How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Staff Pick

How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir (Simon & Schuster, $26) by Saeed Jones is for the reader on your holiday list that loves a good memoir. Known for his poetry, Jones departs from his usual genre to write about what it was like to grow up as a Black gay boy in the South. He gives us the privilege of reading about the intimate moments of his childhood through his college years without sparing any details. I enjoyed reading about his life and how he and those like him are fi ghting to be themselves in a world that does not invite Black gay men to be their best selves. It is an emotionally charged reading experience where each chapter is engaging and reveals a pivotal moment in Jones’s life. The vulnerability within the pages of this book will make it a memoir you will never forget.
 

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir By Saeed Jones Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9781501132735
Availability: Special Order—Subject to Availability
(This book cannot be returned.)
Published: Simon & Schuster - October 8th, 2019

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

Staff Pick

Heaven, My Home (Mulholland, $27), by Attica Locke, is the second book in the Highway 59 series and it’s sure to wow you as much as its predecessor, Bluebird, Bluebird did. We’re back again with Texas Ranger Darren Matthews. His assignment is to find a kidnapped child; however, this child is linked to a well-known family of white supremacists. Though Darren is dedicated to his job, as a Black man, this fact plagues him. If the child is still alive, will he grow up to be a racist and wreak havoc, like the rest of his family? Is Darren able to put his personal feelings aside to do his job well and bring the kid home? As a fan of Locke’s work, I found this to be one of her best books to date. Heaven, My Home can easily be given to the mystery reader on your holiday list or anyone looking for an entertaining read with an engaging plot and a host of characters they’ll never forget.

Heaven, My Home (A Highway 59 Novel #2) By Attica Locke Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780316363402
Availability: Special Order—Subject to Availability
Published: Mulholland Books - September 17th, 2019

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Staff Pick

Red at the Bone (Riverhead, $26) is yet another amazing work of literary fiction by the award-winning Jacqueline Woodson. This novel is for the reader on your list who loves a good family saga. Woodson masterfully illustrates the life of a Black family in Brooklyn, New York, whose lives are all shaped by a teenage pregnancy. The reader is introduced to the family through Melody’s coming-of-age party, which leads us into the many memories surrounding her childhood and the entire family’s history of love, loss, and parenthood. This was the first time I’ve read any of Woodson’s work and it is because of this novel I am eager to read more by her. I loved this novel because Woodson is able to craft such a powerful story in under 200 pages. Anyone who is given this novel for the holidays will take the lessons from this book and into 2020 with them.

Red at the Bone: A Novel By Jacqueline Woodson Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780525535270
Availability: Not On Our Shelves—Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Riverhead Books - September 17th, 2019

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