Author: Kendra Winchester

If you love books about cults and how the minds work, Cultish is right in your wheelhouse. This book delves into the details around the language of cults and how everyday exposure to this language influences how people view the world. Through her skill at narrative storytelling and incredible research skills, Montell takes us deep into the influence of cults and the words that help build them.

One of the best biographies in recent years, The Dead Are Arising is an award-winning biography of Malcolm X. Les Payne worked on this book for decades, and when he passed, his daughter, Tamara Payne, continued his work and finished the book. The Dead Are Arising went on to receive dozens of accolades, including winning the National Book Award for nonfiction. This is definitely a book you won’t want to miss!

Matthew Salesses introduces his book by describing how the fiction writing workshop was created by white male writers. Salesses reimagines the writing workshop, examining the elements of writing— plot, character, structure, etc.—from a new perspective. The book includes exercises, giving teachers resources to create better, more inclusive workshops for their students.

A lot of people have a great idea for a book, but where do you even start? Publishing seems so overwhelming. That’s where Courtney Maum comes in. Maum has written my go-to publishing guide for writers who are looking to publish their first book. From finishing your manuscript to book contracts to second books, Maum is here to guide you through it all. She’s structured the book around a Q&A format, using headings and organized chapters to help readers follow along. Maum breaks up a daunting task into different parts, making a seemingly impossible thing actually doable.

In this Audible Original, National Book Award-winning author Imani Perry describes her experience living with Lupus. She brings in work by other chronically ill authors, like Virginia Woolf and Audre Lorde, aligning herself with a more intersectional approach to writing about her disability. Perry intersperses personal stories about her life throughout the essay, and looks at disability from several different angles. I loved that there was always a new way to think about illness in each section, and I found myself pausing the audiobook just to sit with my thoughts on something she said.

In 2020, Penguin issued a new edition of Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals, a series of essays where Lorde discusses how illness is treated in society. A large portion of this book is dedicated to examining the reasons why her doctor’s office kept insisting that she wear a prosthetic breast after having one of her breasts removed as part of her cancer treatment. She found the prosthetic uncomfortable and didn’t care that people could see that she’d had a mastectomy. But the doctor’s office said it would make other people more comfortable if she would wear one, which got her thinking about how there’s a lot of dedication to chronically ill people to perform wellness for the sake of the people around us.

I love Julia Turshen. She has such a warm way of describing her love of food. Turshen has written several cookbooks, but Simply Julia is my favorite. This cookbook includes intervals that are like essays in-between sections of the cookbook. There, Turshen describes her inspirations for various recipes and her cooking style. She explains that her wife had to go on a strict medical diet, so to be supportive, Turshen began reworking her recipes so her wife could eat them. The food we cook is often an act of love for the people in our lives, and you feel that truth on every page of Simply Julia. Plus, the recipes are incredible.

I don’t hear enough people outside of Appalachia or the South discuss how incredible Edna Lewis is. Her recipes move with the season, always focusing on what is fresh and readily available. She’s practical, often giving you substitutes in the text as needed. But what I love about her best is the descriptions of WHY she makes certain choices with her cooking. Like why she hates using a lot of baking powder because she hates the aftertaste it leaves in baked goods. Her work is truly vital to both Appalachian and Southern cuisines, and although she is gone now, she has left behind such an incredible legacy.

One of the first books I immediately had to tell my aunt about is Taste. Tucci is such a fabulous storyteller, so when he goes to tell his own, I was immediately hooked. Here he shares the story of his life growing up in an Italian American family, slowing down here and there to describe some of the favorite meals he’s eaten in his life. And if you’re an audiobook fan, Tucci performs his memoir, making it a one-of-a-kind listening experience. The way this man can describe food — my stars! It’s such a great memoir!

Of course, if we’re talking about books about Americans traveling to Italy, I had to mention From Scratch. This memoir follows Tembi Locke, a reluctant law student who takes a summer to study art in Italy. She studies art, sure, but she also finds love. Her memoir follows her whirlwind relationship with her husband, a Sicilian chef who moves to America to be with her. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but let’s just say I cried so much while reading this memoir. You can also find the fictionalized mini series of From Scratch over on Netflix!

Cristina Rivera Garza’s sister, Liliana, was in college when she was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. Decades later, Cristina goes to Mexico City in search of her sister’s case file. But when the police inform her that Liliana’s case file was lost, she decides to make a sort of file of her own, an act to force the world to bear witness to her sister’s life. The rest of the book is memories that Rivera Garza has of her sister while they were growing up. We learn about all the squabbles they had as kids and all the love they shared as they got older. Rivera Garza also interviews Liliana’s friends from college in Mexico City. This way, Rivera Garza creates a collection of snapshots of her sister’s life leading up to the time of her death. This incredible memoir is one of the best memoirs I’ve read this year. It’s truly a stunning testament of sisterly love.

Pushkin has released a new audiobook of Mary Oliver’s incredible essay collection, Upstream. Hala Alyan, Joy Sullivan, and Kate Baer read different sections of the collection, each introducing their portion with some personal thoughts on why they treasure Oliver’s writing. The collection itself is a meditation on the natural world. Oliver writes her prose with a poet’s eye for word choice, each sentence carefully crafted. I’d never read Mary Oliver before, so Upstream was such a perfect choice as an introduction to Oliver’s work. So if you’re looking for a place to start reading Oliver’s extensive backlist, I’d definitely recommend you start with Upstream. And if you’re already familiar with her work, Pushkin’s new audiobook edition of this essay collection is a must listen.

A Living Remedy was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023, so I dropped everything to listen to it as soon as it hit my audiobook app. There’s something about Chung’s prose that captures readers’ attention from the start. After Chung’s father dies, she doubles down on wanting to make the most of the time with her mother. But when her mother’s cancer comes back, Chung knows she’s on borrowed time. Then the pandemic rolls in, and Chung can’t visit her mother because of social distancing. How does one say goodbye over the phone? How does a daughter attend her mother’s funeral virtually? A Living Remedy is a testament to Chung’s love for her parents and living with the grief of losing them. Her writing is so emotionally intimate, and if you lost a family member during the height of social distancing, you can’t help but relate to Chung’s story.

Chambers’ family hails from Eastern Kentucky, and her parents moved from the holler to a bigger town, looking for better opportunities. Chambers makes it into an Ivy League school and is soon surrounded by young adults from incredibly privileged backgrounds. She deals with the backhanded compliments and passive aggressiveness about being from Kentucky. She keeps her head down, does her work, and begins looking for her next move. How will she give back to her community? Chambers illustrates the complex reality of striving for upward mobility while still trying to hold on to and respect her Appalachian roots. Moving away from the region, becoming what’s called a “Expatalachian,” is an emotional journey that every person has to work through themselves. And I appreciate Chambers letting us into her experience as she figures out her place in the world.