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True Story

New Nonfiction: Cults, Prison, and Transformation

February is more than half done! How are we supposed to read the thousands of books we need to if time insists on MOVING. This task is about to get all the harder as our wave of new nonfiction starts growing bigger and bigger. I say too much to read is better than not enough, so let us embrace the onslaught and carry on!

broken faith coverBroken Faith: Inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, One of America’s Most Dangerous Cults by Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr. The AP reporter authors of this deeply researched investigation characterize Word of Faith Fellowship as including a charismatic leader, members who cut ties to their families, and extreme emotional and physical abuse. All these are signs of a cult, and one you’ll want to be aware of, as it’s still in operation.

The Ones We’ve Been Waiting For: How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America by Charlotte Alter. Did you know there are 26 Millennials in Congress? Journalist Alter covers how the generation that was primarily teenagers when the September 11th attacks occurred has begun its takeover of the political landscape and what that can mean for the future.

golden gates coverGolden Gates: Fighting for Housing in America by Conor Dougherty. While owning a house used to be within one’s reach, it’s now a pipe dream for many. New York Times journalist Dougherty looks at the housing crisis from one of its starkest examples: the San Francisco Bay Area. If you’re interested in how we got here and what individuals are trying to do to make housing a reality for every person, check it out.

The Second Chance Club: Hardship and Hope After Prison by Jason Hardy. Hardy was a parole officer and here he tells the stories of seven parolees in Louisiana — citizens with no social support or employment, who frequently leave prison worse off than when they entered. He argues that the best solution is giving people who have been incarcerated the tools they need to re-enter society.

Backlist Bonus

Here are some paired backlist reads for our new releases this week!

High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing, ed. by Audrey Petty. From McSweeney’s Voice of Witness series: “Former residents of Chicago’s public housing projects describe life in the now-demolished high-rises. These stories of community, displacement, and poverty in the wake of gentrification give voice to those who have long been ignored, but whose hopes and struggles exist firmly at the heart of our national identity.”

inside this place not of it coverInside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons, ed. by Ayelet Waldman and Robin Levi. For those interested in another perspective beyond Piper Kerman’s Orange Is the New Black, this anthology highlights 13 voices who tell the story of their lives leading up to incarceration, and how they survived once they were there.

That’s it for new releases this week! Don’t forget to enter Book Riot’s Black History Month giveaway (20 books!! 5 winners! some AMAZING nonfiction). You can find me on Twitter at @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. See you on Friday for 3 on a Theme!

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True Story

Black History Month Reads: Authors to Read Immediately

Too often for Black History Month, we fall into the same pitfalls we do for women’s history and retell the same stories time after time (“did you know Hedy Lamarr was an inventor?” “Mary Shelley created sci-fi!”). What about the people alive now, who are living through the effects of that history, and creating brilliant and beautiful things? With that in mind, this week we’re looking at some contemporary Black writers to pick up whose nonfiction is truly excellent.

thick coverThick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom. Billed as a “black woman’s cultural bible,” this National Book Award finalist for nonfiction came out just last year. Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower Ed, covers academia, misogyny, privilege, healthcare, and more in writing that Roxane Gay has called transgressive, provocative, and brilliant. This is an unmissable collection of essays that speaks to the times in which we live in a poignant, funny, and thoughtful way.

 

wayward lives, beautiful experiments coverWayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals by Saidiya Hartman. This work of social history dives into the lives of Black women in Harlem and Philadelphia in the 1890s. Already fascinated? You should be. Hartman, a professor at Columbia University, explores the intersection of Black life and womanhood for these women who were seen as living outside the bounds of respectability for their time. As a bonus, there are 67 black and white stunning illustrations to complement Hartman’s academic but accessible look into this slice of 1890s America.

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon. Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction, Kiese Laymon writes ” about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi.” Discussed as a personal narrative that illuminates national failures, Heavy is a powerful memoir about what can happen when you bring secrets and lies into the open and begin to be free.

I hope you pick up at least one of these this month or even this year, as they’re all amazing reads. Let me know if you do! As always, you can find me talking history and books on Twitter @itsalicetime and cohosting the For Real podcast with former True Story runner @kimthedork.

