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NonfictionLifestylesLGBTQ+Humor

A Very Gay Book

Review by Susannah Felts

A heavy dose of humor is something I’ve been in need of these past few weeks, and what do you know: Like a gift from the publishing gods arrives A Very Gay Book: An Inaccurate Resource for Gay Scholars, a satirical take on history in which everything is really, really gay. 

Authors Jenson Titus and Nick Scheppard are Los Angeles-based comedians who also run a comedy design brand called Very Gay Paint, and I can only imagine they had the time of their lives dreaming up this beautiful absurdity. In their alternate universe, a feud between Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton caused the Great Recession, the Statue of Liberty was painted green by a queer man who lived within its torch and two lesbians invented Andy Warhol. Also gay: “wanting to be a good singer” and cakes that look like other things, such as a hamburger or a telephone.

My Gen Z teen often admiringly points out things that she finds “super gay,” and this hilarious project backs her up in a big, gay way. A big gay ray of sunshine, right here. (Sunshine = definitely gay.)

A Very Gay Book is a beautifully absurd satirical take on history in which everything is really, really gay.
NonfictionSelf-HelpLifestyles

Goblin Mode

Review by Susannah Felts

Goblin Mode is a type of book that piques my curiosity almost as much as the idea of “goblin mode” itself. Have there always been identity books that set out to define both an aesthetic and a way of life, an ethos? i.e., You might be a –––– if, bolstered by advice on how to better achieve said identity, with places to go, crafts to try and shallow dives into various bodies of knowledge? I’m not sure, but there are many such books now, typically with cute covers and petite trim sizes.

This one by writer and editor McKayla Coyle and illustrated by Marian Churchland revealed to me that I am, in fact, a goblin: My home epitomizes “cozy clutter”; I love plants, old things, and collecting and displaying random bits of natural objects; and, above all, I’m a weirdo, which is a nonnegotiable goblin quality.

Might you be a goblin too? Read this book to find out, and if the answer is yes, prepare to both feel seen and up your goblin game.

Might you be a goblin? A weirdo who loves plants and cozy clutter? Read this book to find out, and prepare to both feel seen and up your goblin game.
NonfictionLifestylesCrafts, Hobbies & Home

How to Be a Rule-Breaking Letterer

Review by Susannah Felts

When I was a kid, bubble letters were very on-trend, and I spent hours perfecting my ABCs in bubble form. How I wish I’d had Huyen Dinh’s How to Be a Rule-Breaking Letterer: A Guide to Making Perfectly Imperfect Art back then to goad me into becoming a bona fide word-artist, or at least to nudge me toward further experimentation.

Dinh’s personal story is of the “good girl gets fed up and flees corporate malaise, follows passion” variety (one I’m rather partial to). Now, after years of struggling, she is no longer afraid to make what pleases her. While she neatly breaks down lettering fundamentals—developing your typographic eye, mastering brushstrokes, talking the talk (ascenders and descenders and swashes, oh my!)—her bigger agenda is to encourage free thought, to open up readers to their own preferences and to the wealth of ideas just waiting to be plucked from thin air. She’s quite candid about her own process and clunky first drafts, too, which is always a plus.

Huyen Dinh neatly breaks down hand lettering fundamentals, but her bigger agenda is to encourage free thought and open up readers to their own preferences and ideas.
NonfictionLifestylesFood & Drink

The Book of Cocktail Ratios

Review by Susannah Felts

In a follow-up to his fascinating Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, multifaceted writer and chef Michael Ruhlman applies that concept to cocktails. Even more so than culinary creations, boozy drinks “are fundamentally defined by their ratios, rather than by a unique combination of ingredients,” he writes in The Book of Cocktail Ratios: The Surprising Simplicity of Classic Cocktails.

Ruhlman explores this thesis through six classic tipples—the Manhattan, the Negroni, the Daiquiri, the Margarita, the Martini and highballs, with a few outliers thrown in for good measure (the Paper Plane, the Hot Toddy, etc.). For example, a Martinez, which likely predated the Manhattan, swaps gin for the Manhattan’s bourbon or rye in a 2:1 ratio of spirit to vermouth. Sub bourbon in for gin in the 1:1:1 ratio of a Negroni, and boom, you’ve got a Boulevardier—or try mezcal, if you dare.

