Spring Reading 2022 Nonfiction

This book is part of our Spring Reading Challenge. Read more here.

LaPointe’s memoir hits every high mark of storytelling and truth-telling for me. It is beautifully written, elegantly structured, and immediately likable, with a straightforwardness that belies its lyricism. Red Paint traces the path of one young woman back to herself, strengthened by her love of the Pacific Northwest, its punk scene, the healing women in her Coast Salish ancestry, and the call to write her way home. It is a good read, an important work, and an exquisite piece of art – a rare combination I cannot recommend highly enough. —Melinda

This book is part of our Spring Reading Challenge. Read more here.

Written by the legendary actor himself, Danny Trejo reveals an origin story that reads like a Hollywood epic. Growing up steeped in crime and drug use, Trejo finds meaning in life after a decade in prison, and transforms himself. Told with heart, humor, and the wisdom of a life lived, Trejo shows readers that you don’t have to be mean to be tough, and in the end, leaves you hoping for a sequel.—Aric

This book is part of our Spring Reading Challenge. Read more here.

You’ve never read anything quite like this, and I can’t wait to share it with you. Elissa Washuta, Cowlitz Indian Tribe member, witch, and millennial, has used her considerable literary talents to channel a sampling of her haunted thoughts and soul into essays that are funny, poignant, at times painfully familiar—from childhood memories and heritage, to heartbreak, magic, Stevie Nicks, and Twin Peaks—ultimately connecting to a greater, powerful whole. Whoever you are you’ll find something to entertain and resonate in these pages.—Jocelyn

Looking at the Pixar movie Inside Out and the songs of Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen, Bittersweet examines why melancholy art makes us feel so inspired. Cain (author of the bestseller Quiet) shines a light on sadness and creativity much in the way her last book redefined introversion. This is the perfect book to help you move all of the longing and grief felt in the world today into something transcendent, like a cold and very broken Hallelujah. —Jason

I stumbled across my first Whole Earth Catalog in the 1990s and was instantly entranced by its weird eco-futurism disguised behind a mail order catalog that was laced with nuggets of hippie literature and surrealist art. Before reading this biography, I had no idea how this strange cultural phenomena came about, but quickly learned it was all thanks to a former Merry Prankster and iconoclast, Stuart Brand. Brand’s vision and offbeat ventures inspired hippies and helped give vision to Silicon Valley icons like Steve Jobs. This is an fascinating read into one of the more interesting, but largely unseen, influences of post-war American culture. Also good for those interested in how San Francisco went from weird artist enclave to Silicon Valley hub. —Ed

Chloé Cooper Jones is witty and unapologetic as she crushes society’s fragile definitions of traditional beauty and disability. Navigating marginalizing spaces, international pity, chronic pain, and motherhood, Easy Beauty is an intimate portrait of reclamation and self-acceptance—hers is a life worth living. From the classical beauty of Roman sculpture gardens to radical self-acceptance in hometown bars, Easy Beauty is the bold intersection of Eat, Pray, Love and The Body is Not an Apology. —Charlotte

Through disconnection and destruction, modern life and technology have uprooted us from nature. Wilderness guide and essayist Sicelo Mbata’s melodic and intimate tales of Zulu culture and South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park deepen our fleeting connections with nature. For Mbata, wilderness is medicine, teacher, and spiritual guide. Black Lion is an emotional and humble reminder of the deep intersectionality of spiritual well-being and natural spaces. —Charlotte

If you’re looking for a serious meditation on writing, this is it. From what writing meant to her as a child to how she creates her characters, bestselling author Elena Ferrante (My Brilliant Friend) dives into her relationship with the craft she is famous for. The book is both exciting and informative as it gives a behind the scenes look at how challenging yet rewarding writing can be. —Ian

Acclaimed environmental activist Leah Thomas has put together an expert and necessary introduction into the ways climate change has most aggressively impacted marginalized communities while simultaneously pinpointing the ways those same voices have historically been ignored within environmentalism movements. The Intersectional Environmentalist is the ultimate guide to addressing some of the planet’s most pressing issues by dismantling privilege and uplifting the voices at the center of these issues which often go unheard. —Magnolia