Yet here I Am by Jonathan Capehart

YET HERE I AM by Jonathan Capehart is subtitled “Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home” and provides ample insight into the background and influences on this award-winning journalist who appears regularly on PBS NewsHour with David Brooks (How to Know a Person). Capehart shares stories about his childhood including being raised by a single mother and her re-marriage when he was a sophomore in high school (hard on any kid), “a suburban middle-class Black kid who grew up playing with white kids now back in a majority Black city [Newark] with no clue about how to relate or fit in.” Writing about college at Carleton, Capehart says, “without a doubt, just about every wonderful thing that has happened in my life can be traced back to my decision to go to that small liberal arts college in Minnesota.” He continues with engaging stories about his work in the news media, including Washington Post and MSNBC, and offers unique perspective on being gay and Black, commenting, “Blackness is always at the mercy of someone else’s judgment. You can be too Black, not Black enough, or not Black at all, and I have run the range my entire life.” YET HERE I AM received a starred review from Kirkus and praise from, among others, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Katie Couric, Michele Norris, and Jon Meacham. 

Songs of Summer by Jane L. Rosen

SONGS OF SUMMER by Jane L. Rosen is the third novel in her On Fire Island trilogy. These intertwined stories offer a marvelous escape to a beautiful summer setting populated with kind and caring people. This time, there’s the wedding for ferryboat Captain Jake and newly full-time island resident Renee which is “crashed” by Maggie May Miller, a young woman trying to get to know her birth mother. Maggie poses as girlfriend for Matt whose Mom is the bride. There are secrets and deception as well as efforts to deal with the consequences of long-ago actions. One of the best parts is all the “love” Rosen shares for music – Maggie May has her own record store and Matt writes for The Rolling Stone. Each chapter references a song like 500 Miles, What’s Going On? (Marvin Gaye), (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, or Should I Stay or Should I Go? and Rosen must have had such fun choosing them (she even created a Spotify list). 

Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers

MONK AND ROBOT by Becky Chambers is FANTASTIC; she has won the Hugo Award for her Wayfarer series.  I am really pleased to see this new publication which contains both of her earlier works, A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. This new paperback edition would make a wonderful high school or college graduation present as the characters search for meaning and purpose. As the cover indicates, these stories are about the adventures of, interactions between, and reflections from a Monk named Sibling Dex and a Robot called Splendid Speckled Mosscap. They live in the time after the Factories and after the Transition when robots gained self-awareness and left to explore life on their own and when humans sought to rejuvenate their planet.  It has been roughly two hundred years since any interaction and both Dex and Mosscap have much to learn about each other and themselves. Highly Recommended.

The Names by Florence Knapp

THE NAMES by Florence Knapp is a very dark book, but it is also a Read with Jenna pick and a LibraryReads selection for May 2025. The story begins in 1987 when Cora is deciding what to name her newborn son. From there the story splits into three scenarios, depending on the choice of naming the baby after his father and grandfather, or instead selecting a name Cora prefers, or choosing a more whimsical name suggested by her nine-year old daughter. Sadly, domestic abuse often features prominently in the vignettes and that makes for difficult reading even though debut author Knapp has created a fascinating book. She relates the story of this family in each circumstance roughly every seven years – book groups will be entranced. Expect to see a great deal of “buzz” on THE NAMES which received starred reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus (“inviting the reader to think about not just the ripple effects of a single decision and the workings of an abusive family but also about a profound and classic concern of fiction: How things we can control in life interact with things we could never have seen coming.”).

Across the Board by Tim Clare

ACROSS THE BOARD by Tim Clare is a non-fiction work about “How Games Make Us Human.” Clare has received awards and nominations for both his fiction and non-fiction works and he adopts a conversational, friendly tone in his latest, dividing the book into fourteen chapters covering dice, Monopoly, card games, and more. I loved his “pocket definition” (borrowed from Bernard Shaw) of playing a game: “the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.” It seems appropriate to write about this book on the weekend of the annual Geekway Conference  since Clare writes about historian Johan Huizinga’s views that playing as a group “could create the feeling of being ‘apart together’ in an exceptional situation, of sharing something important, of mutually withdrawing from the rest of the world and rejecting the usual norms.” ACROSS THE BOARD is a fun, informative look at the surprising history and common themes between games. Bonus: for tons of game ideas and ratings, consult the Geekway Library based on BoardGameGeek.com (filled with videos, news, and crowdsourcing opportunities), which even Clare references.  

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe

WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE by Mary Alice Monroe (a prolific writer for adults and children) is a compelling work of historical fiction set primarily in South Carolina during the early part of the twentieth century. Eliza Pinckney Rivers Chalmers Delancey is eighty-eight when the store begins in 1988. She is the matriarch who shares history of the family’s land holdings with two of her young female relatives. Eliza’s love of the land is obvious as she says: “To lose Mayfield is unthinkable. It cannot happen. Mayfield isn't business; it's personal. I do not own the land, but land owns me. I am merely the caretaker for my generation…” Readers are first transported back to 1908 and Eliza’s first meeting with Covey, a young Black girl and the daughter of the estate’s manager. Eliza and Covey form a firm bond, even getting educated together at home. A good balance to the often-impetuous Eliza, Covey is practical, a talented artist, and clever; valuing her experience: In the library, Covey’s “expression was filled with wonder: ‘I like being in here. I feel like I'm in church; you know, it's a holy place. All these words surrounding me just waiting for me to read them. They're like gifts from God.’” Many adventures, including a decisive horse race, involving Eliza’s brothers, Heyward and Lesesne, ensue. Monroe also weaves in plenty of commentary about the expectations for young girls and women and about the race restrictions of the time. I saw parallels to other family sagas (e.g., Bradford’s A Woman of Substance) and even to Scarlett in Gone with the Wind since Eliza has multiple loves (Hugh, Tripp, James) in her life, but ultimately cares for Mayfield most of all. The audiobook for WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE is narrated by Mary Alice Monroe, Jenna Lamia, and Cassandra Campbell (a personal favorite) and the quality is excellent. Together, they fashion the local accents and changes in age as Eliza recounts the events of her life. I am truly looking forward to a sequel. WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE received well-deserved starred reviews from both Booklist and Library Journal.

Lessons from My Teachers by Sarah Ruhl

LESSONS FROM MY TEACHERS by Sarah Ruhl contains numerous essays which provide a memoir of sorts covering the period “From Preschool to the Present.” Ruhl, a prolific, talented writer and playwright, has been honored as a MacArthur genius, as a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and with nominations for Tony Awards. Here, she reflects on the importance of teachers, citing those who impacted her, but also on the “teachable moments” that exist in all our lives. For example, Ruhl describes a conversation with theater students who stressed that “theater class was when they could feel and practice presence, that elixir of life; That well of possibility.” Ruhl goes on to comment on the use of phones, saying, “the more technological tools we have, the more presence seems just out of reach.” This insightful collection will prompt much discussion, especially amongst educators & those who value learning and the arts.