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284 reviews

Balance of the Heart: Desert Spirituality for Twenty-First-Century Christians by Lois Farag

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hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

Profiles on people who rejected society to live in celibate isolation, intense poverty, and long periods with minimal food isn’t too appealing on the surface. But, Farag’s exploration of this particular spiritual movement in Christianity’s early days appears deeply connected to the Gospels and Epistles in practice. The author challenges the notion of hermits as shunners of others and instead gives clear examples of how these acetics showed hospitality to one another and to anyone who sought them out or encountered them by chance. The conclusion is clear: radical hospitality and open invitation are the greatest call of spiritual practice in an otherwise cloistered life. 
[...]: Poems by Fady Joudah

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

“Why don’t you denounce
what you ask me to denounce.
We can do it together on the count of three.
Or you should go first
From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire by Sarah Jaffe

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

“Everyone you love will fail you; and also everyone you love will die. In between are the moments when we can see, and know, and surprise each other; when we show up and we hold on and ease one another’s hurts. But there is no love without pain or loss. This is what grief taught me.” 

Our personal grief refuses to be contained. We cannot effectively compartmentalize the process of grieving to a set time or number of symptoms.


Could “grief” be the right term for what we feel we’re going through as a nation/as a planet? Anyone who has lost a loved one can attest to the fact that “grief” isn’t just sadness, it is a visceral reaction that overwhelms mind, body, and if you believe in it soul. Jaffe has written effectively two books sandwiched within one another: her personal story of losing her father and reflecting on the pain that she has carried since is dotted along the way in her interviews and thoroughly researched pieces on everything from Immigration Policy to Worker’s Activism to Israel/Palestine. 

Maybe those of us who are witnessing and understanding the rise of fascism are grieving the loss of what we thought could be an easier or more secure life. Just as likely, the working class people advocating for fascism might be doing so as a response to their own grief, an inability to mourn the loss of their own expected future cut short by corporate greed, factory closures, and self-interested world leaders all of whom are quickly ready to lay the blame at the feet of immigrants, the marginalized, or whichever country they next want to start a conflict with. 
The Jewish Book of Horror by Josh Schlossberg

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

An interesting anthology in the same vein as “Never Whistle At Night” or “Out Here Screaming”. Some stories were stronger than others but in the whole the authors had a good grasp of horror conventions and wove them impressively into Jewish legends and modern customs. 
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

“There is no such thing as waste, only starting materials…when an economic system actively destroys what we love isn’t it time for a different system?”


“We know how to do this and what’s more we crave doing it; feeling more alive with every gift exchanged.”

Jesus of Nazareth said “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can say to this mountain: ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”  Wall Kimmerer’s “mustard seed” is The Serviceberry (shadbush). From this tiny example, the author reflects on the massive movement that we can and must undertake to turn around the human trajectory towards extinction. In a small but sweeping manifesto, she invites readers to pursue community development through a “Gift Economy” that needn’t be a utopian theory but can very well be built alongside and in opposition to the “Market Economy/Mixed Economy” that is accelerating climate change and leaving us with feelings of despair and isolation in the process.


The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A pretty teenage girl disappears from her rural town: a familiar setup for a thriller. A pretty teenager reappears years later but there’s no case since she refuses to discuss who abducted her…now that feels like new territory.


This book is so unlike Jean’s previous work and I love seeing authors take big risks with new genres. There were times where she safely leaned into time-tested tropes and other times where she deconstructed and challenged the business as usual for crime thrillers. 
Circe by Madeline Miller

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“I was not surprised by the portrait of myself: the proud witch undone before the hero’s sword; kneeling and begging for mercy. Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets; as if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep.”

A beautiful revisiting of one of the classic myths of Western Literature. The unique perspectives offered by the titular nymph showcases the reasons why discarded women in the past would choose the path of becoming a secluded witch rather than suffer at the mercies of powerful men. 

Interestingly, it wasn’t just Circe’s point of view deepened but that of Odysseus himself. The hero of “The Odyssey” is still a larger-than-life übermensch sort of figure; always the bravest, smartest, cleverest, smoothest guy around. At the same time, Circe sees in him and brings out of him a vulnerability that he keeps guarded from everyone who knows him. She knows and tells readers about the things the epic writers would never know to share.
The Legend of Meneka by Kritika H. Rao

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An impressive myth retelling updated with conventions of modern romantasy. The magic system was very complex but I think that reflected the intricacies of Hindi Mysticism that I admittedly was not all that familiar with before reading. In spite of this, Rao made the story incredibly approachable. The familiar touch-points of a deep secret/enemies-to-lovers narrative and a noble rebel wanting to make war with God made this a great read.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm

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challenging emotional hopeful informative fast-paced

4.5

While the title may be provocative, Malm’s work is clearly academic and pondering in nature. His examination of the current Climate Movement invites readers to examine it in a context similar to other social revolutions: India’s resistance to the British, Mandela’s efforts against apartheid, the Iranian Revolution, Arab Spring, etc. none of which could tout the absolutely purity of “non-violence.” Malm acknowledges that the reason support for Climate activism is so widespread is owed largely to its sympathetic nonviolence being a low barrier for entry. Malm believes in the urgency of the need to rethink our approach to climate policy and soundly rejects any defeatism or resignation to inevitability. 
The Berlin Stories: The Last of Mr Norris & Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

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informative tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5