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True Story

New Nonfiction: Murder, Family, and Falcon Theft

I’m pretty excited because after the holiday lull, we’re starting to enter a time when there are a lot of really interesting books being published. Let’s learn All the Facts for 2020! Here are some new releases this week:

American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson. By the author of Death in the Air about the Great London Smog comes the story of Edward Oscar Heinrich, one of America’s greatest and first forensic scientists, who had “an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural.”

a map is only one story cover imageA Map Is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home ed. by Nicole Chung and Menshah Demary. Humans have been immigrating since their beginning, which means the story of immigration is in our ancestral DNA. Everyone knows a story about migration, the search for home, and what it means to belong. In this anthology from Catapult, twenty writers from around the globe share their stories.

The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird by Joshua Hammer. For those who like true crime but want to avoid murder, here’s a classic tale of a bird thief and a wildlife detective determined to stop him.

driving while black coverDriving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin. Historian Sorin highlights the importance of the car to the Civil Rights Movement. Black Americans’ mobility was severely restricted due to enslavement, and with segregation and related laws and unstated policies, this continued into the 20th century. With the automobile came independence and possibility. Sorin highlights the Green Book, begun in 1936, which helped Black Americans take family vacations, go on road trips, and just travel with some assurance of where they would be welcome.

That’s it for new release highlights! Again, there’re a lot of great titles coming up in the next few months, so watch for this to hit your inbox every Wednesday. And don’t forget to enter the Book Riot giveaway for Layla F. Saad’s Me and White Supremacy! As always, you can find me talking history and books on Twitter @itsalicetime and cohosting the For Real podcast with former True Story runner @kimthedork.

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True Story

Black Women’s History Reads

Welcome to your Friday 3 on a Theme! This week, we’re looking at three reads focused on black women’s history. These picks all have a focus on American history; I’ll be doing an international history theme in the future. While there are increasingly more reads on this theme, I wanted to pick an array of titles that could be a jumping-off point for various ages and types of interest. Let’s get to it!

how we get free by keeanga-yamahtta taylorHow We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. Published by the awesome Haymarket Books, How We Get Free‘s title comes from the Combahee River Collective statement that “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free.” This slim volume (I love that phrase) is a collection of essays and interviews about this group of radical black feminists in the 1960s and ’70s and is edited by the fantastic activist-scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

brown girl dreaming coverBrown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. It’s a novel. It’s poetry. It’s autobiography. This. book. is. something. It won the Newbery, National Book Award, and Coretta Scott King Book Award and tells the story of Woodson’s adolescence, moving from Ohio to South Carolina to New York. This book is stunning and well worth your time.

 

 

remaking black power by ashley farmerRemaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era by Ashley D. Farmer. Ok you nerds, I see you; here’s your university press book. Farmer “examines black women’s political, social, and cultural engagement with Black Power ideals and organizations” and looks at artwork, political cartoons, manifestos, and political essays to see how they reimagined black womanhood. Here’s your comprehensive history if you want a really deep dive.

There’s your 3 on a Theme! I’m really excited to bring in different themes every week, so be on the lookout for those every Friday. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. See you next week, you awesome nonfiction fan.

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True Story

New Release Nonfiction!

Hello to all you nonfiction fans! I’m Alice, co-host of Book Riot’s nonfiction podcast For Real. I’ll be your new nonfiction newsletter sender, giving you themed roundups and info on new nonfiction releases. Real quick about myself:

  1. I love nonfiction about history, science, women’s studies, nature, memoir, and more, but those are the big ones.
  2. Kim and I like to tell a story about how we realized we were both huge nonfiction nerds when we attended BookExpo in NYC together and were both VERY excited to find a university press galley of a book on the history of baking powder. From there, our podcast was born.
  3. Futurama is one of my favorite TV shows, and I appreciate any and all references to it. Lots of good nerd jokes in it and, let’s be honest, if you’re into nonfiction, you’re at least a bit of a nerd.

That’s it for now, so let’s get into some new releases for February!

a black women's history of the united states by ramey berry and grossA Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross. The authors, both award-winning historians, center Black womanhood and discuss artists, queer women, enslaved and freedwomen, religious leaders, activists and more in this expansive history that testifies to the “beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.”

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad. Saad’s Instagram challenge asked people to examine and own the ways they uphold white supremacy. Over 80,000 people downloaded her Me and White Supremacy workbook, and now that guide is a published book that leads you through how to stop inflicting damage on people of color and how to help others do so too.

