Tag: memoir

Books I Read in 2025

Whenever I travel, if there is time, one of my favorite things to do is to find an independent bookstore and explore the stacks to find what is new. This year, I read my way through dozens of books, having set specific goals for novels, memoir, and other nonfiction. Sometimes I am reading for information, hence the significant number of nonfiction books that I read in a year. At other times, I want a good story and as a writer, I am also drawn in by elements such as structure, pacing, and craft, or how the story is told.

Here are some of the books I read, by category, that you might want to take a look at:

Memoir:

Whiskey Tender by Deborah Jackson Taffa

This book is about a young Native American woman and her life both on and off the reservation. It has personal stories and is well researched such that I came away knowing more about her as a person, her culture, and aspects of being Native American in this country of which I was unaware.

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy

Dungy is a poet, so her descriptions of establishing a garden in Colorado come to life with vivid descriptions of her garden and the wildlife that lives there. She also provides context about the history of Black people and their connection to the land.

Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson

I remember going to see Ms. Tyson as a college student; she was a guest speaker at a nearby college. When she walked onto the stage, I will never forget the image – posture impeccable, smile beaming, and she was a wearing winter white outfit which was elegant against her dark brown skin. This was not that long after the TV miniseries Roots mesmerized this nation over the course of several days. I wanted to learn more about her life, career, and how she became the accomplished actress that she was. This memoir did not disappoint.

Other Nonfiction:

How to Retire by Christine Benz

Benz shares practical and actionable advice on how to plan for and navigate a happier retirement.

Less is Liberation – Finding Freedom from a Life of Overwhelm by Christine Platt

Platt describes her healing journey as she understands the role of overwhelm in making her ill. She stresses the importance of being intentional in the choices we make because there are consequences for everything we acquire and take on as obligations.

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jared Lanier

This book explains the negative impact of social media on individuals and society. I deleted one account last year, but I believe that particularly if you have children or young adults who are active on social media you should read this so you can understand how it is affecting them.

Novel:

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Despite the efforts of the community to fight, an American oil corporation causes lasting and extensive damage as a result of its greed and lack of concern that drilling has on an African village. 

The Great Mann by Kyra Davis Lurie

This novel, set in a thriving Black community in Los Angeles, has been likened to a retelling of The Great Gatsby. 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

A white writer creates a new identity for herself after stealing the soon-to-be published manuscript of a Chinese American writer that has been very successful.

I love a good book recommendation, let me know what you enjoyed reading last year. Happy reading in 2026!

2024 Book Favorites

Every year I set reading goals but it is not about how many books I read just so I can hit a certain number. My reading tends towards nonfiction, including memoir. I read dozens of books in a year, but these are a few books that stood out for me in 2024.

Nonfiction

The Mango Tree by Annabelle Tometich

Tometich’s memoir opens with her Filipina mother being arrested for shooting at a man who was stealing the mangoes from her beloved tree. This incident provides the starting point for the author’s examination of her own identity, her mother’s life, and what it means to be from two worlds and cultures. I met Tometich just before her debut novel was published, when she attended my panel at AWP, an annual writing conference that brings together thousands of writers, teachers, publishers, etc. She uses her humor and introspection to tell a moving story of growing up with loss and its effects on a family.

Praisesong for Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson

Every Christmas since I was child, my family has had my mother’s special black walnut cookies. She would make them Christmas Eve, we could have a few after midnight mass and before settling in to wait for Christmas morning to arrive. You might have a holiday memory like that too, a special dish that sends you right back to family. In Praisesong for Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson, the author melds stories of her family over five generations with her memories of time spent in kitchens, her grandmother’s and her own. She pieces together parts of her family history and their life in the hills of Kentucky, where they have lived since the 1800s. From the biscuits she has mastered after watching her grandmother, to the recipes using fresh vegetables and home-raised meats, she describes how food was a language in her family. I loved this book for the stories and the recipes, which she shares with detail.

Fiction

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

This book, which is several hundred pages long, is a masterpiece. It chronicles the story of a Black family from the early period in U.S. history when Africans were forcibly removed from home and brought to the United States and Native Americans had their lands stolen, to current times. Although there are sections that are painful to read because of enslavement and family trauma, I came away with a sense of how the pain of enslavement has had generational impact on this entire country and increased respect and compassion for the resilience of people who had to endure it and still survived. In December 2023, I read Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward and I highly recommend reading them both. In some ways they seem like companion stories.

The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter

I am starting to see more novels that are set during the COVID pandemic. This book starts with a mystery because a woman goes missing, but the real story is in the lives and reactions of the people in her circle, including her husband, a friend, and their families. COVID is always there in the background, because of the isolation and fear it caused for so many, particularly those who were affected early on such as those living in New York. Just when you think you have an answer to this puzzle, Porter spills another secret and you cannot stop reading.

My goal has been set for this year – a blend of fiction and nonfiction, authors from various backgrounds, and some books where I study the author’s craft in telling the story. Here’s to more good books in 2025!