#nonfiction

Books read in February 2022

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson

THE HURTING KIND by Ada Limón

THE CRYING BOOK by Heather Christle

Here’s my big old 2021 book roundup . I think graphic novels and nonfiction (!) really stood out this year (and a handful of picture books, which I didn’t draw each month because I’d be painting for another entire year).

@wayfarers97 tagged me to post 3-5 books I want to read next year, and I had the hardest time figuring out which books to pick! I usually just wing it and grab whatever is in my floor pile or go on hold sprees at the library. But then I remembered some upcoming books that will publish this year that I’m eagerly anticipating.

-Solnit because I’ll always read her stuff, and I lucked into a copy of Orwell’s Roses recently and should probably get around to reading it in January.

-The upcoming Nevermoor book should come out in September!

-Mina, Matt Forsythe’s next picture book (out in spring) looks to be in the style of Pokko, which I absolutely loved.

-My friend recently got me hooked on The Inheritance Games, which we both found out is mystery trilogy (curses! I hate a mystery trilogy! I don’t like the unanswered suspense! This is a repeat of what happened with the Truly Devious trilogy. *cries*) and not a duology. So now, like a dummy, I’m waiting for the third book to come out in August.

Tagging anyone who’s up for sharing 2022 tbrs! (@the-forest-library, if you want to do this one!)

Books read in November 2021

ALONE by Megan E. Freeman

BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott

THE APOTHECARY by Maile Meloy

BIRDS ART LIFE by Kyo Maclear

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Unintentionally mostly read bird books all month

Links are to my staff pick reviews on Avid Bookshop’s website

Thanks for tagging me, @wayfarers97! ( @the-forest-library, you’re up–favorite books of 2021!)

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Fiction

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

In Other Landsby Sarah Rees Brennan

Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez

Take Me Home Tonight by Morgan Matson

Not Here to be Liked by Michelle Quach

Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Graphic Novels

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (this might be my favorite book of the year, if I had to pick a #1)

It’s Not What You Thought it Would Be by Lizzy Stewart

The Postman From Space by Guillaume Perrault

The Accursed Vampire by Madeline McGrane 

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illus. by Lisa Sterle

Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall by Gillian Goerz

Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughn, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson

Lightfallby Tim Probert

Nonfiction

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You by Janelle Shane (but go check out Because Internetfirst!)

The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit

Birds, Art, Life, Death by Kyo Maclear

Picture Books

Ten Little Dumplings by Larissa Fan, illus. by Cindy Wume

Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates by Cheryl Klein, illus. by Abhi Alwar

When You Look Up by Decur

Sato the Rabbit, a Sea of Tea by Yuki Ainoya

comicgeekscomicgeek:

siderealsandman:

merylisk:

hlwim:

ugh how the fuck do you cover letter

Greetings, Exalted One. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and friend to Captain Solo.

I know that you are powerful, mighty Jabba, and that your anger with Solo must be equally powerful. I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo’s life.

With your wisdom, I’m sure that we can work out an arrangement which will be mutually beneficial and enable us to avoid any unpleasant confrontation.

As a token of my goodwill, I present to you a gift: these two droids. Both are hardworking and will serve you well.

1. Polite greeting (Greetings, Exalted One)
   
2. Self-Introduction (I am Luke Skywalker) 
   
3. Establish Credentials (Jedi Knight) 
   
4. Explain how you learned of this opportunity (Friend to Captain Solo) 
5. Establish Purpose (I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo’s life.)
6. Show what you can bring to the organization ( I present to you a gift: these two droids. Both are hardworking and will serve you well.)

This actually maps really well.

Behind the Scenes: “Face to Face with Clara Barton” by Christopher Cyr

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

It Didn’t Start With You by Mark Wolynn

Photo by Pete Souza courtesy of the Barack Obama Presidential Library

Barack ObamaandBruce Springsteen started a podcast in February – called Renegades, it’s a series of conversations between the two originally recorded during the first wave of the pandemic in summer 2020. And one recurring thread in those conversations is a shared passion: the love of their country, despite its flaws and troubled history (and present struggles).

Now those conversations have been turned into a book, full of personal photos, artifacts and notes alongside the words. Springsteen and Obama sat down with NPR’s Audie Cornish to talk about it – check out that conversation here!

– Petra

If you only know George Orwell as the dyspeptic, dystopian creator of Animal Farmand1984,you should absolutely pick up Rebecca Solnit’s new Orwell’s Roses,which takes the rose garden Orwell planted at a rented cottage in 1936 as a jumping-off point to explore all kinds of questions. “For example,” writes reviewer Ilana Masad, “What was 1936 like politically, socially, and economically in England? Where was Orwell in his career then? Or: What did his given name signify and what history did it carry? What significance lay in his chosen nom de plume that over time was used by friends and family as well? And even: What does it mean to plant roses?”

Check out the full piece here!

– Petra

Today on NPR’s Book of the Day – it’s football season so it’s a great time to revisit Keyshawn Johnson’s conversation with Morning Edition’s A Martinez about his new book The Forgotten First, all about trailblazing Black football players. (Your faithful editor is D.C. born and raised, so this is a good, but painful read.) Check it out here!

– Petra (who still hasn’t forgiven her mom for throwing out her kid-size Art Monk jersey 35 years ago)

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham – who notably did not hold any public press briefings during her tenure – is the latest Trump aide to write a tell-all book.

Our own White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe saysI’ll Take Your Questions Nowstands out from the pack of Trump tell-alls, “because in a White House where turnover was constant, she managed to go from the campaign to working in the White House and remained there for almost all of Trump’s presidency” – and yet Grisham maintains a curious distance from her subjects.

“At times the book almost reads like a tale of a working class woman grappling with over-the-top demands from a mercurial rich couple that employs her — not the story of a top government official who represented the leader of the free world,” Rascoe writes. Check out her full review here!

– Petra

Dave Eggers – whose books include A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering GeniusandA Hologram for the King – has been helping kids with their writing for years through 826 Valencia, a nonprofit he co-founded in 2002. He tells our own Elizabeth Blair that he hopes the I, Witness series will help young readers grasp world events that might otherwise feel abstract.

It’s a series of mid-grade books written by kids (or people writing about their own experiences as kids) who’ve witnessed global traumas: hurricanes, terrorism, injustice. You can hear the whole story here.

– Petra