| Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America by Nefertiti AustinWhat it's about: black single mother Nefertiti Austin's experiences parenting her two adopted black children.
What sets it apart: This heartwarming memoir offers "a necessary corrective to the primarily white narrative on adoption" (Booklist).
What's inside: eye-opening research on black adoption; insightful interviews with other black parents; a reading group guide. |
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| Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne BrodeurHow it began: At age 14, Adrienne Brodeur became privy to a life-changing secret: her mother was having an affair with a family friend.
What happened next: For decades, Brodeur served as her mother's confidant, often providing alibis for the clandestine lovebirds. Her complicity would have devastating consequences for her own relationships -- including a romance with her mother's lover's son.
Read it for: a dramatic and page-turning tale of deception. |
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| Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis FoxWhat it is: a suspenseful account of Amaryllis Fox's decade spent working counterterrorism operations for the CIA while also starting a family with her husband, a fellow agent.
Don't miss: Fox's wedding day, during which she muses on the strange and lonely nature of intelligence life: "I walk down the aisle, past work friends whose real names I'll never know."
Media buzz: Academy Award winner Brie Larson is set to play Fox in a forthcoming Apple streaming series. |
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| How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed JonesWhat it's about: Award-winning poet Saeed Jones candidly reflects on his fraught coming-of-age and his struggle to make a life for himself.
Want a taste? "If America was going to hate me for being black and gay, then I might as well make a weapon out of myself."
Book buzz: A Kirkus Prize winner, How We Fight For Our Lives counts Roxane Gay and Jacqueline Woodson among its many fans. |
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| The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma's Table by Rick BraggWhat it's about: In this nostalgic tribute to the cuisine of his Alabama childhood, author Rick Bragg (All Over but the Shoutin') shares the stories behind his family's recipes.
Recipes include: pinto beans and ham bone; baked possum.
Want a taste? "She cooks in dabs, and smidgens, and tads, and a measurement she mysteriously refers to as 'you know, hon, just some.'" |
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| Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness by Sasha MartinWhat it's about: Food writer and blogger Sasha Martin's four-year quest to cook a meal from every country in the world.
Read it for: a cathartic exploration of how cooking helped Martin navigate a traumatic and impoverished childhood.
Recipes include: German tree cake; Maldivian fire-roasted fish. |
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| Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook by Alice WatersWhat it is: a charming memoir from activist, chef, and restaurateur Alice Waters, who opened the famed Berkeley, California locavore hotspot Chez Panisse in 1971.
Featuring: cameo appearances from Julia Child and James Beard.
Is it for you? Though Waters saves the recipes for her other books (including The Art of Simple Food), the evocative descriptions of her culinary coming-of-age are a treat all their own. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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