BOOKSHELF + COMMUNITY

Last week I read the final pages of The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd and loved the way Peng (pronounced “Pung”) Shepherd created the New York Public Library (NYPL) in my imagination. I had the opportunity to visit NYPL several years ago, and the library is just as impressive in person.

Apparently, the author was in a grad school class where her instructor always asked the students to share something interesting they learned since the last time the class met (what a cool idea!). When a student mentioned copyright traps in dictionaries and encyclopedias she was intrigued and wanted to find out more.

“Hide a lie inside the truth.”

-Eve, a character in The Carographers

In Peng’s research, the discovery of phantom settlements in maps led her down a rabbit hole of information. The culmination of her research became the book The Cartographers. Phantom settlements in maps can be anything from incorrectly identifying or misspelling the name of a small body of water to including a whole town that doesn’t exist. Some maps even include secret rooms called “trap rooms” where a room is drawn on a map that is fake. Phantom settlements were created to dissuade other companies from copying their maps.

“You can’t find a place that doesn’t exist.”

-Ramona, a character in The Cartographers

The story centers around Nell, a young cartographer in her own right, whose dream of working at the NYPL was cut short after a controversial event involving her father. The group of friends (not naming names because I don't want to give away any spoilers here), known as The Cartographers, become center stage throughout the book as the story unfolds. As the reader you slowly understand each member’s role and their connection to the larger story just like individual routes converge on a map.

“What’s the purpose of a map?” (Swann) asked softly.

“To bring people together.”

-Swann, a character in The Cartographers

This story is filled with layered secrets, obsessions, family, friendship, betrayal, and yes, the love of maps.

“We were so caught up in our secret, we didn’t see what was happening to everyone else around us. Not until it was too late.”

One of my favorite takeaways from the author chat with Peng Shepherd (in a MMD Book Club event) was her love of travel and an idea that I find inspiring. When Peng was younger she loved to travel but she along with her group of friends couldn’t afford the Lonely Planet Guides for each place, so she would swap guides with her friends. They would take a trip and write their travel notes in the pages. After their many years of travel the books became not only a well curated guidebook with handwritten notes but also a beautiful record of their travels. How great is that?

“Maps are like stories.”

-Peng Shepherd, author of The Cartographers

Also by Peng Shepherd and now added to my TBR!

If you’re looking for a fast-paced book to pair with The Cartographers, might I suggest Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li?

If you follow me on Instagram @52SeasonsBlog you might have read about the audiobook I just finished called Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting* by Claire Pooley. This light romantic fiction story is peppered with humorous dialogue and was the perfect background story while I was running all the errands required for getting back into the school routine over the last two weeks. At first I wasn’t sure if I would love all the banter on the commuter train in the story, but I fell in love with the characters and their individual stories. (I first heard about the book after listening to an author chat on Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club with Mary Philpott talking about her book Bomb Shelter.*)

As we move into September, many of us have fall reading aspirations on our minds. Bookstores are being flooded with new releases, and it can feel daunting to know where to begin. I like to start the season by knowing what I already have on my shelves. Who knows? I might just find a cozy fall read in my bookcase that I never had a chance to read last year.

I spent last spring organizing the bookcase created by my husband and son. I realized that I also wanted to have a book cart dedicated just to my TBR (To Be Read) stack of books and the books that are waiting to be added to our Little Free Library.

I spent time researching a library book cart that would blend well with the furniture I already had in my office and that would hold up well over time. I decided on this book cart from Crate & Barrel Kids.

Organizing a book collection or even just your TBR list (whether digital or physical books) might seem overwhelming at first, but there are a few ways to tackle your overflowing book pile. Just choose the one that works best for you.

For reference and to revisit old favorites, I have a completed book section in my bookcase which is reserved only for books I know I want to keep for my collection.

My row of priority TBR books, which includes books I’m planning to read in the next few months, goes on a designated shelf in my bookcase at eye level. Personally, I love seeing all the books that will fill my life with inspiration, adventure, understanding, and escape in the coming months all lined up on a shelf.

Books that aren’t in my priority TBR occupy the bottom shelf of the rolling book cart, and books that I’ve finished (but don’t plan to keep) go on the top shelf to be added to our Little Free Library when an empty spot opens up.

As a Little Free Library steward, I do my best to keep our library neat and organized. I also check to make sure we have several genres and ages represented in the library. I curate my books in our library, but I never remove any books permanently. If I notice that someone has donated multiple books of a certain genre or author, I leave one or two and store the rest on my cart to fill in over time.

If you’re in the market for a TBR cart, you might check out a few of these resources below.

