Fires have always been a part of life in CA, with the fearsome Santa Ana Winds signaling it’s arrival. As a kid it never seemed that bad, but now it is a different story…I went to a wedding in Nov. of 2018 as ash was falling from the sky due to the Woolsey fire. The sun was bright orange, the air smelled like a campfire. 2 years later, the Bobcat Fire would rip through the mountains just 30 minutes from my home. This time the ash fell relentlessly for two weeks. The plants on our patio choked and withered, ash covered my car. It was apocalyptic outside, with sun blocked by smoke. Every day when I looked out my window, my heart was heavy with dread. But I was fortunate, I was safe. Seeing the disaster so close was a constant reminder of the future. Wildfires are expected to increase sixfold in the coming years. How much longer can I live in CA? But where is it safe? I think about this a lot.

Lizzie Johnson gives the reader an in-depth look into that terrifying day for the townspeople of Paradise. We talk a lot about bearing witness and how important it is to know. Giving people affected by these natural disasters a voice on the larger stage is essential if we are to act with empathy. Of course I always had the most respect for firefighters and first responders during wildfire season, but that appreciation has only grown. More importantly, this is a heroic account of the townspeople who also fought against impossible odds to keep people alive and help them escape. The story of the teachers and the bus driver trying to get the kids to safety had me in tears. But most upsetting is that so much of the crisis could have been averted. Poor city planning and PG&E both take the fall, and it makes for a frustrating read.

I do think the book sputtered out a bit towards the end, as if Johnson didn’t quite know where to focus next. But you can most certainly write whole books about PG & E and poor city planning. Johnson clearly has talent, and I look forward to what she decides to write about next. #Paradise #NonFictionBooks #ClimateChange #wildfires #bookstagram

Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson is a book I would never have gravitated towards. I never read nonfiction before bookstagram, but I recently went through the books I read this year to pick out my favorites and about ¾ of the books that made the list are nonfiction. Probably a sign. I really have to thank Traci @thestackspod for being such a nonfiction champion on bookstagram. (sidenote: if you join her Patreon you will have access to the BEST reading tracker of all time, IMO) Many of the books on the list were recommended by her, with Blood in the Water being one of them.

Blood in the Water is a gut wrenching read. As I was reading it I constantly found myself screaming into the void. It’s truly wild to me that there is STILL so much we don’t know about the Attica Uprising because records are being withheld from the public and many simply destroyed. This book is necessary reading for anyone trying to understand why we should abolish prisons and why the powers that be truly do not give a rat’s ass about protecting anyone but their own power. Heather Ann Thompson lets the record speak for itself, and it is devastating.

Afterwards, I listened to @thestackspod episodes about the book and it truly enriched my experience. Traci interviews Thompson and has a discussion with Derecka Purnell (writer of another book on my TBR called Becoming Abolitionist). I loved hearing their perspectives, and it gave me a lot to think about.

If you are intimidated by this book, don’t be. The chapters are actually pretty short, making it easy to break apart. Thompson also does a great job parsing through the details and making sense of them, so as you are reading you can really paint a clear picture of what was happening at that time. At least with the details she was given, because as noted in the book, there is still so much information that is still not available.

#BloodInTheWater #NonfictionBooks #BestNonFictionBooks #ReadMoreNonFiction #LosAngelesReads #Bookstagram #pulitzerprizewinner

“All of this is about mercy. I’m talking about what it is to be from a place that promises to love you while holding a gun to your neck. I’m talking about what it feels like to have the gun lowered, briefly, by the hands of some unseen grace. Sometimes, it is a protest that stretches long into the night, or sometimes it is a reading where a room hears familiar words and cries along with you as you read them out loud. But sometimes, it is a perfect album that arrives just in time to build a small community around you. To briefly hold a hand over your eyes and make a new and welcoming darkness of the world outside, even when it is on fire.”

GO AHEAD IN THE RAIN: NOTES TO A TRIBE CALLED QUEST was just perfect. It was a book I didn’t want to finish. I balanced reading it and listening to it at the same time. I usually listen to audiobooks on my way to work. As soon as I pull into the parking lot I turn off my car no matter where I happen to stop, knowing it will just pick back up again once I am on the way home. I always try to get to work early to prep for the kids, always in a rush to my classroom, but chapter 10, titled Family Business, had me waiting in my car for ten extra minutes because I just had to finish. It was the perfect way to start my day. I walked out of my car with a smile and a tear.

There is something so intimate about the way Hanif Abdurraqib writes. There is a warmth to this book that I could feel down to my toes. I immediately messaged an old buddy from high school to read this book, because I remember driving in that old blue car, that you had to put in neutral when you went down hills, listening to a Tribe Called Quest as we passed El Segundo on the 1. Bopping our heads to “Left My Wallet in El Segundo” and laughing at the absurdity of such a song, about a place we knew so well.

There is nothing more to say here except this book is truly exactly what it says it is, “a love letter to a group, a sound, and an era.”

[ID: The book Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib resting on the vinyl Midnight Marauders] #atribecalledquest #nonfiction #booksaboutmusic #bookstagram