Author: Kim Ukura

Reflecting on the Legacy of Dr. Paul Farmer

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date February 24, 2022

One Thing I Like

This week I want to recommend a raw and vulnerable essay by author Nicole Chung from her newsletter I Have Notes. In this week’s piece, “We All Deserve to Be Safe,” she writes about grappling with how to talk to her teenage daughter about violence against Asian women. I don’t want to say much more than that, just urge you to read it. Or pick up Chung’s equally wonderful memoir All You Can Ever Know.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

There’s still time to check out our limited edition Wordle-inspired merchandise!

For more nonfiction reads, head over to the podcast service of your choice and download For Real, which I co-host with my dear friend Alice. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @kimthedork. Happy weekend!

True Story

Even More Books for Black History Month

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date February 17, 2022

White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue… and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation by Lauren Michele Jackson

In this book, critic Lauren Michele Jackson dives deep into the idea of cultural appropriation, specifically why American culture loves blackness but only allows white people to benefit when “Black aesthetics are converted into mainstream success.” Each chapter explores an example of appropriation through the lens of power – who benefits, why, and what does this to do existing inequalities. She also specifically looks at the role white people play, and how specific celebrities and artists have used Black culture in their work. It’s fascinating so far.

Ida B. The Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells by Michelle Duster

Ida B. Wells was a pioneering Black journalist, suffragist, and crusader in the United States. In her lifetime she fought against discrimination on trains, exposed the horrors of lynchings, and help co-found the NAACP. This book tells her story in a beautiful and accessible way, clearly connecting her experiences with contemporary activism for Black lives. She’s amazing, and I’m embarrassed I haven’t read her biography sooner!

Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre by Brandy Colbert

In June 1921, a white mob marched into the Black Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, an affluent neighborhood known as America’s Black Wall Street. In just a few hours they destroyed 35 square blocks, killing hundreds of people. In this book, young adult author Brandy Colbert tells the story of this horrific event, unearths the underlying tensions, and connects it to America’s history of racial violence. I want to read more YA nonfiction this year, and so this one is high on my list.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

If none of those seem like your jam, here are a few other lists to check out:

Book Riot: 15 Nonfiction Black History Books to Read This Month
Powell’s Books: Black History Month: A New List of Nonfiction
Bustle: The Nonfiction to Read for Black History Month
New York Public Library: New Nonfiction Books to Read for Black History Month

One Thing I Like

Author Lyz Lenz has a great email newsletter called Men Yell at Me. She’s written about topics like being a woman on the internet and Casey’s Gas Stations, as well as her very funny regular topic, Dingus of the Week.

I want to call out this week’s newsletter about what happens when children read books they aren’t supposed to read as particularly awesome. She starts out writing about her childhood experience sneaking books out of the library (been there, done that), then goes on to explore what it meant to learn what she had been missing in her protected childhood. I think it’s a very moving and thoughtful argument for the damage that’s done when books on hard topics aren’t accessible to young readers. Just read it!

True Story

Reading Cookbooks Under the Sea

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date February 10, 2022

Sponsored by The Nonfiction Authors Association.

Book Riot is teaming up with the Nonfiction Authors Association to give away one Platinum Access pass each to three lucky winners. The virtual conference takes place from May 4-6, 2022. To enter, simply fill out the form and subscribe to the Nonfiction Authors Association newsletter for a chance to win!

Hello hello, nonfiction friends! I have spent much of this week watching the Olympics, checking in on sports that I only watch every four years like speed skating and cross country skiing. Truthfully, the thing I love the most is when they switch to family and friends watching at home – makes me tear up every single time.

Before sharing some nonfiction news, I want to follow up on the topic of last Friday’s newsletter – a Tennessee school board banning Art Spiegelman’s Maus – with a few additional Book Riot resources on book bans and censorship that can help you take meaningful action in these areas:

One common argument around book bans is that banning books will actually make them more popular because they’re forbidden. Danika Ellis explains this idea – the Streisand effect – and why it doesn’t hold up when we talk about censorship.
For some specific and practical tips, I highly recommend this article from Kelly Jensen– How to Fight Book Bans and Challenges: An Anti-Censorship Tool Kit
This week, Kelly also shared tips for how to use FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) to learn about book challenges. These are excellent tips that show how simple it is to request information from a local government entity. But keep in mind, many of the things you might want – meeting agendas or minutes, for example – might already be publicly available if you dig just a little bit.

