Category: True Story

It’s been several years since I first read Heart Berries, and I reread it a couple of years ago. So much of this memoir stays with me, and I keep thinking about how incredible it is in its craft and storytelling. Mailhot is from the Seabird Island Band, and the memoir starts with Mailhot in a mental health facility, trying to work through traumatic parts of her past. She takes us back through her memories, weaving in and out, touching moments in her history that she’d rather forget. This memoir is a stunning example of the genre.

In this graphic memoir, author Teresa Wong describes her experience with postpartum depression, and her struggle to find effective treatment for her condition. Having a baby comes with a lot of expectations of how a person should act and feel. There’s a societal expectation that they will be happy, that every discomfort is worth it because you just had a baby. That should just be a wonderful experience across the board, right? But that’s not how it went for Wong. She found herself stuck in a fog of intense depression, making it incredibly difficult for her to find a medical professional who would even acknowledge her condition, let alone work with her to find the appropriate treatment.

In the fall of 2023, Dr. Ned Blackhawk won the National Book Award for Nonfiction for The Rediscovery of America, his history of North America that intentionally centers the perspective of Indigenous Peoples. From the colonialism of New Spain to Native American Sovereignty in the Cold War Era, Dr. Blackhawk details the major events that impacted the lives of Native Nations. Dr. Blackhawk also notes what non-Indigenous scholars have often missed or underappreciated in their work that centers colonialists in their histories of the United States. The Rediscovery of America is a must-read for any history lover.

Isabel Wilkerson is such an incredible writer and researcher. I adored The Warmth of Other Suns and couldn’t wait to pick up her next book. In Caste, she compares America’s systemic racism to the Caste systems in India and Nazi Germany. She argues that America has a similar caste system, just by a different name. I really appreciated her insight. Her writing is always thought-provoking, but Caste asks readers to reconsider how they view America’s history of racism. It’s definitely a read you won’t want to miss.

When Sloane Crosley’s best friend dies by suicide, she finds herself adrift, lost and confused. Like many of Russell’s friends and family, Crosley had no idea that Russell was experiencing a mental health crisis. Over the course of Grief Is for People, Crosley goes over her relationship with Russell again and again, combing through old memories and looking for any signs of suicidal ideation or instability. But time and time again, all of Crosley’s memories of her friend seem normal, mundane even. She organizes the book by the stages of grief, slowly revealing her friendship with Russell piece by piece. Crosley met Russell when he hired her to work at Vintage, Knopf’s paperback imprint. I loved all of the gossipy, insider info that Crosley teases us with, giving us a respite from the much heavier, larger topic.

I love when poets write prose, and Saeed Jones is no exception. He writes so beautifully, with every sentence, every word, carefully chosen. His memoir follows his life growing up as a gay Black boy in the South, trying to find a place for himself when everyone around him kept telling him everything about him was wrong. He was too Black, too gay, too loud —always too much for the people around him, especially some of his family members. Jones has such a beautiful way of writing about his complex relationships with his mom and his grandmother, two women he loved dearly. It’s so difficult to love your family while also understanding that they don’t love ALL of you, just the parts they like. I can’t do this memoir justice, but let me tell you, if you’re a memoir lover, this one needs to be at the top of your list.

Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman is a hefty book, but well worth the time of sitting down with for hours. This book is a history of the ACT UP movement and centers itself in New York City. Schulman breaks down the information by topic, walking readers through the complex organization and reviewing the different challenges they faced during the height of the AIDS crisis. I was incredibly impressed by the amount of detail. And even though it’s quite the tome, I became engrossed in it from the first chapter.

One of the best biographies in recent years, The Dead Are Arising is an award-winning biography of Malcolm X. Les Payne worked on this book for decades, and when he passed, his daughter, Tamara Payne, continued his work and finished the book. The Dead Are Arising went on to receive dozens of accolades, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction. This is definitely a book you won’t want to miss!

Leslie Jamison has a way of writing a sentence that reads like magic. And this time, she’s writing about the birth of her daughter and her divorce from her daughter’s father. Splinters looks at Jamison’s splintered identity — as a daughter, mother, wife, girlfriend, artist, academic, writer — and how these many facets of who she is have informed her art. The memoir is divided up into different sections, each examining a state of mind or a phase in Jamison’s life. They build on one another, giving us a more complete picture of Jamison’s lived experience.

I love Ashley C. Ford’s writing, and back in 2021, I couldn’t get my hands on her memoir fast enough. Ford grows up feeling isolated and misunderstood. Her family says she’s overly sensitive, but her dad gets her. Except, her dad is in prison, and she’s not sure how he got there. This beautiful memoir of working through one’s trauma, learning to let go, and making a new, better life for oneself is incredible. Ford’s insights and observations invite readers to view the world and their own lives in a whole new way.

