Jocelyn's Reviews

As soon as I started reading this book, I wanted to send it to every community leader I know. Eric Klinenberg advocates for “social” infrastructure—physical spaces such as parks, libraries, pedestrian walkways, even bookstores and coffee shops—to create positive, practical change. Klinenberg presents tested evidence that these spaces not only create “community,” but also measurably reduce crime, fight poverty, improve education, combat climate change, help families, and increase life expectancy. Want to make a functional difference? Start here. - Jocelyn

It’s been a year since Hurricane Maria tore through the United States territory of Puerto Rico, destroying homes, power and water, ultimately causing 2,975 deaths. Chef Jose Andres vividly brings the disaster back as he depicts weeks of running a growing network of private chefs and restaurants that ultimately fed thousands a day, as the US government failed. Part memoir, part manifesto, reading this re-incited anger, but also hope that there are good people, and inspiration for a better way when disaster strikes. - Jocelyn

A new novel in the old style of speculative fiction, answering “What if?” with real-world science and a social conscience. Mary Robinette Kowal has penned a thoroughly believable 1950’s where humanity must suddenly race to space for weightier motivations than a Cold War. Elma York, WWII pilot, computer, reluctant spokeswoman, will face disaster, loss, ignorance (her own and others’), social injustice, and disbelief in science to guarantee our survival among the stars, and that all are included. - Jocelyn

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jessica Battilana is very aware of her repertoire—the recipes she knows by heart that she can always go to for something to eat. Now she’s sharing her standards with us. Each recipe has basic ingredients and instructions and is meant for experimentation and personalization. She introduces each with an explanation about why it’s in her repertoire and with tips on how to experiment with it. Whether you’re proud of your own repertoire or wondering when you’ll learn to cook, this is a great place to expand. - Jocelyn

Anna-Lisa Cox illuminates how the American frontier, originally established as a bastion of freedom and equality in the spirit of the Revolutionary War, opened the way for black men and women who were able to establish thriving farms, businesses, and communities, all while resisting theft, violence, death, and enslavement. Inspirational and harrowing, this is an important book that helps acknowledge the debt this country owes those Americans and their descendants, still under siege, still creating many of the best parts of their home. - Jocelyn

Fifty-five years ago, Robert F. Kennedy, acknowledging the growing frustration of African Americans, sought out James Baldwin, who in turn brought together Kennedy, Lorraine Hansberry, Kenneth Clark, and Jerome Smith for a conversation about history, politics and race. With passion, unflinching honesty, and the eloquence of a Baptist minister, Michael Eric Dyson—in this moment of political divide and #blacklivesmatter—wants to revisit that conversation. Will you join him? - Jocelyn

A secondhand book dealer finds a small volume of poetry in a bargain bin with a love letter between two British soldiers in World War II enclosed within it. So begins a search for the past and a story of love and war. Moments in time are but stanzas, breaths of connection and emotion and memory in a longer epic whose whole we can’t see all at once. All a glimpse of a beautiful mystery I hope Ian McDonald will soon explore further. - Jocelyn

Anthony Horowitz is both author and character in The Word Is Murder. The murder of a film star’s mother the day she’s arranged her funeral brings Horowitz himself into a mystery referencing Google-able reality but seeming too pat. Of course, Horowitz admits to his role as unreliable narrator, to allowing his desire to write compelling narrative win over real-life criminal facts. The result is layers of mystery, from murder to reality itself. I curse Horowitz for playing with me, but I’m still turning things over in my mind. - Jocelyn

Do you want to laugh uncomfortably? Awkwardly empathize? Be absolutely charmed? Full-page personal ads and the adventures of the lonely but undaunted teenage Tobias build one side of Erin Nations’ world, while customer service, memories of growing up a triplet, and honest reflections on being trans and transitioning introduce us to Nations himself. I am both uncomfortable and too comfortable in reading Gumballs because it feels so familiar to me, kindness and weirdness and all; it feels like home. - Jocelyn

Sitting in a French clinic waiting for her future, Kimia Sadr unravels layers of history: her own, her family’s, and Iran’s. History, culture, exile and immigration, oppression and free speech, love and sexuality, family and motherhood, Kimia’s story dances between the personal and the global and the epic. Stories beget memories beget stories, landing in a true, magical journey that I loved, that I want to put in everyone’s hands and minds now. - Jocelyn