Nonfiction
Born a crime : stories from a South African childhood
Trevor Noah
791.45028092 /Noah
Nonfiction
The memoir of one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
Tom Waits
Matt Mahurin
779.2 /Mahurin
Nonfiction
"A collection of portraits of musician Tom Waits, the result of a 30-year collaboration with photographer and illustrator Matt Mahurin This book is a testament to the unique collaboration, going back three decades, between the photographer and illustrator Matt Mahurin and the musician Tom Waits. Having shot magazine portraits, album covers, and music videos of Waits, Mahurin was inspired to resurrect 100 dormant film negatives as a jumping off point to explore his own surreal, poetic, and occasionƯally dark vision. The images vary from traditional porƯtraits to ones that capture Waits in concert--but the majority are imagined scenes in which Waits is more muse than musician. In addition to the diverse images, the book includes a foreword by Waits, an essay by Mahurin on their longtime collaboration, and 20 original paintings, drawings, photographs, and digital images inspired by Waits's song titles."--Publisher's website.
An incredible illustrated foray into Wait's career. If you can't have this as a coffee table book at home, you should at least check it out and ogle it! -Victoria
The Barbizon : the hotel that set women free
Paulina Bren
305.409 /Bren
Nonfiction, History
World War I had liberated women from home and hearth, setting them on the path to political enfranchisement and gainful employment. Arriving in New York to work in the dazzling new skyscrapers, they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses; they wanted what men already had: exclusive residential hotels that catered to their needs, with daily maid service, cultural programs, workout rooms, and private dining. The Barbizon would become the most famous residential hotel of them all. Bren shows how young women arrived at the Barbizon with a suitcase, and hope, and found a chance to remake themselves however they pleased. -- adapted from jacket
What a fun book. I’ve always been fascinated by the Barbizon, and it was wonderful to read a book on its history that also is a marvelous history lesson in mid-century New York for women. The author details so many interesting women who lived in the Barbizon, most particularly the guest editors of Mademoiselle magazine over the years (like Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion). I could barely keep up with the wealth of information and all the intriguing characters and stories over the many decades of the Barbizon, and kept pausing to look more into many of them. This is as much of a page-turner as a non-fiction book can be! -Amanda
The little gardener : helping children connect with the natural world
Julie A. Cerny
635.083 /Cerny
Nonfiction, Gardening
The Little Gardener is an engaging illustrated guide for parents, grandparents, caregivers, and educators who want to help children explore the natural world through gardening. Part how-to, part teaching tool, and part inspiration, The Little Gardener is a thoughtful combination of detailed instructions, tips, anecdotes, and seasonal activities designed to connect gardeners to natural systems. With fun projects, useful charts, and creative journal prompts, The Little Gardener shows gardeners of all ages how to envision and build their garden together by making the process an adventure to be treasured, with much to learn along the way.
This has been a great tool for getting excited about planning our family garden! Fun ideas for year-round projects mean I'll likely be back to this one seasonally. -Casey
Seeing gender : an illustrated guide to identity and expression
Iris Gottlieb
305.3 /Gottlieb
Nonfiction, LGBTQ+
Seeing Gender is an of-the-moment investigation into how we express and understand the complexities of gender today. Deeply researched and fully illustrated, this book demystifies an intensely personal—yet universal—facet of humanity. Illustrating a different concept on each spread, queer author and artist Iris Gottlieb touches on history, science, sociology, and her own experience. This book is an essential tool for understanding and contributing to a necessary cultural conversation, bringing clarity and reassurance to the sometimes confusing process of navigating ones' identity. Whether LGBTQ+, cisgender, or nonbinary, Seeing Gender is a must-read for intelligent, curious, want-to-be woke people who care about how we see and talk about gender and sexuality in the 21st century.
Added by Melody
Gender identity : beyond pronouns and bathrooms
Maria Cook
305.3 /Cook
Nonfiction, LGBTQ+
"An informative and project-filled book for middle graders to explore the meaning and history behind LGBTQ rights movements, including biographies of key figures in gender and gay/lesbian history, the context behind today's transgender "bathroom wars" and dozens of activities and research ideas for perspectives and further learning."--Amazon.com.
Added by Melody
Time is the thing a body moves through
T. Fleischmann
BIOGRAPHY Fleischmann, T.
Nonfiction, Memoir, LGBTQ+
"Sebald meets Maggie Nelson in this autobiographical narrative of embodiment, visual art, history, and loss. How do the bodies we inhabit affect our relationship with art? How does art affect our relationship to our bodies? T Fleischmann uses Felix Gonzáles-Torres's artworks--piles of candy, stacks of paper, puzzles--as a path through questions of love and loss, violence and rejuvenation, gender and sexuality. From the back porches of Buffalo, to the galleries of New York and L.A., to farmhouses of rural Tennessee, the artworks act as still points, sites for reflection situated in lived experience. Fleischmann combines serious engagement with warmth and clarity of prose, reveling in the experiences and pleasures of art and the body, identity and community."--
Added by Melody
Tomboyland : essays
Melissa Faliveno
814.6 /Faliveno
Nonfiction, Memoir, LGBTQ+
"A fiercely personal and startlingly universal essay collection about the mysteries of gender and desire, of identity and class, of the stories we tell and the places we call home."--Publisher's description.
Added by Melody
Trans like me : conversations for all of us
C. N. Lester
306.768 /Lester
Nonfiction, LGBTQ+, Memoir
A personal and culture-driven exploration of the most pressing questions facing the transgender community today, from a leading activist, musician, and academic. In Trans Like Me, CN Lester takes readers on a measured, thoughtful, intelligent yet approachable tour through the most important and high-profile narratives around the trans community, turning them inside out and examining where we really are in terms of progress. From the impact of the media's wording in covering trans people and issues, to the way parenting gender variant children is portrayed, Lester brings their charged personal narrative to every topic and expertly lays out the work left to be done. Trans Like Me explores the ways that we are all defined by ideas of gender--whether we live as he, she, or they--and how we can strive for authenticity in a world that forces limiting labels.
Added by Melody
She, he, they, me : for the sisters, misters, and binary resisters
Robyn Ryle
305.3 /Ryle
Nonfiction, Memoir, LGBTQ+
If you've ever questioned the logic of basing an entire identity around what you have between your legs, it's time to embark on a daring escape outside of the binary box... Open your eyes to what it means to be a boy or a girl -- and above and beyond! Within these pages, you get to choose which path to forge. Explore over one hundred different scenarios that embrace nearly every definition across the world, over history, and in the ever-widening realms of our imagination! What if your journey leads you into a world with several genders, or simply one? Do you live in a matriarchal society, or as a sworn virgin in the Balkans? How does gender (or the lack thereof) change the way we approach sex and love, life or death? Jump headfirst into this refreshingly creative exploration of the ways gender colors every shade and shape of our world. Above all, it's more important than ever for us to celebrate the fact that there are infinite gender paths -- and each of them is beautiful.
Added by Melody
Added by Beth