Sponsored by our Debbie Macomber prize pack giveaway! Enter here.
Looking for some cozy romance reads? We’ve got you covered! Book Riot is teaming up with Harlequin.com and Read Bliss to offer up a Debbie Macomber prize pack to one lucky winner, titles include: Texas Home, Learning to Love, Laughter in the Rain, Looking for a Hero, and Ready for Romance!
Do you know what next Wednesday is? It’s EARTH DAY. If you’re like me, you grew up being like, “yeah, yeah, Earth Day, Dawn from The Baby-Sitters Club, pick up cans off the ground, I know.” But now it is a day of poignancy and meaning. Because omg the earth.
We did an Earth Day theme on For Real this week, so I’m going to highlight some different books than we covered there. Fortunately, a lot of authors seem interested in this, the only planet where humankind has ever lived (…or so we think). So there’re a lot of options, book-wise.
On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein. Klein has been covering the environment as a journalist for decades, and here we have a collection of her pieces (including some new ones) about the environment, politics, people, and how all are inextricably wrapped up together. Klein is a really accessible, really smart writer, so if you’re looking for an environmental read you can dip in and out of (because essays!), this is a good one that came out only last September, so its info is pretty up to date.
Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking. 17 Years of Silence. by John Francis. I was trying to find a mix of familiar and unfamiliar earth-focused titles, and this one came out of nowhere. In the 1970s, Francis felt overwhelmed and powerless in the face of all the environmental challenges we faced as a planet, so he just…stopped using any motorized transportation and started walking everywhere. Then that wasn’t enough, so he took a vow of silence for 17 years. This is his fascinating story.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. If you’ve ever browsed a used bookstore, you’ve seen this. Kingsolver decided to stop not knowing where her food was from, and instead grow everything she and her family ate, or buy it locally. Nothing beyond her own neighborhood. This means no Doritos, no Ben & Jerry’s, no Jack’s frozen pizzas (behold: my recent shopping list). Check out what eating locally looks like with this nonfiction classic.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Did you notice how history doesn’t really talk about the environmental movement before the 1960s? That’s because Silent Spring didn’t come out until 1962, boom. This is the book that led to the banning of DDT, the incredibly harmful insecticide. When you talk hugely influential books of the 20th century, this is on that list.
As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker. Indigenous environmentalism! This covers the “the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred sites, while highlighting the important leadership of Indigenous women in this centuries-long struggle.” Definitely a worthwhile read.
Stay inside if you can, nonfictionites. Wash your hands, wipe down your phone, and read read read (while also taking a break to prevent eye strain!). If you are so inclined, check out COVID-19 Updates from the Bookish World. As always, you can find me on Twitter @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time! Enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.