Name: Yusra

Reading: Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

Why did you want to read this? Braiding Sweetgrass is the last book I read. It's beautifully written and very tender, offering a different tone for discussing the climate and ecological emergency. Whilst reading, I found myself reflecting a lot about the phase of life I'm in right now, my relationship with the world and all that inhabit it. Although it is the only book I've managed to read since having my son last year, it has been wonderful to dip in and out of. Relearning is a big theme in the book, so for me it has been very timely. Reading what others have said about it online, the book has been described as “grounding, calming, and quietly revolutionary”. I think that sums it up pretty well.

How did you record yourself? I used my laptop to record myself, whilst my son napped. It took a few sittings but we got there in the end!

Name: Ratnadevi

Reading: The Overstory, Richard Powers

Why did you want to read this? The Overstory is the most absorbing, courageous, wise, compassionate and skilfully crafted book I have read in a long time, a gift to the beleaguered world, particularly the trees. The novel weaves people and trees from very different backgrounds and geographies together, like mycelium connects root systems and fungi. It's deep-time sweep makes the heart ache: what are we humans doing, wrecking our beautiful home?

How did you record yourself? I recorded it on my phone, there was no option for quality when saving, hope it's okay.

Name: Lindsey

Reading: The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf, Kathryn Davis

Why did you want to read this? I read Kathryn Davis’s first novel, Labrador, earlier this year and felt like I was kicking the dirt off some kind of revelation I’d found in the ground. A few months later I was in my favorite used book store and saw this book, The Girl Who Trod On A Loaf; I read the back and though I’m not into opera (the central motif), I was immediately attracted to a story that seemed so unruly. Reading TGWTOAL, my jaw went slack nearly every page, in perpetual awe of Davis’s precision and muscle. I want everyone to read her.

How did you record yourself? I recorded myself reading in the floor of my bedroom, wearing my favorite Pepto-Bismol pink shorts, with the curtains open.

Name: Tanvi

Reading: The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak

Why did you want to read this? This book struck that evasive balance between the past and the present. It combines the ambition for a bright future with the yearning for a past we cannot seem to leave behind. It's told through the eyes of characters who are as captivating as they are diverse. It moved me to tears and then took me to new heights of joy. I just wanted to share this bittersweet experience with as many people as I could.

How did you record yourself? I recorded this at my study table with my garden behind me, which is fitting for the nature of this book. Once you read it, I hope you will see why this was true for me.

Name: Laura

Reading: And Away..., Bob Mortimer

Why did you want to read this? I think that Bob Mortimer is a lovely man. I’m not a huge reader. I sometimes (unfairly) think badly of myself because of this. I enjoy reading autobiographies of people that I admire because I feel like I already know some of the context, so I find it an easier starting point than some other books. This is, of course, a very funny and silly book but he also writes very sensitively about his life, experiences, and being a shy and quiet person.

How did you record yourself? I recorded myself using my phone, sitting at my desk at home one afternoon whilst waiting for a colleague to proof read and approve something for me. Bob’s company took my mind off the fear of them finding a horrific, unfixable mistake (there wasn’t one… there never is!).

Name: Jane

Reading: Trumpet, Jackie Kay

Why did you want to read this? I wanted to read this because it remained in my memory so clearly. I loved the story and the clarity of the narrators voice, with the words and images falling like the notes of the trumpet. Her descriptions of the house by the sea and that whole locality, feel very familiar to me as of course do the parts set in Glasgow.

How did you record yourself? I recorded this on my Samsung A50, sitting in an armchair in the sunshine. It was easier, and worked out better, than I had anticipated.

Name: Grace

Reading: Ninth Street Women, Mary Gabriel

Why did you want to read this? I decided to read this book, as in my own art practice I am heavily influenced by women artists. It’s inspiring to hear the stories of how they challenged a very male-dominated art scene. This book gives an opportunity for these pioneering women artists' stories to be heard, something that is very necessary and needed.

How did you record yourself? I recorded myself on my phone and found it to be a very enjoyable experience.

Name: Andrea

Reading: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion

Why did you want to read this? This essay is a treasure trove of classic Didionisms: the devoted descriptions of roads and barren lands, the dire plot twists at the end of routine enunciations, profound human truths told with a crisp sense of humor. If you follow Didion to San Bernardino, she will take you to beguiling places...!

How did you record yourself? After some trial and error, I opted for doing it sitting in my (empty) bathtub, since the bathroom turned out to be, funnily enough, the room in my house with best acoustics.

Name: Lisa  

Reading: Betty by Tiffany McDaniel 

Why did you want to read this? This book touched me in so many ways, it’s brutal, beautiful and poetic all at once. It’s a coming-of-age story based on true events and different to anything I have ever read. I loved how Betty’s dad with his rich Cherokee history used his knowledge of nature and spirituality to sooth her. Betty will always hold a special place in my heart. 

How did you record yourself? Curled up on my bed with lots of pillows, dimmed lights and a cup of tea.

Name: Jane

Reading: How to Be Both, Ali Smith

Why did you want to read this? I chose this book for my book group last year and I think without the group discussions I would have struggled with it. It is incredibly rich and beautiful and I couldn't fathom how it had been written. We all ended up loving this book. 

How did you record yourself? In my kids room with the cat on a cold Monday when I had no energy and needed to do something other than work.