Editor’s note: Next week’s edition will include more tips for kicking off the new year.
North Carolina’s most popular resolution is to read more books in 2023, according to “Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions by State,” an analysis of Google Trends by the website Zippia.com.
Considering this, Yes!every week We asked a variety of authors, bookstores, and readers about the books they like and recommend, and the books they plan to read in the next 12 months.
historian and romance novelist Jessica KaleShe lives in an undisclosed Triad location and is the founder and editor of the podcast Dirty Sexy History. Here are some of the books she read in her 2022 and what I want her to read in 2023.
“My favorite book of 2022 is gilded edge Katherine Prendergast, about the bizarre and implausible love triangle between poet Nora Mae French and Gilded Age influencers George and Carrie Sterling. Other favorites are: Pink Triangle Legacy, Delves into the forgotten history of gay victims of the Holocaust and how their imprisonment continued after the war ended. demolition sex By Anne Linton, who considers the “gender outlaws” of 19th-century France. before we become trans A truly global history of transgender and nonconforming identities from ancient Egypt, by Kit Heyam.When face maker The amazing true story of pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies who developed a new procedure to repair wounded soldiers’ faces during and after World War I.
last year, Jermaine Exum After working there for 25 years, he became the owner of Acme Comics, making Greensboro’s oldest comic book shop the first black-owned comic book shop in the city.His hometown was officially designated Comic Book City in 2013, so it’s important to remember that comics aren’t just drawn and seen, they’re written and read (classic graphic his novel watchmenFor example, it contains more words than any of Hemingway’s books.)
“Readers in the Triad area have consistently embraced graphic novels as part of their recreational diet. This is the driving force behind Acme Comics, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary here in 2023! , as well as in the comics, I really loved it i hate this place It’s about an unsuspecting couple who are the new homeowners of the world’s most haunted and supernaturally aggressive land by Kyle Starks and Artyom Topilin. stray dog Co-authored by Tony Fleecs and Trish Forstner Silence of the Lambs From the victim’s kidnapped pet perspective, it was very strong and well-represented, and we look forward to introducing all of this to our visitors in 2023. ”
novelist, poet, journalist Michael Gaspenny He taught English at Bennett and High Point Colleges for 40 years and was a reporter covering the Arkansas Razorbacks and Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign. Postcard from Deltahis new novel about blues, football and guilt, will be published in October 2022.
“I want to reread many of my favorite books. call it sleep; Nathaniel West miss lonely hearts When locust day and Dostoevsky’s house of the deadAs for poetry, I missed reading the works of Ellen Bass, Marie Howe, Claire Milliken, Mark Smith-Soto and Marina Tsvetaeva and would love to read them. ”
james tate hillis a resident of Greensboro and author of mystery novels since attending the UNC-Greensboro MFA Writing Program. academy gothicabout a murder at a small, run-down private college in North Carolina, and blind man’s bluffhis critically acclaimed 2021 memoir about how he went blind at age 16 but hid his blindness from his colleagues, friends and girlfriends for 15 years.
“Two memoirs I look forward to reading in 2023 are: lose the music with John Cotter leg Both explore the unique experience of disability with candor, wisdom and humor. I was also able to read the preceding copy of life B.the next memoir by beloved book critic Besanne Patrick about her winding journey towards a diagnosis of double depression, should be watched by many. I can’t wait for Alison Stein’s third novel, which won the K. Dick award.trash land, road outside in winter),Title dust.
Steve Mitchell Co-owner of Greensboro’s Scuppernong Books and co-owner of its publishing house, Scuppernong Editions.his debut novel cloud diary Published in 2018, it was a finalist for the Sir Walter Raleigh Award.
“For fear, the devil will take you home By Gabino Iglesias — It’s fast-paced, bloody, violent, and features recognizable characters from their own lives. Do not read this book before going to bed. In SF: The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer By Janelle Monáe — The beauty of the story lies not only in its memory and self-exploration, but also in the simple way it is presented given its fluid sexual orientation. employee By Olga Raven. Funny, sad, like nothing you’ve read before (as if he fell out of the 22nd century), employee Imagine being stuck at work forever. ”
Mitchell also has two recommendations for fiction in general.
“A quietly insightful novel over there, by Jabari Asim, is impossible to imagine change without the words and images to make it a reality, and beautifully captures how hardship and fear narrow our vision and imagination.and Claire Keegan little things like these A short, powerful book about the moment you decide not to turn away from your needs.”
In 2023, Mitchell is looking forward to Rebecca Manami’s I have a few questions North Carolina writer Marjorie Hudson indigo field.
