Vacation Reads!

Cristina Rivera Garza’s sister, Liliana, was in college when she was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. Decades later, Cristina goes to Mexico City in search of her sister’s case file. But when the police inform her that Liliana’s case file was lost, she decides to make a sort of file of her own, an act to force the world to bear witness to her sister’s life. The rest of the book is memories that Rivera Garza has of her sister while they were growing up. We learn about all the squabbles they had as kids and all the love they shared as they got older. Rivera Garza also interviews Liliana’s friends from college in Mexico City. This way, Rivera Garza creates a collection of snapshots of her sister’s life leading up to the time of her death. This incredible memoir is one of the best memoirs I’ve read this year. It’s truly a stunning testament of sisterly love.

Pushkin has released a new audiobook of Mary Oliver’s incredible essay collection, Upstream. Hala Alyan, Joy Sullivan, and Kate Baer read different sections of the collection, each introducing their portion with some personal thoughts on why they treasure Oliver’s writing. The collection itself is a meditation on the natural world. Oliver writes her prose with a poet’s eye for word choice, each sentence carefully crafted. I’d never read Mary Oliver before, so Upstream was such a perfect choice as an introduction to Oliver’s work. So if you’re looking for a place to start reading Oliver’s extensive backlist, I’d definitely recommend you start with Upstream. And if you’re already familiar with her work, Pushkin’s new audiobook edition of this essay collection is a must listen.