Melissa > Recent Status Updates

Compelling enough for someone with an interest in trauma surgery or emergency medicine, but it read more like a blog than a book.

I’m planning to read only one chapter per week, as it’s written in 52 chapters organized by season, but I already love it. Definitely buy it in hardcover. It’s worth it for the artwork alone!

Listening to the audiobook on a road trip with my girls. Somehow I’ve never read the books or seen the movies, so it’s all new to me

Related to my New Year’s resolution ;)

I am sooooo excited that Abraham Verghese is releasing another work of fiction that I’ve decided to go back and re-read Cutting for Stone, which is one of my favorite novels of all time. This will be my second re-read this month…and over 500 pages this time! Not sure why I’m suddenly being inspired to revisit old friends, but I’m just gonna go with it 🤷🏻‍♀️ 💕

I don’t often re-read nonfiction, but I was out in the field photographing golden-crowned kinglets and was hit with the sudden urge to re-read this one

Officially, I’m reading this book for work — I teach a Psychology of Human Sexuality class — but I’m not gonna lie: this stuff is fascinating!

Reading this one aloud with my youngest

I’m actually reading the 4th edition published in 2021, but I can’t find that version on Goodreads

Just remembered there is one more book by Maasai authors that I want to read before I return to Kenya next week

Reading this one with my girls. It’s our fourth Ruta Sepetys book

So far this book is on track for five stars, but I have to stop and object to photographers hiring houndsmen to tree cougars so they can photograph them. UGGHHH…no, no, no!!! No ethical wildlife photographer would do that. Ever.

(It’s a really good book, though. Honest.)

Not many books about vernal pools out there, so I’m just hoping that much of what I learn in this one will apply to Maryland, too. Much nicer book than I was expecting when I ordered it…richly illustrated

Ok, honestly, I’m just now getting ready to read the first poem in this book, but I think I would love to have it in my home for the beautiful cover alone. Having said that, Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones” is one of my favorite poems ever, and I’m looking forward to this collection.

I’m enjoying this book but wanted to note that the author is repeating Randy Shilt’s description of Gaetan Dugas as “patient 0” responsible for the spread of HIV in the US in some detail despite the fact that it has now been shown that HIV entered the US multiple times, and Dugas’s strain did not match those of many of the initial patients. I hope Offit was more careful with the rest of his research.

I was hesitant to pick this one up because (*whispers*) I didn’t like and didn’t finish All the Light We Cannot See. Near heresy, I know. But, I was intrigued by the natural history hinted at by the title and the cover, so I decided to read a sample…and It’s been worthwhile. I think I might finish this one.

Just started this comprehensive review of African mammal behavior. I wish there were an updated edition, but still super excited to read this one. It’s very dense, and I’ll probably go through it one species at a time, so this one will be on my “currently reading” list for a long time.

Setting this one aside for the time being, although I do intend to go back to it. I wanted a story I could get lost in, and this wasn’t it.

Reading in preparation for wandering about the Chihuahuan Desert with my cameras in a little over a week! 😊

Stalled on this one. I’m pretty sure the author is only getting to know herself, not the fox. I expect I’ll come back to it, eventually.

I’ve really loved this book so far!! BUT! Sour note today. I’m sure she was trying to be cute with the little rhyme about snakes & “red next to black, venom lacks” thing. It’s oft repeated, but it’s WRONG! NO, NO, NO!! Not a reliable way to distinguish between venomous coral snakes & harmless lookalikes. That kind of misinformation is harmful to humans and snakes alike, and she should have skipped it.

I’m on the verge of abandoning this one…
I fear it won’t be worth my time to finish, nor worth the effort it would take for me to stick with it

Reading this in sections. Starting with the canids I’ve observed & photographed (red foxes, gray foxes, coyotes, & bat-eared foxes). Next I’ll move on to canids I hope to observe & photograph in the near future (gray wolves, red wolves, Channel Island foxes, Arctic foxes.) Then I’ll fill in the rest of the gaps with the remaining species & more general canid research. It’s nice to do a deep dive sometimes!

“Human existence may be simpler than we thought. There is no predestination, no unfathomed mystery of life. Demons and gods do not vie for our allegiance. Instead, we are self-made, independent, alone, and fragile, a biological species adapted to live in a biological world. What counts for long-term survival is intelligent self-understanding, based upon a greater independence of thought than that tolerated today”

I *loved* The Forest Unseen and was already planning to read this book based solely on my previous experience with the author, but I’m reading it now as a requirement for my Maryland Master Naturalist training. So far, so good!

To be honest, I began this book wondering exactly how long fungi could hold my attention. I’ve barely begun, and already the author has me pondering the nature of being an individual (as opposed to? in addition to? an ecosystem,) the conceptualization of intelligence, and the roles of imagination, creativity, and uncertainty in scientific thought. It’s a little embarrassing how excited I am to keep reading...

I’m not sure this book will be any less depressing than the one I just set aside! I will be most disappointed if Ben Lily is not ultimately eaten by a bear.

Setting this one aside for now. The Summer that Melted Everything was outstanding, so I do trust the author to go somewhere meaningful. It’s just too depressing for me right now.

Being in Maine has made me want to read this one again...for the third time? Fourth time? Can’t remember...