This summer, we’re offering reading recommendations for people to enjoy wherever and whenever they travel. This is the fourth in a series of posts from our in-house staff and editors. You can also find recommendations from previous years in our full compiled list. Enjoy.
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard YearBY MARGARET RENKL
What would happen if you paid attention, and I mean truly watched and listened, to the drama playing out in your own backyard over the course of a year? What would you see? What would you learn? What would you wonder? In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl helps us find out.
In a series of 52 essays, we move with her week by week from winter to summer and back again. Her vignettes range from tearfully funny—like when she is overjoyed to find an owl pellet on her porch, only to dissect it and realize it was a piece of vacuum fluff; to wonder-inspiring—like holding vigil to watch a rare night flower bloom; to heart breaking—like when she holds herself back from intervening as a snake raids a chickadee nest.
With the constant barrage of notifications and to-dos that fill our lives, paying attention feels almost impossible. But when I see what Renkl observes from her window, and how she deeply cares for her own corner of the world, I’m convinced that taking time to open my eyes and ears to what’s playing out around me is well worth the effort.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
A Psalm for the Wild-BuiltBY BECKY CHAMBERS
This delightfully light and bite-sized novella takes us to a future where humanity lives sustainably with the natural world. But even though their basic needs are met, humans still struggle with questions of meaning and belonging. In this world, robots long ago became sentient, abandoned their role in manufacturing goods for humans, and left to live in the wilderness. This story focuses on a human named Dex and a Robot named Mosscap who happen upon each other and strike up a whimsical friendship. As they journey together, they try to answer the question, “What do people need?” Their conversations tackle questions about identity and purpose, and they stare in the face of sorrow while managing to remain endearingly cozy and hopeful.