18 tiny deaths18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics by Bruce Goldfarb. They might look like dollhouse scenes at first, but Frances Glessner Lee’s nutshell studies of the 1940s and ’50s trained law enforcement officers in the investigation of violent crimes, and are still being used today. 18 Tiny Deaths explores how this Chicago socialite became one of the strongest proponents of modern forensics in the 20th century.

Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy by Eilene Zimmerman. A memoir about Zimmerman’s life with and without her ex-husband and the drug addiction he hid from his family that eventually led to his death. This shocking event compelled her to start her research into drug addiction among similarly work-obsessed white collar professionals, which she undertakes while rebuilding her life into something completely new.

That’s it for new releases this week! You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. See you on Friday for 3 on a Theme!

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True Story

15 More Go-To Fun and Fascinating Nonfiction Reads

Hello hello, nonfiction friends! As promised, I’m here with something a little special for my last edition of True Story – an update of the very first edition I wrote back in January 2017. For the inaugural issue of the newsletter, I shared 15 of my go-to fun and fascinating nonfiction reads, a collection of some of the nonfiction I recommended most often to other readers.

Given how much I’ve read since then, I thought it would be fun to close my time as editor with an updated list – 15 more of my go-to fun and fascinating nonfiction reads. Let’s dive in!

bad blood by john carreyrou cover imageBad Blood by John Carreyrou – This book has become one of my go-to nonfiction recommendations, especially for people who are not avid readers but want something really page-turning. In the book, Carreyrou chronicles the rise and fall of Theranos and the company’s enigmatic founder, Elizabeth Holmes. The level of deception and willful ignorance at play through the whole scandal is astounding – you can’t help but keep reading to watch the whole house of cards fall apart.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann – This is one of my top recommendations for people who don’t think they want to read nonfiction. This true story of the murder of multiple members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma and the founding for the FBI reads like a thriller, which makes it great for readers who gobble up mysteries by Vince Flynn or James Patterson. Several members of my family (who are not nonfiction readers) have loved it.

 

all you can ever knowAll You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung – As a child, Nicole Chung was put up for adoption by her Korean parents, then raised by a white family in a small Oregon town. When she was pregnant with her first child, Chung launched a search for her birth parents to understand whether the story she’d been told about her adoption was true. I’m not sure if I’d call this memoir fun, exactly, but it is a beautifully written meditation on family, race, and community. If I were more of a re-reader, I am sure that I’d pick it up again.

Educated by Tara Westover – I don’t think I’m surprising anyone by telling you that this memoir is amazing. Westover is the daughter of Morman survivalists in rural Idaho, and experienced a childhood full of violence and misogyny. Despite not regularly attending high school, Westover manages to get into college, a move that estranges her from her family and sets her on a path to question everything she thought she knew. I just cannot tell you how good this memoir is, please go pick it up!

 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb – I’m fascinated by books that explore careers that I’ll never really get to experience. In this case, it’s therapy and how therapists work to help their patients move through difficult experiences and personal development. Gottlieb also writes about her own experience going to therapy, and her experience working with patients, in a way that’s open, vulnerable, and moving. This book made me think and gave me a lot of feelings, a potent combination.

I'll Be Gone In The Dark cover imageI’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara – For years, McNamara was part of an online community of true crime enthusiasts trying to uncover the identity of the Golden State Killer. In this book, published posthumously, she tells the story of the GSK and the hunt to bring him to justice. What makes this book better than most true crime books is the way McNamara always keeps her eyes focused on the victims and their stories – there’s nothing that feels exploitative about it in the way that many true crime books can feel. This might be the best true crime book I’ve read in the last five years, and that’s really saying something.

The Power of Meaning by Emily Esfahani Smith – I have read a lot of books about finding meaning in life, and this is one of my favorites. Rather than pursuing happiness, Esfahani Smith looks at how cultivation connection, working with purpose, telling stories, and seeking mystery can bring depth and joy to our lives. She gets at these ideas through an array of approaches like psychology, sociology, philosophy, neuroscience, and more, in a way that feels comprehensive and empathetic. I really liked this one.

Portage by Sue Leaf – This book is probably the biggest oddball on this list. I picked it up on an impulse while on a trip up North, devoured it in just a few days, and then spent months talking about how I wanted to take up canoeing to anyone who would listen. Leaf writes about her family’s experiences as canoeists, beginning with early trips to the Boundary Waters with her husband and ending with local river excursions with her grown children and their families. It’s a fascinating book about nature, wild places, relationships, and lessons we can learn when we let ourselves explore somewhere new.

