|
|
Uncanny Valley
by Anna Wiener
What it is: a fast-paced memoir of author Anna Wiener's experiences working for a series of Silicon Valley startups.
Why you might like it: Though she's careful to avoid naming her former workplaces, Wiener's dishy context clues will have readers eager to figure it out for themselves.
Read it for: a glimpse of tech industry life that's equal parts humorous ("perks" included an office theme park and speakeasy) and horrifying (Wiener and other female employees were told to "trust karma" when they were passed up for promotions).
|
|
| All the Young Men: A Memoir of Love, AIDS, and Chosen Family in the American South by Ruth Coker Burks with Kevin Carr O'LearyWhat it's about: In 1980s Hot Springs, Arkansas, young single mom Ruth Coker Burks became an outcast in her conservative community when she began caring for dying AIDS patients.
Why you should read it: Coker Burks' candid account of her life in activism offers a bittersweet front-line perspective on the AIDS crisis.
Don't miss: The author burying men in her family's cemetery after their own families wouldn't claim them, eventually earning the moniker "Cemetery Angel" for her efforts. |
|
|
|
Fights : One Boy's Triumph over Violence by Joel Christian GillFights is the visceral and deeply affecting memoir of artist/author Joel Christian Gill, chronicling his youth and coming of age as a Black child in a chaotic landscape of rough city streets and foreboding backwoods
|
|
|
|
Untamed
by Glennon Doyle
Presents an inspirational memoir about the author who writes of divorcing her husband, finding love with Olympic soccer player Abby Wambach, and coming out to family and fans
|
|
Focus on: Black History Month
|
|
| Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother's Time, My Mother's Time, and... by Emily BernardWhat it is: a lyrical memoir in essays that examines author Emily Bernard's relationship to her Blackness and her Southern heritage.
Topics include: Bernard's interracial marriage and her adoption of twin girls from Ethiopia; her grandmother's Jim Crow-era Mississippi childhood.
Want a taste? "I am black -- and brown, too. Brown is the body I was born into. Black is the body of the stories I tell." |
|
| The Book of Delights by Ross GayWhat it is: National Book Critics Circle Award-winning poet Ross Gay's wide-ranging collection of 102 "essayettes" celebrating life's big and small joys.
Why it matters: Gay's engaging reflections on everything from race and masculinity to hobbies and popular culture offer a thought-provoking rejoinder to narratives that center on Black suffering. |
|
| This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist... by Morgan JerkinsWhat it is: the debut essay collection from ZORA editor Morgan Jerkins exploring the trials and triumphs of contemporary Black womanhood.
Why you should read it: Jerkins' thoughtful memoir offers a much-needed perspective on misogynoir in mainstream feminist spaces.
Try this next: Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper. |
|
| Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First... by Shane White(Re)introducing: Jeremiah Hamilton, Haiti-born Wall Street broker and America's richest Black man at the time of his death in 1875.
Read it for: a rags-to-riches tale largely forgotten by history.
Book buzz: Employing "superb scholarship and sprightly style" (Kirkus Reviews), Australian historian Shane White vividly depicts Hamilton and the cutthroat circles in which he operated. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|