Welcome to Litsy!

I've been craving essays, just reading one a day for a tiny hit of insight. I started with Solnit's year because I love her and am looking forward to popping in and out with this series for the rest of forever.

Like all anthology there are pieces that resonated with me along with those that did not. I've not stopped thinking about Alexander Chee's essay and will be reading more from him soon!

It's kind of unreal to read these essays 2 years later because it shows how much has changed. The first story was a definite att grabber and, to a degree, the rest of the essays pale in comparison 😂 still, I liked the stories that focused on pollution and the environment. It makes me wonder what they would say now. How much have the bombings in Palestine affected the environment? Where do we stand? How much has our privacy been breached? Etc

This was a fun anthology-Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge was my favorite. Audiobook

#NovelNovember Readathon Day 2 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#RushAThon Day 19

4/5

I thought this was a really great collection of works on a variety of topics from global warming to disease to fireflies. The majority of the articles were very engaging, even to someone without a lot of knowledge on the specific topic. I thought “Shadows, Tokens, Spring“ by Ben Mauk was particularly good.

#bookspin: The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2023

#doublebookspin: Island of the Blue Dolphins

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Great collection of short stories. It makes me want to buy the entire collection. (I‘ve already got the Best American Poetry editions from 1988 to 2000, so why not.) They‘re a great way to see how American literature has evolved over the years. ☺️

Features:

An essay about the anus, by a self-proclaimed anus enthusiast 😂 (seriously, worth reading just for this one)

What slime knows

Lifecycles of galaxies

How high blood pressure should kill giraffes but doesn‘t

Climate change. Lots of climate change (a bit monothematic, in fact; understandably tho)

Pretty interesting even if the subject choice gets repetitive near the end.

4.0/5

4/5

This was a wonderful overview of standout nature and science essays of the year that I would have missed, if not for this collection. I appreciated the editors dedication to representing a wide variety of voices within the field.

My favorite essays in the collection were What Slime Knows by Lacy M. Johnson, Beavers are the Firefighters Who Work for Free by Lucy Sherriff, and A River Reawakened by Jessica Plumb.

Got some reading in while at the salon today. Almost done with this #readharder book. Some of these stories have been fantastic! There‘s one about the wolves of Isle Royale which was fascinating. One about the first spider in space, which was excellent. Some of them were a bit harder to enjoy; one talked about an animal testing lab which my vegan heart did not do well with. I also didn‘t realize my hair is the same color as my fire case. 😂

Someone might have a kidney stone (yippee), so I got the pleasure of having an abdominal CT scan today! At least there were nice quiet spots to read between getting poked and prodded. Getting close to the end of this #readharder2022 book!