This is Ode To..., a weekly column where we share the stuff we're really into in hopes that you'll be really into it, too.
In 2019, escapist beach reading ain't what it used to be.
Sure, you could bring a tangled whodunnit or a twisty YA romance paperback on your summer vacation. But with the world on fire, millions of species winking out of existence, and climate change barreling towards us like the unwanted approach of September, those kinds of reads may start to feel a little bit like literary privilege. It's legit to chill out on the sand, but to bury your head in it, not so much.
Still, no one — even the most dour of climate scientists — should take nonfiction on our current global crisis to the beach. Pack something like The Uninhabitable Earth, and you'll only turn yourself into the family grump, reading out endless statistics of doom. The ocean, the mountains, the forest: These are places to fall in love again with the novel, with the beauty of well-turned phrases, with a narrative as deep, slow, and rich as the landscape. It's where we recuperate and rest and rediscover our spirit, all the better to face what comes next. Read more...
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