Dark Money by Jane Mayer – In the last three years, there have been SO MANY books about politics and political life, but this one is probably one of the best. Mayer, a journalist for the New Yorker, takes a deep dive into “the hidden history of the billionaires behind the rise of the Radical Right,” to show how money has absolutely corrupted our entire political system. This book made me angry and sad and fired up – not exactly fun, but absolutely vital.

 

hidden figuresHidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly – I am so jazzed about the number of books coming out that explore the previously unacknowledged role that women (especially women of color) have played in some of the major events and achievements of the last 200 years. This book, one of the first, looks at the female mathematicians who served as “human computers” at NASA and helped win the Space Race. This book is such a good read (and much more nuanced than the movie, although I loved that too).

From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein – The last three years have also resulted in a lot of books about life in the Obama administration, which I have read as a way to soothe my soul and remind myself that politics can be rational and aimed towards the greater good. In this memoir, Dorey-Stein writes about her time as a stenographer, coming into the Obama administration as an outsider and eventually finding her place there. It’s also a coming of age story about finding purpose and making terrible romantic choices, which I thought was really funny. I remember seeing this one described as “Bridget Jones goes to the White House,” which sounds like a dig but is exactly correct and why I liked it so much.

The Class by Heather Won Tesario – In this book, Won Tesario spends the year inside an innovative high school science class, one without curriculum, tests, textbooks or lectures. Led by a former corporate scientist, the students in this class spend the year working on projects to compete on the high school science fair circuit, regularly bringing back top prizes to their school and themselves. The students in this book are bright, funny, brilliant, and also completely teenagers, which makes them really fun to read about. If you don’t mind going back to high school, this book is a total treat.

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein – Food memoirs for the win! In this book, Kwame Onwuachi writes about how he went from being a kid in the Bronx to a celebrated chef in Washington D.C. His path took him all over, from New York to Nigeria to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. I loved how honest he was about his choices (both good and bad), and appreciated hearing about his perspective and experiences as a Black man in a largely white industry. I’ve recommended this one many times.

Catch and Kill cover imageCatch and Kill by Ronan Farrow – I read a couple of books about Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement, but this one is arguably a little more fun. In it, Farrow chronicles his experiences trying to break this major story, including the nefarious ways that rich and powerful men found ways to obstruct, intimidate, and embarrass victims and those who tried to tell their story. Farrow narrates the audiobook where he does some truly amazing accents – it’s ridiculous.

 

My Own Devices by Dessa – Dessa is a Minneapolis-based singer, songwriter, and writer who seems to be able to do it all. In this memoir, she “stitches together” stories about love, science, language, and life on the road. She has a background as both a technical writer and a rapper, which means she can write some absolutely gorgeous sentences. But she’s also curious and funny and lovesick and full of the kinds of random facts you expect someone who loves the things she loves to know. I really loved this one.

And that, my friends, brings me to the end of my time writing this newsletter. Thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me to your inbox twice a week, it’s truly been an honor. You can continue to find me on Twitter and Instagram as @kimthedork and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

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True Story

A New #OwnVoices Memoir From the Southern Border

Hello, nonfiction friends! Before we get into new books, I have some personal news to share – this will be my last week putting together this newsletter. While I’ve enjoyed writing it immensely, after three years of weekly and twice-weekly editions, it felt like it was time to pass the ship off to someone else with some fresh energy and ideas. And I am SO HAPPY to say that True Story will be in excellent hands when Alice, my co-host of the For Real podcast, takes over in February.

For now, I have one more selection of new books to share today, and then a special edition of the newsletter to close out my time as writer/editor at the end of the week. Keep reading, and be sure to click through on Friday!

Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo – Given the ongoing discussion related to #OwnVoices stories about immigrants and the southern border, this book is especially relevant. In this memoir, poet Marcelo Hernandez Castillo writes about what it was like to grow up undocumented in the United States. Castillo and his family crossed the border from Mexico when he was five, so the young boy grew up hiding in plain sight in California. In the book he writes about their experiences being visited by ICE, how he made a fake social security card, his father’s deportation, and more.

Further Reading: If you need a primer on where the #OwnVoices discussion is coming from, this post at Book Riot lays it out well. If you want more about this book, Hernandez Castillo had a great interview on NPR.

Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East by Kim Ghattas – In this book, journalist Kim Ghattas looks at how the modern Middle East unraveled, beginning with a rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran that helped spark the Iranian revolution in 1979. Ghattas uses historical research and her own reporting to address myths about the region, including how religion split Saudi Arabia and Iran, and how U.S. policy contributed to chaos in the region. I love Kim Ghattas’ writing, so I’m excited about this one.

Further Reading: Ghattas was interviewed for Bloomberg about why Iran was in trouble even before the killing of military commander Qassem Soleimani.

Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America by Gilda R. Daniels – This book looks at the issue of voter disenfranchisement “through the lens of history, race, law, and the democratic process.” Gilda R. Daniels, a former official in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, looks at the cycles of voter suppression and how methods adapt to find new ways to keep people from voting. Voter suppression feels like one of the most important issues going into the 2020 election, so this book is a must read.

Further Reading: Last summer, Daniels was interviewed by Detroit Today about how voter suppression is real and has been happening for more than 100 years.

And finally, a few other books I am excited about this week:

That’s all the new books for this week! You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @kimthedork and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Be sure to check back on Friday, I’m excited for what is coming! Happy reading! – Kim

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True Story

Anthony Bourdain’s Last Book Coming This Fall

Hello, happy Friday! We’ve survived another week, my nonfiction-reading friends – that is something to cheer about!

I’m also cheering about the fact that I finally finished a book! Last weekend I practically flew through The Magical Language of Others, a beautiful memoir by E.J. Koh. When Koh was 15, her father accepted a lucrative position in South Korea, leaving Koh back in California in the care of her older brother. Over their separation, Koh’s mother wrote her weekly letters in Korean – letters Koh couldn’t fully understand until she learned enough Korean to translate them as an adult. Koh accompanies her own story with those of her mother and two grandmothers, creating a memoir about family, loss, trauma, and what it takes to find the language to tell our own stories. It was difficult to read in places, but very beautiful.

For this week’s newsletter, I’ve got a smattering of nonfiction news to share with you. Let’s get into it!

Anthony Bourdain’s final book is set to be published in October (sob). Titled World Travel: An Irreverent Guide, will be “an illustrated collection of Bourdain’s reflections on his favorite places to visit and dine around the world.” The book was finished by Bourdain’s longtime assistant, Laurie Woolever, and includes writing from his friends and family, along with the writer’s thoughts on places to visit and eat around the world.

The Jewish Book Council has announced this year’s winners of the National Jewish Book Awards, which includes several different awards for nonfiction in food writing, Jewish education and identity, autobiography and memoir, biography, and more. The biggest winner is Pamela S. Nadell, winner of the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year for America’s Jew­ish Women: A His­to­ry from Colo­nial Times to Today.

Fraudster Caroline Calloway said she’s writing two books that will come out this spring. The infamous Instagram influencer will release a memoir (sold only on her website) called Scammer sometime in spring 2020. She claims to also be working on a second book, And We Were Like, about her time at Cambridge University. So… that’s news, I guess? (If you don’t remember anything about Calloway, this piece from The Cut will get you all caught up).

Mindhunter, Netflix’s true crime series about the formation of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 1970s and ‘80s, doesn’t appear to be getting a third season. According to Deadline, there’s been no movement from Netflix or David Fincher, the series’ director, to move ahead with the next season. Mindhunter is based on the book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit written by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

And finally, a few links over at Book Riot you definitely don’t want to miss:

And that’s a wrap on yet another week! You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @kimthedork and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim

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True Story

A Trailblazing Woman in Politics and More New Nonfiction

Hello, nonfiction friends! Yesterday, the Twin Cities branch of the U.S. National Weather Service tweeted out some of the best news I could imagine: the average high temperature on Sunday was officially one degree warmer than Saturday… which means we’re finally up the upswing from winter where I live! We’re a long way from tolerable weather, but it’s getting closer. Huzzah!

Before we get into the business of new books, I want to quickly mention that Book Riot has launched another podcast! Novel Gazing (the best name, truly) is hosted by Louise and Mary Kay, and focuses on the world of literary fiction. Check it out!

And now, let’s get into some new books! Here are three I’m excited about this week:

American Queenmaker: How Missy Meloney Brought Women Into Politics by Julie Des Jardins – Although Marie Meloney was born into an America where women couldn’t vote, she recognized the power women held in the domestic sphere. Through her work getting men in publishing and politics to take women seriously, Meloney created the “female demographic,” a story explored in this new biography.

