it again, and again, and again....Now I am re- reading his first book The Emerald Mile.
I'm just starting "A Walk In the Park" now. Just finished another Colorado River/Grand Canyon book of historic nonfiction, "Brave the Wild River," by Melissa Sevigny about two female botanists who ran the river in 1938 for the sake of science, and all the sexism and challenges they faced. I recommend it.
I also loved A Walk in the Park. And I saw his presentation in Durango this year. It’s an incredible book and so much more than just a diary of the journey.
Finished Chris La Tray's Becoming LittleShell. So pertinent locally and applicable nationally. Little Shell history is a major part of Indigenous history in the U.S. It deserves a New York Times review and I would love to see it on the NYT best sellers list!
Shopcraft as Soulcraft; An Inquiry into the Value of Work, Matthew B. Crawford. An insightful inquiry into what we miss when when we forget that actually "doing stuff" is probably more important and more rewarding than writing about doing stuff.
"Calico" by Lee Goldberg. For the time travel faction. A very fun and interesting fictional time travel story set in modern California and in 1890's desert mining town.
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. I was probably assigned to read this back in 9th grade, but probably skipped the assignment. A beautifully written book, full of family drama with biblical overtones, and a wonderful description of the Salinas Valley from the bygone, pioneer era. Assignment completed, better late than never.
I am in the process of reading Fire Weather by John Vaillant, easily the most remarkable environmental book I've read in many years (and I've read a good many.) I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you are concerned with global rapid heating and the era of mega-fires, this is indispensable reading- actually the best book out so far on the topic. Alfed A Knopf, 2023. National Book Award Finalist, New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year. Wonderfully, even poetically written. The Pyrocene is here. God help us.
Another fire book that to me is a must-read is Norman McLean's Young Men and Fire, in which he reconstructs the tragedy of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana in the 1940s. By the time you finish, you realize the outcome was inevitable. Heartbreaking.
I started the summer off with Horizon by Barry Lopez. In my opinion this should be a must read for any Earth enthusiasts out there, the guy is a legitimate modern day legend. I also enjoyed The Last Season; a long-time Yellowstone ranger goes missing. It was a great read.
I also just finished The Sacred Knowledge of Water by Craig Childs, what a great, unique Southwestern nonfiction!
My son gave me a copy of The Secret Knowledge of Water, telling me this book is why he's a hydrologist. In addition to learning so much, I am amazed by Craig Childs' writing. My husband and I have enjoyed reading Childs' Animal Encounters, which range from a few pages up to 18-20, on all manner of creatures (mosquitoes to mountain goats to smelt to ravens) - truly remarkable!
Hey, Jonathan — just wanted to say that I really loved Millet's book "We Loved It All" & can heartily recommend it. I've been reading a lot of thoughtful nonfiction: essays by Amy Leach, "Ordinary Time" by Nancy Mairs, and I just finished poet/memoirist Christian Wiman's book Zero at the Bone: 50 Entries Against Despair, which is a collection of recollections, poetry (his & others) and spiritual/theological musings. Wonderful, thought-provoking writer. I also read some cheerful stuff like "The Heat Will Kill You First" by Jeff Goodall, which is as grim as it sounds but so well-written that I tore through it like a novel. For escapist fiction, which you need if you're going to read books about climate change, I've been rereading old Agatha Christies & that sort of thing. I loved Percival Everett's "James" and cannot recommend it highly enough. I've always got several books going but never remember what I've been reading if anyone puts me on the spot, but these stand out. I've got one of those magpie brains, always picking up bright shiny things. So much to read!
The best times of my week are when I get to mosey down to the River Park or the Black Bridge and find a quiet shady spot near the river (if I'm at the Black Bridge, accompanied by a glass of local wine & fresh peaches!). Doesn't get much better than that. Are you coming to Paonia in September, Jonathan?
I've read The Heat Will Kill You First and share your impression. I also read and recommend his The Water Will Come, a book about rising sea levels. Not too applicable out here but a good read nonetheless.
