With just a month and a half left in the year, my TBR still looks a mile high. Somehow, no matter how many books I read, the books on my TBR shelves still appear as if they are multiplying. At any rate, I’m having to make some hard choices: what books do I want to read by the end of the year? And with “best of” lists dropping every day, I’m overwhelmed with choices, in the best possible way. I’ll let you know what I decide.
In the meantime, today’s recommendations are all about nonfiction books perfect for Indigenous Heritage Month. But first, new books!
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Bookish Goods
Crystalized Book by The Gilding Alchemist
I have been seeing these crystalized books all over TikTok. They are gorgeous! Buying someone their favorite book immortalized in crystal forever more sounds like quite the romantic gift idea. $98
New Releases
Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather by Benjamin Taylor
Benjamin Taylor details the life of Willa Cather, an American writer who was not afraid to write the stories she wanted to tell. Taylor’s biography highlights Cather’s unique place in American letters and details Cather’s rise to literary stardom.
The Death of a Jaybird: Essays on Mothers and Daughters and the Things They Leave Behind by Jodi M. Savage
In this memoir centering on three generations of women, Savage writes about growing up being mostly raised by her grandmother. Her mother struggled with addiction, and when Savage’s grandmother passed away, Jodi found herself as the caregiver for her mother.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
It’s Indigenous Heritage Month, so here are two picks for your TBR this month and beyond.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer
Many of us remember the incredibly popular Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, in which Dee Henderson argued that Indigenous culture functionally ended at the massacre at Wounded Knee. But in The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, Ojibwe writer David Truer writes about how Indigenous cultures across Turtle Island are very much alive. Following Indigenous history from 1890 to the present, Truer features interviews and research about Indigenous peoples preserving and celebrating their cultures. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee presents an Indigenous history that is very much alive and ongoing.
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga
Investigative journalist Tanya Talaga writes about the long-lasting impact of residential schools on Indigenous youth today. In the 1960s, a 12-year-old Indigenous boy froze to death while trying to escape a residential school. Talaga follows how this boy’s death is connected to the deaths of seven Indigenous high school students from 2000 to 2011. Talaga combs through archives and interviews Indigenous elders, students, and school administrators, illustrating how this one northern, small-town school is emblematic of Canada’s history of settler colonial violence against Indigenous peoples across the continent.
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