So many books, so little time.
Here are a few titles that came across our radar as of late… be sure to check them out!
Hitman for the Kindness Club
High Seas Escapades and Heroic Adventures of an Eco-Activist
By Paul Watson
Spanning 1961 to 2022, this electrifying collection of essays captures the spirit, mettle, and moxie of one of the most intrepid environmentalists of our times. Paul Watson developed an enduring passion for the wild as a youngster. This zeal propelled him on an uncharted adventure of outward exploration and inner evolution, with pivotal turning points bringing him to the realization that his life’s mission was to defend the natural world and all its inhabitants. Watson takes you along for the ride as he upends the Sierra Club, cofounds Greenpeace, and eventually establishes Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. His courageous, often audacious campaigns, held on every ocean and every continent, are hallmarks of his stalwart defense of Indigenous people, marine wildlife, and ecosystems worldwide.
Lincoln and Rachmaninoff Walk Into a Bar
By Cherie Magnus
A 2023 NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite
Take a surreal road trip with Abraham Lincoln and Sergei Rachmaninoff as they race against time to save the planet from destruction in this unique fantasy adventure. When the iconic ghosts from the past meet modern earthly women, unexpected relationships and conflicts arise. As Lincoln and Rachmaninoff learn more about each other and the task set before them, the Dreamer dreams of an artistic solution to climate change. With dialogue composed of the words they spoke and wrote in their lifetimes, this is an unforgettable journey filled with suspense, history, and imagination.
The Future, a novel
By Catherine Leroux (Trans. Susan Ouriou)
Set in an alternative future in which French settlers never surrendered Fort Detroit to the US, the dystopian city is beset by poverty, and the nearly post-apocalyptic effects of climate change. This story of one woman’s search for her lost granddaughters in a post-industrial landscape is a moving account of how we find wonder after suffering loss. Elders establish seed banks and children rule over their own kingdom in the trees as the residents of Fort Detroit search for a way forward in a ravaged world the only way they can, together. A starred Kirkus review describes The Future perfectly, “This atmospheric novel elevates disparate voices, drawing a complex picture of community-focused life beyond the family unit.”
The Future answers the question—what if The Lord of The Flies depicted children as nuanced personalities, as members of society, as people. Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing, praises Leroux’ depiction of the generation who will inherit our scarred earth,”The children of the Rouge are hunters and prey, remorseless, capable, indelible — ‘wildings’ who are simultaneously custodians and seeds of the future. This ferocious, provocative dystopia is a dance of knives, and a deeply moving exploration of our decaying, adapting, ever-changing world.”
Jungle Judge Justice
By Noël Sweeney
Jungle Judge Justice is a tough call as poetry books go as the poems cover contemporary issues and historical and likely future abuse with a gimlet eye. The poems consider aspects of our world as a prison for animals much as it has been for many vulnerable people throughout our history such as women burned at the stake as witches along with their black cats. In that prison the poems do not shy away from tackling matters within our vision yet often avoided including badger culling, eating animals, fox hunting, ritual slaughter, slavery and vivisection.
John is co-author, with Midge Raymond, of the eco-mystery Devils Island, forthcoming in 2024. He is also author of the novels The Tourist Trail and Where Oceans Hide Their Dead. Co-founder of Ashland Creek Press and editor of Writing for Animals (also now a writing program).
