Here's Molly and the first chapter book she ever read by herself. It was some book!
These "lectures" meander through subjects -- poets and the moon, the joys and sorrows of reading, fear, and irreverence, to name a few -- with a voice full of wonder, wit, and wisdom. Guaranteed to inspire any writer, dreamer, creative soul, or lover of words, Madness, Rack, and Honey is the book I always wish I were reading again for the first time.
Just Us is a powerful collection of conversations -- presented as essays, letters, poems, and artifacts -- on race and privilege. Rankine cuts right to the heart of these necessary dialogues, and does so with honesty, beauty, and hope.
Swimming Studies is a gorgeous love note to water and the practice of swimming. Meditate in this book's cool, chlorinated depths, and you'll see swimming differently when you come up for air.
You might not think you need a book about spiders in your life, but trust me, you do. This book will fill you with new reverence for these incredible artists, architects, and badass creatures -- and for the often invisible role they've played in our lives.
A quick and haunting read about crossing borders of all kinds: between the U.S and Mexico, and also across language, gender, and reality and other-worldliness.
Whether you're diving into the wondrous world of Angela Carter for the first time or your appetite for her work is already insatiable (there is no in between), this is a collection to treasure. It includes the re-worked fairy tales for which she is probably best known (The Bloody Chamber) and the hard to find and equally, if not more, amazing collections (Saints and Strangers and American Ghosts and Old World Wonders being my favorites).
All I can really say about this book, a big, beautiful novel that spans generations of an American family, is that every single person I know who has read it has loved it, and we all talk about the characters as if they're old friends. What makes a novel so beloved? It's hard to say, but this one just is.
Another Country pulls you into its big world and tugs your heart along with it. An unforgettable book that I think everyone should read.