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What to read this Halloween, based on your ideal spooky activity

Whether you’re a homebody or a thrill-hunter, we’ve got a seasonal, spine-tingling read for you.
Whether you’re a homebody or a thrill-hunter, we’ve got a seasonal, spine-tingling read for you.
NonfictionLifestylesCookbooks

Bodega Bakes

In the personable Bodega Bakes, pastry chef Paola Velez presents just that: sweets that can be made solely from the ingredients found at a corner store.
In the personable Bodega Bakes, pastry chef Paola Velez presents just that: sweets that can be made solely from the ingredients found at a corner store.
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Sex With Presidents

Sex has the ability to provoke arousal, confusion and even disgust. Sex With Presidents: The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House by Eleanor Herman is a mostly playful account of politicians experiencing all three of these emotions while making history.
NonfictionMemoirEssays

Like Love

Review by Destiny O. Birdsong

“Innocence doesn’t exist. Complicity is everywhere,” writes Michele Morano in Like Love, a collection of autobiographical essays about romantic relationships that are not quite amorous. There's a piece about a man with whom she slept—literally—during a summer in graduate school; one about an elderly landlord she found herself having dinner with whenever her live-in boyfriend was away; and others about strangers like Tomas, who becomes her travel companion during a stopover trip to Germany.

Many of the encounters in Like Love are brief, but one figure returns throughout the text: Morano’s mother, Rita, an unlikely subject for a book mostly about sexual affairs that never materialize. Morano’s relationship with Rita is fraught with both bitterness and infatuation. The long-legged, beautiful woman appears early in the second essay, “Breaking and Entering,” which details the disintegration of Morano’s parents’ marriage; and she returns in “Evenings at the Collegeview Diner,” an essay that explains how Morano’s first job allowed her to rebuild a relationship with both her parents. Rita is arguably the love of Morano’s life, though she died never knowing this. In “All the Power This Charm Doth Owe,” Rita visits then-grad student Morano in Iowa City and clearly wants to stay, but Morano dodges her mother’s intimations and commences falling in love with the man who will help her conceive her next complicated love interest: her son. The final essay examines Morano’s anxieties as a new mother and newly orphaned daughter who is initially unsure whether she really loves her child.

Like Love asks readers to destigmatize our most illogical iterations of love—the love we have for our parents, platonic friends, children and, sometimes, other people’s children—because even when love is inevitably flawed, it is perfectly natural. From her explanations of the brain’s activity as we fall head over heels for someone, to a breakdown of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Morano makes clear that even though we are all complicit in love and its ensuing chaos, our only obligation is to experience it. “Feel the presence,” writes Morano at the end of Like Love, “the ever-presence of romance in all its many forms, most of which are puzzles, mysteries that point us toward deep reflection on who we are and how we live.”

“Innocence doesn’t exist. Complicity is everywhere,” writes Michele Morano in Like Love, a collection of autobiographical essays about romantic relationships that are not quite amorous.
NonfictionBlack HistoryBiography

The Dead Are Arising

Review by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

The Autobiography of Malcom X remains one of the most captivating and essential books of the 20th century. In it, the iconic activist offered glimpses of his probing self-awareness and his piercing and astute examinations of racial issues in the United States. It provided the outlines of his childhood, his life in prison, his religious conversion and his commitment to and eventual disaffection from the Nation of Islam. Now Pulitzer Prize winner Les Payne’s monumental and absorbing The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X peers into the gaps left by Malcolm X’s autobiography, taking us more deeply into the intimate details of his life, work and death.

In 1990, investigative reporter Payne began conducting hundreds of interviews with Malcolm X’s family members, childhood friends, classmates and bodyguards, as well as with FBI agents, photographers, U.N. representatives, African revolutionaries and presidents and the two men falsely imprisoned for killing him. Drawing on these conversations, Payne traces Malcom X’s story from his childhood in Omaha, Nebraska, through his teenage years in Lansing, Michigan, where Malcolm learned to resist the racial provocations of his white classmates. Payne chronicles Malcolm X’s time in prison, where fellow inmate John E. Bembry challenged Malcolm X by telling the young prisoner, “If I had some brains, I’d use them.” This encouraged Malcolm X to read all he could and to not only engage others with words but also support those words with facts from experts. Payne documents Malcolm X’s meeting with the KKK in 1961 and shows how that meeting sowed the seeds of his disenchantment with the Nation of Islam. In vivid detail, Payne retells the events leading up to Malcolm X’s assassination, offering fresh information about those involved.

