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A fun, engaging read that left me (a) wanting to capture or clone some starter, and (b) thinking about the necessary relationship between a culture's health and its keepers’ humility.

This took me a good bit longer to finish than I'd normally like, but largely because it was so beautiful that I took my time, lingering in the novel's moves between deep cultural history and modern family narrative. A beautiful reckoning with the continuing effects of historical trauma.

Doing a bit of a dive into the universe of Robin Sloan, picking up the bits I've missed before reading Moonbound.

I started reading this on an international flight and immediately got completely absorbed into its universe -- our universe, filled with the forsaken and despised of impoverished rural Appalachia as the opioid crisis is generated around and through them, another industry (like coal mining before) grinding up an entire culture for private, corrupt gain. I got a bit bogged down in the middle as the pain became hard to stay with, but am really glad I pushed through. By turns hilarious and tragic, Kingsolver rewrites Dickens for the 21st century, reminding us that the social damage done by capitalism scars communities, families, and individuals in ways that we might not see but should not ignore.

Practical advice for thinking about grassroots social movements and how to organize and sustain them.

"The modern office, with its open floor plans and free snacks, is failing to deliver on the most basic workplace essential: actual management." (9)

A compelling argument about the importance of ensuring that good intentions are backed with the skills and mindset necessary for actually doing good in the world.

I adore Richard Powers. This isn't one of my top three but it's nevertheless wonderful, and heartbreaking.

It’s an interesting time to read Behind the Screen, especially for Roberts's distinction between community standards and corporate social media moderation. She raises the question of whether large scale, centralized, for-profit networks can ever really be conducive to community — and of the damage they do to those who work to maintain the illusion that they can.

The first thing to note is that Jack Jewers is a friend of mine, whom I adore, which may color my reading a bit. But the second thing to note is that this book is just plain fun. The premise is, as the title suggests, that Samuel Pepys kept one further diary beyond those we know of, and that this one involves a complex investigation involving embezzlement, murder, and international intrigue. The writing is delightful, and the book was a perfect bit of holiday fun.