January 2025 Reading

New year, same reading habits!  I read or listened to nine books in January.  This post will be, perhaps, slightly shorter than usual because all the water-related books are part of my writing for Year of Water (check out my Substack https://janetsalsman.substack.com/  for details).

The three strictly water-based books were Water:  A Visual and Scientific History by Jack Challoner, Water:  A Natural History by Alice Outwater, and Longing for Running Water by Ivone Gebara.  All were interesting and there’s more in my Substack for those interested.

 

Let This Radicalize You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba also ended up having some tangential relationship to Year of Water, but that was not why I read it.  Hayes and Kaba are longterm organizers working for social justice and general goodness in our world.  This is their book explaining how our care for each other is a radical act in these disconnected and disconnecting times.  We create social change by doing big actions, yes, but also by making sure that everyone in our movements has food and shelter and rent money.  There is a lot to think about in their book and I would recommend it.

 

My church book group is reading Seculosity by David Zahl.  As a group we aren’t done yet, but I always just jump in and get finished.  Zahl’s premise is that in contemporary society we set up lots of things that are not traditional religions as our secular religions, whether that is parenting or love or busyness or food.  We do this, in his view, to try to prove to ourselves that we are enough.  He suggests that eventually all these things will fail us and that we need to revitalize our actual religion instead.  Not for everyone, but definitely a thought-provoking book.  I liked it.

 

Medieval history through a feminist lens?  Sign me right up!  Femina by Janina Ramirez shines light on some pretty amazing women who have been downplayed or erased from history due to being women.  Some of them, like Margery Kempe, were familiar to me, but I learned a lot.  The book is engagingly written and fascinating.  Each chapter begins with an archaeological discovery or a fortuitous look at a manuscript or artifact and then unpacks the life and impact of the woman involved.

 

In audio, I continue to listen to the works of Elizabeth George.  This month, I listened to Playing for the Ashes.  I liked this one better than the last few because I liked more of the characters, but they’re all worth a read/listen.

 

Deanna Raybourn is turning out to be one of my favorite writers.  I have liked every one of her books that I’ve read.  City of Jasmine is no exception.  Set in the 1920s, the book features an aviatrix/adventurer, an archaeological dig, and many shenanigans.  The book is stylish and snappy, the characters fun, funny, and clever, and it’s all good fun.

 

Finally, I read Kristin Cashore’s YA book There is a Door in This Darkness.  It’s a pandemic novel that captures the difficulty of that time and also a novel about grief, friendship, power, and love.  It is just beautiful.

 

January total:  9

Spring to date:  9

Year to date:  9