I guess July’s record-breaking heat slowed down my brain, and my reading too. It’s like everything in my head moving at the speed of molten molasses. Can’t we all just lay on the floor and eat popsicles?
How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries
By David Haskell
I had the extreme pleasure of speaking with David Haskell yesterday about this book, in advance of an interview for Constant Wonder | BYUradio. He’s hilarious and brilliant and full of hope for the world. His most recent book about flowers is all those things too.
Genre: Hopeful ecobotany
Format: Advanced reader copy
Read it If: You’re curious about the world, love to learn about the flora and fauna that surrounds you, and want to hear a voice looking toward the future with realistic optimism.
Steer Clear If: You’re not up for a mashup of biology and history.
Would I Recommend this to My Parents: Absolutely.
It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect: A Memoir
By Gaelynn Lea
If you haven’t heard of Gaelynn Lea or listened to her Tiny Desk Concert, go do those things right now. I met Gaelynn when we interviewed her for Constant Wonder [find that interview here].
Gaelynn made such an impression on me: I have never met someone who was so fully themselves. I’m not sure how else to describe her utter unflappability, grace, creativity, and heart. You can find a zillion influencers who are telling you to be yourself and love who you are and on and on — skip them and head over to Gaelynn who is actually doing those things. And doing them in a way that makes you feel like you could too.
Her memoir is the story of how she made her way to the violin and where her music has taken her, all while weaving in the reality of being in a wheelchair. It would be a great bookclub pick.
Genre: Music memoir
Format: Advanced reading copy
Read it If: You get excited about music and you have a lot to learn about how the world works for people with disabilities.
Steer Clear If: You’re really itching to read a book with dragons and not a memoir.
Would I Recommend this to My Parents: Yes.
Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout
I know I’m about twenty years late to the Elizabeth Strout party, but at least I didn’t miss it.
Olive Kitteridge is now one of my favorite characters in fiction. This book is a series of connected short stories about a town in Maine, and Olive shows up as a character in each story, though most of the stories center on a character other than Olive herself.
Strout is a brilliant writer, and these stories are both lyrical and beautiful while delivering some serious gut punches, a little reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor. This book will stay with me for a long time.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Genre: Literary fiction
Format: Audiobook on Libby
Read it If: You love unforgettable characters, small town drama, lots of chuckles amid your tears.
Steer Clear If: You’re looking for a sweet story that skirts the truth that not everything is sweet.
Would I Recommend this to My Parents: Yes.
I just recently read Olive Kitteridge for the first time, too!
I just recently read Olive Kitteridge for the first time, too!