Author: Erica Ezeifedi

This is one that The New York Times, The Washing Post, and Amazon all say was one of the bests of the year. It’s also an Oprah Book Club pick and a book I already mentioned as a most-anticipated read for this fall. Well, I still haven’t read it, but I just might need to bump it up the list a bit.

It’s a retelling of David Copperfield, but with its critique of poverty, it feels like more somehow? Charles Dickens’ inspiration for David Copperfield was his own experiences with poverty as a child in England, and here, Kingsolver writes about a boy who grows up in the United States’ Appalachia. He’s the son of a single mother and survives foster care, bad schools, addictions, and other traumas endemic in poor, forgotten areas.

The NYT and Barnes & Noble both have this book on their lists. In it, science journalist Yong paints a vivid picture of all that can be sensed in the world. Turtles can outline the Earth’s magnetic fields, giant squids see sparkling whales, plants hold the songs of courting insects, and there are even humans who use sonar like bats. I love books that show how rewarding it is to step outside of our own, singular experiences as humans. This is definitely on my list.

Trust appears on The NYT’s, The Washington Post’s, and was even long listed for this year’s Booker Prize. Diaz was also a finalist for the Pulitzer for fiction and other awards. Suffice to say, my mans can write, and his latest is a layered story. There’s a book titled Bonds that tells a seemingly fictionalized story of a couple rising to wealth and status in the ’20s. But the main character of the novel has a lot in common with the real world (real world in the book, that is. Layers!) investor Andrew Bevel. If the novel was based off of a real person, are the rumors of how they got their money true? And did the mental health of the tycoon’s wife really decline? Now, one woman sets out to discern fact from fiction.

The NYT and WaPo both have this one on their lists. Hsu writes of the friendship he had in college with Japanese American Ken. He and Ken became close friends despite their seemingly immense differences — Ken was mainstream while Hsu was more of a rebel. Their friendship came to an abrupt end when Ken was killed during a carjacking only a couple years after they met. Stay True is a tribute to this relationship — it’s about coming of age as an outsider and finding where you belong.

I know this is pretty simple, but I also thought it was a really good idea when I first saw it. I’ve already tried it and it really is a simple, delicious thing to have, and of course, you can use whatever fruit you like! You just need fruit, honey/agave, and coconut whip cream (I bought mine premade, but I’m sure fresh is even better). I also think it would be a good idea to let the fruit sit for at least 30 minutes with the honey/agave to let the flavors meld (but of course not if you use fruit that browns). It’s pretty straight forward — you just finely chop fruit and add it to coconut whip cream — but here’s the original video, anyway.

I already love soup, especially around this time of year. The addition of corn dumplings makes my southern heart sing. The history of the three sisters — corn, beans, and squash — also holds a special place in Indigenous histories. I haven’t made this yet, but judging by the ingredients, it seems like it’ll have a slight chili taste. Well, actually just judging by the cumin because cumin very easily makes everything taste like chili to me. Follow the recipe here.

You may have heard of the botanist/author Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, a book in which she extols the virtues of looking to plants and animals as teachers, a traditionally Potawatomi Nation perspective. This young adult version does the same thing, just in a way that is more accessible to younger readers (plus there are illustrations!).

Whew, what an intense story Terese packed into a mere 143 pages! After reading this memoir, I almost feel like I can call the author by her first name. Her writing was so personal and raw, after finishing the book, I felt like we needed to go get drinks somewhere and decompress. She talks about growing up on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the PNW, her PTSD and bipolar II diagnoses, her problematic relationship, and childhood abuse. Her writing was poetic, fluid, and pulled no punches. Y’all aren’t ready.

The encampment at Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota grew into the largest Indigenous protest movement of the century. In Our History Is the Future, Estes chronicles the history of Indigenous protest that led to standing Rock, and what it might lead to in the future.

Justice speaks on the states of Indigenous literature and Indigenous literature studies, and how necessary they are in dismantling a culture of colonialism. Indigenous writers do this by asking existential and interpersonal questions, and by doing so, challenge colonialist policies that have driven wedges between Indigenous people and their connections to each other and the land.