Staff Picks

There are many tropes in horror that speak to queer people in (often contradictory) ways. This collection of essays guides us through favorites such as The Exorcist, Jennifer's Body, and Get Out to explore the reasons why such a dark film genre can attract such a diverse and marginalized community.

 

Publisher's description: Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes—such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,” body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet—spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world. Twenty-five narrative essays by contemporary LGBTQ writers reflecting on queerness in horror film, from Hitchcock to Halloween.

 

A small collection of essays about how Michelle Obama's "grace in power" was inspirational in many ways for many people.

 

Publisher's description:

A collection of 19 essays inspired by the memorable tribute, "To the First Lady with Love," includes contributions by a range of award-winning writers, celebrities, designers and chefs ranging from Chimamanda Ngochi Adichie and Tracee Ellis Ross to Alice Walters and Gloria Steinem, in a volume complemented by two essays by eighth-grade students.

 

Reading this felt like I had received a personal correspondence from a friend on a road trip, complete with random lists and funky doodles. Abbi Jacobson, spurred by heartbreak, chronicles her journey with such impish charm that even her grievances won me over. I want to be next to her in the passenger seat as she drives, laughing at her unique wit, and calming her incredibly relatable anxieties.

 

Publisher's Description:

When Abbi Jacobson announced to friends and acquaintances that she planned to drive across the country alone, she was met with lots of questions and opinions: Why wasn't she going with friends? Wouldn't it be incredibly lonely? The North route is better! Was it safe for a woman? The Southern route is the way to go! You should bring mace! And a common one; Why? But Abbi had always found comfort in solitude, and needed space to step back and hit the reset button. As she spent time in each city and town on her way to Los Angeles, she mulled over the big questions, What do I really want? What is the worst possible scenario in which I could run into my ex? How has the decision to wear my shirts tucked in been pivotal in my adulthood? In this collection of anecdotes, observations and reflections-all told in the sharp, wildly funny, and relatable voice that has endeared Abbi to critics and fans alike, listeners will feel like they're in the passenger seat.

 

Fun and educational! I laughed out loud at some parts. 

 

Publisher's description:

In A Short History of Nearly Everything, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. The result is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it.

 

The author in a personal, intimate, and optimistic way, reviews different aspects of our current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity, known as the Anthropocene. He takes subjects that seem so innocuous and injects such poignancy into his essays that each is full of deep meaning. And with each essay, he reviews his subject, as if writing a book review of it with history and research and his own personal experience, to arrive at his rating based on a five-star system. I first discovered Green's podcast of the same title, and I was so moved by the essays and the author that I was excited to pick up this book. And truly, I have learned a lot from his reviews and his own personal journey amid the crazy assortment of topics he has chosen, from Jerzy Dudek's Performance on May 25, 2005 to the movie Harvey, to Academic Decathlons. I loved this book.

 

Publisher description: 

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet--from the QWERTY keyboard and Staphylococcus aureus to the Taco Bell breakfast menu--on a five-star scale. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection that includes both beloved essays and all-new pieces exclusive to the book.

 

Sister Outsider is a seminal text from the great thinker, activist, and poet Audre Lorde. Containing such powerful essays as "The Master's tools will never dismantle the Master's house," "Poetry is not a luxury," and "Uses of the erotic: the erotic as power," to name a few favorites. Read this book to explore the intersectionality of racism +/- sexism +/- heterosexism +/- classism +/- ageism. Read this book for fresh thinking on how social difference can act as a vehicle for action and change. Read this book for liberation.

 

Publisher description:

The writings of poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature. In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change.

 

Find Sister Outsider in our online catalog.

These days, everything truly does feel like a giant dumpster fire. Nonintersectional feminism? Trash. Being an underpaid workaholic? Trash. Relationships? Duh, garbage dump. Luckily, Phoebe Robinson shows you how to laugh through all of that. Written in her stream of consciousness style with so many damn hashtags per page they should have their own footnote, this book is relevant, witty, and #phoebulous.

 

Publisher's description: "From New York Times bestselling author and star of 2 Dope Queens, Phoebe Robinson, comes a new, hilarious, and timely essay collection on gender, race, dating, and a world that seems to always be a self-starting Dumpster fire. Wouldn't it be great if life came with an instruction manual? Of course, but like access to Michael B. Jordan's house, none of us are getting any. Thankfully, Phoebe Robinson is ready to share everything she's experienced in hopes that if you can laugh at her topsy-turvy life, you can laugh at your own. Written in her trademark unfiltered and singularly witty style, Robinson's latest essay collection is a call to arms. She tackles a wide range of topics, such as giving feminism a tough love talk in hopes it can become more intersectional; telling society's beauty standards to kick rocks; and demanding that toxic masculinity close its mouth and legs (enough with the manspreading already!), and get out of the way so true progress can happen"

 

 

This book is billed as a guide for writers AND as a master class in the classic Russian short story--and it's wonderful on both fronts. If masters like Chekhov, Tolstoy and their peers have baffled you, Saunders is an able guide to why they matter--and how learning what they do well can make your own writing better. I didn't want this book to end, and I want Saunders to be my writing teacher.

 

Publisher description:

George Saunders guides the reader through seven classic Russian short stories he's been teaching for twenty years as a professor in the prestigious Syracuse University graduate MFA creative writing program. Paired with stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, these essays are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it's more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. Saunders approaches each of these stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is as much a craft as it is a quality of openness and a willingness to see the world through new eyes. Funny, frank, and rigorous, this book ultimately shows how great fiction can change a person's life and become a benchmark of one's moral and ethical beliefs.

 

In this book, David Foster Wallace captures the oddness of tennis: how hard it can be to play, how weird the culture is, and the way that certain figures are. Years after I stopped playing in school, this book encapsulates why I still enjoy watching tennis.

 

Publisher description:

Gathered for the first time in a deluxe collector's edition, here are David Foster Wallace's legendary writings on tennis, five tour-de-force pieces written with a competitor's insight and a fan's obsessive enthusiasm. Wallace brings his dazzling literary magic to the game he loved as he celebrates the other-worldly genius of Roger Federer; offers a wickedly witty dissection of Tracy Austin's memoir; considers the artistry of Michael Joyce, a supremely disciplined athlete on the threshold of fame; resists the crush of commerce at the U.S. Open; and recalls his own career as a "near-great" junior player. Whiting Award-winning writer John Jeremiah Sullivan provides an introduction.

Find String Theory in our online catalog.

Michiko Kakutani's Ex Libris is a love letter to libraries and the love of reading. Of the 100-plus books listed, I have read about thirty of them with many more on my to-read list. Ex Libris is a book to read cover to cover, a book to flip through, and a book to reread again and again.

 

Publisher description:

Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic Michiko Kakutani shares 100 personal, thought-provoking essays about books that have mattered to her and that help illuminate the world we live in today--with beautiful illustrations throughout.