Seeking your next good read? Emma Snyder, owner of The Ivy Bookshop at 5928 Falls Road in Baltimore, offers recommendations for must-read titles for adults and children.
Fiction
“Tiananmen Square”
By Lai Wen
Spiegel & Grau, 528 pages, $22
Growing up in 1970s Beijing, the effects of the Cultural Revolution are everywhere. Lai’s father recedes, her mother is patriotic, and Lai eventually finds release into the world of books. When she enters college in the late 80s, and takes up with a band of artists, the Tiananmen Square protests become the backdrop of this complex story of idealism and independence.
“The Road to the Country”
By Chigozi Obioma
Hogarth, 384 pages, $29
Set in late 1960s Nigeria, during the Biafra War, this novel mixes the mystical and the historical to beautiful effect. It starts with a ‘seer’ prophesying the birth and eventual heroism of a small boy named Kunle. 17 years later, as war breaks out and his younger brother disappears, Kunle must set out to find and save him. The result is a tale shot through with brutality, courage, and love.
Nonfiction
“Sociopath: A Memoir”
By Patric Gagne
Simon & Schuster, 368 pages, $28.99
A wholly distinctive memoir — provocative, unsettling, and deeply honest. Patric tells her own story, as a diagnosed sociopath, with a deeply muted emotional capacity. But a youth of dramatically antisocial behavior, gives way to an adulthood in which she has built a life and a family, motivated by love.
“The Joy Experiments: Reimagining Mid-sized Cities to Heal Our Divided Society”
By Scott Higgins & Paul Kalbfleisch
Dundurn Press, 224 pages, $35 (hardcover)
Written by a developer and designer duo, this book posits that mid-sized cities (like Baltimore!) are places that we can and should redesign around the cultivation of joy. Beatifully designed, creatively laid out, and full of practical insights into how we tackle the reimagination of our built environments with a focus on hope.
Children
“Three Summers”
By Amra Sabic-El-Rayess & Laura L. Sullivan
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 352 pages, $18.99
Set during the three summers leading up to the Bosnian genocide, this novel tells the story of Amra, a Muslim teen, as she bonds deeply with her family, even as the political world darkens, and a regime of ethnic cleansing begins to take shape. The characters are richly portrayed, and the book is a remarkable depiction of resilience amidst chaos. (middle grade, ages 8-12)
“Cesaria Feels the Beat”
By Denise Rosario Adusei & Priscilla Soares
Roaring Brook Press, 40 pages, $19.99 picture book (hardcover)
A beautifully illustrated story of a dance performance at a seaside Carnival celebration. Cesaria, who is deaf, dances barefoot in order to feel the rhythm of the music. When the dance director tells her she must wear shoes to perform, she resists until everyone takes off their shoes so they can feel what she feels.
The BCO, founded in 1984, will perform the works of Frank Zappa, Beethoven, Mason Bates and Karena Ingram.
Led by local Israel-American cellist Amit Peled, the Mount Vernon Virtuosi aims to inspire people beyond musical enjoyment.
Container vegetable gardening is a terrific option for people with limited space and/or time. Rebecca Brown and Norman Cohen share some tips.
Filmmaker Justin Schein looks at wealth and inequality through the very real story of his late father.