“The first one is a murder mystery of sorts, but an investigation into attitude shifts and how we begin to reconcile our present selves with our past selves, and also how we gather information. It’s also a clever commentary on how women deal with women in their relationships with memories, bodies, and land. It’s a novel that quietly and unambiguously underscores the threads of history it holds.
Kimberly “Katie” Mrawski was the editor-in-chief of Yes!every week From May 2017 to January 2021, she was the first and youngest woman to hold the staff writer/editor title.
“I’ve done an hour of drug stories at Stonewall Sports in Scuppernon. And the book I recommend reading is Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis (and the Next) By Dean Spade. I had the pleasure of reading this book during his Summer 2021 workshop series for the Triad Abolition Project. I think it’s a great book for anyone who wants to learn more about mutual aid or who really loves their community. should be kept in mind throughout the year. Additionally, I think the book offers an interesting perspective on why and, more importantly, how we give. ”
Riley Redgate is the pen name of Riognach RobinsonBorn and raised in Winston-Salem, currently living in Chicago, he is a popular and acclaimed author of young adult fiction, writing his debut novel in 2016. 7 ways you lie It was published before she graduated from Kenyon College.her subsequent novel worthy of attention When final draftin the fourth, look no further, coming in 2023. Of Chinese and Irish descent, she chose a pseudonym when she was 16. Biracial and bisexual, she writes about young people who are “in the middle of the spectrum, not the end of it.”
“In 2023, I plan to continue badgering people for my two favorite releases of 2022. It belongs to Hernan Diaz. trust, an intricate nesting doll of a book centered around an enigmatic married couple who were at the center of the 1920s financial boom.and Mindy McGinnis last laugh, the wonderfully twisted finale of her Poe-inspired horror-thriller duology. These books have nothing in common except that neither could be written down.As for my 2023 reading list, at YA, I can’t wait to get to Justin Reynolds’ book the opposite of alwaysMackenzie Lee’s A gentleman’s guide to vices and virtuesTraci Chee’s a thousand steps into the nightby Bri Cavalaro manifestIt’s for adults and I’m looking forward to reading Lauren Groff’s books matrixJane Austen Mansfield ParkNK Jemycin broken kingdomby Emily Henry happy placeand God wants John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
jamie rogers southern is Executive Director of Bookmarks, a Winston-Salem literary nonprofit and bookstore that has been serving the Triad community since 2003.
“I really enjoy reading. dear america A memoir on citizenship, belonging and identity by José Antonio Vargas. This is his Book with Purpose title for 2023, and he will begin programming related to it this summer. One of the reading goals I have is to read more translated books and shed more light on the world. We all set goals for ourselves and usually write them down at his first staff meeting of the year. Then the next year we bring those goals up and see how we’ve achieved them. is. ”
Greensboro clergyman and writer Brandon Rencher Senior organizer of Guilford for All and founder of the Good Neighbor Movement. Despite taking a cross-country train trip with his family, he took the time to recommend two of his books.
“of elite capture, author Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, strips identity politics from the liberal and conversational elite and brings it back to the roots of radical solidarity across differences, as originally designed by the black feminist Combahee River Collective. Identity has become a way of pitting people against each other or isolating people. I recommend this book because it makes it clearer that uniting across our differences will help build the power to dismantle the real anti-democratic enemies we all share. Because Otis Moss III, the noted spiritual teacher and civil rights activist, wrote: dance in the dark As a way of naming America’s current and looming political and moral abysses. Moss also draws on various spiritual teachers, including Dr. King and other worldly sages, to develop the inner fortitude we need to face our present times and the future. It helps us go deeper. ”
Lee Zacharias Award-winning author of short story collections Help Muriel get through the night,novel what a wonderful world, across the great lakes, lessonWhen randomlyand a collection of essays the only sound we makeShe is Professor Emeritus of English at UNC-Greensboro and in 2002 received the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees Award for Educational Excellence.
“I was traveling in December and didn’t want to take a book, just my Kindle, so I had a nice stack waiting for me. Steve Yarbrough’s latest novel, Stay Gone DaysMichael Parker’s latest work, i am the light of this worldWestern NC writer Heather Newton’s new novel, puppeteer’s daughtersan old Margot Livesey novel, homeworkJesmine Ward’s memoirs, which her husband Mike found in the Little Free Library, men who cutalso rescued from the Little Free Library, best american essays 2022”
Ian McDowell is the author of two published novels, numerous anthological short stories, and numerous non-fiction and journalistic works, some of which he is proud and some of which he is ashamed. There is nothing there.
