Weekly Words about New Books in
Independent Bookstores
JULY 25, 2021
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New Paperbacks - Racism Through the Eyes of James Baldwin and the Fight for Voting Rights from a Political Expert
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Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. In a book that the Washington Post called " a groundbreaking and informative guide to Baldwin and his era," Princeton professor Glaude has produced a powerful meditation on race in America. The book's focus is on Baldwin, as the title indicates, but this is not strictly a biography. Rather Glaude compares America's response to racism in Baldwin's time (and through Baldwin's eyes) to today, when the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement was met with the ascendance of Donald Trump and the violent resurgence of white nationalism.
Fortunately, Glaude finds hope and guidance in Baldwin as he discusses the painful cycle of Black resistance and white retrenchment around racism. This is a thoughtful and powerful exploration of race and memory, as well as a powerful interrogation of what we must ask of ourselves in order to call forth a new America. As James Baldwin himself put it, "Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again.”
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Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams. One of the year's biggest ongoing news stories involves the persistent efforts in states across the country to pass laws that will negatively impact the rights of American voters. For anyone concerned and interested in knowing more about how to block such efforts, there is good news - the arrival of a blueprint to end voter suppression and empower citizens. And it's written by an expert on the subject, Stacey Abrams, a national leader in the fight for voting rights. Among her other accomplishments, she founded the New Georgia Project, which has registered more than 400,000 voters of color, Fair Fight Action and Fair Fight 2020 to promote fair elections across the country, and Fair Count, which is guaranteeing an accurate national census for hard-to-count communities.
In Our Time Is Now, Abrams chronicles a chilling account of how the right to vote has been and continue to be under attack. She compellingly argues for the importance of robust voter protections, an elevation of identity politics, and engagement in the census. The book draws on extensive research from national organizations and renowned scholars, as well as using anecdotes, to make its case for voter reform. It provides both inspiration and concrete actions for fighting back against ongoing suppression efforts.
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Artist Draws on Her Fondness For Fitness To Seek Enlightenment
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The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel. The talented writer/artist Bechdel built a cult following around her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For and then attracted a much wider audience with best-selling graphic memoirs, Fun Home (later adapted into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical), and Are You My Mother? With her new book, she continues her illustrated autobiographical ways, this time focusing on her lifelong commitment to exercise and fascination with fitness fads throughout her lifetime.
From Jack LaLanne in the 1960s to present-day spin classes, Bechdel has dabbled in a wide range of workout trends and movements, and she is wittily self-deprecating about the results. She also supplies moving scenes of self-reflection as she grapples with aging and spiritual awareness. As in her other work, Bechdel proves to be both quite funny and intelligently candid about her life, both in words and illustrations.
The Secret to Superhuman Strength is an independent bookstore bestseller, quite a feat for a hardcover volume of graphic literature. In one of many rave reviews, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote,"Alison Bechdel finally turns her gaze on herself, with beautiful results . . . As ever, Bechdel satirizes and analyzes herself with a sharp, knowing, but affectionate touch that is observant without being solipsistic. This is a thoughtful, funny and ruminative autobiography whose intensity is leavened with surprising notes of grace."
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WHY THE COLUMN?
Hi, I'm Hut Landon, and I'm a bookseller in an independent bookstore in BerkeIey, CA.
My goal here is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what indie booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.
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