DemNext’s summer watch, read & listen list 🌞
Whether you’re escaping to the coast or commuting in the heat, these books, pods, docs, and essays are fuelling our summer reflections - and might spark yours too!
Claudia
Next week, I’ll trade in palm trees and Mediterranean swims for canals and cycle rides. A one-way train from Marseille to Amsterdam - my new home - awaits! I’m reading up on the city’s history in Geert Mak’s Amsterdam: A brief life of the city.
Earlier this month, I had some days off in Italy following a symposium organised by Roger Berkowitz at the University of Verona about Hannah Arendt’s work on council democracy. With spritzes and gelatos in Bologna and Venice, I devoured Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Robert MacFarlane’s Is a River Alive? was the perfect companion in between steep climbs and cold lake dips in the Dolomites. Both I would highly recommend.
I’m heading back into the wild, high places again in August. A meandering trip to hike in the Julian Alps will pass via Vienna, Ljubljana, Slovenian wine country, and Trieste. I’ll be diving into:
The Hare with the Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal
Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science - Renée Bergland
Justice for Animals - Martha Nussbaum
The Third Realm - Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Edge of Sentience - Jonathan Birch
Hannah
I recently travelled back to my childhood home and was able to scoop up some of the books I (regrettably) had to leave behind while moving abroad. On the list are a collection of essays by Wendell Berry, an environmental novelist from my home state of Kentucky, writing about the intertwinedness of the environmental and civil rights movements.
This summer also feels like a moment to pick up When They Call You a Terrorist, a memoir by one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. And re-reading through a well-worn copy of Abolition Democracy, by my dream dinner guest, Angela Davis.
Having been in The Netherlands for almost 3 years, I’m also ashamed to say I haven’t read any books by Dutch authors. Or at least, not intentionally. So, this summer I’m also grabbing The SafeKeep by Yael van der Wouden.
Think Little - by Wendell Berry
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir - Patrisse Cullors and Asha Bandele
Abolition Democracy - Angela Davis
The Safekeep - Yael van der Wouden
James
Given my former life as a landscape architect, I have a deep love and appreciation for plants, gardens, cities, and our social and cultural relationship with the landscapes we are connected to.
So it’s not surprising that most of the things I read - fiction and non-fiction - tend to touch on these themes. I recently finished a provocative and inspiring book by Olivia Laing called The Garden Against Time, which prompted me to start reading Modern Nature by Derek Jarman. I also recently (and finally!) started reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which is opening my mind to deep and enduring wisdom the indigenous people of North America hold about our natural world.
After a recent trip to my family’s ancestral home on Cape Breton Island in Canada, I started a book called My Father’s Watch, which weaves local history and folk tales surrounding two small islands in Port Hood, Nova Scotia.
As you can probably tell, I am one of those people who tends to read 2-4 books at the same time, so the latest book on my summer reading list is one that was co-edited by Zahra Ebrahim (a member of our International Task Force on Democratising City Planning) called Messy Cities: Why We Can’t Plan Everything.
Non-fiction
The Garden Against Time - Olivia Laing
Modern Nature - Derek Jarman
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
Messy Cities: Why We Can’t Plan Everything - edited by Dylan Reid, Zahra Ebrahim, Leslie Woo, and John Lorinc
Fiction
My Father’s Watch - Harvey Tobey
Lucy
When it comes to reading for pleasure, it’s definitely a case of ‘eyes bigger than stomach’. So putting this in writing will (I’m hoping!) mean I get through one or two more of these than if I just make the list in my head…
On Peatlands, I’ll declare my bias. Alys is a dear family friend, and I’m excited to read her latest book, having heard a lot about peat over the last couple of years - she writes so beautifully about the natural world and our relationship with it.
We still read aloud to our children every night, and quietly hope we’ll never stop. Katherine Rundell is one of our absolute favourite (children’s) authors, so reading this book about a land of mythical creatures will be a joy.
Reading
Peatlands - Alys Fowler
Impossible Creatures - Katherine Rundell (aloud, to my daughter)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies - John Boyne
Culture is Not an Industry - Justin O’Connor
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimanada Ngozi Adichie
Minor Detail - Adania Shibli
The Light Years - Elizabeth Jane Howard
Listening
Is a River Alive? - Robert Macfarlane
How to Save Democracy - Jon & Omezzine’s new podcast
Watching
Back to back movies on the flight to see the in-laws in Australia!
Ruba
During our DemNext team time in the Hague in May this year, James and I went for a lovely evening stroll and popped into a book shop. On this occasion, I only purchased one small book (shocking for me) - A Dill Pickle, by Katherine Mansfield. First published in 1917, it’s a series of short stories all about love, not food! Re-printed by Penguin as part of their classics series, I was happy to add this to my already overflowing bag.
Although not all of the stories had the same impact, there were enough to entertain, inspire, and admire. The very last story alone is worth picking this book up, it left me desperately wanting to know what happened.
Here’s my list of what I’d like to get through this summer, if my children will allow me the time!
Non fiction:
Artivism: The Battle for Museums in the Era of Postmodernism - Alexander Adams
Sociopath: The Eye-Opening True Story Everyone’s Talking About - Patric Gagne
Fiction:
The Hand That First Held Mine - Maggie O’Farrell
All Fours - Miranda July
TV & film:
Adolescence
The Six Triple Eight
The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem
Feminists: What Were They Thinking?