Staff Picks from the Green Table: Jill
Our Children’s Buyer on nine treasured titles.
Each month, a different Literati Bookstore staff member curates a table of favorite reads and recommendations. For March, Children's Buyer Jill Zimmerman surveys some of her favorite recent titles in the store.
See Jill talk about these titles in the video below.
Far from the Tree, by Robin Benway
Robin Benway won the National Book Award for this fantastic realistic young adult novel. I’m going to warn you: this one is a tear-jerker, but in the best possible way. Sixteen-year-old Grace, having given up her own baby for adoption, seeks out her biological mother and half-siblings, Joaquin and Maya. In alternating chapters, we meet all three teens and learn how their very different family placements have affected them. particularly Joaquin whose father was Latino. Just as the siblings begin to grow closer, they pull back emotionally and keep secrets from each other for fear of being rejected. Sad, yes, but also funny and hopeful, this is a book about learning to trust that some people really can be counted upon to stand by you.
The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
If you read the description of this book on its back cover, or posted here on our website, you will have a pretty good idea of the plot. What that simple plot description doesn’t convey is the fantastic character development, which is what I really loved. The main characters include: a girl named Ada overcoming a history of abuse and learning to trust adults; her younger brother, who misses his mother even though she neglected him; and a woman overcoming her own personal grief in order to offer her imperfect but much needed love to these children. This was a wonderful read, for adults and kids alike, and the sequel, The War I Finally Won, is also great!
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I have been an avid reader of Coates’ work for a very long time, back to when he was a relatively unknown author and blogger. At the time, he was moderating one of the most interesting online discussion groups, nicknamed The Horde, covering issues of race, comic books, the Civil War, and popular culture. Then he published his now-famous piece on reparations for The Atlantic (included in this volume), and suddenly everyone was talking about Coates and his writing. This collection includes eight previously published essays, one for every year of the Obama presidency, each with a new introduction detailing both Coates’ thinking at the time he wrote them, and now looking back. If you want to understand where we are in the United States, and how we got here, especially in terms of race, this is a must-read.
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser
I was that kid, the one who read and re-read the Little House books obsessively. Eventually I had to be forbidden from discussing them at the dinner table. I also devored every biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder I could find. As such, I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about her. Having now read this masterful new book by Caroline Fraser, I know I was wrong. Fraser covers Laura’s life- especially her development as a writer and sometimes turbulent relationship with her daughter Rose- more thoroughly and thoughfully than I’ve seen anywhere else. But you don’t need to be a devoted LIW fan to enjoy this book. Fraser does a wonderful job of setting Laura’s life within the broader American historical context. Prairie Fires’ place on the NYT 2017 Best 10 Books of the Year list was very well-deserved.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, by Roxane Gay
You probably don’t need one more person telling you to read Roxane Gay, but on the off chance you haven’t yet, allow me to join the choir of her fans. Rarely have I met an author who is more poised and seemingly confident in person than on the page, but in Gay’s case, it’s true. In this memoir- a meditation on her life-long struggle to be comfortable in her body after being sexually assaulted as a girl- her voice is honest, self-doubting, and vulnerable. It’s often painful to read, but I’ve never encountered another memoir quite like it. This was one of my very favorite books of 2017.
Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds
Here’s what it says inside the dust jacket, because I can’t say it any better myself:
“Jason Reynolds is crazy. About stories.
Jason Reynolds is also tired. Of being around young people who are tired of feeling invisble. So he writes books (a bunch of books) and has even won some awards, but none of them are as important as a young person saying they feel seen. The more that happens, the less tired Jason is.”
Isn’t this what reading is all about? Seeing yourself in a book and feeling seen? Seeing someone else who is maybe not at all like you, and then maybe they feel seen?
Read this book.
Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
This book is not only my favorite Sedaris collection, which is really saying something, it is also the funniest book I have ever read. I have a distinct memory of tuning in to NPR one day years ago, just in time to hear Sedaris reading “Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities.” In this story, a young David tries to impress his short-statured guitar teacher Mr. Mancini by singing the Oscar Mayer jingle in the style of Billie Holiday. My husband and I laughed until we cried. From the now infamous tale of Sedaris’ demanding French teacher, to one about his stint as a writing instructor in Chicago, every single essay here is an instant classic and a joy to read.
Anything Is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout
Anything is Possible merges the interlocking story form of Olive Kitteridge with the characters from My Name is Lucy Barton. No one captures both the decency and cruelty of small towns the way that Strout does: the kindness of a school janitor or guidance counselor bestows on an impoverished child, but also the merciless taunts that child must endure. Mothers and daughters are a frequent theme, too, and Mississippi Mary, a story near the center of the book, about a woman visiting her mother in Italy, just might break your heart. In fact, every story in this amazing collection is about the events that can make or break us- war, abuse, poverty, illness- and how the characters are able to respond. Some choose kindness, some just act in their own self-interest, and some don’t seem like they have any choice in the matter at all. I loved this marvelous book and you should absolutely read it.
The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memoir, by Dee Williams
I’m a little bit obsessed with tiny houses. And by a little, I really mean a lot. I’m not kidding. And of all the books, blogs, and how-to guides I’ve read, this is the best. Author Dee Williams was living a fairly typical suburban life in the Pacific Northwest when she was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition. Taking stock of her life, she decides, like so many of us, that she just has too much stuff. She builds herself a new tiny home on wheels and a new life, in the process finding a new happiness, “one that isn’t tied so tightly to being comfortable (or having money or property), but instead to a deeper sense of satisfaction- to a sense of humility and gratitude.” A worthy goal for us all, I would say.
