This book is an emotional distillation of the hopes and fears of our current climate, authored by one of the major talents working in comics today. Set in a near future America in which Zuckerberg is President, human-rights violations have increased, and paranoia about surveillance is at an all time high, the lead characters are dreamers fighting for a better future. Hannah and Josh live on a small plot of land, hoping to build their own house, plant a garden, and start a family. Hannah is a hospice worker and an activist, part of a group called Humans Against All Violence, which is protesting the use of chemical weapons. Josh is a stoner who just can't quite get any of his optimistic, sustainable-living projects started. They've been trying to get pregnant for a while, a decision that Hannah's activist friend/crush Gabby doesn't understand. The story climaxes when a protest march is met with police violence, putting Hannah's friends in legal and physical danger. She and Josh each separately have an intense experience of the constant nearness of mortality. Davis' art is alive with details, both of the natural world and the expressive body language of the characters. No one draws like her, and it is a painful joy to live in her world for a little while.

This collection of short stories is set at Wizdoms, a magical boarding school for Demi-humans (bipedal human-animal hybrid creatures, some related to real animals and some to mythical beasts.) Each story features a relationship, whether that be a romantic one between two students, or a mentor one between a student and teacher, or a friendship between two colleagues. Students introduced in one story often cameo in others. The art is simple but very charming, and each story is a satisfying little slice of life. I hope we get more stories set at Wizdoms from self-professed furry Nagabe.

Jenny Odell makes a case for paying attention as an act of resistance, resilience, and a necessary step in being able to think critically and organize for activism. She worries that the "attention economy" (the persuasive design of social media and advertising) is leaving modern people, especially people who are already marginalized or in financially precarious positions, no room for quiet, introspective thought. New ideas often need time and space to grow, but who in this world has time and space to spare? Only the well-to-do, who should not have a monopoly on time to do nothing. Odell roots her book in the Bay Area, specifically in Oakland, drawing on anecdotes of native plants and birds as well as the histories of parks, unions, and labor in the Bay Area. She returns frequently to the story of the Useless Tree, a tree too twisted to be logged for timber, which was able to grow old and strong, sheltering a whole ecosystem under it's many branches. This is a refreshingly un-prescriptive book. Despite many critiques of facebook and twitter, Odell doesn't advocate for deleting one's accounts, but rather a kind of mindful resistance from within. The conclusion includes a call for Manifest Dismantling (a radical opposite of Manifest Destiny)- a hope that humans will begin to carefully unmake some of the things we have built, un-daming rivers, breaking up concrete shores and tearing up lawns to replant with native plants. I listened to this book as an audiobook, but I kind of wish I had read it on paper instead, because ironically I don't think I fully gave it the attention it deserved- I was working while listening to most of it, which felt pretty hypocritical.

I adore this series. Moral complexities are beginning to creep into Coco's magical world. Her teacher, Qifery, discovers that the ink jar she carries has been tampered with by dark magic, but he hides this secret from her, and also from the Witch's Great Hall. Coco herself is plagued by nightmares which interrupt her studies. But she also maintains her happy nature and true joy in learning. During a return trip to the magical stationary shop, she makes friends with Tartah, the stationary master's grandson. She is also beginning to connect more strongly with her fellow apprentices, including the prickly Agott, who is now preparing for her second magical test. The art in these books is exquisite. I find myself lingering over the beautifully detailed architecture and the rooms full of magical equipment. Equally lovely are the scenes of open sky and country side. This series reminds me of what made me fall in love with all-ages fantasy in the first place and I can't wait to read more!

Finally finished this. It took me about 6 weeks to read it, not because it's dense- it's actually quite conversational or even informal in tone- but it's packed with information. I learned a lot. The previous book I had read on this topic ended on a pro-waste-to-energy incineration note. This book rips up the concept of safe waste incineration. Even the most well monitored, carefully run incinerators are probably releasing nano-particles, ash and dioxins, destroying potentially re-usable resources and creating pollution. Paul Connett has been campaigning against waste incineration since 1985, and that fight lead him into the larger global struggle for sustainable waste management focused on composting, reducing, reusing, repairing and recycling to cut down the residual waste stream as much as possible. Another big take-away from this book is that Zero Waste is not a new trend. I would almost say that the more current use of zero waste by bloggers like Bea Johnson is co-opting a term that is a lot more powerful and effective went implemented on a community scale, rather than in a single house hold. It's good when individuals or families make a commitment to aim for zero waste; but as a movement that started in the late 80s/early 90s, Zero Waste has historically been about wider scale change. This book calls for limiting the extraction of virgin materials, the production of single use items, reducing the pollution caused by manufacturing and waste of resources caused by landfill and incineration. They present case studies of many communities, particularly in the US, Canada and Italy, that have made practical changes on the level of policy and infrastructure over the past few decades. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this issue, especially if your community is currently debating a new waste management system; the appendix includes a list of questions to bring up at city council meetings about planned incinerator projects.

A very strong comic collection created to bring awareness and raise money for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. The pieces include fiction, history and personal histories. I learned quite a bit that I never heard about in school, including the fact that many words from the naive Taino language are in current use today (the word "hurricane" is one) and about the non-consensual drug trials of early birth control pills on Puerto Ricans. The US has not done well by this island; they deserve full state status.

I found this book a bit challenging. There were chapters and passages I found very beautifully written and moving, but other parts that wandered and didn't fully connect back into the major narrative. Radtke opens with the death of a beloved uncle from a genetic heart condition, one that she likely also carries. Around this same time she made her first visit to an abandoned, ruined town. A certain melancholic and morbid fascination continued to draw her, over and over, to decayed places where human civilization seems to have collapsed altogether. At one of these sites she finds many photographs in plastic bags which she collects and brings home, thinking she might make some kind of found art project from them. She later learns that these were part of the memorial for a young photographer who passed away and that she has accidentally stolen his shrine. The second half of the book includes the collapse of her engagement and a lonely wander into and out of grad school as the author tries to figure out what to do with her life. How can she find meaning in a life so marked by impermanence?

Laurel, Holly and Ash are three best friends, as close as a coven; when Holly's diary is stolen and read aloud at school by a bully, the other two are devastated for her. In the woods they find a spellbook, with a spell meant for calling back lost objects. They decide to cast it to get back the diary, not realizing that the spell requires a sacrifice.

Olive and Rose are best friends who decide to attend the annual spring bonfire party with the intention of drinking too much, crying, making a mess and coming home. But when they wake up in the morning each of them has lost things they weren't prepared to lose.

Hazel and her twin brother Rowan ran away from home with their best friend Ivy; all three have been squatting in an empty house in an abandoned development outside of town. They have already lost a lot, and feel like they can't afford to lose anything else. When the spellbook comes into their hands, they have to decide: is it worth the potential sacrifice to try and call back something they'd dearly like back?

I listened to this as an audiobook, and while I greatly enjoyed the Irish accents of the three narrators, I think I would have liked the book as a whole better if I had been reading it in print. There were a few sections in the middle that felt very slow, but it picked up at the end, and I was delighted to figure out the major twist slightly before the characters figured it out for themselves.

One of the best essays I have every read. Devastating.