And with that, let’s share some additional nonfiction news from the last couple of weeks:

Two highly-anticipated cookbooks are likely sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after the container they were in was swept off a ship during transport. The two affected authors, Mason Hereford and Melissa Clark, have some funny comments in the linked article that I truly appreciate… but gosh, what ridiculous luck.

Inventing Anna, the Shonda Rhimes-created Netflix show about the Soho Scammer, is available starting today… and there’s already been some interesting commentary about it. Anna herself wrote a piece for Insider that has a real tone of aggrievement that I’m not sure is warranted. And then Rachel DeLoache Williams, Anna’s former best friend, condemned the show “as an attempt to rehabilitate the image of the convicted scammer.” So much delicious drama!

And finally, a couple of exciting memoir announcements to share:

Spice Girl Mel C (aka Sporty Spice) will be releasing a memoir, Who I Am: My Story, on September 22.
Alice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility project, will release her memoir, Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life on September 6.

Make sure to get your own Read Harder Book Journal from Book Riot to track your reading for the year!

One Thing I Like

In an effort to keep my hands busy instead of scrolling on my phone, I’ve been making a renewed effort at knitting. This weekend I started my first sock, which feels like a true level up in my extremely basic knitting skills. There are many, many memoirs centered around the benefits of crafting. One that came to mind that I read and enjoyed was The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater: Essays on Crafting by Alanna Okun. It’s a very charming, warm book about lessons learned from knitting and making.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Finally! Don’t forget to check out our new line of bookish, Wordle-inspired merch! There are mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, and more. The campaign is temporary, so order yours now!

True Story

What Do We Lose if We Ban Maus?

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date February 3, 2022

One Thing I Like

This week, I want to recommend a new history book that came out in January – Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern by Jing Tsu. Today China is a global superpower, but that outcome wasn’t inevitable. One of the biggest challenges over the last century was about language – what did it take to make the Chinese language accessible to the modern world?

To explore that topic, Tsu uses the stories of individuals and groups who took on various aspects of standardizing both written and spoken Chinese, then adapting it to technologies like typewriters, the telegraph, and computers, which were explicitly built around the Roman alphabet. It’s a really interesting story if you’re a language nerd, and an accessible history of China over the last 100 years. And as a bonus, if you’re a Read Harder 2022 participant, it seems pretty likely you could count this one for task 22, history about a period you know little about. Enjoy!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

True Story

There’s a New David Sedaris Book Coming!

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date January 27, 2022

One Thing I Like

I’ve gotten VERY into this season of The Amazing Race. I don’t watch a ton of reality TV (aside from Dancing with the Stars #sorrynotsorry), but I recognized one of the competing pairs from the internet and so decided to watch. I’m not sure if it’s wanderlust, January blues, or late-pandemic brain, but I’m definitely in it for this season.

I was hoping there would be some books by former participants or something to recommend, but the best I’ve been able to find so far is this oral history of the first season by Andy Dehnart. If anyone has other materials to recommend, I’d love to hear!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Read Harder

Read Harder Task #17: Read a Memoir Written by Someone Who is Trans or Nonbinary

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date January 25, 2022

Sponsored by TBR, Book Riot’s subscription service offering reading recommendations personalized to your reading life.

Tell TBR about your reading likes AND dislikes and what you’re looking for, and sit back while your Bibliologist handpicks recommendations just for you. TBR offers plans to receive hardcover books in the mail or recommendations by email, so there’s an option for every budget. Give your Bibliologist feedback, update your requests to stay in line with your reading goals and expanding horizons, and basically have your own personal book concierge. TBR is also available as a gift! Just select the plan you want to give, and you can schedule the gift to be delivered any day you want! Visit mytbr.co to sign up today or to start your holiday shopping.

While there’s never a bad time to read a memoir by a trans or nonbinary writer, this year feels like a particularily good time to elevate these stories. As book challenges in schools and libraries continue, many which specifically target books by LGBTQIA+ authors, it’s even more important to read and share stories by people from across the gender spectrum.

There are many (many!) potential books to choose for this particular challenge topic. This list covers a range of familiar and unfamiliar titles that discuss gender from many different perspectives. It also includes some that have been frequent targets in book challenges across the country. Once you’ve read and loved a title, be sure to share it!

Make sure to get your own Read Harder Book Journal from Book Riot to track your reading for the year!

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

This work of young adult nonfiction is a series of personal essays about growing up as Black and queer, and the complexity of those intersecting identities. In interviews, Johnson has said they wrote the book as a way to help other teens see themselves in stories in a way they didn’t as a kid. They write about their relationship with their grandmother, early sexual relationships, joining a fraternity in college, and more.

