Summary

In 1879, King Leopold II of Belgium launched an ambitious plan to plunder Africa’s resources. The key to cracking open the continent, or so he thought, was its elephants—if only he could train them. And so he commissioned the charismatic Irish adventurer Frederick Carter to ship four tamed Asian elephants from India to the East African coast, where they were marched inland towards Congo. The ultimate aim was to establish a training school for African elephants.

Following in the footsteps of the four elephants, Roberts pieces together the story of this long-forgotten expedition, in travels that take her to Belgium, Iraq, India, Tanzania, and Congo. The storytelling brings to life a compelling cast of historic characters and modern voices, from ivory dealers to Catholic nuns, set against rich descriptions of the landscapes travelled. In an original weave of past and present, she digs deep into historic records revealing an extraordinary—and enduring—story of colonial greed, hypocrisy, and folly.


Review
I'm conflicted about this one. This is a point in history that I've been diving into ever since I read "King Leopold's Ghost" and as far as telling this history, this is a good companion to that book. The story was a fascinating look at the egosim and pride of colonizers, which ultimately became their downfall.

It was a tragic look into a niche part of this history in Leopold's attempt to start a training school for Elephants in order to futher colonize Africa. I learned a lot.

Where I think this book fell short was in the travelogue aspect. Roberts clearly did an incredible amount of research into this book and was very clearly careful and intentional about discussing the imperialist impact of this history. However, there was a strange irony in Roberts, a British jouranlist, retracing an imperialist journey through Africa. Her interactions with the land and the people around her seemed surface level at times and a missed opportunity to take the focus away from the colonizers and onto the effects of their colonization.

I would recommend this book if you're interested in the topic, but I highly recommend that you read "King Leopold's Ghost" first.



What I learned

• King Leopold was respsonsible for the deaths of an estimated 10 million Africans over the period of 23 years.

• In the 1958 World Fair, Belgium hosted what they called the "Kongorama", a literal human zoo, to showcase Belgium's "civilizing" impact on the Congo. This zoo held 600 Congolese men, women, and children captive. This harkened back to 1897 when King Leopold started this human zoo which attracted 1 in 4 Belgiums to come visit.

• In the construction of the Central Railway Line in Africa, Germans used slave labor, resulting in the deaths of 100 men each month. During its peak of construction, over 20,000 Africans worked on the railway line.

• Elephants will not abandon their sick or dying family members, communicate through an infrasonic system that humans can't hear, can recognize themselves in a mirror (few animals can do this), have a better memory than humans, and even have a burial ritual for the deceased.

• At the beginning of the 19th century, there were 26 million elephants in Africa. Now, there's between 4-500,000.

"Sven Lindqvist remarked: 'You already know enough. So do I. It is not knowledge we lack. What is missing is the courage to understand what we know and to draw conclusions.'"

The people have spoken! We’re reading These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs in March and I couldn’t be more excited. This is our first sci-fi pick in the book club and I have a feeling we’re going to love it. Other reviewers have sung this series’ praises, lauding it as a character-driven and action packed story with excellent writing and pacing. I hope it lives up to the hype!!

Don’t forget to check the Discord for our monthly giveaway winner and for virtual meetup details. Some of us are also working through the rest of the Dandelion Dynasty series together on the side—feel free to add your thoughts to our forum discussions as you read the books. I’m almost finished with The Veiled Throne and am hoping to read Speaking Bones in March (along with our book club pick, of course). I’m so happy I get to read and discuss amazing books with you all ❤️

The official cover of the sequel to Black Salt Queen! I am obsessed.

Hello readers and dreamers! It's time to announce the book club read for March! We voted and the winner was ...

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett!

Feel free to read along the timeline I've outlined above (about 9 chapters per week) if you wish, or read ahead if you wish! I'll have a chat room open in Discord for read reacts and theories based on these divisions so hopefully nobody gets spoiled!

Thanks everyone! I can't wait to read this with you all 🐾

My love for reading began when I was quite young. I fondly remember a few books from my elementary years that I still think about to this day. My favorite book from my childhood was Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary. It was about this kid whose class was tasked with writing to authors in hopes of getting a letter back, and he haveformed a friendship with the author in the book.

