Turning pages and fostering a love of reading in Oakville School’s MYRCA book club – PortageOnline.com – Local news, Weather, Sports, Free Classifieds and Job Listings
Posted/updated on: January 25, 2025 at 11:55 am
Diyosa Carter/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has announced that it is rescinding all past guidance issued against the removal of books and will no longer employ a coordinator to investigate instances of unlawful book removals.The department also announced that it has dismissed 11 book ban complaints and six pending complaints. According to the DOE, the complaints alleged that the removal of these books “created a hostile environment for students.”The nation has seen a wave of attempts to ban or remove books from library and classroom shelves in recent years, with the vast majority of complaints targeting books that are written by or about people of color and the LGBTQ community, according to free speech organizations that track book banning efforts.PEN America, a free expression advocacy group, has tracked nearly 16,000 book ban attempts in public schools nationwide since 2021. In 2023 alone, the American Library Association (ALA) documented 4,240 different book titles and argued that book banning efforts are a form of censorship.The ALA’s data found that pressure groups and individuals behind the book-banning efforts targeted multiple titles, “often dozens or hundreds at a time.” Allegations of “obscene,” “divisive,” or “inappropriate” content have largely been used to challenge books that touch on the LGBTQ+ community, sex education, race and politics, the ALA said.The Trump administration’s Department of Education states that the books were targeted because school districts and parents “have established commonsense processes by which to evaluate and remove age-inappropriate materials.”The statement continued, “Because this is a question of parental and community judgment, not civil rights, OCR has no role in these matters.””The department is beginning the process of restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement on the move. “The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities. Parents and school boards have broad discretion to fulfill that important responsibility.”The move from the DOE follows the lead of state-led and local-led efforts to expand book restrictions of certain topics in schools, some of which have been legally challenged by residents.”We will continue to raise awareness and resistance to ongoing book bans in defense of students’ freedom to read,” said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read effort, in a statement. “All students deserve to see themselves and the world around them reflected in the books shelved within their public schools.”Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Go Back
Sarah Jessica Parker expressed her deep concerns about the banning of books at the Sundance Film Festival, drawing attention to a new documentary that follows librarians in their fight against censorship. As the executive producer of The Librarians, Parker highlighted the dangers of removing books from libraries, a fear that has only intensified since Donald…
To the Editor:
Connecticut State Senator Bob Duff is introducing legislation to prevent “book banning” and “shield librarians from all the crazies who are out there suing because they’re not getting their way.” “Book banning” is a hollow term that fails to differentiate legitimate concerns about age appropriateness and suitability in a public school setting from partisan and ideological distaste. Moreover, removing a book from a public school library via a systemic process that involves all stakeholders, including parents, is not the same as an outright publishing ban. As is usually the case, specifics matter.
On its face, Proposed Bill 523 appears reasonable. Books should not be removed from school libraries solely because they are found to be “offensive”. There should be a formal process to “address concerns over certain items” and clear policies for book curation and library removal. Additionally, librarians who act in good faith should be protected from frivolous criminal and civil litigation. School librarians are seldom solely responsible for problematic material. They should not take the fall for school administrators or elected officials that dictate broader curricular and policy initiatives.
However, there need be some accountability mechanism and substantive challenge process when school library books violate parental and community consensus about what constitutes porography and sexualization of children. In Darien, which falls under Senator Duff’s 25th District, the following passages are accessible to students in school libraries:
Why cartoons? Seemingly because “cartoons”, stricken from Darien’s digital safety policy here, are less likely to be deemed “pornographic” in a courtroom no matter how gratuitous or obscene the imagery. This type of content differs vastly from that contained in something like Catcher In The Rye, Huckleberry Finn, or other books that may have been “banned” because they offended certain people’s sensibilities. Books that sexualize children warrant special scrutiny.
In his X post, Senator Duff expresses concerns about “curtailing children’s ability to get an education” and references historical instances of “book burning”. It is highly dubious that the passages cited above possess indispensable learning value or that questioning the suitability of these books in a government-run school is akin to book burning. Throughout history, people presumably figured out how to masturbate without consulting their school library.
In reality, the presence of the aforementioned books in school libraries undermines faith in the educational system and trust in the highly-dedicated, well-intentioned professionals, including most teachers and librarians, who have nothing to do with the incorporation of this material. Most parents in Darien aren’t aware that this graphic, overly-sexualized content is available in schools because education officials do not explicitly address contested book passages. Instead, they respond to concerned parents with truisms about the importance of mental health and compassion as if group ejaculation scenes (into a soda bottle) are definitely empowering our youth.
While Proposed Bill 523 contains some laudable objectives in the abstract, any legislative discussion about a formal book challenge process that neglects to acknowledge the highly contentious material currently accessible in Darien school libraries reflects either complete naivety and ignorance or gaslighting.