TBR Carts are a Thing That Can Make Your Life Better (I love the idea for a hook on your TBR cart for your favorite mug.)

Book Carts - an article by ScaryMommy

Single-sided steel book cart

Personal Library Book Organization System

If you need help keeping your TBR from overflowing, Anne Bogel from the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club mentioned in a recent book club event called “Bookworm Problems” that you should ask the WHY when you go to buy a book. What is your reason for buying the book? Does the book seem like something you SHOULD read or something you WANT to read? You can also wait 48 hours to buy a book to make sure it isn’t an impulse purchase.

One of the best ways to keep your TBR under control is to DNF (Do Not Finish!) that book you started but aren’t really enjoying! Time is short!

If you like to keep track of a digital TBR, there are a variety of apps out there to keep you organized. Here are just a few to get you started. I discovered many of these apps in an article on reading apps from Book Riot.

Bookly

TBR Book List Tracker

Reading List

We Need Diverse Books is an organization that supports diverse authors and helps to get diverse books into the hands of school-age children all over the United States. We Need Diverse Books created a curated list of all the books that might interest your child before they’re 12 years old. Every genre is included in this guide full of reviews and author interviews. Your child can even see at a glance the themes for each book before checking the book out at the library or purchasing a copy. You can pre-order the guide using the link below.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to watch the 2022 Walter Dean Myers Awards for Outstanding Children's Literature, consider checking it out. You’ll find inspiration and plenty of great ideas for your kids’ TBR list.

HOME + TRAVEL

Our homes are our havens, but what if you don’t have a home or even have an address? How do you go about getting an address?

(The MMD Newsletter brought these resources to my attention)

The Addresses of the Future Are Saving & Improving Lives

Plus Codes for people who don’t have an address

What does it mean to be homeless or unhoused and how do you talk about it with your kids?

A guide for talking to your kids about homelessness from Bombas

If you’re traveling with teens, you’ll find this website to be helpful in finding locations that you can all enjoy. On the website, you’ll find trip budget calculators, booklists for specific destinations, travel advice, and ideas for how to spend your time in each locale.

Traveling in a wheelchair can be frustrating, embarrassing, and even dangerous. It doesn’t have to be that way. This article from The New York Times looks at What Flying is Like for Passengers Who Use Wheelchairs and what we can do to help.

GARDEN + NATURE

Early fall is a time of transition. Here in Austin, Texas, we’re waiting on more rain and cooler temperatures as our gardens are just beginning to bounce back after an intensely hot and dry summer.

Hope for fall is visible in the form of flowers just beginning to emerge. I’m using the time to plan, pop a few seeds in the garden, fertilize our roses, and research more plants to attract pollinators and migrating birds to our garden. The leaves in Central Texas trees wait to turn until late October and November. So for now, we have a second spring.

Share in the comments below what you’re doing in the garden this time of year. Planning or planting?

WELLNESS + CREATIVITY

“There’s a guy in this coffee shop sitting at a table, not on his phone, not on a laptop, just drinking coffee, like a psychopath.”

-from a tweet by Jason Gay, a writer for The Wall Street Journal mentioned in the book Breaking Bread with the Dead* by Alan Jacobs

If life feels overwhelming at times, it makes sense when you realize that we’re constantly bombarded with information. Sometimes we need to use “Reader View” in our lives, not just on our browsers.

“There are days we can’t even put gas in our cars without being assaulted by advertisements blared at ear-rattling volume - we also learn to be ruthless in deciding how to deploy our attention.”

-from Breaking Bread with the Dead by Alan Jacobs

“Informational triage” is a word that the author, Alan Jacobs, shares in his book Breaking Bread with the Dead. As we wade through an overload of information, it is important that we choose carefully what we bring into our life both physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Here are a few more articles that caught my attention this week. I hope they bring you hope for the future and new perspectives on the world around us.

Dementia Villages Elderly Care Senior Home

How Envy Can Help You Find More Joy

I’d love to hear about your simple joys in life right now and what you’d like to see if future blog posts. Please share in the comments below this post.

What’s my simple joy this week? Adding sliced lemons to my glass of water :)

Enjoy your weekend!

I read once that if there is something that you want to do, but you're not sure how to get there, just begin.

Writing blog posts for 52 Seasons is a creative journey into the expressions that come from my heart: writing, photography, tending a garden, immersing myself in nature, reading stories from voices that need to be heard and sharing them with others, keeping a home, being an advocate for education and basic human rights, and sharing resources with others.

Get involved in your community. VOTE. Speak out. Volunteer. One small action can create momentum for change.

“Do your little bit of good where you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” -Desmond Tutu