Oluo's writing is clear, succinct, and well organized, making this is an excellent place to start if you're looking for an intro/primer on matters pertaining to race. It's also a great resource to have on hand if you're looking for something you can return to over and over to keep these ideas fresh in your mind until they settle in and take root.

A warm, engaging, smart, fascinating, funny look at therapy and the human condition.

Remarkably fair and informative, transparently partisan though never mean-spirited, David Litt's book on the past and current state of our U.S. democracy is equal parts entertaining, infuriating, revealing, and comforting. Yes, some of the comfort is via slightly dark channels — by remembering/learning that our government has often, if not always, faced significant issues. But there's genuine comfort in knowing that we can and have overcome dangers and dysfunction before. We can and probably will returned to a more functional, representative democracy again. Probably. The more people are aware and are prioritizing that need the better.

This ended up being a hard read for me even though it's a relatively short collection of essays. I'd like to attribute some of that to the writing, which seems unfocused and repetitive in areas, but no — I think it was hard because I had to slow down and actively process much more than I'm used to. Ideas, phrases, connections that I thought I was familiar with hold different nuance, priority, and position here. I couldn't gulp and go. In that regard, the writing is incredibly effective. And the content — those ideas and connections — is incredibly important.

Whether you feel like you're well-versed in intersectional feminism or you're just realizing that intersectionality or feminism is a thing, Hood Feminism has things for you to consider. From broad attitudes to specific issues — solidarity, poverty, patriarchy, gun violence, adultification, fetishizing, housing, parenting, allies — get ready to actively process as you read.

David Chang is the award-winning chef behind Momofuku Noodle Bar, Netflix's Ugly Delicious, Lucky Peach journal, and a number of other successful and failed culinary endeavors. He tells about each of them, including the failures. Sometimes especially the failures. He is a first-generation Korean American, a former competitive golfer, a religions major, a bro-chef who has evolved in self-awareness, outlook, and empathy — while retaining his signature eff-you attitude. He struggles with depression, rage, and other mental health issues. He's a new dad, and he's trying to swear less. He's a storyteller-writer. And he can't decided if this is a business manual or a memoir or a culinary guide or a philosophy of food book or a discussion of mental health or an examination of generational, ethnic, and gender bias and influences. He brings his whole, evolving, honest self to this story, and it's definitely worth listening to.

"The mental and physical toll of working in restaurants is corrosive. It will take generations to undo the harm and build an industry that is equitable for people of all genders, races, ethnicities, sexualities, and beliefs. We need to be responsible for one another."

Content notes: suicidal thoughts, suicide of a friend/employee, substance use and abuse, addiction, depression, strong language, anger issues, workaholism, misogyny, racism

"Inclusion isn't better just because it's kinder. We should bring disabled perspectives to the center because such perspectives create a world that is more imaginative, more flexible, more sustainable, more dynamic and vibrant for everyone who lives in a body."

Rebekah Taussig's memoir-in-essays manages to sneak a whole lot of eye-opening, paradigm-shifting truth into one small, cheerful, cheeky package. Taussig has a PhD in creative nonfiction and disability studies and, due to childhood cancer, has been paralyzed from the waist down for as long as she can remember. She has a wealth of information and stores to choose from and distills them perfectly here, touching on representation, inspiration porn, ableism, feminism, intersectionality, healthcare costs and consequences, objectification and dehumanization, demoralizing and threatening kindnesses, accessibility, inclusion, and more.

The writing is excellent. The curation of stories is perfect. The tone is conversational and gracious and generous and unwavering. Anyone who lives in a body should read this. Most of us should read it a few times.

Content notes: strong language, alcohol, ineffective support systems and responses to the needs of marginalized and vulnerable people

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperOne for a digital ARC.

This isn't a traditional cradle-to-grave biography (which can sometimes make for an intimidating tome), but a powerful, readable account of John Lewis's lifelong commitment to civil rights, social justice, and political renewal — and how his faith compelled that commitment in philosophy and action. In the author's words, it's "an appreciative account of the major moments of Lewis’s life in the movement, of the theological understanding he brought to the struggle, and of the utility of that vision as America enters the third decade of the twenty-first century amid division and fear." Because of Lewis's extensive involvement from such an early age, this makes an excellent refresher/introduction to the Civil Rights Movement.

Content notes: racist violence, terror, and obstruction