I’m not much of a numbers person, but this simplification of the sometimes-arcane world of mixology goes down easy and pairs well with sweet watercolor illustrations by Marcella Kriebel. Ruhlman suggests that the art of the cocktail is rather forgiving, a place to mess around and find out. Just commit a few basic ratios to memory first.

Even if you’re not much of a numbers person, this guide to the ratios involved in six classic tipples goes down easy.
NonfictionSelf-HelpLifestylesFamily & Relationships

How to Say Goodbye

Review by Susannah Felts

Death is a process—a challenge for both the dying and their loved ones, and a journey of wide-ranging emotional shifts, yet rarely are we encouraged to fully experience it as such. The illustrated approach of Wendy MacNaughton’s How to Say Goodbye is a quietly powerful gesture in the right direction. As an artist-in-residence at a San Francisco hospice, McNaughton closely observed the dying and their caregivers, absorbing wisdom and appreciating small moments—a plate of fruit, flowers, hands held. “Drawing is a way we can look closely at something we might otherwise be afraid to look at,” she reflects. Her gentle pictures are followed by a deep well of resources for the dying and those who love and care for them. In his foreword, palliative care physician BJ Miller, MD, sets the tone: “​​Presence, after all, is not an intellectual exercise. It’s a corporeal surrender. Attuning, if you like. What does your body tell you about what the body before you is doing? What does your soul know about the one playing at the edge of existence right in front of you? Can you stop trying to figure it out and just be it?”

Wendy MacNaughton’s gentle drawings are followed by a deep well of resources for the dying and those who love and care for them.
NonfictionNatureLifestylesCrafts, Hobbies & Home

Land Art

Review by Susannah Felts

U.K. artist James Brunt “works with what nature gives”: only what is found on the ground, in natural settings like beaches and woodlands. Imagine great spirals, mandalas, grids and other patterns composed of rocks, twigs, seeds, fern fronds, petals or leaves upon sand or forest floor. In Land Art, Brunt familiarizes us with his creative terrain—also famously explored by land artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Robert Smithson (“Spiral Jetty”)—and invites us, too, to “get outside and play.” He provides exercises that first coax us into engagement with our natural surroundings and then into the act of art-making. For starters, find 10 of anything, such as pine cones or other seeds; then arrange them in a pattern of your liking. Brunt’s work, presented with infectious enthusiasm through full-color photographs, is gorgeous and mesmerizing.

Made from found natural objects like rocks, twigs and seeds, James Brunt’s gorgeous and mesmerizing art is presented with infectious enthusiasm through full-color photographs.
NonfictionLifestylesFood & DrinkCookbooks

Pomegranates and Artichokes

Review by Susannah Felts

Saghar Setareh was 22 when she moved from Iran to Italy. After almost a decade in her new home, she writes, “I found my lantern, my mirror, and my passion in food, lighting up not only my path to understanding Italy but also illuminating the reflection of my own Iranian culinary heritage. Like many immigrants before me, I came to know—and cherish—my homeland, by comparison with the new country.” In a stunning new cookbook, Pomegranates and Artichokes, she invites us on a “culinary road trip” from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, from porridge with rosewater and a saffron omelet, to Turkish eggplant in tomato sauce and creamy eggplant and tahini dip, to aperitivo cocktails and pork roast with pears and chestnuts, and so much in between. This winding road is a food lover’s fantasy.

