Book #5: Gun Island
Take a break from non-fiction with two choices of cli-fi novels.
Hi friends! I’m Jess and this is Book Club for the Planet, an online community for us to read about the climate crisis in community.
For our next read, you have the opportunity to pick from two excellent “cli-fi,” or “climate fiction,” novels. Choose your own adventure—in this case, an adventure to the Sundarbans. Your first option is Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh. We’ll meet on Sunday, June 6 at 1 pm EST. As a reminder, you’re welcome to pick one book or read both! More information to come tomorrow on your second option.
As I mentioned in my post that announced our 2021 reading list, I’ve been eager to read Amitav Ghosh’s work for awhile and since finishing Gun Island (I ate it up in just under a week), I’ve been listening to various interviews with him speaking about both the book and his own observations of political, religious, system and personal responses to the climate crisis. He is incredibly smart and decorated, yes, but also very wise, compassionate, curious, and impassioned. The one livestream I watched between UMass Amherst and Orion Magazine is unfortunately not online, but this conversation is; so is this interview with the Deep Convection podcast. I can’t recommend listening to him enough, as it adds a whole other layer of understanding and perspective to your reading experience.
As for our book club meet-ups, everyone is welcome to join, whether you’ve finished the book or not, and to engage in whatever way feels right to you. Maybe you’re coming to connect with others and work through these questions with a sympathetic sounding board, or maybe you’re coming to learn in a listen-only mode. You are welcome here! Our meetings last for about 90 minutes, but it’s totally ok to come for the first 45 minutes or an hour if that works for you.
For those who are new to our meetings, here’s how it works:
A few days before our meeting, I send out a separate Mail Chimp newsletter with a Zoom registration link. Please register so our fellow organizers and I can plan appropriately for the size of our expected group. If you have unsubscribed to that newsletter (life happens and my email inbox perpetually has over 5,000 unread emails in it, so I get it!), please also make sure to unsubscribe to this Substack as well so I don’t accidentally re-subscribe you to the Mail Chimp newsletter when I’m updating the lists every other month.
That’s it, for now! Happy reading and “see” you all soon.