BOOKS

An Intimate, Powerful, And Inspiring Memoir By The Former First Lady Of The United States
BOOKS

An Intimate, Powerful, And Inspiring Memoir By The Former First Lady Of The United States

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing st...
A Powerful, Revealing Story Of Hope, Love And Justice
BOOKS

A Powerful, Revealing Story Of Hope, Love And Justice

A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. “An amazing and heartwarming story, it restores our faith in the inherent goodness of humanity.” —Archbishop Desmond Tutu In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty–nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free. But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence—full of despair an...
This Book Is The International Story Of Our Times
BOOKS

This Book Is The International Story Of Our Times

#1 New York Times Bestseller - OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK - “Extraordinary.”—Stephen King “This book is not simply the great American novel; it’s the great novel of las Americas. It’s the great world novel! This is the international story of our times. Masterful.”—Sandra Cisneros También de este lado hay sueños. On this side too, there are dreams. Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to bro...
Tayari Jones’ Novel Is Perfectly Crafted To Be Read Aloud
BOOKS

Tayari Jones’ Novel Is Perfectly Crafted To Be Read Aloud

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy's time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together. This stirring love story is a pr...
Elizabeth Strout’s Book Is A Marvel
BOOKS

Elizabeth Strout’s Book Is A Marvel

Oprah calls her book club pick “one of those books that you start and don’t want to put down.” And whether or not you already know Olive Kitteridge—the prickly heroine Elizabeth Strout first introduced to the world in 2008—we’re certain that Olive, Again will make you fall in love with her little slice of the world. The book draws us into Olive’s richly layered inner life and explores the changing landscape—human and otherwise—of her small Maine town. Age has done very little to mellow Strout’s grump of a heroine, whose disdain for everything from “stupid” baby showers to uppity city people is channeled impeccably by actress Kimberly Farr. The Broadway regular creates vivid voices for all the other intriguing residents of Crosby, Maine, nailing Strout’s tricky shifts in character, tone,...
Janet Fitch’s Gripping First Novel
BOOKS

Janet Fitch’s Gripping First Novel

Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery - but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison. White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent wor...
4 essential reads – How Poetry Can Help People Get Through Hard Times
BOOKS

4 essential reads – How Poetry Can Help People Get Through Hard Times

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian American writer Ilya Kaminsky’s poem “We Lived Happily During the War” went viral across social media. Poetry can often help people make sense of the world in difficult times. For World Poetry Day, The Conversation U.S. has gathered four articles on the power of poetry. 1. Poetry gives people a voice In 1991, Kentucky poet Frank X. Walker coined the term “Affrilachian” after attending a poetry reading that featured several Black Appalachian poets. Amy M. Alvarez, assistant teaching professor of English at West Virginia University, and Jameka Hartley, an instructor of gender and race studies at University of Alabama, wrote on the history of how Black people in Appalachia found their voice in poetry. “By coining the terms ‘Affrilachia’ and ‘Affrilach...
Grow Up: Time To Give Up Your YA Books
BOOKS

Grow Up: Time To Give Up Your YA Books

Tired of my Tumblr dashboard being drowned under pictures of immaculate shelves stocked with YA novels and neatly piled Harry Potter books between a Macbook slim and a Starbucks cup, I thought I would come out of my Nerdcave and see what the hype was all about. I started with the preconceived idea that Young Adult literature was just another trend, followed by naive teenagers with a particular taste for soppy rubbish. I ended with the confirmed idea that YA literature was just another trend followed by lazy adults who take pleasure in remaining birdbrained. To begin with the beginning, what on earth is a Yong Adult? Even to that pretty simple question, there is not one settled answer. According to book publishers, is considered a young adult anyone between 12 and 18. Funny, I consider 12...
The Water Dancer: A Potent Book About America’s Most Disgraceful Sin
BOOKS

The Water Dancer: A Potent Book About America’s Most Disgraceful Sin

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom. “This potent book about America’s most disgraceful sin establishes [Ta-Nehisi Coates] as a first-rate novelist.”—San Francisco Chronicle NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • Vanity Fair • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • Paste • Town & Country • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal “Nearly every paragraph is laced through with dense, gorgeously evocative descriptions of a vanished wor...