Category: True Story

Look for These Upcoming Celebrity Memoirs

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date March 3, 2022

One Thing I Like

It’s time for a book recommendation! I just finished reading a great 2022 memoir, Tiffanie Drayton’s Black American Refugee: Escaping the Narcissism of the American Dream. As a kid, Drayon followed her mother from Trinidad and Tobago to New Jersey where the family hoped to pursue the American Dream. After several moves to communities across the country, Drayton eventually begins to see the ways systemic racism and trauma make it impossible for Black people to achieve that dream.

The book uses the framework of a narcissistic relationship to explore this dynamic, moving between Drayton’s personal experiences and the larger cultural and historical forces at play in her story. I thought it was a very moving story and enjoyed the structure she used around the symptoms of a narcissistic relationship. This is a thought-provoking read!

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

New Releases: Appalachia and NYC History

Post author By Alice Burton
Post date March 1, 2022

Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place by Neema Avashia

Avashia is a teacher and writer who grew up in West Virginia and identifies as a queer, Desi, Appalachian woman. She expands the stereotypical notions of Appalachia to show its true complexity, while exploring its “foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more.”

A Block in Time: A New York City History at the Corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Third Street by Christiane Bird

Author Bird looks at one particular block in New York City and tells its history, from the time of the Lenape, through Dutch colonization, the nineteenth century (including the Gilded Age — how relevant!), to the twentieth. This covers theaters, factories, gambling dens, and colorful characters of the time.

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

Journalist and producer on This American Life, Foo looks at complex PTSD (C-PTSD) and how it has impacted her life. She travels to her hometown in California and examines the impact of immigrant, as well as inherited, trauma. Be aware that this book discusses physical and emotional parental abuse.

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

For more nonfiction reads, check out the For Real podcast which I co-host with the excellent Kim here at Book Riot. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

True Story

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!

True Story

New Releases: True Crime and Medieval Queens

Post author By Alice Burton
Post date February 22, 2022

Sponsored by A LITTLE CLOSER TO HOME from best-selling author Ginger Zee.

In Ginger Zee’s follow-up to the bestselling Natural Disaster, she takes readers on a much deeper journey of self-discovery. When Ginger Zee opened her life to readers in Natural Disaster, the response was enormous. She put a very relatable if surprising face on depression and has helped lessen the stigma surrounding mental health issues. But Ginger tells us, Natural Disaster was “Ginger Lite” and only scratched the surface. In spite of its serious subject matter, Ginger’s positive, life-affirming outlook comes through loud and clear. Written with great heart and quite a bit of humor, Ginger normalizes issues and challenges millions of people face every day.

Hello! I’m sitting here with a passed-out cat and reflecting on how I am reading too many books right now, but also how this week’s nonfiction releases make me want to add even more to the list. It’s both not fair and really great. Keep those books comin’, authors!

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

Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free by Sarah Weinman

Weinman, author of The Real Lolita, which was very good, returns for another true crime book. This is about Edgar Smith, a man who in the ’60s was put on death row for murder. National Review founder William F. Buckley championed his cause, eventually resulting in Smith’s release, and then — yep, he tried to murder someone else. The whole story is here in Weinman’s book, so check out how on earth this happened.

Lifting Every Voice: My Journey from Segregated Roanoke to the Corridors of Power by William B. Robertson

Robertson tells his story as the first Black man to run for the Virginia General Assembly, his work to integrate a white school, and his support of the Black Lives Matter movement in his eighties. Robertson passed away in 2021, and the University of Virginia Press is publishing his memoir.

The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World by Shelley Puhak

Is Shelley Puhak a historian? No! She is a poet and a professor of creative writing. BUT. This is a really fun story about a time popular culture never talks about — sixth century Merovingian France! I’m talking about Brunhild, I’m talking about Fredegund, I’m talking about Chilperic unfortunately (Chilperic sucks). It’s a really fascinating time in history and I totes recommend this.

Education Across Borders: Immigration, Race, and Identity in the Classroom by Patrick Sylvain, Jalene Tamerat, Marie Lily Cerat

Are you a teacher? Do you teach BIPOC students? This is a resource for K-12 educators serving BIPOC and/or first-generation students that’s all about inclusive pedagogy. The three teachers who contributed “draw on their experiences as immigrants and educators to address racial inequity in the classroom.” Teachers are amazing, and this book can maybe help them be even more amazing. Hurray!

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

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

New Releases: Olympians, Con Artists, and the Color Blue

Post author By Alice Burton
Post date February 15, 2022

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Daniel Minter (Illustrated by)

It’s a nonfiction picture book! Brew-Hammond is an American-Ghanaian author/novelist and illustrator Minter is a Caldecott Honoree. It covers the history of the color blue, how it was made over time, and the human labor that has gone into making it. But also how it’s been used in cultures throughout the world! Super neat, love nonfiction for younger people.

