Another week, another batch of books to recommend.
Kay Wosewick has a science pick from journalist Brandom Keim entitled
Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World. Kay says: "You will be dazzled, amused, and dumfounded by Keim’s stories of animals obviously displaying self-awareness and consciousness. After this fun, Keim digs into grim history. He describes more than two thousand years of philosophers’ and religions’ near-universal belief that animals were incapable of thinking or feeling. This belief went largely unchallenged until the 1970s when a few voices made news; still, little changed. The 1990s finally brought a small but growing segment of people who know animals are conscious and self-aware, and are advocating change. Keim is convinced the climate crisis can’t be adequately addressed until humanity recognizes the extraordinary value of consciousness that exists everywhere, such as in the forests that are burning right now. Please, educate yourself." (Note: this rec was updated at Kay's request on 7/16.)
Kay also wants us all to read
Smothermoss, by Alisa Alering. Kay says: "Alering’s prose brings a poor Appalachian setting vibrantly alive. Sisters Angie and Sheila live with their mother and grandmother in a shack in the woods. The sisters are very different: older Sheila takes care of most household duties quietly and responsibly. Younger Angie bounces from drawing finely detailed cards of powerful, frightening creatures, to combing nearby mountains and valleys for Russian spies. The murder of two city girls just miles away on the Appalachian Trail gives Angie a new target to hunt, while Sheila turns inward as she tries to escape an eerie, growing burden. Vivid images will haunt you until - and well after - you finish the book."
Daniel Goldin hopes you'll dive into
The Cliffs, the new novel by J Courtney Sullivan. It's the most recent Reese's Book Club pick, too! Do note, this book was published a couple weeks ago, but this rec slipped off the blogger's radar - we still wanted to make sure to share it with you. Daniel says: "Having possibly destroyed her marriage and her career at a Harvard history museum with her uncontrolled drinking, Jane Flanagan returns to Awadapquit, Maine, where she takes up residence in her late mother’s house, readying it for sale. On arrival, she discovers that the falling down mansion where she would escape in her teens has been, like so much of the town, fixed up beyond recognition by a new summer arrival; Jane, with her job in a holding pattern, is hired to research its story. Like so many folks in
The Cliffs, as well as the town itself, that house is hiding a few secrets, which Jane slowly uncovers, spurred on by a local medium, no less. Sullivan takes on a lot here – alcoholism, indigenous history, family legacies, mysticism, historic preservation – and triumphantly puts them all together into an absorbing, philosophical, yet summer vacation-worthy package."
And we've got one legacy recommendation from former Boswellian Gao Her. Though Gao left Boswell earlier this year, she left behind her rec for
The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power, an anthology of YA horror stories edited by Terry J Benton-Walker. Gao writes: "A perfect entry level horror book for young adults who don't want their socks scared off but would rather have them soaked in wicked fun! Some stories will give you the taste of revenge that we all crave, and some will seep into your brain with their use of cerebral imagery. You'll have such a good time with this read!" Suggested for ages 13 and up.
And those are the recs! We'll be back next week with more books for you to check out. Until then, read on.
No comments:
Post a Comment