I also fell in love with the Animorphs series as a teenager. Then again, who didn't love teenagers who could transform into animals?

As I've grown older, my taste and approach to reading have drastically changed. I've become more aware of the time I commit to books, and that has helped shape the types of books I read and why I read them.

Much like a well-balanced diet, you can't expect to eat just pizza and reap the benefits of someone who's eating vegetables, protein, and carbs consistently with each meal.

Creating a sustainable reading habit, especially one you'll enjoy and feel accomplished in, requires a well-balanced approach. Below is a running list of books that I consistently recommend for various reasons.

In the near future, I'm going to break down this list and explain why I recommend them, and sort them based on where you might be in your life or reading journey.

But for now, check out some of these books, give them a shot, and be sure to come back and let me know what you think!

Evergreen Book Recommendations

​East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Tinkers by Paul Harding

Cigarettes by Harry Mathews

Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green

White Noise by Don DeLillo

How The Word Is Passed by Clint Smith

The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

Midnight In Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

Nero: Matricide, Music, and Murder In Imperial Rome by Anthony Everitt & Roddy Ashworth

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

Yr Dead by Sam Sax

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

The Wolf Age by Tore Skeie

Poor People by William T. Vollman

Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Matias Enard

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Things In Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

Founding Partisans: Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, and the Brawling Birth of American Politics by H.W. Brands

Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went To War In 1914 by Christopher Clarke

A New World Begins by Jeremy Popkin

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

Sengoku Jidai by Danny Chaplin

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
​Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kohlker

Sad Tiger by Niege Sinno

Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

My Struggle Books 1-6 by Karl Ove Knausgaard

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

Life For Sale by Yukio Mishima

A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut

1776 by David McCollough

Challenger by Adam Higginbotham

The Graves Are Walking by John Kelly

Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich

Memoirs of a Revolutionary by Victor Serge

Man-Eaters of Sunderbans by Tahawar Ali-Khan

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon

I finished two books this week, and they could not have been more different for me.

Just Our Luck started off as this cozy, feel-good vibe… but somewhere around the middle, I lost steam. By the last 20% I was more like “just get me through this” and ended up skimming the end. 😭😭

What didn’t land for me: the MMC came off as lowkey mean at times, and the FMC felt a little too innocent for the energy of the story. And the Whole Lottery Thing… she wins a life-changing amount of money and then basically keeps living like nothing happened??

I was here mentally booking Paris, Seoul, spa days, big moves with her money, but she’s at a donut shop trying to be near her crush. I just could not suspend disbelief lol.

Funny Story was much more my vibe. The FMC’s issues with her father actually hit me, HARD. She’s emotionally grown, but sometimes parents have a funny way of hitting our soft spots. That added a level of depth that I didn’t expect.

The MMC was such a soft teddy bear, supportive, earnest, calming, and yet the bedroom dynamic surprised me in the best way. Like when we say talk her through it, that's exactly what he did. No notes. I don’t usually crave spicy scenes, but here it felt earned and natural. If intimacy jumps in too fast I get bored, and this one paced itself perfectly for me.

Overall, pacing was smooth, emotional arcs felt believable, and I walked away satisfied.

Week verdict:
Just Our Luck - fell flat
Funny Story - cozy, meaningful, well paced

Revenge that has been translated into English!

SPECIAL FOR YOU!

If you recall, we joked about making Daddy Moirarty hats WAY back (keep in mind that HEL is Daddy, not her daddy), and yes, yes — I did the damn thing. And as a thank you to our top tier members (YOU!) I'd love to ship you one for free to get you in the WAYWARD SOULS spirit!

If you'd like a hat, please comment on this post and make sure your shipping address is updated here:

https://binderybooks.com/settings/account/

I'll start shipping once I get your request. (And I'll add some other Inky goodies in the package!)

And this will be for US shipping only. I am so very sorry about that, but with the state of our country and tariffs, it's just not manageable at the moment.

Heya! The March polls are up for the History/Fiction Sickos Book Clubs, you can go vote on them in the appropriate Discord channels (scroll down a bit and you'll see #fiction-vote and #history-vote). The polls stay open for 72 hours and were posted late last night so you've got some time to coerce and bribe fellow members to sway to the vote in your favorite.

