So much to say. I read a bunch and the pile got bigger. Debbie is ruthlessly culling the books on the bookshelves, and I am feeding the bookshelves on the other end. I am just finishing a truly great book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight. Beautifully written, it captures the amazing life of this brave man. It is a great American biography – as good as any one you’ll ever read. I’ve been reading a lot about trees in the past couple of years and thinking about a series of stories for performance about them. So my reading has bent that way. I can highly recommend two. First is Richard Power’s amazing novel, The Overstory which weaves together the lives of a half dozen people whose lives are changed by the interactions with trees and each other. It, too, is a masterpiece. The other book is an astounding large format book – The Architecture of Trees by two Italian architects, Cesare Leonardi and Franca Stagi. Its centerpiece is hundreds of detailed black and white drawings of every tree imaginable – including deciduous trees in full leaf and in their winter barrenness. It also has detailed pictures of their leaves and fruits, a review of the colors of the leaves each tree has as it passes through the seasons, and an exploration of the shade the trees throw in the four seasons. Written for landscape designers, it’s really for anyone who can’t get enough of trees. Lastly, I highly recommend Rising: Dispatches From the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush. I’m on the advisory board of the Rhode Island Center for the Book, and this book is this year’s selection for “Read Across Rhode Island”. Rush travels along the coast of America to show us the effects of sea water rise due to global warming. It’s a very person account. If you’re like me, the pain of realizing what is happening often keeps you from looking at it closely. But we can’t address what’s happening unless we look at it, and this book looks at it in a beautiful, troubling, and at times, even hopeful way. It’s a gem. I’ve got more, but that’s enough. As always, we love hearing from you about what you’re reading.