From my spot on the couch, I can see my TBR wall. It spans across the sunroom, creating a nook that’s the perfect place for the Corgis to stash their toys. I deeply respect folks aspiring for a “zero TBR” as we call it in the bookish world. But for me, I know I will also have a host of volumes clamoring to be read. And I’m okay with that. It’s the middle of May and new releases keep coming! History, nature writing, cookbooks, and unconventional memoirs — this week has it all! How does one even start?
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Bookish Goods
Embroidered I Closed My Book To Be Here Sweatshirt by Candacenegro
This might be the most delightful embroidered sweatshirt that I have seen yet! $20+
New Releases
The Story Game by Shze-Hui Tjoa
The Story Game is an imaginative personal narrative that starts with Hui telling stories to a little girl. Hui goes into detail about her marriage, her life as the child of immigrants, and her mental health. However, Hui struggles to remember certain events from her life. What is it that she can’t remember, and why is Hui telling this girl her story in the first place?
Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier by Robert G. Parkinson
With a nod to Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, author Robert G. Parkinson describes the imperialism that led to the settling of North America. Parkinson tosses out the rose-colored glasses and notes that the colonization of America was violent, ill-planned, and extremely destructive. Parkinson’s new book destroys the myth of the founding of the United States and reveals its dark history.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
This week for Riot Recs, we’re celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month!
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
In one of my favorite memoirs of all time, T Kira Madden shares her experience growing up as a multiracial girl in Boca Raton, Florida. While she comes from a wealthy family, her parents experience addiction, causing a lot of emotional instability in her childhood. In college, she begins to realize that she’s queer, family secrets come to light, and she starts to understand herself in whole new ways. The prose is incredible, and each essay-like chapter is all-engrossing from the first few paragraphs.
Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia
As an Appalachian, I’m always looking for more stories from the region. One of my favorite Appalachian books this year is Neema Avashia’s Another Appalachia. In her memoir, Avashia shares the experience growing up as a queer South Asian woman in West Virginia. While Avashia loves her home state, being West Virginian is complicated. The same people she grew up with, who she considers as close as family, now declare how much they dislike immigrants. When she points out that she and her family are immigrants, these same people reply, “You and your family don’t count.” Avashia’s essays are a beautiful testament to the complex realities of being from Appalachia.
That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, on TikTok @kendrawinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy reading, Friends!
~ Kendra