Writer's Block
The Nature of Reading Newsletter | Spring | May 17, 2026
Dear readers,
Happy weekend and welcome back to another newsletter!
Once again (but who’s counting?!) I’m recommitting to sending a newsletter out weekly. There’s always exciting events and new books and gift items I want to tell you about, and I love sharing details about bookselling and life at the shop.
However, something has been happening lately. I was struggling to think of the term for what it is, before realizing that it was happening right at that moment: writer’s block!
I don’t really know how I feel about writer’s block, since in the past I’ve tended to agree with the advice to just keep showing up to write and eventually something will come together. I think if I had the time to show up more now then I could find a way out of it, but because of the high levels of busyness I find myself in at the moment, time and open thinking space are rare.
As Mario, my friends, and my fellow booksellers know, I’ve been focusing lately on building systems that will standardize some of the running of the store and give me more time to spend with my creative pursuits, but these systems take time. One year ago today (how time flies!) we had the ribbon cutting for the shop’s new location, and it has been an amazing year filled with more connections, growth, and serendipity than I could have hoped for. But there was a lot for me to adjust to, and while I think I now have somewhat of a handle on most things (however tentatively), I need to work on bringing all these tangled processes from my mind into actual structures at the shop.
All of this is to say that my brain is stretched a bit thin at the moment, so while I work on rebuilding my stores of creative energies, I humbly ask for your help! Is there anything you’d like me to write about? Particularly lately, in one of the many wonderful serendipities of the shop, I’ve met many lovely newsletter readers visiting the store for the first time. If you’ve never visited the shop, what would you like to know about it? Even if you have visited many times, do you have any questions about our story, or might you have a need for a book recommendation? So much of my motivation lately has been relational, so I’d love to write directly to you, dear readers. If you have any questions about me, the shop, books, nature, or anything in between, just reply to this email and I’ll hopefully get back to you (anonymously, of course!) in a future newsletter.
I so look forward to hearing from you, and I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.
All best wishes,
Hailey
Just a few spots left! This week we’re returning to a crafting favorite, needle felting—and for the first time in years, we’ll be doing 3-dimensional needle felting! When I saw these sweet bees, I knew it was the perfect project for this time of year when bees are the most active. Learn how to needle felt and make at least one of these delightful bees with us, and bring home the knowledge to finish up your other bee or complete other needle felting projects. Get your ticket now if you know you’d like to join us—we’ll have a lovely evening sipping tea, chatting, and crafting!
This month we’re reading How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries by David George Haskell. As the world blooms around us, it’s the perfect time to grow (pun intended) a deeper appreciation of the flowers we see each day when we step outside. He writes, “Without flowers, human beings would not exist. We are a floral species. Flowers catalyzed our evolution, and we now depend on them for food and a healthy planet. When we perfume ourselves, give a loved one a bouquet, or use blooms in gardens and religious ceremonies, we honor the special bond between people and flowers. The study of flowers also shaped modern science and horticulture in ways both marvelous and, sometimes, unjust. Looking to the future, flowers offer us lessons on resilience and creativity in the face of rapid environmental change. We need floral creativity, beauty, and joy more than ever.” How Flowers Made Our World combines lyrical writing and the latest in scientific research to explore some of the most consequential life forms ever to have evolved, showing how our planet came to be and how it thrives today.
We’re very excited to be participating in the second annual New Jersey Bookstore Crawl! Even though we had only been open at our new location for about a month, we had such a wonderful time participating in the crawl last year. This year we have even more exciting things on offer! We’ll go over our plans for the weekend soon, but for now, you can start planning your route on the map if you’d like to try to visit several shops that weekend.
Mark your calendar for the next event in our ongoing speaker series with the Madison Environmental Commission! This time we’ll be discussing forests, using the brilliant work of Suzanne Simard, author of Finding the Mother Tree and When the Forest Breathes, as a starting point. Simard is famous for the groundbreaking research that proved what indigenous people have always known: trees communicate with each other through underground fungal networks. If we listen to the Mother Trees, we have the potential to regenerate our forests, harvest without clearcutting, and halt the wildfires that are consuming natural areas. The event will start off with an intro to Simard’s books and move from the Pacific Northwest to Morris County. Kirsten Wallenstein, an MEC member and a stewardship leader for Madison’s forests, will talk about bringing resilience back to our natural spaces by managing deer, controlling invasive plants and planting for biodiversity. Then Susan Landau, Xerces Ambassador and guardian of Foote’s Pond Wood in Morristown, will teach you how to plant a pocket forest in your yard. It’s less work than a meadow—and supercharged with ecological benefits. Trees, like being part of a community, as opposed to being isolated with islands of mulch. The event is free and open to all—we just ask that you sign up here in advance. We hope to see you there!
We're so excited to partner with Grow it Green Morristown to offer a new seasonal book club: Seeds & Reads! Seeds & Reads focuses on building community and fostering environmental education through a shared love of books, nature, sustainability, and regenerative agriculture. Each season, we'll read a new book that touches upon one or more of these topics. The book club will meet once a quarter, often near the solstice or the equinox. If you love reading, gardening, farming, or just meeting kind-hearted people within Morris County & beyond, we hope you'll join us. The book club is free and open to all, no purchase necessary—we just ask that you sign up here in advance so we know how many people to expect. Our first book is Good Soil by Jeff Chu, a “profound meditation on nature, heritage, and belonging, from an accomplished journalist who left New York City for life on a working farm.” If you’d like to buy a copy through us, you can do so here. Either way, we’d love for you to join us to discuss this beautiful book.
