The Future of The Nature of Reading
The Nature of Reading Newsletter | Winter | Week 11
Dear readers,
If you’ve been here with me for a few years and are an avid newsletter reader, you’ll perhaps recall that this is the second time I’m sending an email with this subject line. The first was sent over two years ago, when I aimed to use its somewhat ominous tone to inspire as many people as I could to open the email where I announced that I was opening a storefront (such is the attention economy played out in our email inboxes).
This time, when bad news seems to be the new standard, the subject line appears even more menacing. Particularly here in Madison, with all the small businesses that have been closing lately, certainty these days seems more distant than ever.
But let me spare you any further anxiety, dear reader, for this newsletter contains only good news: we are moving into a bigger storefront!
That’s right, even in these dark times when climate deniers are in control of the national political stage, when the news rushes over us in horrifying tidal waves, still, we come together, we persist, and we grow.
It has been nearly three years since I started my business as an online shop on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2022. A few months later, I had my first pop-up at the Madison Farmers Market. And a few months after that, in December of 2022, I had signed my lease on the storefront which I would open on Earth Day in 2023.
There have been countless moments of synchronicity and serendipity since I started the shop, moments where unique combinations of opportunity and support aligned to get me where I am today. As an innate perfectionist (though always on the quest to be less perfectionistic), I’ve rarely spared a single breath to take in what I’ve managed to bring about in these past few years. There are a couple moments that stand out—my first pop-up market, opening day at 22 Main St, when I was interviewed and photographed for NJ Monthly—yet other than a few instances of thinking, “wow, I’ve come so far!”, my mind is forever focused on new ideas, what I want to bring to the shop next and all the many things I could improve. And ever since the possibility of moving into a bigger shop began to take root, all I’ve thought about is what I can do with the bigger space, how to best lay out all of my plans, and the endless to do list of things to accomplish before the move.
But I am forcing myself to stop today, and to sit with this change. I am moving into a bigger storefront! At almost exactly three years into The Nature of Reading, I’m moving into my dream location in one of Madison’s most beautiful and iconic buildings.
While vastly rewarding, it can often be challenging to run a small business when wearing all of the hats, juggling the ten thousand different responsibilities, and always wishing that there were more than 24 hours in a day. But despite the difficulties, I’m so grateful that I’ve consistently managed to find the strength and persistence to channel the love and support I’ve received from our community for all these years into my work with The Nature of Reading, weathering the years of financial uncertainty and the constant doubts within my own mind.
And especially in political times like these, when it seems reality has become increasingly unfathomable and every decision the administration makes seems specially designed to harm the greatest number of people and the largest portion of our planet, it means something to be growing, to be taking up more space as an environmental bookstore. It shows how many of us want to reconnect with the natural world and learn what we can do to protect it, and to do so in community with others.
I’ve spoken at length of the journey that led me to this point, to the announcement of moving, but where is the new storefront at the center of this newsletter? As I’ve been slowly spreading the news to people when they visit the shop, I often mistakenly began with “my shop is moving!” only to see peoples’ faces fall with worry that I am moving away from Madison. Each time I’d quickly add, “No don’t worry, we’re just moving right across the street!”
I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be moving into The James Building, into the space from which the amazing Bea Henderson has operated San Francisco Mercantile for the past 45+ years.
I’ve known Bea for nearly 10 years, since I started working at The Chatham Bookseller in May of 2015 for my senior internship in high school. In all the years I spent working there part-time and then as manager, Bea was always such a warm presence nearby, and when I started my own business her support only increased. I still remember the excitement in 2022 when I went to visit her shop and tell her that I was moving in across the street (into my current storefront) and that we would be neighbors once again.
Bea’s shop was always a wondrous haven to step into when things became too much, Bea the perfect person to gossip with about town happenings and a friend who was always there to offer a smile and a hug. And while it is incredibly bittersweet to say goodbye to the legendary San Francisco, I am beyond honored to be able to move into such a beautiful, magical space filled with so many decades of love. I’m so grateful to be able to continue the years of positive energy Bea has built into the space, and to be able to keep our tradition of chats and gossip sessions going when Bea visits the bookshop.
