What I’m Reading in 2024
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Keep up with each and every one of the books I read cover to cover this year, the ones that are shaping, inspiring, and impacting me as I continue to travel and explore.
From a young age, books have been my escape realm, a way of traveling without traveling and getting lost in worlds so different from my own. Whereas fantasy, light beach reads, and romance novels captured me then, these days it’s all about what’s relevant to my next trip, the subject I’m suddenly curious about, or a global event I’m searching for context for. In other words, everything I read these days is very specifically selected and full of purpose. That’s why I’ve decided to start logging my reading list publicly because it very muchso influences and intersects with the life and travels I share so openly on these pages. What follows are the books shaping the way I move through and experience the world this year. Check back often as this list gets updated.
What I’ve Read So Far
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The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
by Andrea Wulf
Besides being exceptionally well-written (new Andrea Wulf fan here!), this book brought to life a man I’d only sort of knew and transformed him into a man I now deeply admire, appreciate, and respect for the influence he’s had on the world. He knew, befriended, or deeply influenced so many names that I’m familiar with like John Muir, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Simon Bolivar, and so many more. Humboldt was quite the go-getter, full of personality, and his life, driven by his own unwavering fervor for adventure, travel, science, and nature, ended up touching, waking up, and inspiring nearly every genre of art, science, and politics that has unfolded since. He’s a man, though now long dead, that’s still worth getting to know today.
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Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was the most famous scientist of his age, a visionary German naturalist and polymath whose discoveries forever changed the way we understand the natural world. Among his most revolutionary ideas was a radical conception of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. In North America, Humboldt’s name still graces towns, counties, parks, bays, lakes, mountains, and a river. And yet the man has been all but forgotten. In this illuminating biography, Andrea Wulf brings Humboldt’s extraordinary life back into focus: his prediction of human-induced climate change; his daring expeditions to the highest peaks of South America and to the anthrax-infected steppes of Siberia; his relationships with iconic figures, including Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson; and the lasting influence of his writings on Darwin, Wordsworth, Goethe, Muir, Thoreau, and many others. Brilliantly researched and stunningly written, The Invention of Nature reveals the myriad ways in which Humboldt’s ideas form the foundation of modern environmentalism—and reminds us why they are as prescient and vital as ever.
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The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims
by Mustafa Akyol
Not ascribing to any one religion myself but curious about them all, this book introduced me to a historical thread I never knew was there between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It was fascinating to read about the origin story of each religion from an open-minded Muslim-identifying author who simply hoped to be part of the bridge-building that just might be possible between varying beliefs about God, Jesus, and the monotheistic religions of our world.
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The Islamic Jesus not only tells the story of Jesus, and his mother Mary, as narrated in the Qur'an. It also explores how this Islamic picture of the Nazarene resonates with pre-existing Christian sources, especially Apocrypha. In particular, it unveils the fascinating similarity between Islam and "Jewish Christianity," a strain in the early church that got branded as a heresy. Jewish Christians were observant Jews who honored Jesus as a human -- not divine -- Messiah, and sought salvation by faith and works, not "by faith alone." Akyol shows how their peculiar creed vanished in history after the first few Christian centuries, but only to be reborn in 7th century Arabia by a new prophet named Muhammad. This provokes puzzling questions about the origins of Islam. The Islamic Jesus also offers an "Islamic Christology," and probes into Muslim beliefs on the "Second Coming." Perhaps most provokingly, it even contemplates, "What Jesus can teach Muslims today" -- at a time, Akyol argues, when Muslims are haunted by their own Herods, Pharisees, and Zealots.
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Only the River
by Anne Raeff
Only the River was masterfully woven together by Anne Raeff and full of characters that bring the seemingly disparate WWII and Nicaragua revolutionary eras together by way of captivating characters and plot twists you’d never see coming. The story weaves together the events on three continents (Europe, the U.S., and Nicaragua) across three generations. This is a fascinating read before a trip to Nicaragua. Though it’s no replacement for reading about Nicaragua’s harrowing past, it does offer a glimpse into that period of time and the decades that followed from a variety of angles, while simultaneously weaving in the far-reaching repercussions of the Holocaust and the Jewish diaspora that resulted. The full synopsis is below.