I adore Sam Maggs’ quirky sense of style in her illustrations, which makes this book so delightful. This adorable little book features so many incredible women throughout history. Wonder Women features scientists, adventurers, engineers, athletes, and so many more. I wish I’d had a book like this when I was a girl. It would have sparked my imagination, giving me a chance to see myself in so many different professions, so many possible futures. But even reading this for the first time in my late 20s, I felt so encouraged by how far women have come. Even with so far to go, I was so proud of all the things we have accomplished so far.

I love Ann Shen’s illustrations. I first found her on Instagram, so when I learned she had a book coming out, I knew I had to get my hot little hands on a copy. It’s a beautifully illustrated book featuring dozens of women who changed the world. Women who have bucked the system and fought for change have long been described as “bad girls.” Shen turns this label on its head, featuring women who used their talents to change the world for the better. If you are looking for the perfect beautiful book, this one is definitely a fantastic option.

I adored Laila Lalami’s The Moor’s Account. It’s one of my favorite pieces of historical fiction. So when I heard she was publishing a collection of essays, I knew I needed to get a hold of them as quickly as possible. Lalami’s essays examine her experience of moving to the US from Morocco to pursue the American Dream. She’d heard so much about the success one could achieve in America. But when she finally got here, and as she followed her path to U.S. citizenship, she began to rethink her initial assumptions. She starts to think that the American Dream is really only available for certain kinds of immigrants. Lalami is an incredible prose stylist with such sharp observational skills. I love how she crafts each essay to be its own unique gem, but they all add to the overarching theme of the collection.

Samra Habib grew up as an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan, eventually fleeing violence against people from their sect and finding refuge in Canada. At first, Habib thought that all their problems might be solved, but in their new country, they faced racism and Islamophobia. And as they grew up, they began to realize that they weren’t exactly straight. Habib writes their memoir with no fear of presenting themself as a messy, very flawed human being. They work through their sexuality and faith throughout their story, eventually coming to a place that works for them. Their story doesn’t end wrapped up in a pretty bow. Instead, it’s more untidy, glorious in its own imperfections. This is a queer memoir unlike anything I’ve ever read and definitely worth your time.

First up, Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper discusses the role of Black women’s anger in American culture. She also gives examples of what role her anger played in her own life and in the lives of Black women icons of popular culture. Her writing is full of the wisdom given to her by older Black women and what she wants to share with the next generation. She also reads the audiobook edition, creating an incredible listening experience as she narrates her writing in such a personal way that invites listeners to just sit down and have a seat as she drops some wisdom on us.

In her take on women’s anger, Chemaly looks at different aspects of women’s rage and how it has been treated throughout history. Each chapter examines a different topic around women’s anger — how it affects women’s health, how angry women have been treated throughout history, etc. Her writing is so clear and well-researched; there’s something new to learn in every chapter.

Lyz Lenz grew up in a conservative evangelical family and believed that if she did everything that she was told a “good” woman should do — stay “pure” until marriage, get married and obey her husband, have kids, etc. —that everything would work out for the best. But that’s not how her life went. Lenz writes how she was intensely unhappy in her marriage, and she stayed for all the wrong reasons. But once she got divorced and started life as a single mom, she found freedom. As Lenz tells us her story, she also includes research on divorce in America, asking why it is that 70% of divorces are instigated by women? And why are women pushed to get married in the first place? Lenz also launched a podcast to promote the book, which will give you a preview of the many different ideas that she presents in it.

And for our backlist nature writing title, we’re exploring the landscape of Taiwan. Jessica J. Lee’s mother immigrated from Taiwan to Canada, but Lee grew up knowing little about her mother’s family or their past. In her memoir, Lee travels back to Taiwan to learn more about how her mother’s family fled mainland China for Taiwan. Lee blends nature writing about the island along with her investigation into Taiwan’s history. She describes the unique animals and plant species that call the island their home. By researching her grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ lives, she learns more about her own origin story, better understanding herself along the way.

Saidiya Hartman writes incredibly beautiful prose. She describes the lives of young, urban Black women as they go about their lives. Hartman wanted to tell the story of the Black women she read about who were mentioned in passing or who appeared unnamed in photographs. She investigates their lives, researches their pasts, and invites readers to bear witness to these women all too often lost from history. This book is incredibly captivating and intricately crafted. I found myself mesmerized while wandering through the past.

I’ve read a lot of Leslie Jamison’s essays. Her sentences are incredibly well crafted, and her narrative voice draws me in like few others. So when I saw she had a full-length memoir/contemplation of the nature of alcoholism and art, I knew I had to read it. In The Recovering, she describes her experience with alcoholism, her slow acceptance that she needed to get sober, and the understanding that she couldn’t do it on her own. She examines so many moving parts; I wondered how she would stick the landing. But she does. And like so much of her writing that has stayed with me, The Recovering will as well.