October Books
In October we're excited to share an amazing novel, Tommy Orange's There There, our Book Club pick, and Brandy Colbert's YA novel The Voting Booth, our Buddy Read choice. Check out our Book Club discussion on episode 146—it releases on Wednesday, October 7—and let us know if you'd like to join our new Book Club Group on Facebook or our Buddy Read chat on Instagram discussing The Voting Booth! You can DM us @unabridgedpod.
Here are synopses from the publishers for these two books. Scroll down to see our November picks!
There There
"Tommy Orange's wondrous and shattering novel follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle's death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American--grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism. Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable."
The Voting Booth
"Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She's always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?
"Duke Crenshaw is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band's first paying gig tonight. Only problem? Duke can't vote.
"When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn't spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right. And that's how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva's missing cat), it's clear that there's more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.
"Romantic and triumphant, The Voting Booth is proof that you can't sit around waiting for the world to change, but some things are just meant to be."
November Double Feature
In November, Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam's Punching the Air will be both our Book Club pick AND our Buddy Read choice. You can join us for our leisurely Facebook discussion at the end of the month or for two, more fast-paced Instagram chats . . . or both!
Here's the synopsis from the publisher:
"The story that I thought
was my life
didn’t start on the day
I was born
"Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. 'Boys just being boys' turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
"The story that I think
will be my life
starts today
"Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?
"With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both."
September Books
If you missed our September picks, be sure to check out episode 141, in which we discuss Chanel Miller's Know My Name. Our Buddy Read discussion centered on Elizabeth Acevedo's powerful YA novel in verse The Poet X.
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(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)
Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.
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