i am really excited for this one! the cover is dynamic & eye catching, the title immediately caught me, & i am a sucker for fairytale retellings of any kind.

this one, in my understanding, is a retelling of bluebeard. i think the first bluebeard was by charles perrault but that may just be the oldest one i remember. i have read many variations of bluebeard, including the robber bridegroom, fitcher’s bird, bluebeard, mr bluebeard, & many analysis papers on the tale as well:)

so excited to see a new take, or at least, a new telling, of a classic tale!

The challenge is to cultivate our inherent capacity for gift economies without the catalyst of catastrophe.

something i like about this book is that the author kind of predicts where we will have learned gift economics from & then gently pushes us past that every couple pages. the conversations in the forum will be like

•30%: i know gift economies from hurricane cleanup - forum post •35%: “we cannot wait for hurricanes to experience this” - author

this is just an example (of a post i both made & comments i saw in other posts) but it’s like that for lots of ideas over the course of the first 35%, at least for me. she seems to know where we will logically go & continues to gently say “but that’s not enough - why would we stop there” at every turn. just a really good handle on predicting the cultural touchstones & basics we will turn to next. really really cool

hiiiiiiiii everyone!

i had made a post asking for input for a december readalong & the deep by rivers solomon has received the most votes, so it is our december pick!!!

timing explanation 🕰️ if this is your first readalong, it is incredibly low stakes here. this book is set for the entire month of december, so you can read it at any point(s) in the next 31 days!

this is not like a seasonal PB quest where you have to read it within a certain timeframe for a badge, so starting or finishing it after dec 31 has no consequences except that you aren’t guaranteed to be reading it at the same time as everyone else!

details on the deep 🌊🧜🧜‍♀️🧜‍♂️ for context, i have not read this book before, but in doing some preliminary research, i thought i would include the following links, for anyone that’s interested.

• wikipedia page for background - skip the “plot synopsis” section to avoid spoilers! • lyrics of the song that this book is based on — “the deep” by clipping • author’s website with links to other works/projects & socials • awards won: Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror (2020) • awards nominated: Hugo Award for Best Novella (2020), Nebula Award for Best Novella (2019), Locus Award for Best Novella (2020), IGNYTE Award for Best Novella (2020), Otherwise Award (2019), World Fantasy Award (2020) • the deep received a lot of praise for the audiobook! 🎧 • physical/digital book is around 192 pages; audiobook is 4 hours & 1 minute long

admin-y stuff 💻 tomorrow, 1 dec, i will make two posts in this forum for discussion of the deep: spoiler & non-spoiler version(s), in case anyone wants to talk in the quest forum instead of on a specific post in the book’s forum. this is not aimed to discourage use of the book’s forum, just to give a central place to chat that’s not tagged at a specific %. please please yap away as usual / as you like!!!

that’s all from me — go forth & dive in, read, post, comment, etc.! see you in the forum(s) 🌊🫶

”Eating with the seasons is a way of honoring abundance. By going to meet it when and where it arrives. A world of produce houses and grocery stores enables the practice of having what you want and when you want it”

My mom once said to me, "I only eat food that comes from the store, not from the ground." When the shock subsided and I could finally form words again, I asked, genuinely curious, where she thought the food from the store came from. She told me that she knows it comes from the ground but she doesn't have to see it so it's different. Different in the same way that people couldn't fathom killing a cow but would happily eat a burger. (I'm not judging, nor am I absolved of the hypocrisy - I eat fish). But the point is we are so far removed from reality that we could never even fathom not having our favorite foods available every single day of the year. And yet there is still such a terrible scarcity mindset. "If I don't buy it now, if I don't have it now, I may never get the opportunity to again!" This way of life carries over into every aspect of our lives and creates an atmosphere of constantly living for the future rather than living for what we currently have.

”In a serviceberry economy, I accept the gift from the tree and then spread that gift around, with a dish of berries to my neighbor, who makes a pie to share with his friend, who feels so wealthy in food and friendship that he volunteers at the food pantry. You know how it goes. In contrast, if I were to buy a basket of berries in a market economy, the relationship ends with the exchange of money. Once I hand over my credit card, I have no further exchange with the clerk or the store. We’re done. I own these berries now and can do with them as I like. The clerk, the corporation, and I—the customer—have a strictly material transaction. There is no making of community, only a trading of commodities.”

during the 2024 hurricane season, my partner & i helped a lot of neighbors with clean-up after the storms. we sawed up fallen trees, hauled wood, raked yards, replanted/potted plants, pulled up plants that were too gone, cried over broken papaya trees with the woman next door. our whole block had no power or AC for a week, no internet for three weeks. all we could do was help each other

in exchange for helping, the neighbors brought all kinds of things: an entire crate of red bell peppers, a basket of onions, avocados & mangos from their trees, leftover nuts & seeds, bottles of wine or rum, & honey from their hives. some of the best food i ever made was in that house with produce from gardens & beehives just a few doors down. we always traded back - fresh eggs from our chickens back home, roasted pepper soup from their peppers, veggie scraps for compost.

i had lived there for months & nothing made me feel as much as part of a place as that street. waving to neighbors, trading, leaving gifts on each others porches. it just felt like something. i felt like someone & like a kid again. what started as a “thank you for helping” just because the norm after that. it was a gift to think of others, a gift to share, a gift to know the neighbors allergies & food preferences. it felt like kindness & spirit & good, every single time. this whole section just hit me so hard!!! to gift is to love is to care is to try is to be people!!!! it’s all love & community & extending that relationship towards our trees, seas, & skies just makes my heart feel all aglow!