I read fifteen or so books this late spring and summer. The best of the lot:
Paul Theroux - Burma Sahib: a fictional account of George Orwell as a young policeman in Burma. I usually rather prefer Theroux's train travel books. But this fiction rings a bell - probably cause I went to Vietnam for a couple years when I was 19 also.
N. Scott Momaday - The Man Made of Words: Essays, Stories, Passages. (awesome)
Philip Glass - Words Without Music. (It got me listening)
Rudolfo Anaya - Zia Summer: who wouldn't enjoy a private detective story in Albuquerque,
and this
William Faulkner - Absalom Absalom : noteworthy because I hated it. (laughing)
I just read Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin and absolutely loved it. It was fun to "head back" to the PNW. As a lover of literature and bird research, it was a nearly perfect novel. Open Throat by Henry Hoke was unique and wonderful where the main character is a mountain lion in the Hollywood Hills. The Heart of Winter by Kevin Barry is set in Butte, Beaverhead County and Idaho Falls. Definitely not your typical western.
Reading ‘The Harvey Girls’ by New Mexico’s Leslie Poling-Kemps. Enjoyable account of railroad history, women from the east and Midwest finding respectable work in the West, and the ahead-of-its-time luxury and efficiency of Fred Harvey’s establishments. Especially enlightening if you live near or enjoy the area of the Old Santa Fe Trail. Great interviews with retired Harvey Girls. Impressive research from the late 1800s through early 1900s. Wasn’t that long ago but what a different world!
Hey Jonathen, I just started Life After Dead Pool after finishing A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko. I’m also reading Brave the Wild River, Honor and Defiance, and Medicine Wheel for the Planet.
Been rereading Graphic The Valley by Peter Brown Hoffmeister and itching to visit Yosemite after over a decade since the last time I was there. Very excited to start reading Becoming Little Shell! And have been taking exquisite time this last week with When The Light of the World Was Subdued Our Songs Came Through which was recently gifted to me.
Now my reading list has multiplied many times over. Thanks to everyone for this expansion! Some books I've been reading this Spring and Summer are Gregge Tiffen's Life in the World Hereafter-the Journey Continues in which he encourages (us) to possess by the time we die - depth of awareness, profound compassion, and mastery of our co-creative skill with the Universe; Dr. Fulford's Touch of Life on how our physical bodies manifest our emotional lives; and Maverick Marketer - Time To Get Creative by Bob Johnstone. This book is refreshing, demonstrating that to successfully market a product CAN be a result of integrity as well as other very positive attributes and skills.
Awe by Dacher Keltner. He writes about the value of awe in life based on research he and others have done. He notes, "“It also merits considering what was not mentioned in stories of awe from around the world. Money didn’t figure into awe, except in a couple of instances in which people had been cheated out of life savings. No one mentioned their laptop, Facebook, Apple Watch, or smartphone. Nor did anyone mention consumer purchases, like their new Nikes, Tesla, Gucci bag, or Montblanc pen. Awe occurs in a realm separate from the mundane world of materialism, money, acquisition, and status signaling—a realm beyond the profane that many call the sacred.”
I am also rereading Aphorisms by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. My birthday is July 1 and this year I found out Lichtenberg was also born on July 1 but 204 years before me. That seemed random enough to merit another reading. I don’t know why the translator called them aphorisms. They are short notes of mostly one sentence to short a paragraph. "He marveled at the fact that cats had two holes cut in their fur at precisely the spot where their eyes were." Not much of an aphorism. It’s a great book when you just have a few moments to occupy.
Trying to laugh at our deja-vu politics, I re-read Carl Hiaasen's 2020 "Squeeze Me," in which some micro-dosed Burmese pythons are unleashed in the vicinity of "Casa Bellicosa" aka Mar-a-Lago and terrorize the charity ball circuit of Palm Beach. Almost anything by Mr. Hiaasen and featuring the very disgruntled ex-governor "Skink" is a good read. "Sick Puppy" among others target Florida's developers of every last bit of habitat.