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Fleeing the ravages of wartime Vienna, Pepa and her family find safe harbor in the small town of El Castillo, on the banks of the San Juan River in Nicaragua. There her parents seek to eradicate yellow fever while Pepa falls under the spell of the jungle and the town’s eccentric inhabitants. But Pepa’s life―including her relationship with local boy Guillermo―comes to a halt when her family abruptly moves to New York, leaving the young girl disoriented and heartbroken. As the years pass, Pepa’s and Guillermo’s lives diverge, and Guillermo’s homeland slips into chaos. Nicaragua soon becomes engulfed in revolutionary fervor as the Sandinista movement vies for the nation’s soul. Guillermo’s daughter transforms into an accidental revolutionary. Pepa’s son defies his parents’ wishes and joins the revolution in Nicaragua, only to disappear into the jungle. It will take decades before the fates of these two families converge again, revealing how love, grief, and passion are intertwined with a nation’s destiny. Spanning generations and several wars, Only the River explores the way displacement both destroys two families and creates new ones, sparking a revolution that changes their lives in the most unexpected ways.
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Island of a Thousand Mirrors
By Nayomi Munaweera
Another beautifully written novel rooted in not-so-distant history. This one is set in Sri Lanka during the 30-year civil war that tore the country apart on the lines of Tamil vs. Sinhalese. I decided to read Island of a Thousand Mirrors because I’m headed to Sri Lanka soon. The story paints a vivid picture of the social hierarchies, marital customs, and ethnic prejudices that have existed in Sri Lanka for decades by way of a cast of characters from every caste and color. It’s equal parts a glimpse into the history as well as the inner workings of the Sri Lankan family system with such detailed descriptions that you can almost taste and smell what’s written on the page. Regardless of whether Sri Lanka is a place you’re curious about visiting or not, this is a story with a message that is relevant to us all in a world where these sort of civil wars seem to break out over and over, again and again. And as the author Nayomi Munaweera writes on the final pages: “At what cost peace? We wonder. How many must die? What is the world becoming for us?” Find the full synopsis below.
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In Colombo, Yasodhara lives a full life with her Sinhala family, rich in love and everything she could ask for, though shaped subtly by social hierarchies, her parents’ ambitions, and the differences between the Tamil and Sinhala people. All is well until their serene existence is shattered by the beginnings of civil war.
Saraswathi is living in the active war zone and dreams of becoming a teacher. These hopes, however, are abruptly and brutally stamped out when she is arrested by a group of Sinhala soldiers and pulled into the heart of a conflict she has tried desperately to avoid.
One tragic moment that defines the fate of these women and their families will haunt their choices for decades to come. In the end, love and longing promise only an uneasy peace.
A sweeping saga with the intimacy of a memoir that brings to mind epic fiction like The Kite Runner and The God of Small Things, Island of a Thousand Mirrors strikes mercilessly at the heart of war. Narrated in a voice that is, as NoViolet Bulawayo has said, “by turns tender, beautiful, and devastating,” it offers an unparalleled portrait of a beautiful land during its most difficult moments.
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The Wolf in the Whale
by Jordanna Max Brodsky
The Wolf in the Whale is a gripping tale, set in the year 1000AD on the frozen arctic tundra of what is today Baffin Island in the eastern Canadian Arctic. The author Jordanna Max Brodsky blends Inuit and Norse mythology, culture, and history into one epic adventure novel inspired by The Saga of Erik the Red, a 13th century Icelandic tale that serves as the only written record of a possible meeting between Inuit and Norse in the New World. The author took this scrap of possibility as an invitation to allow imagination to explain the rest. She borrowed from the traditions of several different regions and people (Inuit cosmology and hunting practices, the Alaskan aarluk myths, the Greenlandic incest taboos, shamanic practices, etc.) to weave together the story of the novel’s hero/heroine Omat, a powerful angakkuk (medicine man) who oscillates between man and woman, spirit and human realm throughout the tale. This book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, eating up the vivid descriptions of Inuit daily life on harsh Arctic tundra and their connection and respect for spirit and animal realm. It offered a glimpse inside Viking culture, its berserker rage, social hierarchy, gods, and customs. It’s a love story as much an adventure tale or fantasy novel, but all rooted in real Inuit and Viking belief systems and traditions, reminding me how much we have to learn from one another. Full synopsis below.
