Elizabeth Rush

nonfiction - memoir of Antartica and motherhood ruminations, My Month of Magical Ice Floes
-- a writer spends 6-7 weeks getting to know the people (3 different science teams plus the boat crew of the giant Research Vessel itself) during a critical mission to explore the Thwaites Glacier.

Instantly readable, even if you aren't--as this author was--planning to try to have a baby on her return from the trip, in the midst of an undeniable climate crisis. I really liked that the different people show more (from various backgrounds, notably the two Black people working in the galley) got to voice (via transcribed interviews) their personal stories. She didn't delve overly deeply into what which team was working on (tagging seals for data about water temps, sending submarines under glaciers for more data, collecting ice core samples, collecting organic samples for analysis), but spent time observing and interviewing each and documenting the experiences of a unique journey most of us won't have the opportunity to take. show less

Rush joins a research crew that is saling to Antarctica to carry out research. She is a journalist. Her description of the voyage and the dangers and her fellow passengers are fascinating. She also considers the climate change she sees in Antarctica and how it could impact the child she is hoping to have.

The Reading Across Rhode Island selection for 2020.

I congratulate the selection committee for another great choice.

To some it seems a stretch that the author included the section on the spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest, but I think that works as an example of environmental work that has been successful. I think we need such examples when we contemplate climate change and sea-level rise.

This is a scientific book, but the writing is lyrical, and the people in it, including the author, show more are real with real feelings. show less

This book was pure cozy delight. My eldest son wrote his first (and probably only) fan letter to Elizabeth Rush; he was probably all of 6 or 7 years old at the time.

And she wrote back! and thereby won my heart forever. It is a thoroughly lovely and gentle book.