Books
Independent Bookstore Day
Miami’s bookstore is Books & Books. Its resilience has allowed Miamians to explore the world out there and inside us. And, turning to page 125 of that particular book, realize who we are, not what the mirror reflects, but who we really are in the middle of an insomniac night. Therefore, the best way to honor this exceptional independent bookstore is to purchase a book and gift it to a friend, a daughter, one distanced brother, or someone you might have already fallen in love with.
He re are but two books that caught my attention from Books & Books Shelf Awareness.
The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America. (Paperback) By David A. Banks. $26.95.
The first book to explore how our cities gentrify by becoming social media influencers — and why it works. Cities, like the people that live in them, are subject to the attention economy. In The City Authentic, author David A. Banks shows how cities are transforming themselves to appeal to modern desires for authentic urban living through the attention-grabbing tactics of social media influencers and reality-TV stars.
Blending insightful analysis with pop culture, this engaging study of New York State’s Capital Region is an accessible glimpse into the social phenomena that influence contemporary cities. The rising economic fortunes of cities in the Rust Belt, Banks argues, are due in part to the markers of its previous decay — which translate into signs of urban authenticity on the internet. The City Authentic unpacks the odd connection between digital media and derelict buildings, the consequences of how we think about industry and place, and the political processes that have enabled a new paradigm in urban planning. Mixing urban sociology with media and cultural studies, Banks offers a lively account of how urban life and development are changing in the twenty-first century.
About the Author
David A. Banks is Lecturer and Director of Globalization Studies at the University at Albany, a delegate to the Troy Area Labor Council, and author of many essays on technology, cities, and politics.
Product Details
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication Date: April 25th, 2023
Pages: 224
Language: English
The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape
(Hardcover) By Katie Holten, Introduction by Ross Gay. $29.95 (SCIENCE & NATURE) NATIONAL BESTSELLER.
Inspired by forests, trees, leaves, roots, and seeds, The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape invites readers to discover an unexpected and imaginative language to better read and write the natural world around us and reclaim our relationship with it. In this gorgeously illustrated and deeply thoughtful collection, Katie Holten gifts readers her tree alphabet and uses it to masterfully translate and illuminate beloved lost and new, original writing in praise of the natural world. With an introduction from Ross Gay, and featuring writings from over fifty contributors including Ursula K. Le Guin, Ada Limón, Robert Macfarlane, Zadie Smith, Radiohead, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, James Gleick, Elizabeth Kolbert, Plato, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Holten illustrates each selection with an abiding love and reverence for the magic of trees. She guides readers on a journey from creation myths and cave paintings to the death of a 3,500-year-old cypress tree, from Tree Clocks in Mongolia and forest fragments in the Amazon to the language of fossil poetry, unearthing a new way to see the natural beauty all around us and an urgent reminder of what could happen if we allow it to slip away.
The Language of Trees considers our relationship with literature and landscape, resulting in an astonishing fusion of storytelling and art and a deeply beautiful celebration of trees through the ages.
About the Author
Katie Holten is an artist and activist. In 2003, she represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale. She has had solo exhibitions at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Nevada Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Her drawings investigate the tangled relationships between humans and the natural world. She has created Tree Alphabets, a Stone Alphabet, and a Wildflower Alphabet to share the joy she finds in her love of the more-than-human world. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Artforum, and frieze. She is a visiting lecturer at the New School of the Anthropocene. If she could be a tree, she would be an Oak.
Ross Gay is the author of The Book of Delights, a genre-defying book of essays, and three books of poetry: Against Which, Bringing the Shovel Down, and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. He is also the co-author, with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, of the chapbook “Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens,” in addition to being co-author, with Richard Wehrenberg, Jr., of the chapbook, “River.” He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin’, in addition to being an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press. Ross is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Ross teaches at Indiana University.
Praise For…
Incredibly refreshing. . .. A stunning celebration of trees through the ages, this book is sure to spark passion with every passing page.
— Chicago Review of Books
“Inspiring. . . insights that are scientific, intimate and surprising. . . a call to action for those who still care.” — The Washington Post
An imaginative compilation of poems and stories translated into a stunning visual language based on trees. . . Perfect for an evening meditative read, or for placing out on your coffee table to share with friends.
— District Fray Magazine
An unexpected mix of poems, essays, quotations, song lyrics, recipes, and other texts. . . offering diverse perspectives on those towering woody plants and their relationship to human life.
— Poets & Writers
Product Details
Publisher: Tin House Books
Publication Date: April 4th, 2023
Pages: 320
Language: English
One of the most exquisite books inspired by trees in recent memory. On hand as of April 29 at Books & Books Coral Gables.