Douglas KechijianDarien, CT
Every year brings new opportunities to learn and grow, and one of the most rewarding ways to do so is by reading nonfiction books and memoirs that anchor you in the present, educate you on the past, and provide a sense of hope for the future. They allow us to expand our horizons, connect more deeply with others, and better understand ourselves. Within the pages of the books on this list lie once-hidden histories of extraordinary individuals, insights into the fascinating ways other people see the world, and stories that feel so relatable it’s as if the author walks a parallel life to our own. This year’s upcoming selections promise to deliver rich, entertaining, and moving narratives that will continue to inspire you throughout the year ahead.Here are the nonfiction books and memoirs we’re most looking forward to in 2025. You’ll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist by Kari FerrellRelease Date: January 7 from St. Martin’s PressWhy We’re Excited: For the elder millennial who grew up in the heyday of Gawker and Observer, this memoir is a highly anticipated tell-all from the mind of the Hipster Grifter herself, with each turn of the page equally evoking empathy and automatic laughter.This book charts the private thoughts of the finest scammer this generation has seen, granting readers insight into Ferrell’s colorful past and offering grace for anyone who may want to begin anew.Publisher’s Description: Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in. Soon, stealing from superstores turned into picking up men (and picking their pockets), and before she knew it, Kari had graduated from petty theft to Utah’s most wanted list. Though Kari was able to escape the Southwest, she couldn’t outrun her new moniker: the Hipster Grifter.New York City’s indie sleaze scene had found its newest celebrity—just as Kari found herself in a heap of trouble. Jail time, riots, bad checks, and an explosion of internet infamy and fetishization put her name in the spotlight. Beyond the gossip and Gawker posts, there’s a side to Kari the media never saw—until now.By turns rollicking and irreverent, warm and compassionate, You’ll Never Believe Me tells Kari’s story for the first time. A heartfelt narrative of redemption and reconciliation as Kari eventually dedicates her life to activism, social justice, and setting the record straight, this memoir introduces a fresh, hilarious new voice to the literary stage and offers readers a nostalgic, uplifting, and at times unbelievable book that grapples with truth, why we lie, and what it means when our pasts don’t paint the whole picture.The Gloomy Girl Variety Show by Freda EpumRelease Date: January 14 from Feminist PressWhy We’re Excited: This debut memoir from Nigerian-American writer and multi-disciplinary artist Freda Epum is like a spark plug, electrifying the traditional memoir form with vibrancy and ingenuity. The Gloomy Girl Variety Show introduces a new dimension for the genre, one that reveals all that an author can accomplish through creativity, unabashed candor, and a striking sense of humor. Epum’s references to pop culture and the digital age make this an ideal choice for those looking for a substantive read that also tethers itself to the wildly imaginative.Publisher’s Description: In The Gloomy Girl Variety Show, Freda Epum explores the opposing forces of her “no-place, no-where” identity as a Nigerian American daughter, diasporically displaced, who spent years in and out of institutions seeking treatment for life-threatening mental illness. Epum examines her journey through healthcare and housing systems via a pop cultural lens—our collective obsession with HGTV’s home buying and makeover shows—and a patchwork of poetry, art, and autotheory.With raw honesty and glittering wit, this debut memoir maps the complexity of life under intersecting forms of oppression, revealing what it takes to turn from the brink of despair toward community and self-acceptance, find refuge in love, and reimagine home.Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry Release Date: January 28 from HarperCollinsWhy We’re Excited: National Book Award winner and renowned scholar of race, gender, and literature Imani Perry presents a vivid analysis of the color blue and its connection to the Black experience. Both the color of police uniforms, as well as the color Haitian rebels wore in the revolution, blue carries a range of transcendent associations that shape Black culture across geography. Perry elucidates the spiritual, historical, and cultural influences —from the indigo trade to blues music—in an expertly crafted, illuminating, and interwoven masterpiece. Publisher’s Description: Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color: blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong’s question, “What did I do to be so Black and blue?” In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world’s favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey—an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology.Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and history: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as “Blue Black.” The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon.Poignant, spellbinding, and utterly original, Black in Blues is a brilliant new work that could only have come from the mind of one of our greatest writers and thinkers. Attuned to the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience, it is every bit as vivid, rich, and striking as blue itself.Alligator Tears: A Memoir in Essays by Edgar GomezRelease Date: February 11 from Crown Publishing GroupWhy We’re Excited: Who gets to be an artist? Lambda Literary Award winner Edgar Gomez dives into this question as he explores his writing process for creating his first memoir, High Risk Homosexual. At its core, this memoir in essays is a Florida book, an ode to a state composed of immigrants and their children, a tourist destination reliant on the labor of those often considered “other.” Humorous, heartfelt, and refreshingly sincere, Alligator Tears is a meta-level how-to guide for putting words down on the page when the world would rather you not, and a raw and energetic account of coming of age as a queer Latino man on the periphery of the happiest place on Earth. Publisher’s Description: In Florida, one of the first things you’re taught as a child is that if you’re ever chased by a wild alligator, the only way to save yourself is to run away in zigzags. It’s a lesson on survival that has guided much of Edgar Gomez’s life.Like the night his mother had a stroke while he and his brother stood frozen at the foot of her bed, afraid she’d be angry if they called for an ambulance they couldn’t afford. Gomez escaped into his mind, where he could tell himself nothing was wrong with his family. Zig. Or years later, as a broke college student, he got on his knees to put sandals on tourists’ smelly, swollen feet for minimum wage at the Flip Flop Shop. After clocking out, his crew of working-class, queer, Latinx friends changed out of their uniforms in the passenger seats of each other’s cars, speeding toward the relief they found at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Zag. From committing a little bankruptcy fraud for the money for veneers to those days he paid his phone bill by giving massages to closeted men on vacation, back when he and his friends would Venmo each other the same emergency twenty dollars over and over. Zig. Zag. Gomez survived this way as long as his legs would carry him.Alligator Tears is a fiercely defiant memoir-in-essays charting Gomez’s quest to claw his family out of poverty by any means necessary and exposing the archetype of the humble poor person for what it is: a scam that insists we remain quiet and servile while we wait for a prize that will always be out of reach. For those chasing the American Dream and those jaded by it, Gomez’s unforgettable story is a testament to finding love, purpose, and community on your own terms, smiling with all your fake teeth.My Mother in Havana: A Memoir of Magic & Miracle by Rebe Huntman Release Date: February 18 from Monkfish Book PublishingWhy We’re Excited: A testament to Divine Feminity, this memoir extracts the heart of a grief-stricken daughter, lays it bare for readers to witness, and tucks it back into the author’s chest after having touched the source of her longing. My Mother in Havana lowers readers down into the cavernous expanse of the soul, reminding them of their right to ancestral wisdom and empowering them with the courage to find what they seek within themselves.Publisher’s Description: Writing with a physicality of language that moves like the body in dance, Rebe Huntman, a poet, choreographer, and dancer, embarks on a pilgrimage into the mysteries of the gods and saints of Cuba and their larger spiritual view of the Mother. Huntman offers a window into the extraordinary world of Afro-Cuban gods and ghosts and the dances and rituals that call them forth. As she explores the memory of her own mother, interlacing it with her search for the sacred feminine, Huntman leads us into a world of séance and sacrifice, pilgrimage and sacred dance, which resurrect her mother and bring Huntman face to face with a larger version of herself.Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live by Susan MorrisonRelease Date: February 18 from Random HouseWhy We’re Excited: Set to be released on the first Pub Day following Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary special, Lorne celebrates the legacy of a man whose life’s work has not only shaped the comedy world, but also influenced the entire modern entertainment landscape. Surreptitiously staying out of the spotlight for the duration of his career, Lorne Michaels is the backbone behind SNL’s staying power. Come for the peak behind the curtain of a living legend; stay for the expert reporting and deft portraiture at the hand of the author, Susan Morrison.Publisher’s Description: Over the fifty years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of Saturday Night Live, he has become a revered and inimitable presence in the entertainment world. He’s a tastemaker, a mogul, a withholding father figure, a genius spotter of talent, a shrewd businessman, a name-dropper, a raconteur, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, the winner of more than a hundred Emmys—and, essentially, a mystery. Generations of writers and performers have spent their lives trying to figure him out, by turns demonizing and lionizing him. He’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (Tracy Morgan), the “great and powerful Oz” (Kate McKinnon), “some kind of very distant, strange comedy god” (Bob Odenkirk).Lorne will introduce you to him, in full, for the first time. With unprecedented access to Michaels and the entire SNL apparatus, Susan Morrison takes readers behind the curtain for the lively, up-and-down, definitive story of how Michaels created and maintained the institution that changed comedy forever.Drawn from hundreds of interviews—with Michaels, his friends, and SNL’s iconic stars and writers, from Will Ferrell to Tina Fey to John Mulaney to Chris Rock to Dan Aykroyd—Lorne is a deeply reported, wildly entertaining account of a man singularly obsessed with the show that would define his life and have a profound impact on American culture.Sucker Punch by Scaachi KoulRelease Date: March 4 from St. Martin’sWhy We’re Excited: In her sophomore essay collection, Scaachi Koul delivers a story that is honest and on-point, sarcastic, sometimes heartbreaking, and downright side-splitting. The author is just as willing to turn a critical eye towards herself as she is the others around her, namely her ex-husband, as well as the fractured society that makes life as an Indian-Canadian millennial woman all the more challenging; her voice is fresh and wry, her sharp wit evenly dispensed. Sucker Punch is a welcome companion to read when life keeps coming at you, and you just can’t seem to catch a break. Publisher’s Description: Scaachi Koul’s first book was a collection of raw, perceptive, and hilarious essays reckoning with the issues of race, body image, love, friendship, and growing up the daughter of immigrants. When the time came to start writing her next book, Scaachi assumed she’d be updating her story with essays about her elaborate four-day wedding, settling down to domestic bliss, and continuing her never-ending arguments with her parents. Instead, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Scaachi’s marriage fell apart, she lost her job, and her mother was diagnosed with cancer.Sucker Punch is about what happens when the life you thought you’d be living radically changes course, everything you thought you knew about the world and yourself has tilted on its axis, and you have to start forging a new path forward. Scaachi employs her biting wit to interrogate her previous belief that fighting is the most effective tool for progress. She examines the fights she’s had—with her parents, her ex-husband, her friends, online strangers, and herself—all in an attempt to understand when a fight is worth having, and when it’s better to walk away.Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe DaltonRelease Date: March 4 from Pantheon BooksWhy We’re Excited: Reminiscent of Pig Years by Ellyn Gaydos in its search for purpose and meaning in nature, the memoir Raising Hare relies on its author’s instincts: to recover the orphaned hare from its fate, to let it roam free in her home, and to allow the young animal to transform her. Chloe Dalton writes with precision about what it means to care for a wild animal and how giving it freedom might promise its return. A great read for those who live a fast-paced life away from the natural world, but are eager to glean the lessons one can learn by slowing down.Publisher’s Description: Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.In February 2021, Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare–a leveret–that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how impossible it is to rear a wild hare, most of whom perish in captivity from either shock or starvation. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret with every intention of returning it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods at night and returning to Dalton’s house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, stoats, feral cats, raptors, and even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death.Raising Hare chronicles their journey together, while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness first-hand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things, and most beautiful experiences, arise when we least expect them.Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children by Noliwe RooksRelease Date: March 18 from PantheonWhy We’re Excited: It’s widely understood that the issues people face on an individual level stem from larger societal injustices; that the personal and the political are intrinsically linked. What makes Noliwe Rooks’s Integrated stand out among the rest of the nonfiction books coming out this year is the anecdotal thread the author weaves between the Supreme Court’s Brown vs Board of Education decision and the negative consequences it had on her own family across several generations. Through evocative personal storytelling and accessible academic research, Integrated reckons with the common misconceptions surrounding this landmark Supreme Court case, leaving the reader with an expanded frame of mind perhaps surrounding the legacy of the Civil Rights movement as a whole. Publisher’s Description: On May 17, 1954 the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education determined that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Heralded as a massive victory for civil rights, the decision’s goal was to give Black children equitable access to educational opportunities and clear a path to a better future. Yet in the years following the ruling, schools in predominantly Black neighborhoods were shuttered or saw their funding dwindle, Black educators were fired en masse, and Black children faced discrimination and violence from their white peers as they joined resource-rich schools that were ill-prepared for the influx of new students.Award-winning interdisciplinary scholar of education and Black history Noliwe Rooks weaves together sociological data and cultural history to challenge the idea that integration was a boon for Black children. She tells the story of her grandparents, who were among the thousands of Black teachers fired following the Brown decision; her father, who was traumatized by his experiences at an almost exclusively-white school; her own experiences moving from a flourishing, racially diverse school to an underserved inner-city one; and finally her son and his Black peers, who over half-century after Brown still struggle with hostility and prejudice from white teachers and students alike. She also shows how present-day discrimination lawsuits directly stem from the mistakes made during integration.At once assiduously researched and deeply engaging, Integrated tells the story of how education has remained both a tool for community progress and a seemingly inscrutable cultural puzzle. Rooks’ deft hand turns the story of integration’s past and future on its head, and shows how we may better understand and support generations of students to come.Dysphoria Mundi: A Diary of Planetary Transition by Paul B. PreciadoRelease Date: April 15 from Graywolf Press Why We’re Excited: The theory of change in Paul B. Precaido’s research-driven doctrine, Dysphoria Mundi, offers a radical blueprint for rebuilding a broken society. The text serves as a roadmap for navigating a contentious future with optimism and acuity, expanding on Precaido’s core interests at the intersection of gender, sexuality, technology, and modern institutions. Dysphoria Mundi not only envisions life beyond the binary, but also proposes proactive measures — at both the individual and collective levels — to transmute a shifted paradigm, one that makes such liberation possible.Publisher’s Description: In Dysphoria Mundi, Paul B. Preciado, best known for his 2013 cult classic Testo Junkie, has written a mutant text assembled from essays, philosophy, poetry, and autofiction that captures a moment of profound change and possibility. Rooted in the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and taking account of the societal convulsions that have ensued, Preciado tries to make sense of our times from within the swirl of a revolutionary present moment.The central thesis of this monumental work is that dysphoria, to be understood properly, should not be seen as a mental illness but rather as the condition that defines our times. Dysphoria is an abyss that separates a patriarchal, colonial, and capitalist order hurtling toward its end from a new way of being that, until now, has been seen as unproductive and abnormal but is in fact the way out of our current predicament.With echoes of visionaries such as William S. Burroughs and Kathy Acker, Preciado’s theoretical writing is propelled by lyric power while providing us with a critical toolbox full of new concepts that can guide our thinking and our actions: transition, cognitive emancipation, denormalization, disidentification, “electronic heroin,” digital coups, necro-kitsch. Dysphoria Mundi is Preciado’s most accessible and significant work to date, in which he makes sense of a world in ruins around us and maps a joyous, radical way forward.Ginseng Roots by Craig ThompsonRelease Date: April 29 from PantheonWhy We’re Excited: Masterful draftsmanship meets captivating storytelling in this graphic novel that blends personal narrative with incisive commentary on class and capitalism. Both a critique of global trade and a reflection of the author’s connection to his creative spirit, Ginseng Roots is a deep and compelling tale about one man’s relationship with a rare and valuable commodity — ginseng, a light beige root revered around the world and worth almost its weight in gold. Originally published as a 12-part serialized comic, and now as a full-length memoir, it is expansive in its scope and touching in its effect. Publisher’s Description: When Blankets first published in 2003, Craig Thompson’s seminal memoir about first love and faith lost in rural Wisconsin debuted to rapturous acclaim. The winner of two Eisner and three Harvey Awards, it is to this day considered one of the all-time great works of graphic storytelling. Now, in Craig’s long-awaited return to the autobiographical form, comes the story that Blankets left out.Ginseng Roots follows Craig and his siblings, who spent the summers of their youth weeding and harvesting rows of coveted American ginseng on rural Wisconsin farms for one dollar an hour. In his trademark breathtaking pen-and-ink work, Craig interweaves this lost youth with the 300-year-old history of the global ginseng trade and the many lives it has tied together—from ginseng hunters in ancient China, to industrial farmers and migrant harvesters in the American Midwest, to his own family still grappling with the aftershocks of the bitter past. Stretching from Marathon, Wisconsin, to Northeast China, Ginseng Roots charts the rise of industrial agriculture, the decline of American labor, and the search for a sense of home in a rapidly changing world.The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex by Melissa Febos Release Date: June 3 from KnopfWhy We’re Excited: Upon first impression, one might see The Dry Season as a departure from Melissa Febos’s earlier works, which center on sexuality and the physical form as pathways to self-possession. However, upon further examination, her new memoir fits perfectly into her oeuvre. Over the course of a year without sex, Febos—celebrated for her ability to express the minutiae of emotion in the simplest terms—uncovers a deeper sensuality, one that surpasses what carnality once offered. Like water drawn from stone, as she describes, the reward of withholding feels sweeter because of the ardor it requires. In The Dry Season, Febos excels at conveying the key paradox: of the pleasure hidden within celibacy. Publisher’s Description: In the wake of a catastrophic two-year relationship, Melissa Febos decided to take a break—for three months she would abstain from dating, from relationships, and sex. Her friends were amused. Did she really think three months was a long time? But to Febos, it was. Ever since her teens, she had been in one relationship after another. As she puts it, she could trace a “daisy chain of romances” from her adolescence to her mid-thirties. Finally, she would carve out time to focus on herself and examine the patterns that had produced her midlife disaster. Over those first few months, she gleaned insights into her past and awoke to the joys of being single. She decided to extend her celibacy, not knowing it would become the most fulfilling and sensual year of her life. No longer defined by her romantic pursuits, she learned to relish the delights of solitude, the thrill of living on her own terms, the sensual pleasures unmediated by lovers, and the freedom to pursue her ideals without distraction or guilt. Bringing her own experiences into conversation with those of women throughout history—from Hildegard von Bingen, Virginia Woolf, and Octavia Butler to the Shakers and Sappho—Febos situates her story within a newfound lineage of role models who unapologetically pursued their ambitions and ideals.By abstaining from all forms of romantic entanglement, Febos began to see her life and her self-worth in a radical new way. Her year of divestment transformed her relationships with friends and peers, her spirituality, her creative practice, and most of all her relationship to herself. Blending intimate personal narrative and incisive cultural criticism, The Dry Season tells a story that’s as much about celibacy as its inverse: pleasure, desire, fulfillment. Infused with fearless honesty and keen intellect, it’s the memoir of a woman learning to live at the center of her own story, and a much-needed catalyst for a new conversation around sex and love.A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile by Aatish Taseer Release Date: July 15 from Catapult BooksWhy We’re Excited: Unwavering in its compassion, A Return to Self untangles the woven threads that have shaped the contemporary global landscape. Ambitious in scope and impressive in its execution, this blended nonfiction work holds two truths at once: humanity’s tendency toward destruction and discrimination, as well as its compulsion toward connection. Author and journalist Aatish Taseer succeeds in crafting a philosophically sound book with an approachable and enriching conclusion exploring the transformative power of empathy.Publisher’s Description: In 2019, the government of Prime Minister Narenda Modi revoked Aatish Taseer’s Indian citizenship, thereby exiling him from the country where he grew up and lived for thirty years. This loss, both practical and spiritual, sent him on a journey of revisiting the places that formed his identity, and asking broader questions about the complex forces that make a culture and a nationality, in the process. In Istanbul, he confronts the hopes and ambitions of his former self. In Uzbekistan, he sees how what was once the majestic portal of the Silk Road is now a tourist façade. In India, he explores why Buddhism, which originated there, is so little practiced. Everywhere he goes, the ancient world mixes intimately with the contemporary: with the influences of the pandemic, the rise of new food cultures, and the ongoing cultural battles of regions around the world. How do centuries of cultures evolving and overlapping, often violently, shape the people that subsequently emerge from them? In thoughtful prose that combines reportage with romanticism, Taseer casts an incisive eye at what it means to belong to a place that becomes an unstable, politicized vessel for ideas defined by exclusion and prejudice, and gets to the human heart of the shifts and migrations that define our multicultural world.A Flower Traveled In My Blood: The Incredible Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children by Haley Cohen GillilandRelease Date: July 15 from Avid Reader PressWhy We’re Excited: A Flower Traveled In My Blood is a poignant testament to the power of love as a form of resistance. This expertly reported tale from the former Argentina correspondent for The Economist, Haley Cohen Gilliland, honors the families who were torn apart by dictatorship and sheds light on the lengths to which people will go for the sake of their loved ones.Publisher’s Description: In the early hours of March 24th, 1976, the streets of Buenos Aires rumbled with tanks as soldiers seized the presidential palace, overthrowing Argentina’s leader. To many, it seemed like just another coup in a continent troubled by them, amid political violence and Cold War tensions. But there was something darker about this new regime. Quietly supported by the United States and much of Argentina itself, which was sick of constant bombings and gunfights, the junta quickly launched the “National Reorganization Process” or El Proceso—a bland name masking their ruthless campaign to crush the political left and instill the country with “Western, Christian” values. The dictatorship, which continued until 1983, decimated a generation.One of the military’s most diabolical acts was the disappearance of hundreds of pregnant women. Patricia Roisinblit was among them, a mother and leftist revolutionary labeled “subversive” and abducted while eight months pregnant with her second child. Patricia gave birth in captivity, making one last call to her mother, Rosa, before vanishing. Her newborn son was also taken, one of hundreds given to police, military families, and dictatorship supporters, while their biological parents were secretly executed and their bodies disposed of. For Rosa and the other mothers in her same situation, the loss was unimaginable; their only solace was the hope that their grandchildren were still alive. United by this faith, a group of fierce grandmothers formed the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, dedicated to finding the stolen children and seeking justice from a nation that betrayed them.A Flower Traveled in My Blood is Rosa and the Abuelas’ extraordinary story, told by a journalist with unique access. With authority and compassion, Haley Cohen Gilliland brings this tale to life, tracing the lives of Patricia, Rosa, and her stolen grandson, Guillermo. As the Abuelas transform into detectives, they confront military officers, sift through government documents, assume aliases to see suspected grandchildren, and even pioneer a groundbreaking genetics test with an American scientist.A compelling mystery and deeply researched account of a pivotal era in world history, A Flower Traveled in My Blood takes readers on a journey of love, resilience, and redemption, revealing new truths about memory, identity, and family.(So What) If I’m a Puta? by Amara MoiraRelease Date: July 22 from Feminist PressWhy We’re Excited: The latest addition to the growing literature surrounding putafeminism — a sect of feminism specifically centered around sex workers in Brazil—(So What) If I’m a Puta chronicles the life of one freedom fighter on the frontlines. Without mincing words and with an unflinching sense of humor, the author Amara Moira reinforces the role of sex workers as central to the feminist movement, and love as the last defense against violence.Publisher’s Description: (So What) If I’m a Puta?, originally published on author Amara Moira’s popular blog of the same name, consists of 44 crônicas that wryly portray her experiences as a trans sex worker in Brazil. In a brazen, funny, and at times heartbreaking voice, Moira explores the political and personal textures of her encounters with the men who buy sex from her, and the complex reality of her labor of a sort of love.Woven through Moira’s essays are reflections on transition, safe sex, desire, whorephobia, consent—in the grim context of Brazil’s record rates of violence against trans women. Ultimately, Moira writes to “give a voice to us prostitutes” and center trans sex workers in Brazil’s putafeminist movement, modeling a feminism that envisions inclusivity, safety, self-determination, and joy for us all. Trying: A Memoir by Chloé CaldwellRelease Date: August 5 from Graywolf PressWhy We’re Excited: Conventional wisdom urges against pretending like you have life all figured out. The queen of irreverence and confessionalism Chloé Caldwell puts no such pretenses in her latest memoir, as she gives readers a wide-eyed look at her life in a time of great uncertainty. With tenderness, humility, curiosity, and familiarity that readers have come to expect from Caldwell, her latest memoir is a touching and liberating look into identity, fertility, and becoming. Publisher’s Description: Over the years that Chloé Caldwell had been married and hoping to conceive a child, she’d read everything she could find on infertility. But no memoir or message board reflected her experience; for one thing, most stories ended with in vitro fertilization, a baby, or both. She wanted to offer something different.Caldwell began a book. She imagined a selective journal about her experience coping with stasis and uncertainty. Is it time to quit coffee, find a new acupuncturist, get another blood test? Her questions extended to her job at a clothing boutique and to her teaching and writing practice. Why do people love equating publishing books with giving birth? What is the right amount of money to spend on pants or fertility treatments? How much trying is enough? She ignored the sense that something else in her life was wrong that was not on the page . . . until she extracted a confession from her husband. Broken by betrayal but freed from domesticity, Caldwell felt reawakened, to long-buried desires, to her queer identity, to pleasure and possibility. She kept writing, making sense of her new reality as it took shape. With the candor, irreverence, and heart that have made Caldwell’s work beloved, Trying intimately captures a self in a continuous process of becoming—and the mysterious ways that writing informs that process. Felicia Reich is an entertainment writer and culture reporter. She lives in Brooklyn with her complex first person perspective, collection of decorative pillows, and insatiable curiosity.
Stuff your Kindle — or “queer your e-reader” — with free queer literature this week.Hundreds of free e-books featuring queer literature are being offered this weekend by various publishers and organizations, according to BookBub.Whether you’re into thought-provoking LGBTQIA+ stories, swoon-worthy queer romances, or gripping mysteries, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.What is ‘Stuff Your Kindle’ Day?Although this isn’t the official “Stuff Your Kindle” Day that author Zoe York started nine years ago to help indie authors promote their books, the concept has grown so popular that several “Stuff Your Own” pop-up events now happen throughout the year.During these events, e-books are made available for free for a 24-hour period. Readers don’t need a Kindle Unlimited subscription to access these freebies.When is Stuff Your Kindle Day?The first event of the month already passed on Jan. 23.”Queer Your E-Reader,” hosted by Divination Hollow Reviews, will take place on Jan. 25.There will also be a “Romance Book Blast” — hosted by Romance Book Lovers — on Jan. 28.How are these free books different from Kindle Unlimited?In short: Free event books are yours forever, while Kindle Unlimited offers temporary access to a large library as long as you maintain your subscription.These books are free for anyone, even if you don’t have a Kindle Unlimited subscription. You don’t need to pay a monthly fee, and once you grab a book during one of these events (usually lasting 24 hours), it’s yours to keep permanently. You can even download the Kindle app on your phone!Meanwhile, Kindle Unlimited requires a monthly subscription, which gives you access to thousands of books. However, you can only keep 20 books on your shelf at a time, which are technically borrowed. If your subscription ends, you must return the books, and they’re no longer accessible.The good news is that even if you miss Stuff Your Kindle Day — which pops up several times a year now — and don’t have Kindle Unlimited, you can still get free e-books online. Amazon always maintains a top 100 free Kindle book list accessible daily.
Cairo’s 56th International Book Fair, scheduled to run from 23 January to 5 February, is the grounds for the launch of Egypt’s Ministry of Culture’s new initiative, “One Million Books.”
Through the “One Million Books” initiative, the Ministry of Culture aims to donate books to Egyptians of all ages across schools, universities, and youth centers, covering a wide range of subjects, including history, science, and art to enhance cultural and intellectual awareness among Egyptians.
“This initiative is part of our vision to enhance Egypt’s soft power and build future generations equipped to face present and future challenges,” the Minister of Culture, Ahmed Fouad Hano stated, during a press conference organized by the Egyptian General Book Authority at the Egyptian Opera House.
He emphasized that the initiative marks an important stride in spreading knowledge and enriching Egyptian society with diverse cultural and intellectual offerings.
The books will be handed out at the Cairo International Book Fair, one of the largest in the Middle East, established in 1969, with the first phase of books being distributed after sorting and organizing the collections.
The initiative saw the involvement of various publishing bodies, such as the General Authority for Cultural Palaces, the National Center for Translation, the Cultural Development Fund, the National Library and Archives, the General Egyptian Book Organization, and the Supreme Council of Culture.
During the conference, under the patronage of Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Minister Hano announced that the cultural program features more than 600 activities, 1,345 publishing houses, and 6,150 exhibitors of literary and intellectual works participating.
Eighty countries will participate in the fair this year, with 10 making their debut appearance and two honorary guests, Romania and Qatar.
This year’s edition of the International Book Fair, Oman is the Guest of Honor. The Fair’s Person of the Year is the renowned Egyptian scientist and author, Ahmed Mostagir, while Fatma Al-Maadoul, a writer, has been named the Person of the Year for the Children’s Book Fair.
This year’s fair will take place at the Egypt International Exhibition Center. Its slogan is, “Read… In the Beginning, It Was the Word,” encouraging everyone to make reading, which enriches and empowers individuals, a daily habit, laying the foundation for any cultural or civilizational progress.
Tickets to the book fair, priced at EGP 5 (US Cents 9.93), can be reserved through the fair’s online platform or bought at the booth located near the main entrance.
Florida’s Governor and Florida’s first President are united on federal oversight on what books state educational systems feature.Ron DeSantis is celebrating moves from Donald Trump’s Department of Education to “end” former President Joe Biden’s “book ban hoax,” framing them as long overdue correctives to federal overreach.
“R.I.P. to the Book Ban Hoax The conflation of parents objecting to age-inappropriate, often sexually charged material being in their kids’ schools (even in elementary grades) with ‘banning’ books was always a ridiculous narrative that the left, legacy media and the Biden administration manufactured and advanced. Glad to see the Trump USDOE (before it gets shut down) put the kibosh on this nonsense,” DeSantis said Friday.
Trump’s Department of Education rescinded Biden policy fighting state and local “removal of age-inappropriate, sexually explicit, or obscene materials from their school libraries” that the previous administration alleged “created a hostile environment for students” as “a meritless claim premised upon a dubious legal theory.”
“By dismissing these complaints and eliminating the position and authorities of a so-called ‘book ban coordinator,’ the department is beginning the process of restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “
The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities. Parents and school boards have broad discretion to fulfill that important responsibility. These decisions will no longer be second-guessed by the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education,” Trainor added.
The controversy over Florida’s right to curate education materials made national news, including when DeSantis ran for President.
During a town hall in Hampton, New Hampshire, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate was confronted with remarks from an attendee, who said his sister had a friend who had to remove a Seuss book from a Florida library and thus would not vote for DeSantis.
The speaker didn’t mention which Seuss book was pulled, but it didn’t matter, as it compelled DeSantis again to defend the removal of texts from classrooms and libraries.
Answering the accusation, the Governor described “pornographic books that are in the schools” and how the state has “empowered parents to object to that and, and to have it removed because it’s just not right that that’s happening.”
The Governor defended one “school in Miami-Dade County” and its decision to remove a work by Amanda Gorman after a challenge in which the author was misidentified as Oprah Winfrey. He previously called this a “poem ban hoax.“
“There was this book of poems from, I guess a lady that did a poem at Biden’s inauguration. And the school decided to move it from elementary library to middle school library. And that was it. And they said that this was somehow, they were banning these poems and it’s like, like, this had nothing to do with the state. So I would just say anything on that is a hoax, our standards are very clear, they are not controversial at all.”
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If it were not for benevolent librarians and volunteers, readers in Lithuania’s rural areas would have much less access to books.
Joana Burokienė works as a librarian in the village of Vadokliai, in the northern District of Panevėžys. While usually readers come to a library to take out a book, Joana mounts her bike and cycles to another village a few kilometres away with a bag of about ten books. The reader lives in a remote place and cannot come herself due to old age.
Whether it rains or snows, she always transports the books by bicycle. And she has been doing so for more than forty years.
Joana jokes that there is no such thing as bad weather or bad clothes. She always wears a dress, even though it’s not the most comfortable thing to wear on a bicycle.
“I don’t do athletics, I don’t do sports, I don’t jog, a job is a job,” smiles the librarian.
Indian book publishers as well as their international extensions have filed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI in New Delhi. The agenda of the lawsuit is to cease the access of ChatGPT on proprietary content. As of now, courts all over the world are getting claims from different authors, musicians, and even news outlets. All these…