Sponsored by What They Meant for Evil by Rebecca Deng published by FaithWords, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Many stories have been told about the famous Lost Boys, but now for the first time, a Lost Girl shares her hauntingly beautiful and inspiring story. One of the first unaccompanied refugee children to enter the U.S. in 2000, after South Sudan’s second civil war took the lives of most of her family, Rebecca’s story begins at the age of four, when her village was attacked. Fleeing from gunfire and dodging life-threatening predators and soldiers alike, her story is a captivating portrait of a child hurled into wartime, and how she came to America and found a new life.
Hello! It’s Friday! That is something to celebrate, dear nonfiction friends. I was supposed to go hiking with a friend this weekend, but the forecast looks like rain… I’m sad about missing nature, but perhaps that will mean more time for books!
This week’s nonfiction news feels like a preview for the rest of what we’ll be seeing in 2019 – book prize announcements and political scandals. Let’s just get into it!
This week, the finalists for the Kirkus Prize were announced. Although this prize may not be well-known outside literary circles, the cash money is huge – $50,000 each for the winners in fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature. I’m excited about the nonfiction list:
- Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib
- When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl’s Book by Naja Marie Aidt, translated by Denise Newman
- How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones
- Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
- The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri
- No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder
I’ve only read one – No Visible Bruises – but several of the others have been on my list this year. The TBR grows!
The New York Times is facing some criticism over their coverage of a new nonfiction book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh by reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly. The paper decided to run an excerpt of the book in the book review section, but the excerpt alleges some additional serious accusations against Kavanaugh. According to Vanity Fair, “Sources say Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly initially pitched their reporting to the news side, but top editors ultimately felt that there wasn’t enough juice to warrant a story there—punting the scoop to the Sunday Review section.” And there’s a lot more beyond that concern – definitely check out the article for more.
Edward Snowden is being sued by the U.S. government. The Verge reported that the Justice Department has filed a civil lawsuit against Snowden to try and recover the proceeds of his memoir, Permanent Record. They allege that because the book was not submitted to intelligence agencies for review, Snowden has improperly released information and shouldn’t benefit from the book. This whole thing just makes me laugh.
And that’s the news for this week. You can find me on Twitter @kimthedork, on email at kim@riotnewmedia.com, and co-hosting the For Real podcast here at Book Riot. Happy reading! – Kim