The Dead Are Arising is essential reading. Completed after the author’s death by Tamara Payne, Les’ daughter and the book’s primary researcher, it illustrates the forces that shaped Malcolm X and captures the vibrant voice of a revolutionary whose words resonate powerfully in our own times.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Love audiobooks? Check out The Dead Are Arising and other nonfiction audiobook picks.

The Autobiography of Malcom X remains one of the most captivating and essential books of the 20th century. In it, the iconic activist offered glimpses of his probing self-awareness and his piercing and astute examinations of racial issues in the United States. It provided the outlines of his childhood, his life in prison, his religious […]
NonfictionBiographyAmerican History

Eleanor

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

Fueled by 11 years of research, the new biography of Eleanor Roosevelt by David Michaelis, New York Times bestselling author of N. C. Wyeth, is both compelling and comprehensive, making use of previously untapped archival sources and interviews. It seems no accident that Michaelis chooses as his leading epithet this quote from the nation’s most formidable and longest serving first lady: “I felt obliged to notice everything.” In the same way, her biographer, who actually met Roosevelt when he was just 4 years old, trains his careful attention on virtually all aspects of her incredible life and times to craft a fast-moving, engrossing narrative.

Eleanor follows its subject from birth to her death in 1962. Michaelis sets the stage by providing a list of principal characters, then presents Roosevelt’s life in seven parts designed to reflect the myriad roles she played in her transformation from an awkward child into a force of nature. Roosevelt’s life journey took her from a shy, often ignored child, whose mother shamed her with the nickname “Granny,” to a dynamic first lady and then a “world maker” when, as one of the country’s first delegates to the United Nations, she spearheaded the adoption of the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights in history.

Of course, Eleanor Roosevelt’s life was entwined with that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Eleanor was so intrinsically linked with the New Deal and World War II, it’s sometimes easy to forget that she was born in 1884 and was almost 36 years old when the 19th Amendment passed in 1920. That was one year before the summer when FDR contracted polio, altering both their lives in profound ways.

Michaelis never neglects the politics and history that marked the life of this remarkable, fascinating woman. At the same time, his impeccable storytelling and seamless integration of dialogue and quotations allow him to create an intimate, lively and emotional portrait that unfolds like a good novel. The book is also meticulously sourced, with nearly 100 pages of notes and a 30-page bibliography that’s of interest to historians as well as general readers.

One of the pleasures of this biography is Michaelis’ firm grasp of the material and his ability to sprinkle the text with anecdotes and tidbits that capture Roosevelt’s personality, complex private relationships and public accomplishments. We learn, for instance, that as first lady she traveled 38,000 miles in 1933 and kept up this grueling pace, logging 43,000 miles in 1937. He writes, “Never before had a president’s wife set out on her own to assess social and economic conditions or . . . visited a foreign country unaccompanied by the President.”

Roosevelt once reflected, “You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best you have to give.” As America faces another challenging period in its history, there may be no better time for readers to turn to the life of one of our nation’s truly great leaders for inspiration.

Fueled by 11 years of research, the new biography of Eleanor Roosevelt by David Michaelis, New York Times bestselling author of N. C. Wyeth, is both compelling and comprehensive, making use of previously untapped archival sources and interviews. It seems no accident that Michaelis chooses as his leading epithet this quote from the nation’s most […]
NonfictionChildren's & YAMiddle Grade

All Thirteen

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Caves are sacred in Thailand, writes Thai American author Christina Soontornvat in her outstanding All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team. “A mountain holds power, and a cave provides a way to tap into that power.” Tourists and locals have long been drawn to the mysterious tunnels in Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park. So it’s no surprise that in June 2018, the 12 members of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach decided to explore the caves. By nighttime, their families knew something was wrong. The boys weren’t home, and the rainy season had arrived early. It soon became clear that the team was trapped far from the entrance by rising waters. For the next 18 days, the boys’ families and thousands of volunteers kept a vigil on the mountain. They were joined by a group of rescuers ready to risk their lives to save the cold and hungry boys who waited and meditated below.

Soontornvat masterfully chronicles this amazing undertaking, in which incredible ad hoc feats of engineering became commonplace. Her narration and the testimonies of the numerous figures she interviewed are suspenseful and deeply felt. Interspersed with All Thirteen’s gripping account are fascinating, accessible analyses—supplemented by photos, diagrams, maps and more—of the cultural, technological, scientific and spiritual considerations that affected the rescue effort, from Buddhism to climate change to political protocol.

The harrowing rescue required divers to navigate murky water and capricious currents while carrying the children through narrow passages. All Thirteen is an inspiring testament to those 18 fateful days of communal empathy, determination and hope. In Soontornvat’s talented hands, it’s at once a nail-biter and a revelation: “This rescue was impossible, and they did it anyway.”

