What to Read This Summer

The Slow Art by Sierra Golden | Bear Star Press, 2018 Taking cues from the slow food movement, slow art folks take their time to savor art mindfully. Sierra Golden’s book of poetry The Slow Art gets its title from a poem about boat building and romantic love but could just as well reference the poems themselves. Golden, born in Alaska and raised in rural Washington, fished commercially on her father’s boat for about a decade. This book distills that experience and is set mostly in Alaska waters. It’s a generous, capacious book, with poems about commercial fishing and much more. Golden asks a berry-picking question in the first poem: “What could possibly happen / if I placed each in the palm / of another—one for her, / for him, for them, for me, for you?” The entire book amounts to an answer...and then the last poem echoes that initial question again: “We pass / the season’s last salmonberries from hand to hand: / one for her, for him, for them, for me, for you.” The shared feast of wild food, of nature, of others, and of language that Golden harvests through her attentive, un-rushed book is one to savor. —The Editors

Gardening Near Glaciers by Corinne Conlon | 2018 Gardening Near Glaciers, a new book by master gardener Corinne Conlon, answers the questions that Southeast Alaska gardeners and wannabe gardeners have been asking, like, “How do I grow anything in all this rain?” The book provides tips, techniques, and science “for gardeners who plant and harvest in a short, cold, wet season.” Strategies for your favorite vegetables are included to get you growing and harvesting this year. Conlon writes about gardening for the Juneau Empire and the Capital City Weekly, and she’s the proprietor of Dirt Girl, a landscape consultation business. Gardening Near Glaciers is available on Conlon’s website: dirtgirlgardening.wixsite. com/mysite, and at Juneau’s food hub, Salt & Soil Marketplace. —The Editors

The Essence of Tea: The Transformational Journey of a Tea Connoisseur by Jenny Tse | Sipping Streams Publishing, 2018 Cozy up with a cup of tea and a copy of Jenny Tse’s new book, a powerfully personal memoir blended with an informational introduction to the world of tea. Tse is the owner of Sipping Streams in Fairbanks. In her book, she describes her journey to China to learn about tea, explore her roots, and bring the many benefits of this wonderfully diverse beverage to tea drinkers across Alaska. Honest, insightful, and humorous, The Essence of Tea is a delightful read from one of Alaska’s most celebrated tea experts. —Jennifer Nu