The Book Report by Rebecca Traver - Our Online Bookshop Curator
Welcome to the Book Report! With Pride Month just around the corner and with the state of the often divisive political scene these days, I thought it would be a good idea to feature our list called The Journey of Gender + Identity: Embracing & Celebrating Diversity in the Modern World. Let’s continue to show up for ourselves and each other with open minds and hearts as we move forward - together.
Also included in this report is a selection of New + Newly Discovered titles; a special group of Books for Young and Young at Heart Readers; and a couple of Just Because + Just for Fun offerings.
And, please take note that Ebooks are now plentifully available in our online Bookshop.
“To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow – this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.”
~Elizabeth Gilbert
FEATURED LIST – THE JOURNEY OF GENDER+ IDENTITY: EMBRACING & CELEBRATING DIVERSITY IN THE MODERN WORLD
For browsing through our entire list click here!
Rachel Carson and the Power of Queer Love by Lida Maxwell chronicles how after the success of The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson settled into Southport, Maine. The married couple Dorothy and Stanley Freeman had a cottage nearby, and the trio quickly became friends. Their extensive and evocative correspondence shows that Dorothy and Rachel became something more: they fell in love. Here we discover the seeds of creativity bloom into what would eventually become Carson’s seminal work Silent Spring.
Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant...and Completely Over It from Lester Fabian Brathwaite is a darkly comedic exploration of Blackness, queerness, and the American Dream, at a time when creative anger feels like the best response to inequality.
Pretty: A Memoir by KB Brookins shines a light on the beauty and toxicity of Black masculinity from a transgender perspective. Here is a memoir about coming to terms with instantly and always being perceived as “other.”
But I Don't Feel Empowered from Suri Chan is a debut collection of honest, free-verse and whimsically illustrated poems. Chan explores themes of heartbreak, womanhood, and trauma from the lens of a queer Asian woman coming of age.
Gay Science: The Totally Scientific Examination of LGBTQ+ Culture, Myths, and Stereotypes by Rob Anderson examines queer stereotypes and LGBTQ+ culture with humorous explanations borrowed from real principles across multiple fields of science.
Affirmations for Queer People: 100+ Positive Messages to Affirm, Empower, and Inspire by Jess Vosseteig is a full-throttle celebration of being a queer person, helping to affirm your talent and worth, and bring your dreams to fruition.
“To learn to swim in the ocean of not-knowing – this is my constant work.”
~Suleika Jaouad
New + Newly Discovered
The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life is the much-anticipated new book from Suleika Jaouad which serves as a brilliant companion through challenging times, organized into themes ranging from new beginnings to love, loss, and rebuilding. As a solid advocate for the practice of journaling, it’s hard for me to come up with a better book to help inspire you. Whether you’re a lifelong journaler or new to the practice, this book gives you the tools, direction, and encouragement to engage with discomfort, ask meaningful questions, peel back the layers, dream daringly, uncover your truest self – and in so doing, learn to hold the brutal and the beautiful in the same palm.
We Can Do Hard Things: Answers to Life's 20 Questions by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle is a collection of questions, musings, and evolving answers to some of the BIG issues we all grapple with from time to time. As the authors checked in with their friends and loved ones for guidance, they discovered two things: 1) No matter what road we are walking down, someone else has traveled the same terrain. and 2) The wisdom of our fellow travelers will light our way. Let’s lean into that truth, shall we?
In The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage, Franciscan friar Richard Rohr turns to the writings of the Jewish prophets, revealing how some of the lesser-read books of the Bible offer us a crucial path forward in these modern, often chaotic times.
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson explains that our problems today are not the results of yesteryear’s villains. Rather, one generation’s solutions have become the next generation’s problems. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this thoughtful and thought-provoking book brings us answers that meet the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many of us rightly feel.
It Begins with You: The 9 Hard Truths About Love That Will Change Your Life from Jillian Turecki is a holistic, compassionate, yet no-nonsense approach to love that has attracted a devoted following. Turecki makes clear that if you want a meaningful relationship filled with connection, security, and intimacy, you need to look within. After all, the common denominator in all your relationships is you.
With similar themes, Choose Your Self: How to Embrace Being Single, Heal Core Wounds, and Build a Life You Love by Megan Sherer teaches us how to fall in love with your own life and be unwilling to waver in the pursuit of a relationship as strong as the one you build within yourself.
Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones challenges the idea that loud lives are the ones that matter most, reminding us that we don’t have to leave the lives we have in order to have the lives of which we’ve always dreamed.
Encountering Dragonfly: Notes on the Practice of Re-enchantment by Brooke Williams shares the message of the dragonfly which is all about being willing to ask questions about synchronicity, awe, and the collective unconscious, and how to engage with a world increasingly out of balance.
Is a River Alive? from the wonderful nature writer Robert Macfarlane takes the reader on three unforgettable journeys teeming with extraordinary people, stories, and places; to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacularly wild rivers of Canada – each imperiled respectively by mining, pollution, and dams. In the telling we are reminded that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.
After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond shares the transformative lessons author Bruce Greyson, M.D. has learned over four decades of researching near-death experiences. By challenging us to open our minds to the experiences and what they can teach us, we are invited to expand our understanding of consciousness and what it means to be human.
Come Home to Yourself: Wisdom for Life from Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati is written in a conversational style, exploring navigating challenging subjects as finding love, handling anger, and connecting with the divine.
When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse by Norma Wong is a visionary guide to co-creating new worlds from one in crisis. It asks into the ways we can live well and maintain our wholeness in an era of collective acceleration, the swiftly moving current, fed and shaped by human actions, that sweeps us toward ever uncertain futures.
The Wisdom of the Hive: What Honeybees Can Teach Us about Collective Wellbeing from Michelle Cassandra Johnson and Amy Burtaine invites us to look, really look, at bees as our teachers. Honeybees illustrate communal interdependence, attunement to nature, coexistence with darkness, and so much more – lessons worthy of emulating within our own human world. With each chapter, we learn more about the life of a honeybee, our own lives, and our relationship to the collective as a part of an ever-changing ecosystem.
The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success by Susan Dominus is more than a checklist of how to be a success; it’s a deep and moving exploration of the complexity of family life and the rewards – and burdens – of ambition.
The Tao of Cosmos: The Holographic Unity of Heaven, Earth, and Humankind from Zhen G. Ma explores the interplay between ancient wisdom and modern cosmology by integrating I Ching philosophy, Eastern Taoism, contemporary science, and the quantum brain dynamics of consciousness.
Ocean: Earth's Last Wilderness from award-winning broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough and longtime collaborator Colin Butfield is a powerful call to action focused on our planet’s oceans, exploring how critical this habitat is for the survival of humanity and the earth’s future.
Carbon: The Book of Life by Paul Hawken is another deep dive into Nature within the context of carbon, the most versatile element on the planet. Here, we learn that carbon is the only element that animates the entirety of the living world. In this stirring, hopeful, and deeply humane book, Hawken illuminates the subtle connections between this stellar element and our collective human experience.
Finding Your Walden: How to Strive Less, Simplify More, and Embrace What Matters Most by Jen Tota McGivney combines classic literature with happiness studies, exploring how experts – psychologist, career coaches, and doctors – support Thoreau’s ideas as guideposts for our modern times.
The Elemental Goddess Oracle from Bronwyn Millar is a wonderful blend of interdimensional Goddess wisdom, the five elements of Chinese medicine, trauma healing techniques, and hands-on acupoint practices to help us embrace and love our bodies, our sensuality, and our feminine power and magic.
Feng Shui with Archangels, Unicorns, and Dragons: How to Transform the Energies of Your Home and Life by Franziska Siragusa is an inspiring 10-week program inviting you to connect and work with angels, unicorns, and dragons to clear spaces and infuse them with positive, uplifting energy and higher frequencies. And, who among us couldn’t use more of that in our lives?!
For the entire list of new discoveries, click here!
Books for Young Readers + the People Who Love Them
Papa’s Coming Home from Chasten Buttigieg with illustrations by Dan Taylor is all about unconditional love, perfect for families who love each other the whole year through.
I Am NOT a Vampire from Miles McKenna illustrated by Riley Samels brings us the story of young Arlo whose family members are all vampires…except him. This funny and heartwarming tale celebrates Arlo as he navigates his sense of identity and becomes his true self.
Clara and the Man with Books in His Window by Maria Teresa Andruetto with illustrations by Martina Trach is set in rural 1920s Argentina and tells the true story of how the author’s mother, Clara, the daughter of a poor laundress, meets Juan, a wealthy and bookish recluse who never leaves his house because he is afraid society will not accept who he is.
Wish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, shines a bright and appreciative light on neurodiversity and how out-of-the-box thinking can lead to new understandings and learning how to be proud of the qualities that set us apart. Happily, there is a Spanish language version available.
The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner takes readers on a heart-filling journey as a boy finds his path to healing from the death of his dad two years ago.
They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel is a classic tale and Caldecott Honor winner, consistently making the list for best children’s book story year after year. If it’s new to you, please consider this a must read for you and the child / children in your life.
I Am Always I by Robert Spira takes us on a journey of discovery through a landscape of thoughts, feelings, and circumstances to the essence of who we truly are.
“We take that which is unreal to be real and that which is real to be unreal.”
~Rupert Spira
For more books for young readers click here!
Para libros para lectores jóvenes en Español haga clic aqui!
Just Because + Just for Fun
Botanical Skin Care Recipe Book from The Herbal Academy is a collection of favorite tried-and-tested skincare recipes. Whether you’re looking for a rich cream to pamper your face, a soothing salve for minor first aid, or topical support for a chronic skin condition, there’s something for you here.
Tchotchkes and Their F*cked-Up Thoughts by Elisabeth Saake is a hilarious and highly giftable book bringing together dark humor, colorful art, and a dash of existential dread. What’s not to like?!
“Often, the story of an artifact’s journey is more remarkable than the object itself.”
~Mackenzie Finklea
Please visit our online Bookshop to see our full selection of lists and titles.
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May you be inspired, supported, and enriched by what you find here.