Then going full energy nerd, the recent "The Price Is Wrong," where Brett Christophers argues that wind and solar are not profitable enough to attract the private capital necessary to scale as fast as they need to scale. Mostly, he points out their variable output drives down prices during the same times they need to sell power. I'd say that's not the only reason. Unfortunately he researched and wrote it before battery prices plummeted and storage has allowed flexible use of that power, along with higher prices to solar and wind, during periods "over-generation" with that power resold as the sun sets or wind lets up. There is also a mostly American problem where high interest rates and quick depletion make investing in new fracked wells look good compared to long-term sustainable output of renewable generation.
I’m reading ‘On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything’ by Nate Silver and ‘The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner. The last one was a great story from the earliest adventurers to the current scientists gaining insight on the ice sheet.
I dipped back into Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to explain the Somebody Else's Problem (in which people cannot see something because to see it would make it their problem).
I also enjoyed Mark Stevens' mystery Lake of Fire, set on the Flat Tops in north central Colorado - I enjoyed the book, having spent many fine summer weeks in that neck of the woods.
I'm near the finish of Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann - not surprising that the US Govt was willing to let Oklahoma officials assign Guardians to full-blood Osage who had headrights to the oil under their presumed-worthless land. Those Guardians stood between the Osage and their own money, taking a rake-off for "managing" it.
Last year I visited Los Alamos NM and bought a fine book: Inside Box 1663 by Eleanor Jette, the wife of one of the scientists on the Manhattan Project. The book makes clear the essential contributions of women to making the inadequate site livable - and we also realize how young they all were, these brilliant scientists and their resourceful wives.
Also just finished A Walk In The Park. Loved it. Re-reading The Overstory by Richard Powers because it’s just SO rich one reading isn’t enough. Also reading Thirteen Senses by Victor Villasenor. And last in the non-fiction category, Haruki Murakami’s wonderful book on writing as a vocation.
We should do a book share club? Anyone intrested?
LOVED -A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedorko! I loved it so much I ready it twice, right in a row. And am sure I will read it again, and again, and again....Now I am re- reading his first book The Emerald Mile.
I'm just starting "A Walk In the Park" now. Just finished another Colorado River/Grand Canyon book of historic nonfiction, "Brave the Wild River," by Melissa Sevigny about two female botanists who ran the river in 1938 for the sake of science, and all the sexism and challenges they faced. I recommend it.
I also loved A Walk in the Park. And I saw his presentation in Durango this year. It’s an incredible book and so much more than just a diary of the journey.
Finished Chris La Tray's Becoming LittleShell. So pertinent locally and applicable nationally. Little Shell history is a major part of Indigenous history in the U.S. It deserves a New York Times review and I would love to see it on the NYT best sellers list!
Here's a few;
Shopcraft as Soulcraft; An Inquiry into the Value of Work, Matthew B. Crawford. An insightful inquiry into what we miss when when we forget that actually "doing stuff" is probably more important and more rewarding than writing about doing stuff.
"Calico" by Lee Goldberg. For the time travel faction. A very fun and interesting fictional time travel story set in modern California and in 1890's desert mining town.
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. I was probably assigned to read this back in 9th grade, but probably skipped the assignment. A beautifully written book, full of family drama with biblical overtones, and a wonderful description of the Salinas Valley from the bygone, pioneer era. Assignment completed, better late than never.
I am in the process of reading Fire Weather by John Vaillant, easily the most remarkable environmental book I've read in many years (and I've read a good many.) I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you are concerned with global rapid heating and the era of mega-fires, this is indispensable reading- actually the best book out so far on the topic. Alfed A Knopf, 2023. National Book Award Finalist, New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year. Wonderfully, even poetically written. The Pyrocene is here. God help us.
Another fire book that to me is a must-read is Norman McLean's Young Men and Fire, in which he reconstructs the tragedy of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana in the 1940s. By the time you finish, you realize the outcome was inevitable. Heartbreaking.
I started the summer off with Horizon by Barry Lopez. In my opinion this should be a must read for any Earth enthusiasts out there, the guy is a legitimate modern day legend. I also enjoyed The Last Season; a long-time Yellowstone ranger goes missing. It was a great read.
I also just finished The Sacred Knowledge of Water by Craig Childs, what a great, unique Southwestern nonfiction!
