These are the books I took to WBRC Fox 6 in March. All are brand new and all are well worth your reading time.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid is a Reese Witherspoon book club pick, and it’s a page-turning, witty, satirical commentary on race and privilege and transactional relationships. Alix (pronounced uh-leeks in the French way, although Alix is not French) Chamberlain, a blogger, speaker and lifestyle guru, hires Emira Tucker, a young black woman, to be a babysitter for her toddler. While at the nearby high-end grocery one evening, Emira is accused of kidnapping 3-year-old Briar. Of course, the encounter with the store’s security guard is filmed by a bystander; of course, that video will eventually go viral. Alix, who considers herself “woke,” resolves to make everything right, but it turns out that the person who filmed the incident is someone from Alix’s past—and that person will connect the two women in ways they didn’t expect. Some readers will find this book funny, others will discover it makes them uncomfortable. Either way, it’s worth reading.
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch is a work of literary journalism based on a true story. Lissa Yellow Bird is released from prison in 2009 and returns home to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota to find it drastically altered by an oil boom. Her tribe is forever changed by its newfound wealth yet struggles with violence and addiction. The non-native oilmen who come to work there are mostly down on their luck, just seeking employment after the recession. Then one of these men, Kristopher “KC” Clarke, goes missing from his reservation worksite. While no one else seems too concerned, Lissa becomes obsessed with finding him. Her search for justice becomes a pursuit of her own redemption for her crimes and offers an unflinching look at generations of trauma. The book is the result of eight years of immersive investigation that included Lissa’s extensive email, Facebook and text messages; photographs and audio recordings; and interviews with more than 200 people.
The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin is the second novel by ER doctor-turned-author, and it is inspired by the real-life experience of a fellow physician. Writing with both a sense of humor and a deep understanding of her settings and subjects, this is a story about the power of friendship (not romance) and the dangers of intolerance and the wrongness of medical discrimination. Georgia Brown and Jonah Tsukada are best friends and co-workers at a Charleston hospital. There is humor and drama in their day-to-day: attending a fainting passenger on an airplane, an undercover ops-style investigation into the hospital’s practices. But then Jonah is called out for providing care for transgender patients, and the hospital plans to fire him. The two friends come up with a plan to get the hospital to reverse its decision, but that plan spirals out of control, putting careers, friendships and patients’ rights at risk.
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin is a a debut novel that is attracting a lot of buzz right now. Claire Thomas is 7 years old when her college-age sister, Alison, goes missing on the last night of the family’s vacation at a resort on a Caribbean island called Saint X. Alison is found several days later in a nearby cay, and two local men who work at the resort are arrested. But there is little evidence, so they are soon released and the mystery of what happened to Alison is unresolved. Years later in New York, Claire happens to see Clive Richardson, one of the men accused of murdering her sister, and she sets out to uncover exactly what happened to Alison that terrible night. Her search also becomes an obsession to understand the sister she never really had a chance to get to know.
I link to Amazon to show you exactly what book I’m talking about, but I love to shop locally at Church Street Coffee and Books, The Alabama Booksmith, Little Professor Book Center, and I often visit my local library.
savor 