With the intense heatwave we’ve been having, I’ve been spending a lot of time outside in the evenings when it finally cools down enough to take the Corgis out for a round of fetch at the dog park. I’m more than happy to listen to some nonfiction while I throw Dylan’s favorite pink ball. There’s a quiet peace to it.
Living in the South reminds me to slow down and enjoy the world around me. Things can move by so quickly, but there’s something beautiful about just sitting on your back porch, feeling the sweat from a cold glass hit your hand as you watch the world go by.
This week is the last couple of recommendations for Disability Pride Month! I have loved sharing these books with you, and if you would like more recommendations, always feel free to reach out and request names of more titles. But first, more bookish goods!
Bookish Goods
Obsidian Bookmark by The Book Charm Shop
I’m always looking for more bookmarks, and I love stones. I’m the sort of person that loves geodes and stone bookends. So of course, I love the bookmarks from this stone and crystal-focused shop. They even have a custom option!
New Releases
Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity by Antonio Padilla
If you love numbers, and the theories that surround them, then this book is you. Theoretical physicist Antonio Padilla walks readers through nine of the most fascinating numbers in physics. From black holes to relativity, these numbers are the key to humankind’s understanding of our world’s phenomena.
Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings by Chrysta Bilton
When Chrysta Bilton’s mother wanted to have kids, she didn’t have a lot of options. A lesbian in the 1980s, she figured that her only affordable option was a sperm donor. One day she meets a man that seems perfect to be the donor, and she ends up having both Crysta and her sister. But how much did they really know about Chrysta’s biological father? Once Chrysta reaches adulthood, she begins uncovering secrets about her biological father that she never could have imagined.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Disability History of the United States by Kim E. Nielsen
Many people in the US are unfamiliar with the nation’s history of disability, and Kim E. Nielsen’s book seeks to rectify that problem. From the ugly laws that could get people with bodily differences arrested for being in public to the countless number of institutions across America, the United States has been all too happy to make it known that disabled people are not welcome. But as the disability rights movement started to take hold, disability rights activists paved the way for further legislation that protected disabled people and ensured that society accommodated our needs. Eventually, this led to the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
In Care Work, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha points out that queer femmes of color have always been at the forefront of Disability Justice. Disability Justice is a key component of understanding disability rights. Disability Justice focuses on an intersectional approach to mutual aid and community care, centering on the disabled people who sit at the many intersections of disability identity. Care Work does a great job expanding one’s understanding of disability theory and the role it has to play in everyday disabled people’s lives.
That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave or over on Instagram @kdwinchester. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy reading, Friends!
~ Kendra