Book Review: The Nature Book, a novel
By Tom Comitta Coffee House Press, 2023 Reviewed by JoeAnn Hart “No words of my own can be added anywhere in the novel,” writes The Nature Book’s author, Tom Comitta, …
Trees
Book Review: The Nutmeg’s Curse
When the U.S. Army set out to eliminate Native Americans, they first “eradicated the web of life that sustained them,” most notably by slaughtering all the buffalo that they depended on, then depleting the land itself with herds of imported cattle. “The genocide of the Amerindian peoples was the beginning of the modern world for Europe – bringing vast wealth to those countries.”
The best environmental books we’ve read in 2022
Philosopher Albert Camus summed it up best when he wrote: “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” The books we’ve highlighted below include a number …
Fuzz, When Nature Breaks the Law
By Mary Roach W. W. Norton & Co, 2021 Review by JoeAnn Hart “Like a deer in the headlights,” we say about someone who freezes in the face of impending …
DEFENSIBLE SPACES, stories by Alison Turner
DEFENSIBLE SPACES, stories by Alison Turner Torrey House Press February 2023 Fire! It’s everywhere in Alison Turner’s tightly knit collection of stories, from fireworks to a flaming ham, “a pink …
Book Review: The Treeline
As environmental activists have made clear for decades, the preservation of Earth’s forests is essential to the existence of life. And, yet, continued exploitation of this resource and the simultaneous …
The best environmental books we’ve read in 2021
In 2016, we began compiling lists of the best books we read that year (new or old, it didn’t matter). And now here we are in 2021, and we’ve got …
Book Review: Ash Davidson’s Damnation Spring
Living in Southern Oregon, not far north of where Ash Davidson’s Damnation Spring is set, I’ve grown used to passing trucks that are overloaded with timber, and mountainsides bare from clear-cuts. Knowing …
New Environmental Books of Note
Two new books to keep an eye out for. First, a story collection from Black Lawrence Press featuring a story by our own JoeAnn Hart! Fire & Water: Stories from …
Join the ASLE Virtual Conference: Emergence/y
ASLE (The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) is holding its conference online from July 26 to August 6. Keynote presentations include: Aimee Nezhukumatathil, poet and author of …
EcoLit Books Success Story: Cassie Premo Steele
Cassie Premo Steele is the author of Earth Joy Writing: Creating Harmony through Journaling and Nature, which was published by Ashland Creek Press in 2015. Since then, Cassie published two books …