Enacted last month, this is the post at the end of each month where I can review everything that I’ve read and choose my version of the book of the month.
May’s winner is… End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson.
Swanson is always a top pick for me because his love for history shines through his ability to write the most epic of stories. At this point, aside from some random law books that he’s edited, I have generally read every book he’s written for a civilian audience. I had read his YA version of End of Days called “The President Has Been Shot!”, so while I already had the foundational knowledge of the assassination, the fact that Swanson took a deep dive writing for the adult audience was still as intense as learning about it for the first time. There were several chapters and a handful of pages writing about the mere seconds it took Oswald to shoot JFK and each word, each sentence, and each page was like reading about years of time gone by. Swanson freezes time as he writes and picks apart the decisions, actions, and reactions by all involved.
And the presentation of the details imprints in a reader’s brain. I spent close to an hour recounting the insane details to my husband after I had finished– needing to tell someone else about what I had just learned. Swanson makes the case for all amazing nonfiction writers that should be writing narrative nonfiction read in school rather than a textbook. Gifted writers like Steve Sheinkin, Don Brown, Sy Montgomery, and Gail Jarrow.
The thicker history books whether they be biographies or narrative have become a bigger chunk of my reading and if you’re looking to learn, this is one of those that will bring you back (if you were alive on November 22, 1963) or put you there if you weren’t.
Moving on to an informative picture book, this one details the life of Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the chocolate chip cookie. Ford provides the three versions of how people think the cookie was created and has fun providing you with a well-rounded tale of her passion for food and how her toll house became part of the “Nestle’s Toll House Cookie” recipe stamped on each chocolate chip bag you buy.
Faruqi and Shovan are publishing A Place At the Table next month and I couldn’t be happier that this book exists. When I read it, I felt a warmth for the characters and the food that filled me up with love. Sara is Pakistani American and Elizabeth is Jewish and they both end up in the Southeast Asian cooking class run by Sara’s mother after Sara moves to the school. They befriend one another and find that their connections run a bit deeper as both of their mothers are not naturalized American citizens. But as the title implies, the girls work through typical middle grade angst by finding a place for each other at the table.
And last is an adult title that was recommended to me by a friend. While the book is over ten years old, it will resonate with those who can appreciate all the ways that food affects our lives be it romance or in mourning, friendship or solitude. It’s a series of vignettes that are all centered around Lillian’s cooking school “The School of Essential Ingredients” that she runs on Monday nights. It follows the attendees in various parts of their lives and how they all came to be together in the class. The languid storytelling is part of the appeal, like savoring a meal, and enriches the understanding. I also found myself pausing and re-reading lines that hit me to my core as a cook, baker, lover of food. As said by two participants in the class: “Here’s to kitchens. And here’s to what comes out of them.”
Maybe it’s because I’m a woman or maybe it’s because I’m a librarian, but either way, I want to take a moment to celebrate books about periods. They’ve been kind of having a moment. And I knew I wanted to share a post about periods two days ago when I finished Lily Williams and Karen Schneeman’s graphic novel published by First Second this past January called Go With the Flow. It’s a celebration of menstruation and friendship alongside actively advocating for rights.
But let’s also give it up for the most memorable scene where Sasha’s blood-stained pants are showing as the girls usher her to the bathroom and why the book works so well in its graphic novel format. Most can empathize or sympathize with her situation and it’s the kind of thing that is discussed in other books discussing periods: the truthful portrayal.
Fat Tuesday is also Paczki Day. Paczkis are Polish doughnuts usually with jelly filling and rolled in either powdered sugar or granulated sugar. They’re made on Fat Tuesday in preparation for the Lenten season’s austerity. This past Monday, I homemade them and was excited to share them with my family, colleagues, and neighbors who all know my love for baking.
Readers Be Advised 