The material includes recommendations spanning nature writing, speculative fiction, and translated mystery. A bird field guide celebrates declining and endangered species, using bird-watching to emphasize multispecies worlds and human participation in them. A novel set on a decimated future Earth centers on collecting DNA samples from the past to rebuild what was lost, framing preservation and hope as acts of care. A translated poetic novel in 1955 France reconstructs competing narratives around a brief interval between a patricide and the arrival of others. Across these works, themes of wonder, loss, protection, and rebuilding recur through different forms and settings.
"Whenever I encounter a belted kingfisher here in coastal Virginia, my spirits rise as I gaze at a bird with a spiky mohawk and an attitude to match. My summer nonfiction reading will kick off with The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by nature writer Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris, which celebrates the lives of declining or endangered birds from kingfishers to avocets, nightingales and yellowhammers."
"A story about a decimated future Earth and those working to collect DNA samples from its past in order to rebuild it, the novel is also about love - between two people, yes, but also the broader, more universal love their work entails. After all, preservation of what was and hope for what will be are both acts of immense care for the world."
"This riveting translation at once slays and reinvents the mystery genre. Set in an affluent villa in Manche, France, this 1955 "poetic novel" reconstructs the clashing narratives around the 20-minute interval between a patricide and the arrival"
#nature-writing #bird-conservation #speculative-fiction #translated-mystery #post-apocalyptic-themes
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