Borrowed Copy

The Pandemic, Racial Justice Books, and Independent Bookstores

From the Island Books blog June 26, 2020 So our doors are open. We can better serve the public. You can buy what is on our shelves directly, instead of through Instagram or our website. That is fantastic! But, your books are still taking weeks if not months to get here. We aren’t able to give you the same two-day service as before. The insecurity of shipping during the pandemic, which is ongoing, remains. Here’s some insight into why books …

Jul 7, 2020

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Jul

8

2020

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Subduction by Kristen Millares Young

Kristen Millares Young has written a cymbal clash of a debut. Claudia—a Mexican anthropologist fleeing her life in Seattle after her husband and sister announce their affair— collides with Peter—a prodigal son returning to the Makah reservation for the first time since his dad’s murder to help his mother, Maggie, whose memory is failing. The …

Jul

6

2020

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The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Nickel Boys, is out in paperback. . . The Nickel Boys follows Elwood Curtis as he is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy. Curtis falls in with a fellow “delinquent” named Turner, and the novel explores the very different reactions to the terrible system that …

Jul

3

2020

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Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July

Don’t forget to pick up some books for the holiday weekend! Your local independent bookstore may be taking a much-needed day off on July 4th, so check in with them online or over the phone to know their hours for the holiday weekend, and while you’re at it, you can purchase some great reads. What …

Jul

2

2020

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You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks
by Evan Turk

This gorgeous picture book features affirming, uplifting, nurturing text and stunning artwork representing 22 national parks.  (Don’t miss the backmatter that gives more details about the parks shown.) When I read this book at storytime and invited the audience to join in the refrain of “you are home,” the inclusion, warmth, and pride brought tears …

Jul

1

2020

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Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City
by Wes Moore with Erica L. Green

. . .we have Wes Moore’s Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City. While the title sounds like it could be about any number of locations during the last few months, Five Days is about life in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, back in 2015. Moore (with assistance from Erica L. …

Jun

30

2020

Borrowed Copy

A Change of Shirts: A Caldwell, ID restaurant raises funds for racial justice-related books for students and teachers

From Boise Weekly/ idahopress.com by Sydney Kidd Salvador “Sal” Alamilla is no stranger to the ugly face of racism. Born in Michoacan, Mexico, he grew up in the United States, where he said he has faced both explicit and implicit racial bias. As a business owner, he usually shies away from taking a stand on …

Jun

29

2020

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Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman

Saidiya Hartman’s Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments contains some of the most imaginative, inventive, and radical history writing I’ve ever encountered. Taking as her subjects the black women excluded from the US historical archive, Hartman challenges and unsettles dominant understandings of who “makes” history. In vibrant and ecstatic prose, Hartman tells the story of how the wayward, the …

Jun

26

2020

Borrowed Copy

Oregon Live: 35 Books About Race Recommended by Black Portland Writers

by Amy Wang | The Oregonian/OregonLive In times of upheaval, readers naturally turn to books to make sense of what’s happening. With protesters now marching through Portland regularly under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement, we asked several local Black writers if they’d be willing to recommend books that address racial issues. Here …

Jun

25

2020

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Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

A humorous but pointed look at race, privilege and our motivation to act. Never preachy, Kiley Reid studies human nature. Her debut is a literary novel that reads like suspense. –Melanie, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d’Alene, ID “When I attempted to write a review for Such a Fun Age, I was at a loss for words. …

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