My son gave me a copy of The Secret Knowledge of Water, telling me this book is why he's a hydrologist. In addition to learning so much, I am amazed by Craig Childs' writing. My husband and I have enjoyed reading Childs' Animal Encounters, which range from a few pages up to 18-20, on all manner of creatures (mosquitoes to mountain goats to smelt to ravens) - truly remarkable!
Anything he writes is worth reading.
correction - the title is The Animal Dialogues.
This summer I've been reading:
"A traveler's guide to the end of the world" by David Gessner
"The Sentence" by Louis Erdrich
"The poison wood Bible" By Barbara Kingsolver
"The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley
"Nature's Ghosts" by Sophie Yeo
I've always got multiple books going on at the same time.
Hey, Jonathan — just wanted to say that I really loved Millet's book "We Loved It All" & can heartily recommend it. I've been reading a lot of thoughtful nonfiction: essays by Amy Leach, "Ordinary Time" by Nancy Mairs, and I just finished poet/memoirist Christian Wiman's book Zero at the Bone: 50 Entries Against Despair, which is a collection of recollections, poetry (his & others) and spiritual/theological musings. Wonderful, thought-provoking writer. I also read some cheerful stuff like "The Heat Will Kill You First" by Jeff Goodall, which is as grim as it sounds but so well-written that I tore through it like a novel. For escapist fiction, which you need if you're going to read books about climate change, I've been rereading old Agatha Christies & that sort of thing. I loved Percival Everett's "James" and cannot recommend it highly enough. I've always got several books going but never remember what I've been reading if anyone puts me on the spot, but these stand out. I've got one of those magpie brains, always picking up bright shiny things. So much to read!
The best times of my week are when I get to mosey down to the River Park or the Black Bridge and find a quiet shady spot near the river (if I'm at the Black Bridge, accompanied by a glass of local wine & fresh peaches!). Doesn't get much better than that. Are you coming to Paonia in September, Jonathan?
I've read The Heat Will Kill You First and share your impression. I also read and recommend his The Water Will Come, a book about rising sea levels. Not too applicable out here but a good read nonetheless.
I read fifteen or so books this late spring and summer. The best of the lot:
Paul Theroux - Burma Sahib: a fictional account of George Orwell as a young policeman in Burma. I usually rather prefer Theroux's train travel books. But this fiction rings a bell - probably cause I went to Vietnam for a couple years when I was 19 also.
N. Scott Momaday - The Man Made of Words: Essays, Stories, Passages. (awesome)
Philip Glass - Words Without Music. (It got me listening)
Rudolfo Anaya - Zia Summer: who wouldn't enjoy a private detective story in Albuquerque,
and this
William Faulkner - Absalom Absalom : noteworthy because I hated it. (laughing)
Paddling My Own Canoe by Audrey Sutherland
I just read Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin and absolutely loved it. It was fun to "head back" to the PNW. As a lover of literature and bird research, it was a nearly perfect novel. Open Throat by Henry Hoke was unique and wonderful where the main character is a mountain lion in the Hollywood Hills. The Heart of Winter by Kevin Barry is set in Butte, Beaverhead County and Idaho Falls. Definitely not your typical western.
Kevin Fedarko-A walk in the park !!!!!!!
Reading ‘The Harvey Girls’ by New Mexico’s Leslie Poling-Kemps. Enjoyable account of railroad history, women from the east and Midwest finding respectable work in the West, and the ahead-of-its-time luxury and efficiency of Fred Harvey’s establishments. Especially enlightening if you live near or enjoy the area of the Old Santa Fe Trail. Great interviews with retired Harvey Girls. Impressive research from the late 1800s through early 1900s. Wasn’t that long ago but what a different world!
Hey Jonathen, I just started Life After Dead Pool after finishing A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko. I’m also reading Brave the Wild River, Honor and Defiance, and Medicine Wheel for the Planet.
Been rereading Graphic The Valley by Peter Brown Hoffmeister and itching to visit Yosemite after over a decade since the last time I was there. Very excited to start reading Becoming Little Shell! And have been taking exquisite time this last week with When The Light of the World Was Subdued Our Songs Came Through which was recently gifted to me.
