The Corgis seem to view this time of year as “the great misery,” a never-ending slew of cold rain and icy hail. But while they’re stuck inside, they’re more than happy to help me sort through my library books, nosing around to make sure I take care of their favorite reads. You’ve never seen two better librarians. They were so bored today while stuck inside, I turned on the Roomba just so they could have something to herd. Dylan escorted the possessed piece of technology around the house, asking me why I wasn’t more concerned about this unnatural hellspawn from the blackest depths below. (Yes, he was really that dramatic.) While the Corgis are questioning their very existence in this anxious, technologically advancing world, I was just listening to audiobooks. I’ve already read several books this year, so let’s talk about a couple of them. But first, bookish goods!
Bookish Goods
Reading Rainbow Enamel Pin by Pin Bot Shop
If you or someone you knew is heading into a new semester and needs a little pick-me-up, this enamel pin is exactly what you need. Look at its perfect retro logo design. Ah! Just too cute. $10
New Releases
A Guest at the Feast by Colm Tóibín
Irish author Colm Tóibín is back with a collection of essays that bounces back and forth around topics like growing up in Ireland at the time of great change. There’s also an essay about different popes, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. His writing is a unique balance of deeply impactful writing and humor.
Warrior Princesses Strike Back: How Lakota Twins Fight Oppression and Heal through Connectedness by Sarah Eagle Heart and Emma Eagle Heart-White
In their memoir, Lakaota Twins, Sarah Eagle Heart and Emma Eagle Heart-White, write about growing up on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, being some of the only Indigenous students at their white-majority high school, coming-of-age, and growing into their careers.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Making Love with the Land by Joshua Whitehead
Author Joshua Whitehead made his name with his award-winning novel Jonny Appleseed. Now he’s back with his first work of nonfiction, a collection of essays that discusses the creative limitations of western literary tradition and his perspective of decolonizing queer storytelling. Whitehead examines the role of trauma in his writing, calling his new idea “biostory,” a form of story informed by the body. Making Love with the Land is February’s pick for the Indigenous Reading Circle, a book club led by Erin and Dani, two Native bookstgrammers.
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison
South Carolinian Dorothy Allison is one of the most well known queer writers of her generation. She grew up in rural South Carolina, where I live now, and wrote about her childhood experience with sexual assault in a way that few writers had at the time. She was an example to so many women, giving voice to something far too many young girls have experienced. Her prose is brilliant — so many details in a single sentence. She writes about living as a queer woman, and working through her childhood trauma even as she came into her own as an adult. This book sits right under 100 pages but contains an overflowing wealth of wisdom from one of America’s greatest writers.
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That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. 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