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Author Christina Soontornvat reveals the lesson she learned from the members of the Wild Boards soccer team.

Caves are sacred in Thailand, writes Thai American author Christina Soontornvat in her outstanding All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team. “A mountain holds power, and a cave provides a way to tap into that power.” Tourists and locals have long been drawn to the mysterious tunnels in Tham Luang-Khun […]
NonfictionHistory

The Daughters of Yalta

Review by Priscilla Kipp

Much is known about the Yalta Conference of February 1945 and the “big three” (Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin) who met to decide on a fair distribution of power as World War II teetered toward an end in Europe. Churchill, Roosevelt and American ambassador W. Averell Harriman also brought their adult daughters, Sarah, Anna and Kathleen, respectively. Their fathers needed their help with matters big and small, from Kathy’s Russian language skills, to Sarah’s astute observations, to Anna’s daily efforts to protect Roosevelt’s rapidly failing health. The “little three,” as they became known, wrote letters to family and friends about their time at the edge of the Black Sea, and Catherine Grace Katz draws from them to great effect. The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War is a splendid, colorful tapestry of details, as witnessed by three smart young women making the most of their extraordinary moment in history.

For Churchill, the sovereignty of Poland was a promise he intended to keep. For Stalin, retribution for his country’s crippling losses was critical. Roosevelt needed Soviet help in the Pacific as the war with Japan waged on, but his hope for a United Nations mattered even more. Together, these men would set the world’s balance of power for decades to come, for better or worse.

For the women, excluded from the daily discussions and monitored closely by Soviet security guards, there was much to observe on their own, including caviar- and vodka-infused meals, the vagaries of Russian hospitality and the conference delegates’ quirks. Kathy, a journalist, was a seasoned diplomat in her own right, having joined her father at his posts in London and Moscow. The U.S. president had grown to depend on Anna, who kept his secrets so well that few knew how ill he was. Sarah was allowed to leave her post with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in Britain to accompany the prime minister. For each, it was a lifetime’s dream come true.

Through their sharp eyes and Katz’s talented retelling, the Nazi and Soviet ravages of the Crimean countryside become a vivid backdrop to the Allies’ hope for lasting peace. Yalta would become synonymous with diplomacy that dangerously disappointed, opening the door to Soviet expansion and revealing its ruthless power. Yet, in a more positive light, it may also have presaged women’s contributions to international diplomacy.

Much is known about the Yalta Conference of February 1945 and the “big three” (Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin) who met to decide on a fair distribution of power as World War II teetered toward an end in Europe. Churchill, Roosevelt and American ambassador W. Averell Harriman also brought their adult daughters, […]
NonfictionMemoir

Black Water

Review by Priscilla Kipp

“His story. My story. . . . It’s our story,” writes David A. Robertson about his father, Don. And so it is in Black Water: Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory, a family history embedded in a memoir that shimmers with love and pain.

As a child born in 1935, Don didn’t have official Indigenous status, despite his heritage. He spent nine months of the year camping with his family on their trapline in the far north of Manitoba, Canada. Then the Family Allowances Act of 1945 changed their way of life. The act provided financial support for every child with a permanent address, so Don’s family was forced to give up their trapline, except for brief spring runs. Don went to a public school, where he had to abandon his native language, Swampy Cree. He later devoted his educational career to ensuring that Indigenous people’s languages and culture were respected and preserved, earning the government’s support as he established programs across Canada. Black Water begins and ends with the story of the Black Water traplines that meant sustenance, survival and community for generations of Swampy Cree.

Yet Don and his European Canadian wife decided not to tell their three children that they were “First Nations kids,” believing that knowledge of their Swampy Cree roots would be a burden for them. This decision left their son David feeling like a puzzle with a missing piece. As a teenager with dark skin, Robertson grew up far from a trapline, in a mostly white neighborhood in Winnipeg, Manitoba, denying he was “Indian” and laughing along with racist jokes. When his parents separated, he spent 10 years without his father, except for weekends and golf games. Hurt, angry and increasingly anxious about everything, Robertson eventually confronted and reconciled with Don. With that came the revelation of his Cree heritage. Many journeys to Norway House along Lake Winnipeg followed, revealing his family’s roots, his “blood memory” and stories to be passed down to his own children.

Claiming one’s heritage, learning where “home” truly is, is an oft-told tale, but Robertson infuses his story with a wisdom that binds his own discoveries to the common experience of sharing family legacies with future generations. Memory is a gift we owe our children, he says. Listen to your own storytellers and hold them close while you can.

Robertson binds his personal story of learning about his Cree ancestry with to the common experience of sharing family legacies with future generations.

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