Now my reading list has multiplied many times over. Thanks to everyone for this expansion! Some books I've been reading this Spring and Summer are Gregge Tiffen's Life in the World Hereafter-the Journey Continues in which he encourages (us) to possess by the time we die - depth of awareness, profound compassion, and mastery of our co-creative skill with the Universe; Dr. Fulford's Touch of Life on how our physical bodies manifest our emotional lives; and Maverick Marketer - Time To Get Creative by Bob Johnstone. This book is refreshing, demonstrating that to successfully market a product CAN be a result of integrity as well as other very positive attributes and skills.
Awe by Dacher Keltner. He writes about the value of awe in life based on research he and others have done. He notes, "“It also merits considering what was not mentioned in stories of awe from around the world. Money didn’t figure into awe, except in a couple of instances in which people had been cheated out of life savings. No one mentioned their laptop, Facebook, Apple Watch, or smartphone. Nor did anyone mention consumer purchases, like their new Nikes, Tesla, Gucci bag, or Montblanc pen. Awe occurs in a realm separate from the mundane world of materialism, money, acquisition, and status signaling—a realm beyond the profane that many call the sacred.”
I am also rereading Aphorisms by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. My birthday is July 1 and this year I found out Lichtenberg was also born on July 1 but 204 years before me. That seemed random enough to merit another reading. I don’t know why the translator called them aphorisms. They are short notes of mostly one sentence to short a paragraph. "He marveled at the fact that cats had two holes cut in their fur at precisely the spot where their eyes were." Not much of an aphorism. It’s a great book when you just have a few moments to occupy.
On Audible; “Dopamine Nation” by Anna Lempke MD & “Outlive” by Peter Attia MD
Trying to laugh at our deja-vu politics, I re-read Carl Hiaasen's 2020 "Squeeze Me," in which some micro-dosed Burmese pythons are unleashed in the vicinity of "Casa Bellicosa" aka Mar-a-Lago and terrorize the charity ball circuit of Palm Beach. Almost anything by Mr. Hiaasen and featuring the very disgruntled ex-governor "Skink" is a good read. "Sick Puppy" among others target Florida's developers of every last bit of habitat.
Then going full energy nerd, the recent "The Price Is Wrong," where Brett Christophers argues that wind and solar are not profitable enough to attract the private capital necessary to scale as fast as they need to scale. Mostly, he points out their variable output drives down prices during the same times they need to sell power. I'd say that's not the only reason. Unfortunately he researched and wrote it before battery prices plummeted and storage has allowed flexible use of that power, along with higher prices to solar and wind, during periods "over-generation" with that power resold as the sun sets or wind lets up. There is also a mostly American problem where high interest rates and quick depletion make investing in new fracked wells look good compared to long-term sustainable output of renewable generation.
I’m reading ‘On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything’ by Nate Silver and ‘The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland's Buried Past and Our Perilous Future by Jon Gertner. The last one was a great story from the earliest adventurers to the current scientists gaining insight on the ice sheet.
I dipped back into Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to explain the Somebody Else's Problem (in which people cannot see something because to see it would make it their problem).
I also enjoyed Mark Stevens' mystery Lake of Fire, set on the Flat Tops in north central Colorado - I enjoyed the book, having spent many fine summer weeks in that neck of the woods.
I'm near the finish of Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann - not surprising that the US Govt was willing to let Oklahoma officials assign Guardians to full-blood Osage who had headrights to the oil under their presumed-worthless land. Those Guardians stood between the Osage and their own money, taking a rake-off for "managing" it.
Last year I visited Los Alamos NM and bought a fine book: Inside Box 1663 by Eleanor Jette, the wife of one of the scientists on the Manhattan Project. The book makes clear the essential contributions of women to making the inadequate site livable - and we also realize how young they all were, these brilliant scientists and their resourceful wives.
Also just finished A Walk In The Park. Loved it. Re-reading The Overstory by Richard Powers because it’s just SO rich one reading isn’t enough. Also reading Thirteen Senses by Victor Villasenor. And last in the non-fiction category, Haruki Murakami’s wonderful book on writing as a vocation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/08/books/review/haruki-murakami-novelist-as-a-vocation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb