Here are a few titles relating to the appreciation and Care of Creation for winter reading and/or gift giving.  All have been verified as ‘read and recommended’.   Most or all can be ordered from Left Bank Books.  Sarah Lincoln-Harrison for the Creation Care committee

From Juliet B:  The Overstory, by Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Co., 2018. The important message of Powers twelfth novel is how the passion and zeal of outspoken rage is transformed by a group of nine environmentalists on behalf of our desecrated forests.  Metaphorically, the journey of this committed group of activists is channeled by an arduous climb to a vantage point high in the canopy of the forest from which to view the world as it was intended to be – a breathtaking and transformative view.  I loved this book and believe it is a favorite for many people.

From Sarah L-H:  Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty, Milkweed Editions, 2020, a prize-winning memoir by a 14-year-old lad.  Passionate and intense curiosity about the natural world as experienced and articulated through the curtain of autism, reminding me of the substantial gifts given to those whom we consider “limited”.  A humbling and transformative read.  Excellent choice as a gift for a young person, Dara is also designated as a member of Young Ambassadors for the Jane Goodall Institute.

Couple the above selection with natural scientist Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams’ A Book of Hope, A Survival Guide for Trying Times, Celadon Books 2021. In interview format, it presents Jane’s personal story and rationale for living hopefully with a sense of the evolutionary possibilities.   Conversational and very accessible for all ages.

From John N:  One that really drew me in when I first read it about eight years ago is The Forest Unseen, A Year’s Watch in Nature by David George Haskell, Penguin Books, 2013.  The author is professor of biology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN.  This book, though, is not academic. It’s beautifully written, eye-opening, and inspiring.

From Richard H:  Underland, A Deep Time Journey, by Robert Macfarlane, W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. The author describes his extraordinary journeys over the world exploring in person underground caves, carved-out rock “cities”, glacial caverns and more. He explores England, Paris underground Italy, Norway, Greenland, and Finland. He takes hair-raising risks, for example hiking solo in winter over mountains to locate prehistoric cave art. His ecological adventures kept me turning the pages, and I gained a new appreciation for so much of what we don’t see.

From Cindy F:  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, 2008, is part memoir, part journalistic investigation, and is full of original recipes that celebrate healthy eating, sustainability, and the pleasures of good food.  Barbara Kingsolver opens her home to us, as she and her family attempt a year of eating only local food, much of it from their own garden. Inspired by the flavors and culinary arts of a local food culture, they explore many farmers markets and diversified organic farms, most within a 100-mile radius of their home. They also grow and or raise (chickens, etc.) much of the food they eat. With characteristic warmth, Kingsolver shows us how to put food back at the center of the political and family agenda. I particularly enjoyed the saga of her family’s efforts in turkey breeding and raising, something I’m not likely to take on myself but informative and exciting.

From Kristen B:  Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds, and Shape our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake, Random House, 2021.  An incredible write-up about mycelium in all their glory: and the way their partnerships with other plants — and species, including us — absolutely informs not only how we live, but who we are. This book is full of science and research, but Sheldrake is also a poet and a dreamer, and asks really fascinating questions that make you see God’s creation very differently.

From Sarah L-H:  Dawnland Voices, An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England, Siobhan Senior (Editor), Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2014. This is a broad survey of writings from all ten indigenous nations in New England over the past 400 years.  These readings give me new respect and appreciation for the creative, wise, resilient, and generally overlooked “natural” teachers among us.  I especially liked the editor’s inclusion of young contemporary indigenous writers.

From Sarah L-H:  This Day, Collected and New Sabbath Poems, by Wendell Berry, Counterpoint 2013.  A collection spanning the years from 1979-2013.  Berry invites you to share in his passionate and humble relationship with his personal space on this earth.  His poems are like a ‘soaking prayer’.  Read on and reflect!  And feel at home.

From Richard H:  Swimme, Brian T., Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, Orbis Books, 2019. “Brian Swimme invites us to wake up and surrender to the power of relationships that pervade our cosmos.  If we understand this new universe story, we will begin to see that each of us is an originating center of the universe, arising together from the heart of the cosmos.”  (Ilia Delio, author, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love.)   This book was important to me because it updated the ideas that Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry first introduced in 1996 in The Universe Story.  It provides the basis for the evolution of our Earth: animal, vegetable, and mineral.

From Richard H:  Pope Francis, Laudate Si On Care For Our Common Home, Encyclical Letter – Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2015. “Laudato Si (Praise be to you): On Care for Our Common Home draws all Christians into a dialogue with every person on the planet about our common home. We as human beings are united by the concern for our planet and every living thing that dwells on it, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. Pope Francis’ … joins the body of the Church’s social and moral teaching and draws on the best scientific research, providing the foundation for the ethical and spiritual itinerary that follows.”   As the titular leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis represents 1.2 billion Catholics as well as being an influential leader in the community at large. His voice as a vigorous advocate for the healing our planet should be read by many and will influence many.

From Mary R: The Trees in My Forest, by Bernd Heinrich, hardcover edition published 1997 by Cliff Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; Ecco paperback edition published 2003, one of the first books I bought when we moved to Maine in 2004.  I knew nothing of Heinrich’s background and writing, just as I knew little about the Maine woods that were around us, but the squibs on the back cover convinced me that this would be an excellent introduction to both. The Washington Post review: “. . . an engaging primer on the complex biological economics of the woods themselves . . . In Heinrich’s hands, the lives of trees are as noble and as dramatic as the lives of men.” I was not mistaken in my choice. Heinrich’s prose is straightforward and clear, often poetic; the illustrations match the beauty of the words. It was a fine introduction to the Maine woods and has been a delightful companion in the intervening years, making re-reading richly rewarding.