Save the humans
Save the humans
One hyperrealistic climate book, one climate allegory, and one kick in the teeth.
There’s a whole school of thought in climate journalism about how it’s the most important story we’ll ever have, but people get really tired of reading about it. It’s too huge, we feel helpless, we feel guilty, we’d rather obsess about two very rich white dudes sniping at each other.
The following fiction (or in one case, fiction-ish) books that are directly or indirectly about climate change will spur you into some sort of action—possibly that action is weeping into your pillow. But possibly it’s demanding change from your legislators! At any rate, they’re excellent reads.
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🌡️ Ministry for the Future
Kim Stanley Robinson, 2020
A fictional tale set in Earth’s near future about the bureaucracy behind saving humanity, scattered with nonfiction interludes about monetary policy, the market, risk, oil, crypto, glaciers, inherited wealth, you name it! The best part, for me, besides an amazingly funny and sad Davos takeover, are delightfully weird first-person tales from the perspective of all sorts of things, including a single atom of carbon.
Let me try explaining again: It’s like a very long patchwork quilt / instruction manual for a course of action that could actually make our children and grandchildren not die in a hellscape. Yes, it took me three library loans to get through, but now, with all this knowledge, I am the most annoying person in any conversation. Yes, MffF is depressing because of the sheer amount of work involved in moving the climate needle, but the book—and I hope this is less of a spoiler and more of an encouragement to stick with it—doesn’t end in a totally bad place!
Recommended to: Those who like policy and a good novel and some weirdness thrown in. And those who can handle the fact that it routinely spells “swaths” incorrectly—fine, we’ve got way bigger problems, I guess.
Recommended format: Not audiobook. I can’t see it working without being able to go back and reread some paragraphs so that you can look some terms up with a puzzled frown.
🐑 A Children’s Bible
Lydia Millet, 2020
And here’s our allegory! A bunch of kids—and it’s mostly written in first-person plural, which is fun—are at a waterside vacation house with their parents, who are content to live it up while the children are left to their own devices, for better or worse. These grown adults care about their successive generations in theory, but clearly not in action. Sound familiar?
Then, it gets biblical, because after all, what is a climate crisis affecting all of humanity if not an event of biblical proportions?
Recommended to: Those who breathe air and eat food. Everyone. It’s a fast enough and fun enough literary read that will make say to yourself with satisfaction, “Ah, I get books!” Also, if you liked the 2017 Darren Aronofsky movie mother!, you will like this book, but if you hated that movie, you will probably still like this book.
🚼 The Road
Cormac McCarthy, 2006
After I finished this, I put the copy of it near my front door so I’d remember to return it to the person who lent it to me, and every time I walked by and saw it, I felt cold. I should have just put it in the freezer.
The Road is not fun. It is a tightly written yet surprisingly tender tale of gruesome woe, following a father and son down (I think) I-95—which, for my non-American readers, is an interstate that runs down the US East Coast—in a landscape that has suffered a never-defined-but-let’s-be-real apocalyptic disaster in which no living things grow.
Humans are the real monster here, both in the cause (probably) and the effect. Terrible things happen. But, like, is this our future!? You tell me! Write your legislator!
Recommended to: Those who like very bleak horror. Mom, do NOT read this book. You’d never forgive me.
Unlike winter, a book recommendation archive is coming!
🤔 Need a spreadsheet of everything I’ve recommended? I’m working on it currently, and subscribers will have access upon request. But in the meantime, do let me know what information you’d like this spreadsheet to include!
Genre? Similar author? Length? Accepting all suggestions! Hit reply, or comment!
And now, a bonus recommendation
💔 These Precious Days - Ann Patchett, 2021
Recommended to: “Ann Patchett superfans, anyone who has never read Ann Patchett, essay writers and lovers, readers who think they hate essay collections, people with messy families, people who feel embraced by chosen family, and any human who needs a calm, kind, thoughtful voice in their head for a few hundred pages.”
Recommended by: Annaliese, who writes and edits things, is a yard sale and thrift store aficionado, and has recently loved We Were Once a Family, Blood & Ink, and I’ll Show Myself Out. She does also read fiction.
That was the fourteenth EELS! Again, I would be just so grateful if you’d share widely with your networks! As always, send any and all questions, feedback, and shouted book recommendations by hitting reply. Oh, and the best suggestion for the owner of last week’s Dusty Stack™ was to abandon all of these and just read The Old Man and the Sea.
– Susan