The Measure / The Serviceberry

The Measure by Nikki Erlick is probably going to scare the shit out of me, but I can’t resist. This book became available through CLAMS on May 5, and like a moth to a flame, I clicked borrow.  When my teacher friend Elaine talked about it a couple of years ago, I was intrigued, but I was still working and didn’t have as much time to read as I do now. 

Earlier this year, I read Here One Moment, thinking that was the book Elaine had recommended. The premise of people knowing when they will die is similar but handled in very different ways. I have dissected that book on this blog. 

Naturally, all the books I have on hold are ready at the same time, and last night I began reading The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the more well-known Braiding Sweetgrass. Probably, I will become either totally frustrated or wholly enlightened trying to read these two books at the same time. Let’s see how this plays out.

I’m still slogging away on The Measure but last night (5/21/25) I finished The Serviceberry. The book’s subtitle says it all really: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. It’s appropriate that I finished reading this tiny book during a time when I’m losing patience with the clown in charge of our country and the posse of idiots he has surrounded himself with as they wreak havoc on the environment and the common good.

Turns out my dual reading experiment worked out nicely as I finished The Measure today (5/22/25). The books, despite being very different, are oddly complimentary. Both brought in elements of current events and the politics of humanity.