As always, there is so much more I could write about all the emotions and imaginings and plans tied up in this process, but I must send out this newsletter, my first in so very long. In addition to the craziness of moving apartments and planning the shop move, I was in Mexico for ten days at the end of February, to visit family and attend a friend’s wedding. But now that I am back and tying up a couple big events/book club meetings this week (see more below!) I hope to get back to writing more regularly.
I couldn’t finish this letter without saying a huge thank you to all who have offered to help me move and set up the new shop. Since I began spreading the news to people who stopped into the shop over the last several weeks, I have had a truly astonishing amount of people offer to help wherever they can, a kindness that brings tears to my eyes as I write this. Thank you so, so much, and I hope to be able to offer some fun/ceremonious moving/crafting occasions for those who wish to participate. And to all those others who have inquired about how they can help financially and beyond—thank you. There will be more info to come on all of that very soon.
Let’s end the newsletter with the concrete details of the move:
We’ll be moving from 22 Main Street to 4 Green Village Road
The move will formally start the first full week of April
The goal is to have some sort of soft opening on Earth Day (how could I not!) on April 22nd, with the grand opening to come on Saturday, April 26th, which happens to be Independent Bookstore Day
In April, we’ll still be open at 22 Main St until the grand opening at the new space, but we will have more limited hours
I’d so love to hear any questions, thoughts, or ideas you have for the new space—I never could have done this without each and every one of you. Thank you for reading my newsletter, for choosing to order books through me rather than Amazon, for bearing with me as I take unreasonably long to reply to emails and messages (speaking of which, now that the chaos is settling for a bit—or changing form, I suppose—I will be getting back to all of you as quickly as I can), and for sharing your love of books and the natural world with me. It is an honor to help you choose which books to devote your time to, and an honor to offer a space where we can come together to make positive changes for our planet.
With that, I’m so excited to hear from you and with any luck, you’ll hear from me again very soon.
All best wishes,
Hailey
Most in-store events will be on pause until we’ve moved into the new space, but we have an event at the METC’s Education Annex coming up this Thursday, and some virtual book clubs to offer as well!
This week we have a very exciting event with the Madison Environmental Commission! For the first talk in a speaker series we fundraised for with last September’s Eco Garden Tour, Paul Whyman will be coming to speak about her journey with rewilding 200 hundred acres of farmland in Virginia, which she writes about in her book Bad Naturalist. She’ll be interviewed by the hosts of The WildStory Podcast from NPSNJ, Kim Correro and Ann E. Wallace. You can register for the free event here.
Last Saturday, March 1st, I had the pleasure of popping up for the second time at The Native Plant Society of New Jersey’s Annual Conference in Toms River. Even more excitingly, this year Douglas Tallamy was the keynote speaker, and I was able to offer all of his published works for purchase to attending members which they could then have Doug sign. Plus, he was kind enough to sign several book plates I custom designed and printed for his new book, How Can I Help?: Saving Nature with Your Yard which will be released next month on April 8th. That means that while supplies last, if you preorder a copy of How Can I Help? from our website, it will come with a signed bookplate. You can order yours for pickup at the shop here, or you can order it shipped to you here.
Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality. Raising Hare chronicles their journey together, while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness first-hand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things, and most beautiful experiences, arise when we least expect them.
A speculative essay on language in the face of climate catastrophe: how we memorialize what has been lost and what soon will be, pushing public imagination into generative realms. In a dazzling synthesis of reporting, memoir, and essay, Markham reflects on the design and function of memorials, from the traditional to the speculative—the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, a converted prison in Ljubljana, a “ghost forest” of dead cedar trees in a Manhattan park—in an attempt to reckon with the grief of climate catastrophe. Can memorials look toward the future as they do to the past? How can we create “a psychic space for feeling” while spurring action and agitating for change?
How Silent Spring stands as a monument to a unique, loving relationship between Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, and how such love underpins a new environmental politics. In this moving new book, Lida Maxwell explores their letters to reveal how Carson's masterpiece, Silent Spring, grew from the love these women shared for their wild surroundings and, vitally and increasingly, for each other. Carson had already demonstrated a profound environmental awareness by the time she purchased her home in Maine; Maxwell proposes that it took her love for Dorothy to open up a more powerful space for critique. As their love unsettled their heteronormative ideas of bourgeois life, it enabled Carson to develop an increasingly critical view of capitalism and its effects on nonhuman nature and human lives alike, and it was this evolution that made the advocacy of Silent Spring possible.
