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Happy Almost-June! Yes, things in the world are still weird, but yes, you can also momentarily forget about it by reading about some new nonfiction! It’s why I’m here. I think release dates are gonna be wonky for a whiiile, but I’m double-checking them pretty much up to their date of release, so these should all be available as of writing this. Which is great! Because they look super interesting.
This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman by Ilhan Omar. Omar was born in Somalia, and when war broke out, she and her dad and siblings fled to its capital of Mogadishu, and then to a refugee camp in Kenya. After four years, they came to Virginia. Omar was 12, so this had been her life from eight till then. From that, she became a grassroots organizer, went to college, and was elected to represent Minnesota in Congress. This is her story of that journey.
The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone by Vivian Lee, MD. We all know there’s something wrong with the health care system. Dr. Lee says “The problem with the way medicine is practiced, she explains, is not so much who’s paying, it’s what we are paying for. Insurers, employers, the government, and individuals pay for every procedure, prescription, and lab test, whether or not it makes us better―and that is both backward and dangerous.” Her proposal to fix it is described as “realistic and optimistic,” two words you don’t see paired often.
Rainbow Revolutionaries: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History by Sarah Prager and Sarah Papworth. It’s almost Pride Month! Read some gay books! But for real, you’ve gotta love some brief biographies that launch you into learning more about amazing people. This one focuses on queer people around the world and, as is the trend with these, has some ~fun illustrations~, which I am all about. Huzzah!
Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food by Gina Rae La Cerva. Dang, I like this cover. Do you like anthropology and adVENTURE? La Cerva “embarks on a global culinary adventure to trace our relationship to wild food.” Love it, yes, great. She “reflects on how colonialism and the extinction crisis have impacted wild spaces, and reveals what we sacrifice when we domesticate our foods —including biodiversity, Indigenous and women’s knowledge, a vital connection to nature, and delicious flavors.” Look, I don’t know why I love books about the history / extinction of food, because I don’t cook, but I LOVE them. This looks super interesting.
The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson. Eels! They’re so weird! Apparently, scientists have also thought so for QUITE some time: “scientists and philosophers have, for centuries, been obsessed with what has become known as the “eel question”: Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether?” What are they indeed! Svensson looks into all this in…*dramatic pause*….The Book of Eels.
BOY, I cannot believe we’re at the end of May. Time is flyin’. As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.