Do You Know Them?: Families Lost and Found After the Civil War by Shana Keller, illustrated by Laura Freeman
In this picture book set in the aftermath of the Civil War, Lettie slowly saves up pennies to place an ad in the newspaper. The ad is to ask for any information that might help reunite her and her uncle with their missing family members, who had been sold away from them long before slavery ended. On Sundays, Lettie reads the ads from others looking for family members to her church, as they all work together to share information, even if it’s bad news.
I didn’t know about this aspect of life after slavery, and this well-done picture book was an interesting way to learn about it. All the ads in the book are real ads that were placed in newspapers at the time, from the Last Seen project (www.informationwanted.org).
Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup
I mentioned that I was looking forward to this a few months ago, and I’m happy to report that I enjoyed it. It’s the story of an author trying to write a fantasy romance book and trying to make her characters cooperate (they rarely do). There are layers of the written story, of the author’s life, of exchanges with her editor (who perhaps looks like the Hot Enemy in the story, not because she has a crush on him or anything, of course).
The story started out as a series of Youtube shorts, and it’s the author’s first book. I was prepared to enjoy it, but I was also prepared for the possibility that it would just be badly written fun feels. But I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever read, but it was pretty good!
Restore My Soul: Reimagining Self-Care for a Sustainable Life by Janice McWilliams
This book about self-care is so practical. Janice McWilliams is a therapist, and she draws on knowledge and experience from her practice as well as Biblical principles. After introducing what good self-care is and why it’s important, she shares advice on managing your thoughts, emotions, rhythms, and living a fulfilling life. Each section includes a chapter of skills to consider and apply. The author encourages you to take your time with it and not try to do everything at once.
Restore My Soul is holistic and encouraging, and it’s an excellent, accessible resource for learning how to cope with life.
The Visual History of Type: A Visual Survey of 320 Typefaces by Paul McNeil
Last summer, I listened to The Medici by Paul Strathern, which I don’t recommend, for problematic reasons, but also because it didn’t hold my attention. The things that made me take notice the most were a few brief anecdotes on the history of certain fonts, how they were inspired by a particular person’s handwriting. After this happened two or three times, I thought, “Hmm, maybe what I actually want is a book about the history of fonts.”
This came up when I Googled that, and it isn’t what I meant. I was looking for some narrative nonfiction, and I will probably still look for that someday. After a break.
This book. I cannot convey to you the size of this book. It is enormous. I took an extra bag to work with me to carry it home after seeing it. I stopped reading it for a while because I hurt my back and it’s so heavy that it hurt to hold it. Even aside from that, it took forever to read because I couldn’t easily carry it around with me and read little bits at a time.
It’s so huge because it covers more than 550 years, and because most of each two-page spread is a large picture of an original example of the font being discussed. These are so cool to see. Also included is some technical information and a few paragraphs about the font. My one real critique is that this is presented in very small print. It might have been difficult to fit a larger size, and admittedly it’s probably time for me to get a new glasses prescription, but I found it uncomfortable, which didn’t combine well with the lack of easy ways to hold the book. But it was often such interesting information, and the writing style was professional but not textbook-dry. I got fascinating tea from the font world.
I love fonts, but in a very casual, adjacent to my graphics-making hobby way, and I have zero education on the subject, so I didn’t understand everything. But I learned things along the way, and even though this took six months to read and was exhausting, I’m glad I put in the effort. If you want an easier experience, just flipping through and looking at the pictures would still be great.
Invisible Wonders: Photographs of the Hidden World by Anand Varma
Speaking of pictures, this book of photography is amazing. Anand Varma is a photographer, and this book includes some of his pictures as well as some by others. The collection focuses on ways photos can help us see the world differently, whether that’s by magnifying things too small too see, or using light in interesting ways, or capturing movement, etc. There are a few pages of text in each chapter, but most of the book is focused on the photographs. They are beautiful. I regularly found myself gasping when I turned the page. It’s a lovely book to look through.
For more book recommendations, click here.
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