The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Global Warming & Climate Change

The Quickening by Elizabeth Rush

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The Quickening by Elizabeth Rush
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A beautifully written, immediately engaging book about exploring a new area of the Antarctic, experiencing climate change on a vast yet immediate scale, and still deciding to bring a child into the world. The author pulls from her experiences as an observer on an exploration vessel to chart a path into the future. Excerpts from her interviews with others aboard the ship – scientists, but also the crew and even the ship’s cooks – bring multiple perspectives into her musings on everything from the breaking ice to birth stories. While the themes of the book are urgent, the messages are hopeful: while there is work for everyone, together, we can accomplish more; and when we mess up, which we all do, own the error and don’t make the same mistake again.

The Quickening by Elizabeth Rush, (List Price: 30, Milkweed Editions, 9781571313966, August 2023)

Reviewed by Ginger Kautz, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina

At Home on an Unruly Planet by Madeline Ostrander

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At Home on an Unruly Planet by Madeline Ostrander
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It’s no surprise that so many books are coming out addressing climate change or that distinguishing between them can get muddled. Ostrander offers a fine blend of practical and philosophical by following the current fates of towns and communities already deeply affected by flooding, chemical pollution, and land shifting under their feet. She finds no magical solutions while respectfully documenting the energy and resilience of those fighting to save a sense of home and community in the face of continuing change.

At Home on an Unruly Planet by Madeline Ostrander, (List Price: $28.99, Henry Holt and Co., 9781250620514, August 2022)

Reviewed by Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

The World As We Knew It by Amy Brady

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The World As We Knew It by Amy Brady
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A phenomenal collection of essays from fiction writers reflecting on the existential crisis that is climate change. It’s all excellent writing and full of the attention to the human condition you might expect from these literary powerhouses, but what really strikes me is how in every one of these essays I felt a deep sense of love, curiosity, and excitement about the natural world. These writers do not let their profession stop them from being interested in the natural sciences, and the inspiration they draw from them, even in the face of inevitable doom, is a gift to read.

The World As We Knew It by Amy Brady, (List Price: $16.95, Catapult, 9781646220304, June 2022)

Reviewed by Akil Guruparan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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