2024 in Books

Today's edition is available to all subscribers, except for the goodies reserved for paid subscribers only, of course. Upgrade your subscription here to see what I'm reading and this week's list of deadly extreme weather events.

LISTENING: to Empire of the Sun because I just got tickets to a show!
FEELING: ready for the new year
SEEING: my usual boring office views

I'm the type of person who can get real obsessed with an activity and do it exclusively for months. These days, I'm on my Stardew Valley gaming shit after the developer released a new update. (This game really is one of the best to have ever existed!!) Throughout the year, I've had varying moments of obsession — and books took up a sizable chunk of my time. As they should! I am a writer, after all.

I'm always on the hunt for book recommendations, so I wanted to share what I've read this year. As someone who writes about climate change for a living, I try to take a break from end-of-the-world narratives when I'm not working — but I also feel a responsibility to keep up with non-fiction. So as you'll see, this year's books include a mix of genres and topics.

I cover climate change through an intersectional lens. Stories of history, resilience, resistance and culture, immigration and assimilation, love, desire, and innocence are all integral to my work. People are complex beings. We experience the calamity of a changing planet in complex ways. I try to inform my work by consuming all types of media: illustrated, fiction, poetry, non-fiction.

With that in mind, apologies in advance to anyone who was expecting a long list of environmental books. I've got some, but I've got a lot more than that. If we're going to stop this existential threat, we can't drown ourselves in climate change facts and tales. We also need a break. I hope you all get that this holiday season. We deserve it.

1. "They Called Us Exceptional" by Prachi Gupta
   I used to work with Prachi when we were both at G/O Media, and her writing in this debut memoir was absolutely stunning. It was an eye-opening exploration into the dangers of assimilation and toxic masculinity. The book tells the heartbreaking tale of her broken family — and the tragic cost of chasing the American dream. All writers should aspire to this type of vulnerability in their writing.
2. "No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies" by Julian Aguon
   This book had sat on my wish list for a little while, and boy, it did not let me down. The collection of essays gives us a glimpse into Aguon's world — not only the trauma but also the beauty. As humans, we feel, and we love, and we lose. It's one of the few truths during our short time on Earth. Aguon's writing captures that balance tactfully.
3. Sarah J. Mass's "Crescent City" and "Throne of Glass" series
   I kicked off 2024 knees deep in the worlds Mass created with these two series. If you've been a long-time subscriber, this isn't your first time hearing me talk about them. I caught up to the latest book in the "Crescent City" series before devouring the entire eight-book series "Throne of Glass." These are fantasy novels. They're sexy — i.e., explicit (lol) — and they're about revolution. They were the best way for me to unplug, and I'm still so sad I finished all that's out.
4. Alice Oseman's "Heartstopper" graphic novel series
   I own volumes one through four of this series. I haven't read them all because I want to keep up with the Netflix adaptation, but I really urge you all to read these books and create little literary bubbles of joy in your lives. The series follows the story of two high school boys in love and their journeys to find themselves while surviving a world hell-bent on making us hate ourselves.
5. "Hope in the Dark" by Rebecca Solnit
   My boyfriend's sister gifted me this book for Christmas 2023. I had no idea how badly I needed this book this year. "Hope in the Dark" was my first time reading one of Solnit's books. I've read her essays and such before, but this was a great way into her writing. Originally published in 2004, the book chronicles the way people have always pushed for more amid gruesome government policies. Solnit's writing reminds us that the darkness doesn't last forever.
6. "Bewilderment" by Richard Powers
   Don't kill me, but I've slept on Powers for way too long. Wow. This book had me in absolute tears. It completely transformed the way I think about space and other-worldly beings, as well as the relationships between parents and their children. This book is an absolute must-read for all of you. It's not exactly a climate book — it is a novel — but the background feels eerily similar to what we're likely to experience in the U.S. under President-elect Donald Trump. The book isn't about that, though. It's about a father and a son. It's about grief. It's about learning to live with the ugly and holding onto the sublime for as long as we can.
7. Julia Quinn's "Bridgerton" series
   I picked the series back up this year after the Netflix show's latest season dropped. When I need to disconnect and tune out the horrors of this world, nothing hits quite like stories of passion and perseverance. Most of the books in the series can feel quite similar, so I stopped reading after maybe book four. I'm glad I started reading again, though. I've got one book left! These books are so easy to get lost in, and isn't that the whole point of reading?
8. "You Are Here" by Ada Limón
   This collection of poems includes works by various writers, including Danez Smith and Joy Harjo. I like reading these poems before bed, soaking in their lyricism and descriptions of nature. This is a great book for environmentalists. Sometimes, we just need to relish Earth's bounty and the people who can express those feelings with their words.
9. "The Message" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
   I got to see Coates speak live at the Apollo Theater. That ticket included this book. I'm so glad it did. It was a powerful read — about returning to our roots and investigating our biases. I've got to admit it wasn't my favorite work of Coates, but it was a necessary one to take in. It was provocative and enlightening. As a writer, I especially appreciated the attention to the media and our language. On the topic of Palestine, there was another book I read this year that I found much more crucial than this one, though.
10. "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" by Nathan Thrall
    I don't usually enjoy reading non-fiction. I do it because I feel like I have to as a writer who writes non-fiction. This book, however, had me absolutely hooked. I knew that the colonization of Palestine and the treatment of its people was horrid, but Thrall's reporting and writing really illustrated just how deep those wounds go for the people experiencing the iron fist of Israel. I have a newfound understanding of the Palestinian people's suffering and the violent radicalization of some. How does one remain nonviolent and peaceful when their loved ones are ridiculed and killed in so many fucked up ways? I cried reading this book — tears that we all need to shed. Please, please read this if you haven't already.

I’m currently reading “How to Stand Up to a Dictator” by Maria Ressa. I guess you’ll hear about it next year! What did you read this year? Care to share in the comments? 🌀

Rest in Power

While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more disasters like these.