Our next pick for The Nature of Reading Book Club is Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman by Callum Robinson. Ingrained follows Callum Robinson’s journey as a craftsman and master woodworker. Blending memoir and nature writing, Ingrained is an “uplifting meditation on the challenges of working with your hands in our modern age, on community, consumerism, and the beauty of the natural world—one that asks us to see our local trees, and our own wooden objects, in a new and revelatory light.”
I’ve always found that one of the best antidotes to these times of excessive news consumption and technology use is crafting, making things with your own hands. It’s why I run monthly crafting events at the shop and it’s why I think this book is particularly relevant for our current political climate.
We’d love for you to join us to read this inspiring book—you can sign up here. Plus, you’ll have longer than usual to read this one since we’re not meeting until the end of April, once we’ve moved into the bigger space so we can fit more book club members!
For our next episode of Attending Together, we’ll be reading Saving Time and How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. Jenny Odell’s work is more relevant than ever in our age of information overload and the current media storm a certain administration is working up. Read one or both of these books with us as we try to disconnect from the attention economy and refocus our attention where it matters most.
Our March meeting of Between the Leaves Book Club is tomorrow! Join us at 7pm on Monday, March 10th for a lively virtual discussion of The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The event is free and open to all—you just need to register here in advance.
Last Saturday was my second appearance at the NPSNJ’s annual conference, and as I wrote above it was a particularly exciting appearance because Douglas Tallamy was there signing books. Other than his all of his works and the books we read with Between the Leaves Book Club, below you’ll find the most popular books from the event.
You can learn more about the books and purchase them below. Please note—all of these titles will be back in stock at some this week and will ship out/be available in the shop then.
With more than 100 profiled plants, the deck can easily be sorted and grouped to find the right selection for your garden, season by season, making it a wonderfully customizable resource. Great for home gardeners, landscape designers, and educational programs, this practical and inspiring gardening deck makes it easy to plant for pollinators, from native bees to Monarch butterflies, hummingbirds, beneficial insects, and much more, and ensure you have blooms throughout the season.
A comprehensive book illustrating the specific relationships between native pollinators, beneficial insects, and native plants. Organized by plant communities, the book profiles over 65 perennial native plants of the Midwest, Great Lakes region, Northeast and southern Canada and the pollinators, beneficial insects and flower visitors the plants attract. Beautifully designed and illustrated with over 1600 photos of plants and insects, the book includes information on pollination, types of pollinators and beneficial insects, pollinator habitat and conservation, as well as pollinator landscape plans.
Praised by Doug Tallamy as "an important new tool to our native plant libraries," this go-to guide is perfect for gardeners of all skill levels looking to add sustainable native flora to any horticultural project east of the Mississippi River Valley. Gleaned from the authors' 75 years of landscaping experience, this user-friendly reference offers suggestions on species selection based on a plant's performance, aesthetic appeal, and wide range of adaptability. Expert authors Tony Dove and Ginger Woolridge's valuable resource is organized for fast and confident tree and shrub selections for specific landscape applications, and is full of vivid four-color photographs, graphs, and practical tips.
In preparation for last weekend’s conference, which was sure to be my busiest event yet, I designed and had printed these two new signs. I used artwork from a tote bag design that I’ve been working on for several months now—a design featuring the 22 most popular books at The Nature of Reading. As a creative I find it incredibly challenging to feel satisfied with certain artistic outputs, especially when it comes to graphic design and digital illustration. But I loved how these came out! It was so fun to draw my and the community’s favorite nature books. I’m also thinking of turning it into a t-shirt design…would you like merch like this? Let me know!
One of the most important things I did to prepare for our recent trip to Mexico was to download the Yucatan Peninsula pack of birds in the Merlin app. While we were quite busy with family and the friends’ wedding when we were there, I was able to add nearly 20 birds to my list and spend many delightful hours birding. This clay-colored thrush appeared on our last day in Mexico, spent in Playa del Carmen. The bird stayed perched on that branch for nearly 20 minutes, and now my camera roll is filled with dozens upon dozens of photos where I tried to get the perfect shot.
Warms my <3 that The School of Brock is growing ;)
Congrats! So happy for you, the store and all of the patrons.