22 Comments
Sep 16Liked by Amy Peterson

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver fits this category. I read Parable of the Sower and Talents recently. Chilling. Thank you for all you do, say and preach. Keep it up.

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Most of Barbara Kingsolver fits, at least a little bit!

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Sep 30Liked by Amy Peterson

Hey Amy,

Denise Holmberg here. Are y’all doing ok it Asheville?? Our power just came on & we have extra rooms if you need to escape.

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author

Awww thank you. We are ok… no power or water yet, but we are in durham for a few days stocking up. Glad you’re alright!

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Sep 30Liked by Amy Peterson

Well keep us in mind if things don’t improve. We have three bedrooms upstairs that never get used. Y’all are welcome to them. Anytime. I’m glad you were able to get out for a few days to Durham. D.

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Sep 18Liked by Amy Peterson

1. Does it have to be an adult book?

2. Do you have to choose it? I mean, why not let Lauren bear some of the pressure?

3. Does it have to be perfect? None of us are.

4. Just thinking. Hugs!

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Haha Lauren has texted me about it almost every day for two weeks

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Sep 18Liked by Amy Peterson

🤣😂🤣

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you are the second person in a week to mention Jane Bennett... I'm going to take it as a sign.

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Sep 17·edited Sep 17Liked by Amy Peterson

I can't remember if I said so on our walk and I hope we walk again soon: Rumaan Alam's Leave the World Behind still haunts me correctly. (I haven't seen the film.) As it rapidly moves into disaster, the characters' encounters with Nature become eerie pulsing elegy for the reader.

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I don't think you did! I've put it on hold at the library. And yes: soon.

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I realize you aren’t specifically asking for titles, but I recently read a debut called The Cautious Traveler’s Guide to the Wastelands, which might be my favorite novel I’ve read all year. It was strange and beautiful, a journey across the wastelands on the Trans-Siberian railroad through various perspectives. But what’s happening to the land (the wastelands) is almost a character itself. It’s sort of an eco fable, and it made me think a lot. So just offering up another suggestion. Sounds like a great book club. And good theology to consider as well. ❤️

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Thank you, Jenica. I'll look for it!

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I know it's not fiction but Lydia Millet's memoir was beautiful. I also read The Quickening, which I wanted to like more than I actually did. Again, not fiction, but Braiding Sweetgrass is just the best thing I've read in years. Does it have to be fiction?

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I feel like people are more likely to come to a fiction bookclub...

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Mostly I'd just be more likely to come to a book club if you were leading it, no matter the book =)

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Now that Ive actually finished the *whole* post, I wonder if Wendell Berry's Port William series would fit the bill more. It's not cli-fi in the sense that it's about the future crisis, but more that it's about the present and past crisis, the things that led to where we are now. My favorite is Jayber Crow.

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Shoot, as soon as you said cli-fi I was going to rush down and tell you about Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, two of my favorite reads from over the last year. But I see you already got them =) Do you know Flight Behavior? Or Future Home of the Living God? I'm assuming you read The Overstory since you have Power's Bewilderment on here. How High We Go in the Dark, though I'm still not totally sure how I felt about that one. Station Eleven would fit into this I think, and maybe if you squeeze it a little, her Sea of Tranquility. Okay, I'll stop. Oh! Doesn't *really* fit but I lump it into sustainability fiction, The Seed Keeper, which I loved.

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I think the OVerstory would be great... but it is *really* long, so I'm hesitant to choose it. I adore Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility a lot. Aren't you also a big fan of North Woods? That and a Psalm for the Wild Built the others I'm definitely going to try before I choose...

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Oh yes! North Woods! Again, I don't think of it as cli-fi exactly, but it is about the woods and about the footprints we leave for those who come after us =)

The Overstory is long, but it's unforgettable. I haven't read Psalm for the Wild Built but now I'll add it to my list!

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Sometimes it's so hard to find the right book for me. I can imagine the pressure of trying to find the right book for a while group of readers.

Just this past week, I read in Austin Kleon's "Steal Like an Artist" this suggestion:

Write the book you want to read.

Maybe there's a book in your heart that needs to be breathed onto paper.

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You are the second person to suggest this! I have a lot to learn about fiction-writing.

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