Not seeing the channels?! Make sure you've linked your Bindery subscription to Discord via the Account Settings page. Also, those channels unlock at the Sicko plus paid tiers, so if you're a "Follower", you'll need to upgrade to get the goods. Along with the book club forums you also get access to a load of other channels for various genres, book recommendation requests, movies/TV, and a bunch more. We've also set up buddy read forums for our Russian literature reads, Discworld, Malazan, Red Rising, John Gwynne, Robin Hobb, The Hunger Games, 11.22.63 and A Complement of Scoundrels!

As for the options, these are the 8 books across the 2 clubs that we're voting on.

FICTION SICKOS

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Human Acts by Han Kang

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin

HISTORY SICKOS

A Rome of One’s Own by Emma Southon

The End is Always Near by Dan Carlin

Africa is Not a Country by Dipo Faloyin

Destiny Disrupted by Tamim Ansary

TikTok Exlpainer Video

Instragram Explainer Video

I've already read all of these, with the exception of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, so they've all got my seal of approval. The reason for this is we are on the hunt for the second manuscript edition for our publishing imprint to acquire. Last year the process was crazy quick as A Complement of Scoundrels by S.V. Lockwood jumped out to me right away during Bindery's Pitch Fest, where unagented authors can submit their novels for consideration. I'm hoping to have the same luck this year, but I need to make sure I've got the mental space for it if it takes a bit longer. All of your support goes towards making this possible as a big chunk of the subscription revenue goes into making an offer and hiring the editing team, artist and so on and so forth, so thank you for making all of this happen!

I will still be participating in the book club discussions though, especially the History Sickos since all four of those books I've highlighted to hell and back so I've got plenty to share.

Last thing to note is I've got another book giveaway happening in the next couple weeks so keep an eye out for that. Alright, enough babbling, get to voting!

Happy Tuesday, mis internet amigxs!

February 28th is the last day to post your #MeltIceBookStack on Instagram! I encourage you to do the same to help raise funds for Minneapolis. Your stack can help raise necessary funds for mutual aid to assist those in immediate need.

I have a few book club and Discord announcements before we get to this week's releases...

BIEN LEIDOS BOOK CLUB

All the winners of the Now I Surrender giveaway have been contacted via their Bindery email. As a reminder, since the book doesn't release until March 3rd, we won't be opening up discussion on Discord until the 4th. Our chat will be spoiler-free throughout the month, as per usual, so feel free to jump in as soon as you receive your copy. Also, we WILL be chatting with Alvaro again! I'm currently talking to his team to confirm availability and will more than likely poll in Discord, if you want to have a say in those dates.

March 1st also begins our nonfiction sidequest, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by Johnathan Blitzer. We'll be reading through the end of April, so feel free to join us whenever you want in the next couple of months. There is a possiblity we'll be chatting with Johnathan. I'm in talks with his team to see if schedules align.

I'll be posting polls this week in Discord for spoilery book club discussions of Sparks Fly and Racial Innocence.

April and May fiction book club selections have been finalized. Watch this space for some exciting giveaways and announcements coming up very soon!

COMING UP THIS WEEK ON DISCORD

Discord has voted and the 4th Wednesday of every month will be Sticker/Journal night. Name for this monthly event is pending, but for the time being it's Chaos: A Love Story. If you're into journaling, pens, stickers, this is a fun night on Discord where you can share your newest stickers, journal spreads, pens, etc...

*THIS WEEK'S LATINE'S RELEASES*

We've got a massive selection of Latine books releasing this week, so let's get to them!