Through transformational programs and books, including the national bestseller All We Can Save, Wilkinson has inspired hundreds of thousands of climate journeys. In Climate Wayfinding, she shares a proven process for looking inward with care, outward with curiosity, and forward with courage. Ultimately, readers chart a course toward playing their unique part in our collective healing. With her singular blend of warmth and rigor, Wilkinson lights the way through stirring personal essays, interwoven with the wisdom of other climate leaders and the beauty of poetry, art, and song. A book to sit with and savor, Climate Wayfinding also invites engagement with journaling prompts, practical exercises, and guides for conversation. Whether steeped in climate or newly curious, readers will discover something grounding and generative in these pages.
Steeped in magic and folklore, this book by bestselling author Adele Nozedar encourages us to slow down, notice the seasons and spot the herbs, trees and flowers all around us. Healers in the early medieval period drew upon the bounty of the earth to create the Nine Plants Spell – a collection of plants used for medicine, food and magic. Now, wherever we live, we too can create our own charms and rituals with healing herbs. This charming book is the perfect way to unearth the little-known herbal treasures hiding in plain sight all around us – and to discover just how much they can give us.
Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War offers a groundbreaking and vital perspective on war’s destruction of the natural world-the creatures, plants, soil, water, and atmosphere of Earth. In poems and contextual comments, 61 contemporary poets focus on military damages to the ecosystems on six continents and the moon. Framed by a cogent introduction and a pair of forewords, one on the poetry and the other on global consequences, the poems are accompanied by a tally of ecological costs and a set of thought-provoking discussion and writing prompts for teens and adults. This compelling anthology alerts readers to environmental degradation of our planet while affirming nature’s resilience and regeneration. The anthology covers almost two millennia, beginning with the Marcomannic Wars (167-180 CE) and ending with the 21st-century wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The conflicts and concomitant environmental damage addressed by the poems are international in scope. Convergence includes ninety poems, each paired with an Author’s Note, by U.S. and international poets, including John Balaban, Gillian Clarke, Camille T. Dungy, Ferida Durakovic, W.D. Ehrhart, William Heyen, Cynthia Hogue, Denise Low, Craig Santos Perez, Vivian Faith Prescott, Eric Paul Shaffer, Jillian Sullivan, Brian Turner, Pamela Uschuk, and Mai Der Vang.
One of the new things we’re carrying at the shop are these beautiful seed packs from Hudson Valley Seed Co! I’ve wanted to add some seeds to the inventory for a while now, and Hudson Valley’s beautiful artist-designed seed packs are a perfect place to start. We currently have collections of seed packs for Cut Flower Gardens, Pollinator Gardens, and Vegetable Gardens, plus we have a box of Northeast Native Meadow Mix. These packs make beautiful gifts for the avid gardener and truly each seed pack is a little work of art.
With the next few days looking so bright and sunny, it’s the perfect time to get outside if you live in the area, particularly if you like hot weather! These are a few of my favorite books to inspire outdoor adventures here in NJ.
Make bird-watching in New Jersey even more enjoyable. With Stan Tekiela’s famous bird guide, field identification is simple and informative. There’s no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don’t live in your area. This handy book features 132 species of New Jersey birds organized by color for ease of use. Full-page photographs present the species as you’ll see them in nature, and a “compare” feature helps you to decide between look-alikes. This second edition includes 10 new species, updated photographs and range maps, expanded information, and even more of Stan’s expert insights.
Known more for its urban areas than its green spaces, the Garden State is actually a crossroads for major interstate trails including the Maine-to-Georgia Appalachian Trail, the 150-mile Highlands Trail, and the 60-mile Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail. Hike along the Appalachian ridge or over the ragged Wyanokies, pass into pine barrens or through marshes and dunes on the coast, and you’ll see that New Jersey has so much more to offer than just cities. These 50 routes cover walks, hikes, and backpacking trips from the Kittatinnies to Cape May. With excursions from 1.5 to 28 miles in length, accompanied by driving directions, trailhead information, difficulty ratings, and detailed maps, this roster of hikes will suit everyone from families out for a nature walk to adventurous backpackers up for challenge.
Wildlife Out Your Window: Fascinating Facts about 100 Animals Commonly Seen in the mid-Atlantic U.S. States by Brad Timm
Did you know that: Blue Jay feathers are not blue...they are actually brown (they look blue due to an optical illusion)! Some frogs survive freezing by creating their own anti-freeze! Some foxes live up in trees! These are just a few of the hundreds of interesting facts you’ll learn about wildlife of the mid-Atlantic U.S. states in this book. This guidebook contains a page each of interesting facts for 100 of your favorite animals of the mid-Atlantic U.S. and surrounding regions...Robins, Chipmunks, Black Bears, Bullfrogs, and so many more. You’ll look at the wildlife all around you in a totally new light with this handy guide. In addition, you can keep track of your wildlife sightings with monthly checklists at the back of this book, and you’ll learn simple things you can do to help wildlife.