Three timely books I read this week

Plus why all academia is dark academia and the year's best children's books

Readers, we made it to the weekend.

After being completely glued to my screen for days on end, I deleted the Instagram app from my phone on Friday afternoon. I was feeling myself itching to pick up my phone anytime it wasn’t in my hands and scrolling through truly terrible accounts, willingly pouring salt the wound. And then a Trump supporter told me I should thank her for saving our country for my daughter, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

That decision helped me finish all the books I’d been stalled out on, and I’m so glad to be back in a reading headspace.

Late last week, I also sent out a Friday Mood Recs post sharing 21 books to read right now with all the books that have been swirling in my brain for a variety of reasons in recent days. I didn’t send a preview post to free subscribers because it felt like a weird time to ask you to upgrade your subscription, but if you’re interested, you can use your free preview on the link below.

This week in books.

This week I read…

• What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. First of all, Johnson is so joyful and earnest in her approach. She’s not necessarily optimistic, but her wonder and true love of the natural world inspires her activism, and that is contagious. (You should also be sure to follow her on Instagram!). The book is a series of twenty interviews with climate experts and activists about what the world could look like if we start making effective changes to how we treat the environment right now. Within these conversations, I learned more about how climate change actually works and the path we’re currently on—and that was truly terrifying. But it also feels really good to be more informed about this issue. And the visions of what happens if we get it right provoked my imagination and made me excited to think about the changes I can make in my own life. The book begins with an excellent call to action for readers to think about our skills, what brings us joy, and what needs to be done in order to find our personal climate activism. I’ve been thinking about it all week both in terms of all activism, climate and otherwise. I listened to this on audio, and I think that’s the way to go because it means getting to hear the actual interviews. But I still bought a physical copy because I want to use it as a reference and I’m so glad I did. Johnson annotates it, marking key insights, points of concern, heartfelt moments, and key terms. Plus there are some gorgeous photographs and an anti-apocalypse playlist. I’m obsessed. Huge thanks to

  Traci Thomas
  for the recommendation and for calling me out on my atrocious lack of nonfiction reading this year. That was motivating. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell. I did not finish this in time for my book club discussion, which turned out to be okay because only one person had. But I was intrigued enough by what I’d read and what we discussed to finish after the fact. Overall, I enjoyed this but not as much as I enjoy Enriquez’s short stories—but I think that’s on me. This is a horror novel (light horror I’d say except for a few truly horrifying scenes) that follows a father and son after the death of their wife and mother, respectively. It’s obvious immediately that something is different about this family and that this death was probably not the accident initially described. Despite the fact that this book is almost 600 pages, the cover copy gives away almost nothing. I appreciated that so I’m not going to say more about the plot either. What I will say is that I think horror novels can often to depend a great deal on the reader’s contextual knowledge. Horror stories invoke traumatic realities and histories, and if a reader doesn’t at least conceptually understand (if not emotionally resonate with) the trauma being explored, much of the work of the text can be lost. I know very little about recent Argentine history so it took me a while to understand what Enriquez was exploring here and even after figuring it out, I know I missed a ton. I think this is an excellent book and I wish I’d had the bandwidth to bring my better reader self to the reading experience. It’s also a surprisingly timely read for its look at the perils of authoritarian regimes. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell. I loved this book! I’ve been curious about this book for a while and decided to pick up a copy to have on hand this week in case I needed something light. This middle grade fantasy novel is escapist for sure and I love that, because it’s so easy to read, I can read it in fits and starts while my three-year-old plays on her own. But it’s also a really energizing book to read right now. It’s about battling the power-hungry and saving the the natural world. Plus Rundell has this really clever way of reminding readers of the magic of our own world while taking us on a journey through her fantastical one. Pick this up for a kiddo in your life or add it to your TBR for when you need both comfort and motivation. Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm

Now I’m reading…

• I started this celebrity memoir on audio. I’m hooked.

• I’m hoping to finish the last two books on the National Book Award Fiction Shortlist before the winner is announced on the 20th. I still need to read Ghostroots and My Friends.

New on my TBR…

• Because I loved Impossible Creatures, I now want to read Rundell’s nonfiction for adults, Super-Infinite and Vanishing Treasures.

Links I love.

I have been taking in all of the election postmortems, but I don’t want to share many yet because I think its really too early to settle on a narrative of what happened. But I did really enjoy this episode of The Opinions with Tressie McMillan Cottom and this analysis of the media landscape from Charlie Warzel (Atlantic, gift link).

If you missed my interview with author Nora Lange, go do that now. And then read this glowing review of her novel Us Fools—one of my favorite books of the year. (NYT, gift link)

M.L. Rio wrote an excellent piece on campus novels and dark academia that’s a must-read if you read these genres. (Electric Lit)

As a procrastinator myself, I enjoyed this look at how writers procrastinate. (Lit Hub)

This best books of 2024 (so far) was updated. (Vulture)

Maris Kreizman

gave us all some good book news. (Lit Hub)

7 cozy fantasy novels by Asian authors. (Electric Lit)

The New York Public Library’s best illustrated children’s books of 2024. (NYT, gift link)

End Notes.

• Something about seeing influencers share Sephora sale links in the midst of election depression this week really gave me the ick. I don’t blame them! It’s literally there job, but despite typically being a HUGE fan of retail therapy, right now it’s the last thing I want to do. Something about watching billionaires get richer in the wake of this election combined with reading What If We Get It Right? has me feeling a real urge to rein in my consumption habits. I’ll still be sharing things I love and great finds here occasionally, but I’m working on actively reminding myself that there’s nothing I need right now.

• I don’t enjoy the snow, but I have loved seeing Louise’s joy and am so delighted by how much she loves playing in it.

• I’ve been loving recording bonus episodes of Novel Pairings with some of my favorite readers. The most recent episode was with

  Alisha Ramos
  , and I had the best time discussing the classics she loves and loathes!

Did you find your next great book or discover a new way to think about reading in today’s newsletter? Upgrade to paid to get even more recommendations and thoughtful explorations of the literary life.

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Happy reading!

Sara