Reference Department

by Sarah Stankorb In Disobedient Women, Stankorb weaves her own story of familial abuse and resulting spiritual journey in between the stories of women that suffered extensive, life-long abuse at the hands of their respective churches. The book began to come to fruition upon Stankorb discovering online blogs and support groups of women detailing harrowing, […]

by Laura Redniss Oak Flat follows two families: the Nosies, an Apache family whose daughter is an activist for the preservation of Oak Flat, and the Gorhams, a mining family that spans across generations. While Redniss kept a largely neutral stance and presented both sides of the conflict, the book serves to highlight the continued

by Safiya Sinclair Award-winning poet Safiya Sinclair writes of her childhood in Jamaica in a Rastafarian family.  Despite poverty and being part of a despised minority religion, Sinclair remembers a vivid, joyful early childhood, until her father’s increasing paranoia, contempt for outsiders – known as “Babylon,” and control of his family grew unbearable.  A beautifully

by Maria Bamford Comedian Maria Bamford has always been drawn to structured, rigid self-help and recovery programs. From childhood Suzuki violin lessons to Debtors Anonymous to institutional metal health facilities, Bamford chronicles her attempts to find a place to belong throughout life in weird, delightful, and moving ways.   Structured like a For Dummies self-help book,

by Andreina Cordani Twelve days of Murder is about these snobby, pretentious, insecure, out-of-touch rich kids that you could have sworn, throughout the book, that you were reading about teenagers, but no, They’re all in their 30s. They all have petty secrets to hide but it’s their ignorance that makes them victims of a classic

by Luke Dumas The Paleontologist is about a curator of paleontology named Simon Nealy that has a lot of trauma to work through and desperately needs professional help. But it’s easier to focus on dino bones and COVID despite how much he complains about all his woes and how his problems are leaving him lonely

Lulu Miller’s ‘Why Fish Don’t Exist’ is part memoir, part biography, and also social history. More importantly it’s a philosophical meditation on courage and perseverance in the face of the howling chaos of the universe and the human condition. Miller picks up the story of David Starr Jordan, a 19th century taxonomist obsessed with labeling