The sun is back out and the Corgis are never happier than when they are frapping around the green grass, chasing everything from butterflies to bumblebees. I love this time of year when it’s the perfect weather to walk around and explore the area. When we’re inside, Dylan and Gwen seem to have started some spring cleaning, moving toys around and bickering over who gets what toys to stash in their fur dragon hoard. Last time I checked, they were still arguing. When they finally come to a truce, I’ll let you know.
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Bookish Goods
Cat Book Tote Bag by Starfish Towel Blanket
I, like many a book lover, love the tote life. I have so many great totes for library trips — what’s one more?! This one is adorable. Nothing like a bookish cat! $12
New Releases
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith chronicles her dying marriage in her incredible prose style that creates such an intimate bond between her and her readers. As she struggles to find a way to heal and focus on herself, Smith invites us along to bear witness to her experience. Her memoir embodies a mid-life coming-of-age story.
Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America by Julia Lee
Korean American writer Julia Lee was 15 when she watched the L.A. riots destroy much of her neighborhood in 1992. This experience informed much of her life moving forward, and now, even as an adult, she can’t help but think about that time and wonder, what does it mean for her to live as a Korean American woman in this country?
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
I love the “Growing Up” series from Black Inc in Australia. These books feature folks from marginalized backgrounds and gives them an opportunity to share their stories. If you aren’t from Australia, this series is a great opportunity to decenter our country’s perspective and to hear from marginalized voices from a different country.
Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss
Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia collects a chorus of voices from Indigenous writers from across the Australian continent. Australia was founded on the rule of terra nullius, or no man’s land, the colonialist idea that the Indigenous peoples had no claim to the land before the settlers arrived. The law wasn’t overturned until the High Court of Australia’s Mabo decision in 1992. And the idea of terra nullius has echoed through the lives of the Indigenous peoples for generations, still greatly impacting them on a daily basis. The writers from this anthology illustrate the many ways Aboriginal peoples live on the continent with their different Native nations and background.
Growing Up Queer in Australia edited by Benjamin Law
This anthology’s writers are from Australian LGBTQ+ communities, and features a diverse group full of many different sexual orientations and gender identities. Each essay depicts the lives of many different people who came out early in life or later in life. There are people from the country and people from the city. I really appreciated how Law wanted to feature so many different intersections of identity.
Over on Twitter, I asked folks to share their favorite memoirs! Let me know what titles you think I should add to my reading list.
(Here’s a screenshot of the tweet, but feel free to head over to Twitter to let me know about the titles!)
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