What is the perfect beach book? Some believe summer reading should be light and frothy. Our idea of light reading are stories that both inform and entertain, and draw you in, whether you are at the beach, park, or your favorite lounge chair. The following suggestions are brought to you courtesy of the publisher of 2Leaf Press. See which ones sound good to you. And don’t forget the sunscreen. Enjoy!
The Fourth Moment: Journeys from the Known to the Unknown. A child of humble beginnings, Carole J. Garrison paved the way for herself to accomplish great things, but for her, the journey was far from your typical “rags to riches” tale. Through a series of tragedies and triumphs, blunders and epiphanies, Garrison’s life has been filled with a number of unusual detours from being a suburban housewife in Miami, to becoming a single mom and police officer in Atlanta, to returning to school to become a seasoned ethics and women studies professor in Ohio and Kentucky, to working in Cambodia as it emerged from decades of civil strife, all the while growing into the passionate humanitarian she is today. Midwest Book Review: An inherently fascinating read from beginning to end, The Fourth Moment: Journeys from the Known to the Unknown is a candidly personal and deftly crafted memoir by Carole J. Garrison that is certain to be an enduringly valued addition to community and academic library Contemporary American Biography collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that The Fourth Moment is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $8.99). Introduction by Sarah Willis.
Adventures in Black and White is a memoir-travelogue first published in 1960, mixed-race American pianist, composer, journalist and author Philippa Schuler. Reissued in 2018 with a critical introduction, including minor edits and annotations of the original text by scholar Tara Betts. Midwest Book Review: An inherently interesting and impressively informative memoir and cultural history by the late Philippa Schuler (1931-1967), Adventures in Black and White is unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists and both community and academic library 20th Century American Biography collections and 20th Century African-American History supplemental studies lists. Available in digital format (Kindle, $9.00)
Dream of the Water Children: Memory and Mourning in the Black Pacific. Born to an African American father and Japanese mother, Frederick D. Kakinami Cloyd is the narrator of Dream of the Water Children: Memory and Mourning in the Black Pacific. His autobiography reveals him finding himself not only to be a marginalized person by virtue of his heritage, but often a cultural drifter, as well. Indeed, both his family and his society treat Frederick as if he doesn’t entirely belong to any world. Midwest Book Review: Impressively candid, thoughtful and thought-provoking, Dream of the Water Children is presented in a spare narrative of clear poetic prose. The result is a compelling memoir that is at once intensely personal and touching upon a universal humanity. Exceptional, engaging, informative, and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as both community and academic library Contemporary Biography collections, Dream of the Water Children is one of those books that will linger in the mind and memory long after it is finished and set back upon the shelf. Edited by Karen Chau, Foreword by Velina Hasu Houston, Introduction by Gerald Horne.
The Beauty of Being, A Collection of Fables, Short Stories and Essays, is Abiodun Oyewole’s debut collection of prose. Oyewole writes frankly about his experience as a young poet and activist, and provides life lessons with fables and a fascinating travelogue that promotes resilience and self-care to his readers. Oyewole brilliantly yet subtly interweaves mediations on race, class, culture, life and death, illusion and reality in the Beauty of Being, while deftly showcasing several points of view in a contained space, reminding readers about a natural, moral, and sacred spiritual being of self-love. Introduction by Felipe Luciano.
WHEREABOUTS: Stepping Out of Place, An Outside in Literary & Travel Magazine Anthology. Expertly compiled and edited by Brandi Dawn Henderson WHEREABOUTS is an anthology of the best nonfiction stories from the Outside In Literary & Travel Magazine — an online journal founded in 2011. Midwest Book Review An inherently fascinating, thoroughly entertaining, thoughtful and thought-provoking read from cover to cover, Whereabouts: Stepping Out of Place, An Outside In Literary & Travel Anthology is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that Whereabouts is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99).
