As we enter fall we (in the Northern Hemisphere) can be grateful for reasons to stay inside — and read. Which leads me to this list of new(ish) and upcoming books that have passed across on desks…
Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death
By Susana Monsó
When the opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralyzed. Her body temperature plummets, her breathing and heart rates drop to a minimum, and her glands simulate the smell of a putrefying corpse. Playing Possumexplores what the opossum and other creatures can teach us about how we and other species understand mortality, and demonstrates that the concept of death, far from being a uniquely human attribute, is widespread in the animal kingdom.
A Habit of Landscape
By Shelley Armitage
Exploring the complexities of the relationship between the natural and human environments, A Habit of Landscape plays on the connection between “habit” and “habitat”–both sharing the root word for dwelling. These poems do dwell on the quotidian, what one reviewer observed as “a wonderous collection that reminds us of states of being so fundamental they can only be called holy.” With the southwest as a focal place, Armitage accomplishes what another writer called “ancestral ecology,” seeking that balance of kinship, sustaining a sense of wonder.
People of the Dune
By Jim Olson
In a tense showdown between corporate interests and community values, the fate of the Voyager Dune hangs in the balance. Mython Corporation’s ambitious plans to extract the dune and replace it with a sprawling residential complex along one of North America’s Great Lakes spark a grassroots movement of resistance. Led by local tribes, residents, and conservation groups, protesters gather at the base of the dune, forming an encampment to block the mining operation. Legal battles ensue, with Mython filing lawsuits to remove the encampment. Meanwhile, the tribes and concerned citizens rally under the banners of the Mound People Coalition and People of the Dune, seeking legal avenues to halt the destruction of this cherished landscape.
Amidst the legal wrangling, the weight of Judge Odom “Odie” Holmes’s decision looms large. Despite his adherence to the principles of law, he grapples with the profound moral implications of his ruling. As the trial unfolds in his courtroom, the clash between property rights and the cultural and natural significance of the dune unfolds before him. When he ultimately upholds the law, permitting the removal of the dune to proceed, he finds himself haunted by doubt and introspection. Confronted by a haunting visitation on the eve of the mining operation, Judge Holmes is compelled to confront not only the fate of Voyager Dune but also the broader implications for humanity and the earth’s commons. In a pivotal moment of reckoning, he must navigate the intersection of legal duty and ethical responsibility, grappling with the profound consequences of his decision for both the people involved and the fragile balance of the earth itself.
The Machine Autocorrects Code to I
By Chanlee Luu
A knock-out debut that erases the boundaries of time and geography with unrestrained wit, The Machine Autocorrects Code to I holds its subjects – family members at odds with their hopes and fears, various fruits and animals constrained by the laws of humans, and an alien seeking beauty in the world – with tenderness and wry knowledge of the fragile systems that hold their world in place. This universe of poems wanders through the messy past, battles in the charged present, and dreams/nightmares to the unknown future. In this experiment in forms, Chanlee Luu is a mad scientist, cracking Asian jokes, shoveling golden sand, and coding her voice to vitality.
Field Notes from a Fungi Forager
By Ashley Rodriguez; Illustrated by Libby England
This gorgeously illustrated compendium is a love letter to mushrooms—and to the Pacific Northwest.
From evergreen forests shrouded in mist to the urban backyards of Seattle, mushrooms are everywhere in the Pacific Northwest if you know how to look.
Here, forager-chef and forest therapy guide Ashley Rodriguez provides an evocative and personal survey of 50 of the most fantastic mushrooms to be found in the region. This book includes the famous Morchella (morel) and Cantharellus (chanterelle) as well as lesser-known species, like the blueish purple Clitocybe nuda (wood blewit) which smells like frozen orange juice, and Hydnellum peckii (Bleeding tooth fungus), which oozes brilliant red droplets that are widely used as a natural dye. Through the lens of these humble fungi, the interconnectedness of all living things comes into focus.
Infused with a forager-chef’s love of edible mushrooms as well as the reverence of an eco-spiritual guide, this fully illustrated book is as much a treat to read as is to look at.