HISTORICAL FICTION

The Other Moctezuma Girls by Sofia Robleda

TRANSLATED FICTION

Technology and Barbarism: or how billionaires will save us from the end of the world by Michel Nieva and translated by Rahul Bery and Daniel Hahn

The Invisible Years by Rodrigo Hasbun and translated by Lily Meyer (Audiobook)

I Give You My Silence by Mario Vargas Llosa and Translated by Adrian Nathan West

NONFICTION

Tumbleweed Underworld: A Saga of Morphine and Mayhem in the Arizona Territory by Eduardo Obregón Pagán

CHILDREN’S

La Golondrina by Sonia De Los Santos and Illustrated by Teresa Martínez

ROMANCE

The Hope Once Lost by Ambar Cordova

xoxo,

Carmen

Welcome to my Syllabus Series. I was a high school English teacher for over five years and nothing gives me more joy than to help others learn something new. As someone who also reads a large amount of non-fiction, I wanted to create a new series where I pick a singular topic that you might want to learn more about. This edition is all about the current climate crisis.

First, I’ll take you through books to read through various genres and the order you should read them in to scaffold and layer your learning. But learning isn’t all about reading, so I’ll also share video resources, shorter articles, and give you a list of people to follow on social media in order to stay up to date well beyond today. Finally, learning means nothing without action, so I will also provide you ways that you can do something with what you’re learning.

This isn’t meant to be overwhelming and is laid out in a way that it’s learning you have time for. Therefore, the list isn’t extensive and manageable. Of course, there’s always more learning to be done.

Books to read

A collection of books read to read. For the best learning experience, try to read the books in this order.

• Fiction
  “Migrations” by Charlotte McConaghy
  A devastating yet healing novel (also one of my all-time favorites) that takes place in a near future where the main character is following arctic terns on what may be their last migration.

• Essays
  “Vanishing Treasures” by Katherine Rundell
  An accessible colleciton of essays each focused on a different endangered animal. The essays focus on why these animals are endangered (usually due to climate change and/or human interaction) and what we can do about it.

• Memoir

  “Life on the Rocks” by Juli Berward

  This is a blend of memoir and science writing (one of my favorite genres) that follows a marine biologist focused on saving our coral reefs from the impacts of climate change.

• Non-fiction
  “The Great Displacement” by Jake Bittle
  An increidble and timely piece of journalism that looks at the climate change impact (and the impact of our systems and capitalism) on every day lives of people in America. This book argues that climate displacement and refugees will continue to grow in our future and showcases what that could look like and what we can do about it.

• Non-fiction
  “The Weight of Nature” by Clayton Page Aldern
  A look at the effects of climate change on our brains that gives us a new and eye-opening look as to how we’re affected by climate change on a daily basis and how it’s not just something that’s affecting our outside lives, but our inside ones as well.

Other media to consume

• TV series
  "Our Planet” on Netflix
  Just like the rest of the Planet Earth series, this series explores the lives of different animals around the world. What makes this particular one different is that it focuses on the impact of climate change on these animals. Warning: this show absolutely destroyed me.

• Article
  “Watching Hurrican Helene” by Nathan Shuherk

  An exploration of the experience watching natural disasters occur in real time from our phones and what it means for our future.

• YouTube video
  “Can clean energy handle the AI boom?” by Vox

  Looking at the amount of energy needed to support our data and AI.

• Article
  “Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe” by Nina Lakhani
  This article was written at the beginning of the genocide and reports that the emissions generated during the first 2 months were “greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations”.

• Report
  "A global foresight report on planetary health and human wellbeing” by UN Environment Programme

  A report published in 2024 that lays out 18 signals of change within the climate, what we need to be aware of, and what we can do about it

Who to follow

When learning about a subject where community is key it’s important to find people to help you along the way. Here are a few people and organisations I encourage you to follow:

• Nathan Shuherk: If you’re looking for not only incredible book recommendations about climate change, but also personal writing about the climate crisis that’s a beautiful mixture of science writing and memoir, look no further. Also recommending reading his Substack.

• Emily Atkin’s “Heated” Substack: A Substack focused on the fact that you aren’t the reason the world is burning and exposing the systems that are responsible.

• Xiye Beara: A climate justice activist from the Otomi-Toltec Indigenous community in Central Mexico.

• Greta Thurnberg: Arguably one of the largest voices in the world when it comes to climate change, Thurnberg is consistent at challenging the systems responsible for climate change including colonialism and genocide.

• Nina Lakhani: Check out her backlist of articles on “The Guardian”. She’s doing some really important reporting.

