Sponsored by Flatiron Books, publisher of Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran.
Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Displaced and The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the ‘80s, he finds solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery Tran ultimately finds refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes—and ultimately saves—him.
I hope you’re excited about new releases, ’cause I got a bunch. This week we have James Baldwin, we have astrology, we have pathogens, we have Val Kilmer because why not. ENJOY:
Everything Is Under Control: A Memoir With Recipes by Phyllis Grant. Ok, you’re maybe asking, who is Phyllis Grant? Well, as might be guessed from its subtitle, she is a CHEF. And a former dancer. And a food writer. Which leads us to this book! It reads like a series of snapshots, which is fun and different. She talks about her time as a dancer at Juilliard, her time cooking in NYC restaurants, meeting her husband, and moving to Berkeley, CA. It’s a quick appx. 200 page read. With recipes! Have you heard of lamb popsicles, because I hadn’t.
Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. The author starts with the idea that we are living in the “aftertimes,” meaning post-the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement and post-Obama. He looks to the brilliant James Baldwin and his similar time for answers, saying that “from that journey, Baldwin emerged with a sense of renewed purpose about the necessity of pushing forward in the face of disillusionment and despair.”
Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan. A dog book! Who doesn’t love a dog book? Ok, I don’t, because the dog eventually dies, and I cannot, BUT: Finney Boylan, author of She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders, as well as many others, is an excellent writer and I am promoting her gay dog book. Here she pairs “seven crucial moments of growth and transformation” with seven dogs. And look at that good boy on the cover. What a good boy.
Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens by Muhammad H. Zaman. If I wrote a book about the epic battle between people and pathogens, I’d feel like I really hit the nail on the head right about now. This focuses on superbugs, which most people have heard of in that vague “don’t use too much hand sanitizer because #superbugs” way. Zaman is here to give you FACTS and what we can do about it.
I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir by Val Kilmer. Confession: I’ve never seen Tombstone, but people seem so delighted by the quote that is also this book’s title, that I felt like I had to include it. I just hope he talks about his real starring role: Moses in the banger soundtrack film The Prince of Egypt. Avoid the cares of this world and learn more about Val Kilmer than you ever thought you’d know! Available now wherever books are sold.
Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars: Astrology, Our Icons, and Our Selves by Claire Comstock-Gay. It’s a breakdown of the zodiac signs! If there’s one thing I love, it’s correlating someone’s sign to their personality. And here’s a beautifully-covered book that helps with that. She posits that astrology signs are “more like mirrors that show us who we are, that give us an understanding of how to be and how to move through the world; how certain people do it differently, and what we can learn by studying them.” A+.
Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me by Sopan Deb. Deb, a writer for the New York Times and a standup comedian, opens the book talking about the disconnect he felt between his standup, which should lie in truth, and the reality of his family, which was fragmented. He goes on a journey to connect with his parents, learn who they are, and see if he can build bridges where none were before.
The Women With Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II by Katherine Sharp Landdeck. In the grand tradition of “the story of ladies doing hard things you wouldn’t expect them to do given the times in which they lived” comes the story of women Air Force pilots in World War II. Side note: Mildred Hemmons Carter, who graduated from Tuskegee at 19, applied for this program (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots or WASPs) and was rejected due to her race. The white women accepted into the program were released when the war was over, in a very League of Their Own-style move. Combat exclusion for women in the Air Force was lifted in 1993, and the first African American woman fighter pilot in the USAF was Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell in 2000. For more women in the Air Force stories, check out this book!
Stay inside if you can, nonfictionites. Wash your hands, wipe down your phone, and read read read (while also taking a break to prevent eye strain!). As always, you can find me on Twitter @itsalicetime and co-hosting the For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time! Enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.