Bog Witch
By Mab Jones
Encompassing nature writing, life writing, poetry, and magical memoir from a working-class woman’s perspective whilst drawing from history, science, mythology and folklore, Bog Witch is a lyrical, semi-mystical immersion into wild wetland areas.
From fens to peatlands, mires to marshes, swamps to lagoons, these diverse habitats are more than just mud, offering a richesse of flora and fauna, herbs and healing plants, as well as an unusual opportunity for our own inner healing and spiritual growth.
From Harm to Healing: Sanctuary Stories of Rescue, Resilience, and Recovery
By Ruth Montiel Arias and Liz Tyson-Griffin
Born Free USA, a global leader in animal welfare and wildlife conservation, announces the release of From Harm to Healing: Sanctuary Stories of Rescue, Resilience, and Recovery, a new photo book by wildlife photographer Ruth Montiel Arias, with words by Born Free USA’s Director of Animal Welfare and Advocacy, Dr. Liz Tyson.
With more than 80 photographs, the book explores the lives of eight monkeys rescued from exploitative and abusive situations and rehomed to the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary. The South Texas sanctuary, which is one of the largest in the United States, is situated on 175 acres and serves as a permanent home to primates, including those liberated from the pet trade, roadside zoos, and animal experimentation.
“Our team works extremely hard to rescue these beautiful creatures from harmful situations,” Tyson said. “Private owners don’t understand the negative repercussions of forcing a wild animal to live in a human home or the enormous suffering that it causes. Rescue and providing a haven doesn’t erase those scars or remove that trauma. Rehabilitation takes time and effort, and that’s the story we wanted to share in this book.”
Eco Woman: The Transformation
By Fanny Barry
Eco Woman is an adventure story full of magic. Its reluctant hero, Maeve, has been waiting for greatness and has nearly stopped believing it will arrive. But the greatness inside her has lain dormant, awaiting the kiss of circumstance to awaken it. A murder attempt leaves her dead on the side of the road to be rescued by three witches who’ve been watching over her since her birth. They infuse her with magical powers of the Light so she can take over their centuries old mission. They pass the baton to Maeve to pull humanity back from it’s contaminating precipice. From the moment she’s rescued, this story takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey of self-discovery, self-doubt, derring-do, and supernatural encounters. The corrupt workers are determined to find her and finish her off and they’re not lightweights. And Maeve herself is reluctant to shed the mundane life of material ease she’s used to and take on such a gigantic life and death endeavor. Does she or does she not? Put on your life jacket, because Eco Woman is going to steer you directly into the storm she’s been chosen to face for all of us.
True Justice 4 All
By Patty Leon and Rich Winograd
Human superiority and dominance, the basis of speciesism, is backfiring on humanity. The lack of moral consideration towards non-human animals by exploiting, abusing and unnecessarily killing them, primarily for food and entertainment, is linked to humanity’s own suffering.
From chronic diseases and pandemics to human rights abuses, systematic racism, violence and wars to world hunger to environmental degradation and climate change, it’s ultimately the cognitive dissonance of humanity in relation to animals that is to blame. Only when actions are aligned with values will humanity have a chance.
The Gospel of Jesus Green: Home for All, Not Just for Humans
By Neil Whitehouse
This is a gospel of personal stories, science, and existential hope for the Jesus-curious and those who want to know what Green means. Modern people are like the passengers on the Titanic; the triumphs of technology have real limitations. They face the necessity to share the planet that takes them to hard politics. Economics can be integrated with ecology and the essentials of human relationships. The history of Jesus may make him an uncertain figure, but his demand to live for the best can still be felt. Whitehouse draws on paleontologist Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and existentialist Paul Tillich to claim ”home for all, not just for humans” is a universal biological phenomenon and a truth named by Jesus. A biodiversity of illustrations entertains and reveals; trees can speak, dead birds teach, and rivers become persons. Then Jesus Green emerges, as a systems thinker, for the home. If Jesus was homeless for a cause, he found his home on the cross, now a paradoxical symbol that lifts up our place within nature. This creative, passionate account delivers the punch other Green Christian books lack. It could not have come sooner.
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).