Lot Six by David Adjmi What it's about: playwright David Adjmi's coming-of-age as a gay Syrian Jewish kid in 1980s Brooklyn.
Read it for: a dramatic and richly detailed narrative fit for the stage, featuring crackling dialogue and larger-than-life characters.
Try this next: For another candid memoir written by a gay Brooklynite in the arts, try fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi's I.M. | | The Dragons, the Giant, the Women by Wayétu Moore What it's about: In 1990, shortly after her fifth birthday, Wayétu Moore and her family fled the First Liberian Civil War, eventually settling in Texas, where Moore grappled with her identity as a black immigrant and feelings of displacement.
For fans of: heartrending and reflective immigration stories like Thi Bui's illustrated memoir The Best We Could Do.
About the author: Moore is the author of She Would Be King, a Booklist Editors' Choice Best Fiction Book of 2018. | | The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo What it is: a haunting exploration of the Trump administration's family separation policy, as experienced by one Guatemalan family.
What happened: Fleeing Guatemala after her husband's murder, asylum seeker Rosayra Pablo Cruz and her two sons traveled more than 2,000 miles to the southern U.S. border. Once they arrived, Pablo Cruz spent 80 days detained in an Arizona facility, and her children were placed with a foster family in the Bronx.
Read it for: a searing account of the lingering effects of separation. | | Autism in Heels: The Untold Story of a Female Life on the Spectrum by Jennifer Cook O'Toole What it is: an inspirational guide that urges readers -- and the medical establishment -- to reevaluate stereotypical ideas about what autism looks like, especially the ways gender can affect the expression of autistic traits.
Why it's important: Author Jennifer Cook O'Toole encourages readers to view autism as more of a difference than a "disease," and reveals how her diagnosis at age 34 came as a relief instead of something negative. | | Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting by Anna Quindlen What it's about: Anna Quindlen's examination of her changing family dynamics as she goes from parent to grandparent and must recalibrate her relationship with her child and her own understanding of herself.
Want a taste? "Those who make their opinions sound like the Ten Commandments see their grandchildren only on major holidays and in photographs."
About the author: Pulitzer Prize winner Quindlen is also known for her fiction, including Still Life with Breadcrumbs and Object Lessons. | |
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|