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The way this country reviles people in need of government assistance has always appalled me. As a child of parents who have, at one time or another been those people, Maid resonated. Land thoughtfully recounts her experiences being a working mom with no support and abusive partners, proving yet again how this country is built on the backs of the invisible and ignored. - Karena
Countering the assumption of the Middle Ages as stagnant and prejudiced, Menocal explores the diverse, flourishing world of Muslim Spain. I was fascinated by the cultural exchange between Muslims, Christians, and Jews that nourished such unique art, poetry, philosophy, and architecture. Beautiful history writing with a hopeful message. - Clara
Friends, this is it. This is the book we’ve been waiting for. And now I can’t get it out of my head, and the pit of my stomach, and my aching heart. It is that good, that gorgeous, that brutal, surreal, tender, enlightening, bitingly funny, and unbelievably truthful. And it’s short stories, so I urge you to savor them one at a time, if you can. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is here, and I say not a moment too soon. - Melinda
The rough and tumble lives of the five Dunbar brothers include a house without a father or mother, a pet mule named Achilles, and daily tests of brute strength and will that end in bloody feet and black eyes. Still, the love between brothers is something no one can come between—until a figure from their past returns to break one brother apart from the rest. Markus Zusak, acclaimed author of The Book Thief, spins a heartbreaking tale of boys and men, mothers and fathers, pain and the space for forgiveness. Ages 14 and up. - Tera
At the age of 30, Jedidiah Jenkins decided to “happen to life” instead of letting life happen to him and embarked on an 18-month bike trip from Oregon to Patagonia. The resulting book is both a delightful adventure and a thoughtfuljourney into his own soul. Travel frees him to make unencumbered relationships with his past, his spirituality, his identity, his family, and his sense of self in ways that leave me feeling alive, inspired, and ready to pack my own bags. - Melinda
Unlike some celebrity memoirs that focus on art and fame, actress Sally Field’s memoir is much more personal, and includes her life before she was famous. She reveals that as a child, she was sexually abused by her stepfather and talks about how that shaped her decisions regarding her partnerships, which roles she took, and even how she mothered. As an artist, she was drawn to the roles that “spoke of outrage,” but in writing her memoir, you can feel the connection that Field has found with herself. - S.M.C.
How does she do it? How does Anne Lamott capture the tension of mystery and truth in a way that makes you want to follow her anywhere and believe everything? If you opened this book to any random page you’d find something you’d feel compelled to read aloud to the stranger at the next table. Her familiar writing style spreads a blanket in the sun, lays out trinkets for you to consider, then gathers up the corners, ties it to a stick, sets it on your shoulder, and nudges you to walk on with hope. -Jenny
For years, I was obsessed with the Nag Hammadi Library, or Gnostic Gospels, and Princeton’s professor of religion Elaine Pagels is by far the leading authority on the subject. In this memoir, Pagels retells the story of her life and examines the questions she faced her entire career, from others and herself: How can an academic believe in religion, and what place does religion have in the modern world? - Aric
Where is your hearth? What do you return to over and over, to ground yourself, to center your community? What happens when your hearth is lost or is endangered? What can we carry with us? This inspiring anthology explores these questions through pieces by Terry Tempest Williams, Pico Iyer, Luís Alberto Urrea, Chigozie Obioma, Sebastião Salgado, and more—each bringing their own truths to the table, to warm at the fire. What is created is sacred, hopeful, and communal, at a time we need it most. - Melinda
This is a memoir of a faith experience gone too far, in which a teenage girl from a small Northern California town feels drawn to the charisma and community of a Pentecostal church but eventually finds herself isolated—from other church members, from her family, her friends, her own previous joys and even sometimes from God. Gelsinger gives an affecting insight into the experience of young people in strict evangelist communities. -a.c.