Saghar Setareh invites us on a “culinary road trip” from the Middle East to the Mediterranean in a food lover’s fantasy.
NonfictionLifestylesEnvironment

Sea Change

Review by Susannah Felts

The Earth’s island inhabitants live on the front lines of climate change. What might amount to distressing media coverage for inland and continental dwellers is, for these populations, a frightening everyday reality—despite the fact that they are, on balance, among the least responsible for increasingly harrowing conditions. In Sea Change, Christina Gerhardt does the important work of chronicling the metamorphosis and loss of island landmass as sea levels rise and severe weather patterns become more frequent and erratic. Combining scientific exploration with essays, poetry and other works by Indigenous artists, this book is a profound, unflinching document of places vanishing before our eyes. But Sea Change also keeps hope alive as it “activates imaginings of possible futures.” It’s sobering enough to make readers consider the increasing obsolescence of any atlas we may have on our shelves, but it also calls us to listen to the voices of the peoples whose lives, languages and histories hang in the balance.

Combining scientific exploration with essays, poetry and other works by indigenous artists, Sea Change is a profound, unflinching document of places vanishing before our eyes.
NonfictionLifestyles

Wild Asana

Review by Susannah Felts

What do you get when you cross a yogi, a writer and a wildlife conservationist? You get Alison Zak and her thought-provoking Wild Asana. Asana is the physical practice of yoga, and many yoga poses are nicknamed for creatures, such as Downward Dog and Eagle Pose. Zak’s exploration takes this informal nomenclature as a starting point and soars forth into a spirited exploration of the connection between humans and our fellow animals, with yoga as a sort of natural meeting place. “It suddenly becomes very strange that we practice something called ‘cobra pose’ hundreds of times without thinking at all about the animal called a cobra as we do it,” she writes. Questioning old limits of scientific thinking and encouraging a deeper relationship with nature are essential to her mission, as she invites readers to “anthropomorphize with abandon.” This book offers a fascinating journey through which to more deeply understand your animal self, as well as practical guidance in yoga basics.

This book offers a fascinating journey through which to better understand the connection between yoga and nature, as well as practical guidance in yoga basics.
NonfictionLifestylesFood & DrinkCookbooks

Company

Review by Susannah Felts

I began reading Company a few months ago, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Upon return, my impressions hold up: This buzzy cookbook simmers cozily with very fine food writing and a particular Midwestern nonchalance that has my heart. Amy Thielen—a two-time James Beard Award winner and author of a memoir, Give a Girl a Knife—focuses here on comfort-food-forward menus for gatherings of six to 20 people, from “Saturday Night” to “Casual Walkabouts.” Nota bene: I am not, and probably never will be, a person who enjoys throwing dinner parties. But when Thielen says, “I probably shouldn’t say this . . . but when you’re having people over, the food doesn’t really matter,” I’m listening. (I’m still not ready to have even six people over, but I’m listening.) When she details “anti-hero appetizers,” such as warm bean dip or pickles, I’m leaning in. When she gets into “two weeks of Christmas, starting with the sweets,” I’m hungry but wary, until she describes herself as a “cackling enabler,” and I’m fully in again. When, in “a lazy summer’s day lunch,” she includes Black Currant Finger Jell-O and says, “You can just cut off a hunk of the Jell-O with a knife and walk around the house with it as you pick up clutter,” I’m utterly smitten.

Chef and author Amy Thielen’s buzzy cookbook simmers cozily with very fine food writing and a particular Midwestern nonchalance.
NonfictionNatureLifestyles

Find More Birds

Review by Susannah Felts

For a couple of years, I’ve been observing the crows that call my neighborhood home, and I’ve learned that when they’re making a ruckus, there’s bound to be a hawk nearby. So much of watching birds is about being a) still and quiet, and b) familiar with bird behaviors, as one learns in Find More Birds, a book that makes you slap your head and think, “Why has no one done this before?!” Birding books typically center on the what (kinds of birds one hopes to see) rather than the how. As Heather Wolf points out, “the bulk of bird-finding is wrapped up in a multitude of tidbits of experience, knowledge, and intuition gleaned from years of observing birds,” and that’s just what she passes along here in morsels that make birding feel accessible, even fail proof. Wolf shows us how to home in on birds in almost any situation—at a superstore, in the car, on a college campus, by a body of water—and offers sound advice for finding birding buddies, too.