Backlist Bump: If you want a more personal look at women in politics, grab a copy of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics by Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, Minyon Moore, and Veronica Chambers.

Year of The Rabbit by Tian Veasna – In this illustrated memoir, cartoonist Tian Veasna tells the story of his family’s journey to escape the “murderous reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.” Veasna was born three days after the regime seized power, so the family fled their urban home for the countryside where they survived in work campus until they could escape as refugees.

Other Suggested Titles: Over at Book Riot, David Mitchell Som wrote about three other books to help understand the Cambodian genocide, including two excellent-looking memoirs: First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung and The Years of Zero: Coming of Age Under the Khmer Rouge by Seng Ty.

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker – If you’ve ever wondered what the point of learning all that math in high school was, this book might be the one for you. In it, Matt Parker explores how math works quietly behind the scenes of everything from the code in websites to the design of skyscrapers… and the ways it can go awry. He explores glitches, near misses, and mishaps all caused by bad math to show the place it holds in the world.

Backlist Bump: Another great book on math in the real world is How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics by Eugenia Cheng. It’s fun!

And if that wasn’t enough books for you this week, here are five others that caught my attention:

That’s all the new books for this week! You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @kimthedork and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. This week, we talked about some of our favorite books about classic Hollywood. Happy reading! – Kim

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True Story

Nonfiction Recommendations for Read Harder 2020

Hello and happy Friday, nonfiction friends! For this week’s newsletter I wanted to do something a little different, a focus on Book Riot’s 2020 Read Harder Challenge.

Of the 24 tasks, there are three challenges that specifically call for nonfiction, 11 that call for fiction, and 10 more that fall somewhere in the middle. Today, I want to offer some nonfiction suggestions for those 10 tasks that don’t specify genre. Let’s get going!

1. Read a YA nonfiction book

3. Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt – I loved this atmospheric, character-driven true story about the murder of a young, male prostitute by a prominent Savannah antiques dealer.

4. Read a graphic memoir

5. Read a book about a natural disaster: Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala – This book is a memoir by a woman who lost her parents, husband, and two sons in a 2004 tsunami that devastated of Sri Lanka.

10. Read a book that takes place in a rural setting: Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh – In this book, Sarah Smarsh shares her experience growing up poor on a small, family farm 30 miles outside of Wichita, Kansas in the 1980s and ’90s.

12. Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own

13. Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before: Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson – Born in Ethiopia but raised in Sweden by his grandmother, Marcus Samuelsson tells his story of becoming a chef and opening his own “diverse, multiracial dining room” in Harlem.

15. Read a book about climate change: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert – There are a lot of nonfiction books about climate change you could grab, but I’m suggesting this one because Alice (my co-host of For Real) has raved about it. In it, Elizabeth Kolbert looks at previous mass extinction events and argues that we’re in the midst of a sixth right now.

16. Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson – This book is a comprehensive history and impact of the Great Migration, a movement of Black and African American citizens from the South to cities across the United States. It’s long (640 pages in paperback), but reads fast.

17. Read a book by or about a refugee: The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya – At 15, Clemantine Wamariya and her sister, Claire, fled the Rwandan massacre, spending six years migrating across Africa. When she was 12, they were granted refugee status in the United States. This is an incredible memoir.

20. Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK: I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition) by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick – In this best-selling memoir, Malala Yousafzai shares her story of being shot by the Taliban on her bus ride to school. Since surviving the attack, Yousafzai has become an international advocate for education for girls and the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner. This adaptation for young readers includes additional photos and material from the original.

The Collected Schizophrenias cover image21. Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non): The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esmé Weijun Wang – In this collection of essays, Esmé Weijun Wang writes about her journey towards a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, including the complexities of labeling mental illnesses, the challenges for college students with mental illnesses, the dangers of institutions, and the challenges of living with a mental illness and chronic illness.

24. Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author: Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot – This memoir is a woman’s coming of age story while living on the Seabird Island Band in the Pacific Northwest, and how she used writing to cope with a dual diagnosis of PTSD and bipolar II disorder.

Whew, that’s a lot of books! Congrats on finishing another week, and good luck with your Read Harder 2020 endeavors. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @kimthedork and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim