September Arrives
The Nature of Reading Newsletter | Summer | Week 12
Dear readers,
It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote to you, and so very much has happened since then! August is supposed to be a quiet month, but this year it was filled with little day trips, big birthday celebrations, and a whole range of frenzied activity both at the shop and at home.
Mario and I both celebrated our birthdays in the past few weeks—we were born almost exactly a week (plus a few years…) apart. It was lovely to spend our birthdays together with friends and family and to take a few days away from the shop to rest throughout the month.
Now I’m back and more excited than ever for fall! After the incredibly hot, climate-change-fueled summer we’ve had, I still feel like I’m holding my breath to not scare away the new season—could it really be September? Could the temperature actually be lowering? The equinox isn’t for a couple of weeks and I know in the past few years it can still be very hot into late September, but it finally feels like the best season (in my humble opinion) is right around the corner.
There are lots of exciting plans that I’ve been working on for fall, and you’ll see announcements for some of our first events below. With that I will return to ordering books and scurrying about the shop fixing displays and dreaming of falling leaves. I’ll see you back here next week.
Wishing you all the very best,
Hailey
It’s time to announce our monthly crafting event for September! This month we’re needle felting this absolutely beautiful autumnal banner. We made a wildflower banner for the summer solstice and I was amazed with just how spectacular everyone’s projects turned out! Even if you’ve been intimidated to try felting before, this 2-dimensional style of needle felting is a great place to start—as you can see in the photo, you use the templates to felt the designs on the banner. You can follow the kit’s suggestions for design placements or come up with your own. I’m so very excited for this one! I hope you’re able to join us in crafting this wonderfully autumnal project—you can get your ticket here.
I’m very excited to collaborate with The Madison Environmental Commission this year to sell tickets to their annual Eco Garden Tour! It feels like a full-circle moment for me because it was at this garden tour a few years that I met so many of you when I was still just a pop-up shop. This year the ticket sales will be put towards a Nature Lovers Speaker Series, which will be co-hosted by the MEC and our shop. I hope you’re able to attend and see all the inspiring ecologically-friendly gardens that Madison has to offer! You can get your tickets here.
Writer, activist, and highly sensitive person Dorcas Cheng-Tozun empowers introverts, other HSPs, and empaths to find their roles within social justice work in the ways that best support their talents and avoid burnout. Alongside inspiring, real-life examples of highly sensitive world-changers, Cheng-Tozun expands the possibilities of how to have a positive social impact, affirming the particular gifts and talents that sensitive souls offer to a hurting world.
Nature is right on your doorstep. Whether you’re in the countryside, city or somewhere in between, there is wildlife everywhere if you know where to look. And while it’s trickier to find in some places than others, nature can thrive in the most surprising spaces. This book is a glorious celebration of the magic that can be found in each season. Beautifully illustrated, this irresistible guide will encourage you to get outdoors and make a wonderful gift for the nature-seeker in all of us.
The Horse begins more than 5,500 years ago on the windswept grasslands of the Eurasian Steppe; when one human tamed one horse, an unbreakable bond was forged and the future of humanity was instantly rewritten, placing the reins of destiny firmly in human hands. Since that pivotal day, the horse has carried the history of civilizations on its powerful back. Driven by fascinating revelations and fast-paced storytelling, The Horse is a riveting narrative of this noble animal's unrivaled and enduring reign across human history. To know the horse is to understand the world.
September 2024 marks one full year since I started running in-person book club meetings here at The Nature of Reading Bookshop. It’s been such a wonderful year reading the latest publications within the Climate Change, Nature Writing, and Eco-fiction genres. I’ve met so many lovely people and had so many inspiring discussions, and I hope if you’ve attended any of the book clubs you feel the same way.
A couple times in the past year I did a group book club with members from all three clubs and it was always extra fun to have a larger group of people and to combine perspectives from across all the different book clubs.
Because of this, the book clubs are making a magical transformation this month—our three book clubs are combining into one: The Nature of Reading Book Club! In this new book club, we’ll still be exploring all the latest and greatest environmental reads, and we’ll be rotating each month between fiction & non-fiction. We’re starting this month with a non-fiction collection of essays from Laura Marris called The Age of Loneliness. There has been a lot of talk in the last few years about the loneliness epidemic, and these essays look at the ties between interpersonal loneliness and interspecies/ecological loneliness. It is my hope that in discussing the concept of loneliness, we can build stronger ties within our own community and learn more about just how interpersonal and environmental connections are formed.
We’d love for you to join us for this new iteration of our book clubs—you can sign up here.
In the last newsletter I announced our new podcast with my lovely friends Victoria Russell and Katie Crawford—a podcast called Attending Together in which we read nature books to discuss the art of paying attention. Here’s the link to the post and the introductory episode in case you missed it.
The first book we’ll be discussing this month is Upstream, and we’d love for you to read along with us. You can get your copy here if you’d like to pick it up at the shop, or you can order a copy for delivery through Bookshop.org. Our first book discussion episode will be released on Tuesday, September 17th.
Each week I highlight here the three bestselling books from a particular category at the shop, and you get to see what our community likes to read most in a whole range of nature-focused sections.
This week we’re looking at our Picture Books. I wasn’t surprised to see Little Witch Hazel at the top of the list—it’s my absolute favorite children’s book that I sell, so I’m always recommending it to people. All of the top three are whimsical, beautifully illustrated reads, and we can see that our community clearly has a penchant for gnomes! You can order and learn more about these lovely books below.
An earthy and beautiful collection of four stories that celebrate the seasons, nature, and life, from award-winning author-illustrator Phoebe Wahl. Little Witch Hazel is a tiny witch who lives in the forest, helping creatures big and small. She's a midwife, an intrepid explorer, a hard worker and a kind friend. Little Witch Hazel is a beautiful ode to nature, friendship, wild things and the seasons, that only Phoebe Wahl could create: an instant classic and a book that readers will pore over time and time again.
We are all like trees: our spines, trunks; our skin, bark; our hearts giving us strength and support, like heartwood. We are fueled by air and sun. And, like humans, trees are social. They "talk" to spread information; they share food and resources. They shelter and take care of one another. They are stronger together. A lyrical, gorgeously illustrated look at the majesty of trees—and what humans can learn from them.
A delightful introduction and collection of facts about the secret lives of gnomes that will charm and fascinate readers of all ages. This book is an introduction to the hidden folk called gnomes, who live in a happy place they call The Pocket. Where is The Pocket, you ask? Well, it’s all around you, all the time.Gnomes are curious little creatures, and they’re very shy. But after reading this book, you will learn to spot the telltale signs that gnomes are around . . . and maybe even meet one!
There were so many moments in nature to choose from in the past few weeks! It would be tough to pick my favorite, but if I had to, I’d say it was this view that we managed to catch sight of on a hike in Napanoch, NY. We made it to the vista after an incredibly short hike which did not prepare us for the sublimity of the rolling hills and the bright, cloudy skies filled with rain and sunlight. We savored what we could for a few minutes, before the rain grew ever closer and we retraced our steps as fast as we could to avoid being caught in the downpour.