Heather Wolf shows us how to home in on birds in almost any situation—at a superstore, in the car—and offers sound advice for building a birding community.
NonfictionSelf-HelpLifestyles

Share Your Joy

Review by Susannah Felts

One of my neighborhood’s charming features is a “Little Free Art Library” where passersby are encouraged to both take and drop diminutive works of art. I have gleaned several such works from the library and now, I will be able to return the gift with the help of Sarah J. Gardner’s projects in Share Your Joy. Mixed-media is this artist’s sweet spot; for her, it’s about gathering your materials, “surrendering to the process” and shifting focus away from the outcome. In the end, you’ll end up with a greeting card or small journal to mail to a friend. Gardner’s projects are an art-supply lover’s dream (I’m convinced I must add both a brayer and stencils to my stash), allowing for wide exploration of color and pattern and effects, such as introducing salt to wet watercolor pigment. Collage and layering are employed frequently, and while there is abundant room within these projects to assert personal style, they provide ample direction to finish something and see the results of your playful process.

With both abundant room to assert personal style and ample direction to finish a piece of art, Sarah J. Gardner’s projects are an art-supply lover’s dream.
NonfictionSportsLifestylesFashion

‘Fly’ is Mitchell S. Jackson’s flashy foray into NBA fashion history

Interview by the editors of BookPage

In his stunning, sharp new book, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson delves into the wide world of NBA fashion. Fly is a pictorial and cultural history of the major influence that basketball stars have had on style.

Tell us more about your fascination with and connection to fashion. Did your love of fashion or your love of the NBA come first?
I’ve loved fashion since I was a little kid. I guess it began with my mother dressing me up, but soon enough, I had my own opinion about what I should wear. At one point, that included cowboy hats and boots and big buckles; at another, pleather Michael Jackson “Thriller” jackets and white socks. At another point, it included IZOD polo shirts and khakis, and I’ve always loved print shirts and coveralls (not necessarily together). I was a hustler in my late teens and early 20s and spent more money than I should have on clothes. (Remember those Versace silk shirts Tupac and Biggie used to wear? I just had to have one.) All the above to say, my love of fashion came first. I started playing organized basketball in the fifth grade, which is kind of late for serious hoopers. I did, however, play all the way through junior college, and even thought that I’d one day play professional basketball overseas. Meanwhile, I had a couple of friends make the NBA and spent a fair amount of time around them and other NBA players. I must’ve attended NBA All-Star weekend 10 years in a row. And anybody that has been to All-Star weekend knows it’s a fashion extravaganza.

Book jacket image for Fly by Mitchell JacksonOne of the most illuminating aspects of this book is its incorporation of history, especially how different wars, political events and cultural movements affected American fashion trends. What was your research process like?
I’m so glad you point that out because that’s an important aspect of the book. Fashion is never born in a vacuum. I was really interested in what influenced what the players wore during any given period. First, though, I decided to organize the book into distinct eras. I needed these eras so I could research the spans of time I was focusing on. Then I’d hypothesize why the fashion of the time was what it was. Then I’d start researching to see if my idea held up. As someone who’s written a lot of nonfiction, and is constantly researching for it, that process felt very natural.

The eras you’ve chosen range from 1946 to the present: the Conformists, Flamboyance, Jordan, the Iverson Effect, Dress Code and the Insta-Tunnel Walk. How did you determine when one era ends and another begins?
I arrived at those divisions by looking at pictures from different time periods and noting the trends of those periods. If you look at photos of the early NBA players, they all wore the same thing: slim suits, dark shoes, skinny ties. But look at the 1970s and you’ll see individuals. Bell-bottoms. Fur coats. Butterfly collar shirts unbuttoned to mid-chest or below. Afros. Long beards. Jewelry. It was clear those players felt freer to express themselves with their fashion. After I noted the distinctions of the eras, I’d ask myself what was happening in the culture that shaped those choices, and then I’d research around that subject. The titles came from me trying to encapsulate the crux of each chapter in a word or a phrase.

If you look at photos of the early NBA players, they all wore the same thing: slim suits, dark shoes, skinny ties. But look at the 1970s and you’ll see individuals.