Fairest: A Memoir by Meredith Talusan

Meredith Talusan was born with albinism in a rural village in the Philippines. Raised by a grandmother, Talusan eventually came to the United States on an academic scholarship to Harvard – providing a strong education, but also a complicated relationship with race, class, and sexuality. After college, Talusan transitioned and came out as a woman and continued on a career as an artist and activist. This memoir explores love, identity, gender, and more.

Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen

A decade ago, Samantha Allen was a Mormon missionary. At the time of writing this book, she was a reporter for the Daily Beast and married to a woman. In it, Allen heads out on a cross-country trip to experience “something gay every day” in places where queer communities full of people opting to stay where they’re from instead of fleeing to potentially friendlier territory. I love the way Allen is able to tell stories about people from all walks of life, emphasizing tales of chosen families trying to make the world a better place.

Unicorn: The Memoir of a Muslim Drag Queen by Amrou Al-Kadhi

There’s just so much to be excited about in this memoir about growing from “a god-fearing Muslim boy enraptured with their mother to a vocal, queer drag queen estranged from their family.” In the book, they write about how a teenage obsession with marine biology helped illuminate their nonbinary gender identity, discovering the power of drag in college, learning to understand Islam with a queer lens, and finding a way back to family with this new perspective.

I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya

In this book, trans artist Vivek Shraya explores “how masculinity was imposed on her as a boy and continues to haunt her as a girl.” As a child, Shaya had to learn to perform masculinity to survive, while as an adult she must push in other ways to be recognized as feminine. Shraya explores what the cumulative effect of that misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia has been on her, and offers ways that we can cherish and celebrate what makes us different.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

This autobiographical comic is about Maia Kobabe’s journey of self-identity and an attempt to explain what it means to be nonbinary and asexual. Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, writes about early crushes, coming out, connecting with friends, and more. The result is a book that is both a guide to gender identity and a personal story about what it means to be a nonbinary person.

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality by Sarah McBride

In 2016, Sarah McBride became the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention, a giant leap on her journey as a transgender activist. In this memoir, Sarah shares how she came out to her family, friends, and community and how that led to her political activism. The memoir is also a love story about Sarah’s relationship with her first husband, Andy, who passed away from cancer in 2014 shortly after they were married. This is a good book for people newer to reading about the issues transgender people face and who want to understand those discussions better.

Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery

More essays! This final book on the list is a collection of witty essays about gender and identity through the lens of pop culture, with everything from The Addams Family to Captain Kirk to Lord Byron. It’s also a book that talks about what it is like to transition genders and the complexities of family can bring to that experience. If you loved The Toast, grab this one.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

If you’re looking for more ideas, check out these posts on Book Riot featuring other trans and nonbinary authors. They’re not exclusively memoirs, but will give you some other authors to consider:

Click here for the full Read Harder 2022 task list, and for previous recommendations, click here.

True Story

A New Nonfiction genre, New Books, A Con Story, Who Betrayed Anne Frank, and More

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date January 20, 2022

One Thing I Like

One of my favorite books of 2021 was 4,000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. The book is about time management, but not in the way you might think. Instead of suggesting ways to fit more tasks into the absurdly short time we have on Earth, Burkeman instead writes about learning the best ways to use the 4,000 weeks we actually have. It’s a lovely mix of science, philosophy, literature, and spirituality that absolutely made me think about my life and my work in a different way than I did before.

Burkman was recently interviewed on the On Being podcast where he talks about plans, resolutions, and how to embrace “a new relationship with time, our technologies, and the power of limits.” I haven’t quite finished the whole interview, but it’s just so, so great, I have to recommend it.

True Story

Books for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date January 13, 2022

Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs

Many, many books have been written about the three men mentioned in the subtitle of this book, but very few have dug into the women who helped share them. In this book, Tubbs traces the parallel lives of Alberta King, Louise Little, and Berdis Baldwin – women who lived through some of the greatest changes in our nation’s history. It’s also a celebration of Black motherhood, and all of the anxiety that comes with sending Black men into the world. I liked this one a lot!

Nine Days: The Race to Save Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life and Win the 1960 Election by Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick

Just weeks before the 1960 presidential election, King was arrested at a sit-in at a department store in Atlanta, leading to the first night King ever spent in jail. It was a harrowing moment, as the 31-year-old was transferred, at night, to a notorious state prison overseen by violent white guards. Over the next nine days, King’s imprisonment had an intense impact on the election… as well as galvanized three members of the Kennedy campaign to act, both to free King and help bring electoral victory.