Take action

Donate to mutual aid efforts
In the midst of and after a climate disaster, we’ve seen time and time again that the systems that are built to help us, aren’t. As we work towards systemic change, we will need to rely on mutual aid in order to recieve and give immediate help to those in need.

Whenever a disaster occurs, find people who are on the ground and either living there and/or sharing resources. Pay attention to mutual aid opportunities and give where you can (whether that be through monetary donations, donations of goods, donations ot time, etc). At the very least, you can share these resources to your own communities if you’re not able to give.

Here are some places that you can donate and help with the current wildfires in LA:

• Mutual Aid LA Network has a huge spreadsheet of mutual aid resources

• Pasadena Humane has had an unprecedented influx of animals that continues to grow. They’re no longer looking for physical donations, but do still need monetary donations and foster homes.

• LA Street Care needs volunteers and donations for their mutual aid work providing resources to individuals who are unhoused.

• Donate to individual family’s GoFundMe Pages. Here are spreadsheets for displaced Black families, Latine families, Filipino families

Don’t use AI
AI is one of the things that is rapidly impacting climate decline. According to the UN Environment Programme:

The electronics they house rely on a staggering amount of grist: making a 2 kg computer requires 800 kg of raw materials. As well, the microchips that power AI need rare earth elements, which are often mined in environmentally destructive ways, noted Navigating New Horizons.

The second problem is that data centres produce electronic waste, which often contains hazardous substances, like mercury and lead.

Third, data centres use water during construction and, once operational, to cool electrical components. Globally, AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million, according to one estimate. That is a problem when a quarter of humanity already lacks access to clean water and sanitation.

While it may be impossible to not use AI at all in our current tech climate, be aware of what’s using AI and when and try to not utilize it.

Protest
You’ll notice a pattern that this will always be an action step for me here. If you are able, protesting helps make our voices louder. It’s a tool meant to disrupt and force those in charge to take action. Make sure that you continue to make your voice heard on the issues you care about.

If you’re unable to physically protest, there are ways to spread information and awareness from your home. Use social media as a tool to educate, inform, and push for systemic change. The reality is that individual changes won’t make a dent in curbing climate change. In order to make a dent we need to focus on who is affecting it the most: corporations, billionaires, and our governments. We need to push for systemic change here.

As I mentioned earlier, learning is an ongoing practice. If you would like more resources, don’t hesitate to reach out. And if you have any resources to add to this list, please add them to the comments below.

Time to vote for our March book picks! I unintentionally selected 3 dystopian books instead of fantasy so hopefully everyone will still be interested in these titles! We also have 3 thriller/horror to choose from! Voting will end on 2/28

WEEEEEEEEE at the time of posting this that is in 4 hours, babes! Let's talk about gay olympic drama (fictional but also maybe some real because you know I love it)

Again, don't forget to join the discord linked at the top of my bindery page and join the queer sports romance channel :)

It's the LAST DAY to submit your creative piece to our Traveling Tomes Newsletter!

If you're new to Shire Sprouts/SBC, we're producing a monthly newsletter this year to celebrate the Twig's Traveling Tomes release. It will be a scrapbook-style newsletter, filled with submissions from our paid Cozy Quill members. Each month, I'll pick a theme and provide some prompts. You'll then have an opportunity to submit up to five pieces. They can include photos, digital art, short pieces of writing, book recs, recipes, etc. Anything that feels in tone with the theme of that month.

Our February theme is: JOY AS RESISTANCE ✨. As we wade our way through this dark world, it's so important to fight for light. And that's what I want to focus on this season.

Feel free to share: 

• A small, joyful moment that felt like a quiet act of defiance.

• Something that made you laugh, smile, or sigh in relief this month.

• A comfort, ritual, or hobby that grounds you when life feels overwhelming.

• A book, recipe, or creative project that brought unexpected joy.

• A photo of something ordinary that made your heart lift.

The newsletter will be released to all of our Cozy Quill tiers on the last day of each month.

If your submission isn't chosen due to space limitations or whatever reason, please know we'll be creating a channel in the Discord to share those as well if you permit.

All the info you need is in the form below, but please don't hesitate to comment below with any questions. xx, Meg

Ready to submit?
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE GOOGLE FORM