5 in 50 and 4 for Gaia/nature

I should have included my 5 reads for the 5 in 50 readathon in my post yesterday, oh well, it gives me something for a quick post today.

I started with the Liane Moriarty novel What Alice Forgot, a friend at work lent me that one, so I wanted to get it read and back to her. A quick compelling read, it sucked me into the story quickly and I bolted through it. Moriarty is great at those kind of tight, character driven dramas with a soap opera feel. Essentially the main character is a middle-aged woman who passes out at the gym only to wake up missing ten years of her life. Alice comes to, believing she is pregnant with her first child only to discover she is the mother of three children and going through a bitter divorce! A compelling little domestic drama that examines our relationships and sense of community.

Next up I tackled Scott Ludlam’s ponderous tome Full Circle: A search for the World that comes next. Ludlam is a former Greens senator who retired from Parliament after being a casualty in the dual citizenship crisis. The book is a rich tapestry of ideas that ranges across political and economic theory, history, activism, palaeontology and personal memoir. It is a diverse and demanding read that looks to the future with hope and openness.

Number three on my list was Why we Swim by Bonnie Tsui a bit of a homage to the siren call of water and swimming. I have always loved to swim and only recently got back into the habit of regular swimming, so was intrigued to know more about why we are drawn to water, why swimming can be such a calming activity and so many share the love of the water. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on samurai swimming which was something completely new to me. The book tends to be a bit of a personalised overview of the history of swimming. An interesting read if you are into swimming.

My fourth read was an animal memoir that has been sitting on my TBR for a while, I just never seemed to get around to it; Wesley the life of a remarkable owl by Stacey O’Brian. A lovely read. I am never surprised by the emotional complexity of animals only the ignorance of humanity, so the depth of Stacey’s relationship with Wesley the barn owl is no surprise. I learnt more about owls than I knew previously and really enjoyed the story of Wesley’s life and the remarkable opportunity it afforded to enrich our knowledge of this beautiful species. Check out the video below:

My final read for the 5 in 50 readathon is Tapestries of Life by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson an accessible overview of the interconnectedness of all things and a catalogue of the wonders of the natural world. A great introduction to the magic and beauty of nature and a timely warning that we could lose much of this amazing ecology if we are not more aware and caring of what is going on all around us. Informative and entertaining, we need more books like this to teach us to love the natural world, and protect what we have. And what a beautiful cover this book has!

I have to admit I rather raced through my 5 in 50 days reads, finishing well before the 20th of October. The added pressure of reading for the readathon helped motivate me to read instead of giving into time wasting scrolling through the internet. I picked up a book whenever I had a few minutes to spare, instead of scrolling. The internet can be such a soul destroying time waster compared to reading which is an intrinsically rewarding and relaxing activity!

If you want to know more about the Worlds coolest readathon 5 in 50 days and BrothersNBooks check out yesterdays post.

Not surprisingly four of my five reads are also nature related, so they fit into the Gaia/nature reading challenge as well: Full Circle, Why we Swim, Wesley the Life of a Remarkable owl and Tapestries of Life.