Dip Into Alpine Light - A Holiday Zine
In which I share my holiday zine which some of you got in the mail. Plus favorite books of 2024.
You can print out the Zine from this PDF below, then follow the instructions from Austin Kleon about how to fold, cut, and then turn it into a booklet.
Favorite Books of 2024 with Links!
Here are the books I recommended in the zine.
Poetry! Science! The wonders of the universe! If you love the Marginalian, you’ll love her books too. Be sure to read Figuring while you’re at it.
Now that we’re out of our pandemic, I can read about another pandemic. I couldn’t read this book when it first came out, but I’m glad I did now. Poignant and lovely, also heart breaking and fascinating. It made me think a lot about how I would fare during a more disastrous pandemic and the lengths I would go to survive.
A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas (the whole series)
Just do yourself a favor and read the whole series. Book 2 is probably my favorite, but 3 really surprised me as did the last one. Worth it. Plus it’s a banned book in many state libraries! Read it so you can scratch your head wondering why it’s banned. Plus the sex is hot.
I’m reading classics too and had never actually read Jules Verne. Huge fan now. I also read Around the World in Eighty Days. Fucking amazing. You can often read the classics on your Kindle for free or almost free.
AI meets marine biology in the quest to understand a set of octopi with their own very developed language skills. It’s sci-fi, it’s dystopian, but really interesting and is both fear-inducing and hopeful. I am better for having read it. Actually I listened to this one as an audiobook via my Libby App.
It’s a romance, but also a little spooky since she can see ghosts! An author has to confront her own past and family history while trying to finish her latest book. A delight.
Tom Mustill is a biologist who turns into a filmmaker after being almost smashed by a whale while out whale watching. He tries to understand how whales communicate and IF we’ll be ever able to speak directly with them. Really interesting.
Cloudspotting for Beginners by Gavin Pretor-Pinney and William Grill
This is a picture book for all ages. Delightful illustrations and a lot of information about clouds, mostly stuff I never knew. I learned a lot from this book and will for sure read it again and again.
Books I am looking forward to or that are on my desk to read:
Grounded: How Connection with Nature Can Improve Our Mental and Physical Well Being by Ruth Allen
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab
Crescent City OR Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
Playground by Richard Powers (author or The Overstory)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds Adrienne Maree Brown
The links above are affiliate links with Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores and is a certified B Corp. Also consider buying used books via via Thriftbooks or Better World Books. Also, get your library card if you don’t have one. The Libby App is my favorite phone app besides my maps.
One book that stuck with me this year is The Quickening by Elizabeth Rush. I read it back in January but it stood out! And my recent obsession that I think you would like as well is The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption by Katy Kelleher.