Running Sideways: The Olympic Champion Who Made Track and Field History by Pauline Davis, T. R. Todd

Davis grew up running to get water for her family in The Bahamas, going sideways to avoid bullies. She navigated astonishing challenges to compete in five Olympics and win two Olympic gold medals, becoming the first individual gold medalist in sprinting from the Caribbean. She went on to become the first Black woman on the World Athletics council. Did I mention she didn’t win her gold medals until age 34? 34! Amazing.

Greed in the Gilded Age: The Brilliant Con of Cassie Chadwick by William Elliott Hazelgrove

Well this looks fun. Chadwick was a late nineteenth century con artist who defrauded banks for literally millions of dollars. This was when women weren’t even allowed to get loans from banks. Because of sexism. She also opened a brothel in Cleveland because sure. Her biggest con was saying she was Andrew Carnegie’s “illegitimate” daughter. She got millions of dollars from banks based on this lie! To learn more including how she got away with this for eight years check this out.

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

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

New Releases: Wedded Bliss (?), Hong Kong, and Why the Contessa

Post author By Alice Burton
Post date February 8, 2022

Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage by Heather Havrilesky

Sure, marriage can be hard, and sometimes boring, but maybe the boring is good? Ask Polly advice columnist Havrilesky writes about the ups and downs of her own fifteen year marriage, illustrating “what a tedious, glorious drag forever can be.” Havrilesky wrote a piece for this book that was in the NYT, and it definitely made me want to pick this up.

The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen Cheung

Called one of the most anticipated books of 2022 by Entertainment Weekly, this is “a rare insider’s view” of Hong Kong from someone who grew up there. Cheung was born just prior to Hong Kong being “handed over” from the UK to China. She tells of her “yearslong struggle to find reliable mental health care in a city reeling from the traumatic aftermath of recent protests” and delves into its musical and artistic life, sharing what it means to be a part of this complicated city.

Black American Refugee: Escaping the Narcissism of the American Dream by Tiffanie Drayton

Drayton and her siblings moved to New Jersey in the early 1990s to join her mother. They were coming from Trinidad and Tobago. She soon started asking questions about the racial dynamics of the US — “Why were the Black neighborhoods she lived in crime-ridden, and the multicultural ones safe? Why were there so few Black students in advanced classes at school, if there were any advanced classes at all?” At age twenty, she moved back to Tobago, and absorbs the news from America, particularly concerning Black Americans, with the keen eye of someone outside the maelstrom.

The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation by Linda Hirshman

I love this trend of telling the stories of multiple figures and how their work combined. William Lloyd Garrison and certainly Frederick Douglass are more known, but Maria Weston Chapman, aka “the Contessa,” has not stuck as strongly to the pages of history. These three all worked for abolition from the 1830s to 1860s. If you’re wondering about the Contessa nickname, no worries, I did a deep dive on Google. It looks like she was nicknamed that by American author Edmund Quincy, who liked to dole out nicknames. Anyway! This looks interesting.

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

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

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

New Releases: Whitney Houston, King Tut, and TB

Post author By Alice Burton
Post date February 1, 2022

Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them by Maeve Higgins

Irish comedian Higgins, author of Maeve in America, writes about the Alamo, monuments, Tom Hardy, Paper Source, “love for the glamorous older women of Brighton Beach with tattooed eyeliner and gold jewelry, love for everybody on this train.” I am very in the mood for this sort of book, so I am delighted this is out with its extremely fun cover.

The Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History by Vidya Krishnan

The publisher calls it the “definitive social history of tuberculosis.” Krishnan looks at the slums of nineteenth century New York to current-day Mumbai and how, while tuberculosis has been seen as a disease of the past, “the cure was never available to black and brown nations.” I love social histories, I love when investigative journalists really INVESTIGATE something, and Krishnan does that here.

Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century by Christina Riggs

Did you know the first modern Egyptian revolution was in 1919, leading to the United Kingdom’s recognition of Egyptian independence in 1922? And that King Tutankhamun was excavated IN 1922! British archaeologist Howard Carter received the Order of the Nile, third class, from King Fuad I of Egypt. Fascinating. Anyway, this is a history of King Tut and his tomb from the last century. Super cool.

Didn’t We Almost Have It All: In Defense of Whitney Houston by Gerrick Kennedy

I LOVE WHITNEY HOUSTON. What an amazing singer. This explores “Whitney’s life as both a woman in the spotlight and someone who often had to hide who she was.” I can’t believe this month will be a decade since she died (she was 48). Let’s all read this bio and listen to “Didn’t We Almost Have It All.” And then we can watch the Brandy Cinderella since Brandy also contributed the foreword to this book.

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

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