read with me: march 2022
read with me!
It has been a while! I hope you are taking care and finding things to smile about.
I also want to share that I am participating in a bike fundraiser in May. As many of you know, in my day job I work on campaigns to move us toward a clean energy future to save lives and reduce the toxic pollution and climate change-causing emissions from fossil fuels. I’ll be riding over 100 miles through the Santa Cruz mountains (a landscape that has been permanently altered by destructive wildfires) to raise money for organizations that are tackling the climate crisis. I would appreciate any support you can give to help me meet my fundraising goal. You can donate to my campaign HERE.
As always, please tell me what you’re reading or enjoying and forward this newsletter or send this link to anyone who you think would enjoy it.
All my love,
Julia
books
Damnation Spring This novel was a little slow to start but I ended up loving it and learning so much about anti-pesticide activism in the 1970s. It’s about a logging community in Northern California and the health impacts of the toxic chemicals that were used to protect valuable timber that was later logged and sold. I appreciated the sympathetic portrayal of loggers and the way Davidson captured the tension between laws that protect the environment and people’s livelihoods.
Where our food comes from I had never heard of Nikolay Vavliov before I read this book, but I learned so much about his fascinating life and his efforts to protect seed and plant diversity in the 20th century— even while he was under intense political scrutiny from Stalin. Gary Paul Nabhan, who is an ecologist and writer, writes a well-paced biography of Vavlivo’s life, and also retraces Vavliov’s travels around the globe to discover and protect seed varieties. I highly recommend reading if you’re curious about sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Exhalation I’m late to the party, but I loved this collection of sci-fi and futuristic stories. I recently described the book as Black Mirror in book form. Every story is so unique and each one tackles big questions like AI ethics, virtual reality, and memory in a way that is always invigorating and never pedantic. I’ve linked to one of my favorite stories in the collection below to give you a better sense of Chiang’s refreshing voice.
The Arsonists’ City This is one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time. I felt myself slipping into Alyan’s world, and appreciated the unhurried character development. It’s an intergenerational epic and story of family, love, memory, immigration, Lebanon, Syria, and dislocation. I think you’ll like it if you enjoyed Pachinko.
other reading i’ve enjoyed
The merchant and the alchemist’s gate
The radical woman behind goodnight moon
things that made my month(s) better
Turn towards dark, spam, lord cowboy, listening to yearbook by seth rogen, picking wild flowers for a bouquet, cultivating loving kindness, reading cozy mysteries before bed, writing to artists to let them know how their work moved me, peanut butter cocoa no bake cookies, oyakodon, gluten free dairy free apple cake, 537 cuba, JSA film, washi tape, binging yellow jackets, stuffing my face with pan dulce and chilaquiles, miso roasted eggplant, muhammara, for my bay area friends: tru dumplings, kitchen istanbul, fava, the burlesque show at oasis, hang ah tea room dim sum, sister, pastries from victoria, buddy, biking in woodside.
And recently, my sister convinced my mom to do a DNA test for our beloved rescue dog Casey just weeks before she died. We were especially excited to discover that she was 30% chow chow, our favorite dog breed ❤️