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Staff Picks 2020: Nonfiction
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Postcolonial love poem
by Natalie Diaz
Laura's Pick:
Postcolonial Love Poem is an anthem of desire against erasure. Natalie Diaz's brilliant second collection demands that every body carried in its pages--bodies of language, land, rivers, suffering brothers, enemies, and lovers--be touched and held as beloveds. Through these poems, the wounds inflicted by America onto an indigenous people are allowed to bloom pleasure and tenderness.
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The look of the book : jackets, covers & art at the edges of literature
by Peter Mendelsund
Laura's Pick:
Why do some book covers instantly grab your attention, while others never get a second glance? Fusing word and image, as well as design thinking and literary criticism, this captivating investigation goes behind the scenes of the cover design process to answer this question and more.
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Just Us : An American Conversation
by Claudia Rankine
Laura's Pick & Lisa's Pick:
A collection of essays, poems, and images examine the power of whiteness in everyday interactions and urges readers to begin the conversation and discover what it takes to breach the silence and violence.
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Julia Watson : Lo-Tek; Design by Radical Indigenism
by Julia Watson
Laura's Pick:
With a foreword by anthropologist Wade Davis and four chapters spanning Mountains, Forests, Deserts, and Wetlands, this book explores thousands of years of human wisdom and ingenuity from 18 countries including Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, India, and Indonesia.
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Hidden Valley Road : inside the mind of an American family
by Robert Kolker
Lisa's Pick and Vickie's Pick:
Tells the heartrending story of a midcentury American family with 12 children, 6 of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science’s great hope in the quest to understand the disease.
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So you want to talk about race
by Ijeoma Oluo
Lisa's Pick:
A Seattle-based writer, editor and speaker tackles the sensitive, hyper-charged racial landscape in current America, discussing the issues of privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word.
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Untamed
by Glennon Doyle
Lisa's Pick and Melissa's Pick:
An activist, speaker and philanthropist offers a memoir wrapped in a wake-up call that reveals how women can reclaim their true, untamed selves by breaking free of the restrictive expectations and cultural conditioning that leaves them feeling dissatisfied and lost.
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The beauty in breaking : a memoir
by Michele Harper
Lisa's Pick:
A female, African American ER physician describes how her own life and encounters with her patients led her to realize that every human is broken and recognizing that and moving towards a place of healing can bring peace and happiness.
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Tears we cannot stop : a sermon to white America
by Michael Eric Dyson
Lisa's Pick:
Fifty years ago, when a white woman asked Malcolm X what she could do for the cause, he told her "Nothing." Now, Michael Eric Dyson believes he was wrong and responds that if society is to make real racial progress, people must face difficult truths--including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.
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Dancing with the octopus : a memoir of a crime
by Debora Harding
Vickie's Pick:
Traces the author’s remarkable counterintuitive healing journey in the aftermath of trauma, relating how she survived a violent abduction only to endure her family’s denial, an abandonment that compelled her to learn her imprisoned attacker’s story.
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Body leaping backward : memoir of a delinquent girlhood
by Maureen Stanton
Vickie's Pick:
The award-winning author of Killer Stuff and Tons of Money traces her self-destructive upbringing in a working-class prison town where her divorced mother turned criminal to support seven children while the author slipped into delinquency and addiction.
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Vesper flights : new and collected essays
by Helen Macdonald
Deanna's Pick:
The award-winning author of H Is for Hawk presents a collection of top-selected essays about humanity's relationship with nature, exploring subjects ranging from captivity and immigration to ostrich farming and the migrations of songbirds from the Empire State Building
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Dinner : changing the game
by Melissa Clark
Deanna's Pick:
A New York Times food columnist changes the way you look at dinner with 245 brand new, delicious recipes that are easy and quick enough to prepare on weeknights, including Jalapeno-Honey Steak, Maple Roasted Tofu and Blood Orange Chicken.
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Clanlands : whisky, warfare, and a Scottish adventure like no other
by Sam Heughan
Glynis's Pick:
From their faithful camper van to boats, kayaks, bicycles, and motorbikes, join stars of Outlander Sam and Graham on a road trip with a difference, as two Scotsmen explore a land of raw beauty, poetry, feuding, music, history, and warfare. In this story of friendship, finding themselves, and whisky, they discover the complexity, rich history and culture of their native country"
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Kitchen yarns : notes on life, love, and food
by Ann Hood
One Book Chelmsford 2020
A collection of personal essays and recipes by the best-selling author of The Knitting Circle reflects on the culinary experiences that shaped her Italian-American childhood and adult family life and includes the award-winning piece, "The Golden Silver Palate."
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