The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. by Peniel E. Joseph

This dual biography explores the ways the philosophies of Malcolm X and King have been pitted against each other as opposites – self-defense vs. nonviolence or Black power vs. civil rights – and why that framing is wrong. Instead, he argues that although the two men had some differences, they spent much of their lives inspiring and pushing each other in the movement for civil rights. I love books that come at familiar topics in new ways, so this one sounds great.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

One Thing I Like

I am newly-obsessed with crossword puzzles. I’m trying to spend less time on social media, but having a hard time staying off my phone in those little moments of waiting throughout the day. I signed up for the New York Times Crossword app and have been gleefully working through the puzzle archive. I am, admittedly, still doing them with autocheck on… but I’m getting better!

My new fascination reminded me of a book from several years ago, Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can’t Live Without Them by Adrienne Raphel. In the book, Raphel documents the history of the crossword puzzle, from the invention “practically by accident” in 1913 to contemporary puzzlers like those who compete in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. There’s some real nerdy stuff happening around here!

True Story

Remembering Joan Didion and E.O. Wilson

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date January 6, 2022

One Thing I Like

Since the new year, I’ve rediscovered my love for classical music. In particular, I’ve really enjoyed listening to Yo-Yo Ma cello music, including his latest release, Notes for the Future, and some of the brief pieces he shares on Instagram.

I found two nonfiction connections for this pick – a children’s book, Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma by Joanna Ho and Teresa Martinez, and an Audible original, Beginner’s Mind, written and narrated by Yo-Yo Ma. I’m on the lookout for both.

True Story

Some of Book Riot’s Best Nonfiction Coverage

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date December 16, 2021

Sponsored by Book Riot's Christmas romance prize pack giveaway!

Book Riot is teaming up with Harlequin.com to give away the ultimate Christmas romance prize pack that includes the following titles: Holiday Playbook by Yahrah St. John, Christmas at the Chateau by Rochelle Alers, The Christmas She Married the Playboy by Louise Fuller, A Merry Christmas Date by Syndi Powell, Keep Me Warm at Christmas by Brenda Novak, The Viscount’s Christmas Proposal by Carol Arens.

Hello hello hello, nonfiction friends! Due to the timing of the holidays, this is actually the last Friday send of True Story you’ll be getting in 2021. This year has truly just flown by for me, although many days, weeks, and months felt incredibly long.

To round out the year, I’d like to use this edition of the newsletter to highlight some of my favorite nonfiction-related posts on Book Riot from the last six-ish months. There’s been some incredible writing there that I haven’t shared enough. In no particular order:

If you need a pep talk, Dee suggests some of the most empowering nonfiction.

If the brain fascinates you, Summer recommends books about the mind.

If you’re thinking about money, Neha rounds up some investment books for beginners.

If you’re a winter sports lover, Liberty collected great books about skiing and snowboarding.

If you love true crime but hate violence, Ashley has a great round up of true crime comics that aren’t about killers.

If you want to expand your nonfiction horizons, Rebecca suggests great nonfiction in translation and the best genre-bending nonfiction of 2021. She also wrote a great post on the book-length essay.

If you want to learn more about the death positive movement, Caitlin explains what that is and suggests some books for newbies.

If you’re interested in climate change or capitalism, Sarah rounds up some books at the intersection of both.

If you’re a sucker for an oral history (like I am), Aisling has eight awesome ones to suggest.

If the last two years have you thinking about public health, Jamie has gathered some impactful books talking about how important it is.

If you love a good nonfiction debate, check out Yashvi’s suggestions for the best nonfiction books of the decade.

If things are feeling a bit dark lately, Kelly wrote about books on wonder and sparking joy.

If you love to read about reading, Senjuti rounds up excellent bibliomemoirs (such a good word).

If you need to brush up on critical race theory, Mikkaka suggests some books to help you make sense of the hubbub.

There’s so much more great stuff on the site, so definitely head over there to explore the nonfiction tag!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

One Thing I Like

I’ve been an avid bullet journal devotee for the last five or so years, so one ritual I always appreciate is wrapping up one journal and starting the next. My journals usually last about a year, so this is the time where I start to think about what new notebook I’m going to use, what changes I want to make, and what goals I want to think about in the next year.

One book I like to revisit is The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll, the “inventor” of bullet journaling. Caroll’s explanation of the system avoids all of the bells and whistles and fancy spreads you’ll see on Instagram to talk about how bullet journaling is really more about mindfulness than productivity. I also appreciate that the system is flexible, and allows you to plan based on what you need at a given moment. It’s been effective for me, and I can’t wait to use the new year as an opportunity to recenter.