Do you have a favorite era of NBA fashion?
My personal favorite is a tie between the 1970s and now. Both are eras in which the players dress with copious creativity. I’d say in the ’70s though, the players had fewer professionals helping them. These days, many players have stylists and access to great brands, and the internet to hip them on trends, etc. Which also means many of them are more knowledgeable than the players of five decades ago. The players from the ’70s did more with less.

The photographs in Fly are amazing, and they really bring your colorful descriptions to life. What was the process of selecting those photos like? Do any of them hold a special kind of weight or inspiration for you?
Probably my favorite pic in the whole book is “Pistol” Pete Maravich in a suit, butterfly collar shirt, sunglasses and gold chain. I used to watch Pistol Pete’s skills tapes when I was young as well as the highlight footage. He was a wizard with the ball and had a really flamboyant game. And when I saw that pic, it seemed like the perfect representation of him as a player, and of what I imagined his personality would be. Also, it’s special because there are so few pictures of him out of uniform. Finding pictures of the old greats was satisfying in that way.

You note that during the Dress Code era (2010–2015), athletes started using their personal styles to express political views and to bring attention to social justice issues, such as when the entire Miami Heat team wore hoodies to honor Trayvon Martin. Do you have a favorite example of a player leveraging their image for good?
Not a player, but there’s a picture of the Lakers at center court during a game in the NBA bubble, all of them linked arm in arm, save LeBron James, who is holding his free arm up in the Black Power salute. It’s a powerful image and proof of the NBA’s stance on social protest. When Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists at the 1968 Olympics, they were blackballed from track and field for many years. When Colin Kaepernick took a knee in the NFL, he was blackballed out of the league. That pic of the Lakers, and LeBron in particular, is ironic in that it shows not only how far we’ve come but how much further we have to go in terms of justice and equality.

The players from the ’70s did more with less.

In the current era of Instagram fashion, players have more control over the personal expressions of their styles. Who do you think is one of the biggest and best fashion risk-takers right now?
Russell Westbrook is still one of the biggest risk-takers in NBA fashion. But because he’s already taken so many risks, it’s arguably less risky every time he does it. The same goes for James Harden, though one could argue he hasn’t had the same positive reception with his riskier outfits. I like what Jerami Grant is doing with the Portland Trail Blazers. He wears a lot of Maison Margiela, but it suits him. I admire when a player cultivates an aesthetic. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see where the players who’ve cultivated an aesthetic go next. Devin Booker comes to mind as an example of someone whose style could soon evolve.

This book includes a definitive ranking of the top 10 sneakers of all time. Where do you fall on the sneakerhead spectrum?
I have a lot, a lot of sneakers, but once I started buying high-end sneakers, I stopped paying so much attention to the Nike releases. Now I might be a loafer head. Or a Chelsea-boot head. I still love a Jordan 1 and 2, or 3. I love a Dunk. I loved that Nike x Sacai collaboration. But I wouldn’t say I’m a sneakerhead. I’m not collecting, and I also wear my sneakers. In truth, I can’t keep up enough with the releases to be a sneakerhead. It’s damn near a full-time job and for some it is a full-time job. Plus, I’m middle-aged.

Were there any particularly interesting facts that you uncovered while writing that didn’t make it into the book?
I can’t recall a particular fact not making it in the book, but I did write a section on the fashion of WNBA players. The problem was they didn’t come in until the last era because that was when the league was formed. My editors were concerned that including women that late in the book and in that amount of space could’ve made it seem as though they were insignificant, which they aren’t. So we took that section out. Hopefully, someone will write a book on WNBA and pro women’s fashion because they are certainly deserving of one. One of my favorite fashionistas is Sue Bird. And not to get off basketball, but Bird and Megan Rapinoe comprise one of the flyest couples around.

What’s next for you?
I’m working on a novel titled John of Watts about a Black cult leader (he’s also an ex-basketball player, go figure). I’m working on a profile of a Civil Rights leader, another of an OG hustler from my hometown. And I’ll continue to write my column for Esquire.

Author photo by Christa Harriis

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mitchell S. Jackson explores the world of NBA fashion in Fly, a pictorial and cultural history of the influence basketball stars have had on style.

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