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A sweeping tale of forbidden love and warring gods, where a young Inuit shaman and a Viking warrior become unwilling allies in a war that will determine the fate of the new world. There is a very old story, rarely told, of a wolf that runs into the ocean and becomes a whale. . .Born with the soul of a hunter and the spirit of the Wolf, Omat is destined to follow in her grandfather's footsteps-invoking the spirits of the land, sea, and sky to protect her people. But the gods have stopped listening and Omat's family is starving. Desperate to save them, Omat journeys across the icy wastes, fighting for survival with every step. When she encounters Brandr, a wounded Viking warrior, they set in motion a conflict that could shatter her world. . .or save it.
What I’m Reading Now
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Central America’s Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
by Aviva Chomsky
Why I’m Reading It: For the same reason I picked up Only the River, I picked up this book. This one for more of a straight-shooting history of Nicaragua and greater Central America, especially in the interesting context of the United States’ immigration debate. What I’m learning while reading it is eye-opening to say the least, enlightening me to just how much my own country has meddled in this part of the world over the past century and beyond.
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At the center of the current immigration debate are migrants from Central America fleeing poverty, corruption, and violence in search of refuge in the United States. In Central America’s Forgotten History, Aviva Chomsky answers the urgent question “How did we get here?” Centering the centuries-long intertwined histories of US expansion and indigenous and Central American struggles against inequality and oppression, Chomsky highlights the pernicious cycle of colonial and neocolonial development policies that promote cultures of violence and forgetting without any accountability or restorative reparations. Focusing on the valiant struggles for social and economic justice in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras, Chomsky restores these vivid and gripping events to popular consciousness. Tracing the roots of displacement and migration in Central America to the Spanish conquest and bringing us to the present day, she concludes that the more immediate roots of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras lie in the wars and in the US interventions of the 1980s and the peace accords of the 1990s that set the stage for neoliberalism in Central America. Chomsky also examines how and why histories and memories are suppressed and the impact of losing historical memory. Only by erasing history can we claim that Central American countries created their own poverty and violence, while the United States’ enjoyment and profit from their bananas, coffee, mining, clothing, and export of arms are simply unrelated curiosities.
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Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence
by Karen Armstrong
Why I’m Reading It: Perhaps inspired by reading The Islamic Jesus by Mustafa Akyol, I picked this book up off the shelf to expand my religious understanding around the world’s various faiths and their very origins. I’m also interested in following Armstrong’s argument that “religion is not the problem.”
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For the first time, religious self-identification is on the decline in America. Some analysts have cited as cause a post-9/11 perception: that faith in general is a source of aggression, intolerance, and divisiveness - something bad for society. But how accurate is that view? With deep learning and sympathetic understanding, Karen Armstrong sets out to discover the truth about religion and violence in each of the world’s great traditions, taking us on an astonishing journey from prehistoric times to the present. While many historians have looked at violence in connection with particular religious manifestations (jihad in Islam or Christianity’s Crusades), Armstrong looks at each faith - not only Christianity and Islam, but also Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Judaism - in its totality over time. As she describes, each arose in an agrarian society with plenty of powerful landowners brutalizing peasants while also warring among themselves over land, then the only real source of wealth. In this world, religion was not the discrete and personal matter it would become for us but rather something that permeated all aspects of society. And so it was that agrarian aggression, and the warrior ethos it begot, became bound up with observances of the sacred. At a moment of rising geopolitical chaos, the imperative of mutual understanding between nations and faith communities has never been more urgent, the dangers of action based on misunderstanding never greater. Informed by Armstrong's sweeping erudition and personal commitment to the promotion of compassion, Fields of Blood makes vividly clear that religion is not the problem.
