Bookshelf

(Brentwood, Tenn.: Permuted Press, 2023).
This book tells of the relentless advocacy of Vietnam War-era POW/MIA wives, whose persistence outlasted repeated admonitions from the U.S. government to “keep quiet.” These women waged their battle against the backdrop of cultural, social, and economic upheaval, at a time when women could not obtain a credit card without a husband’s signature. Despite the stonewalling they encountered, the women took their case to the Paris Peace Accords and the world leaders there. They testified before Congress to demand an accounting for their men. Moving from the sidelines to the front lines of diplomacy, the women made the POW/MIA issue central to the peace negotiations, ultimately changing policy so “no man is left behind.”

(Pouthier Press, 2022).
Forced to choose where to ride out the pandemic, Facos opts to extend what was originally intended to be a two-month stay in Paris. That “brief” visit would lead to a transformative 16-month journey of self-discovery, path-realignment, romantic adventure, and a deeper relationship with the City of Light and herself. Join the author, an art historian, as she “explores the jasmine-scented streets of Paris, navigates the fascinating world of senior dating, returns to her original career path, spends weekends with aristocrats, winters on the Côte d’Azur, and holds long conversations with her favorite works of art. And meet the new people in her world — Puzzle Man of Montparnasse, Amazing Accordionist, Jim the Expat, and Caroline the Professor — who made her (first) pandemic year one of metamorphosis and joy.” 

(Georgetown, Ky.: Finishing Line Press, 2022).
As one reviewer so eloquently wrote of this poetry collection: “When we are lost, let poets lead us. Grief, both personal and collective, turns most humans mute, but Dafoe’s a seasoned poet who keeps her eyes open in the dark. With intelligence and skill, she translates the inexplicable and unacceptable into precise, elegant poems that gift us with penetrating images, ideas, and moods — a lonesome frog, a multiverse, a silent house. These transformative poems show us we can pass through devastation into an altered life, ‘forever beginning anew,’ like the galaxies and stars.”

(Avon, Mass.: Adams Media/Simon & Schuster, 2022).

Whether you’re a newcomer to the world of astrology or read your horoscope daily, this book (or the edition written specifically for your sign) will guide you through self-reflection, an important part of astrological practice. After reviewing your strengths and weaknesses and main qualities and goals, the journal dives into over 75 questions tailored to help you gain deeper insight into what you really are. According to the publisher, “Examine situations where you showed your greatest strengths and reflect on how to harness those skills in the future. Face your weaknesses head on and discover ways to understand your instincts, change your responses, and find the good in even your most challenging moments.”

(Washington, D.C.: Pen Women Press, 2022).
A finalist in the 2019 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing competition in the novel category, this book takes the reader into the life of a writer. One reviewer provided this summary: “A group of fledgling writers confront the suicide of their literary hero and nemesis, Adrian Gerd Wahl. Wahl is a writer’s writer, and his enviable career stands in stark contrast to these young writers’ quotidian realities. Listening to their voices, we enter into the world of writers, their habits and routines, triumphs and travails, failures and successes. As they reflect on their relationship with Wahl, speculating, emailing, texting, and tweeting about their idol, we come to know this widely published and highly celebrated author, and we share their wonderment and curiosity about the events leading up to his death. Dafoe has written a must-read — for those of us consumed with the question of why we read and why we write.”

(Melton Mowbray, United Kingdom: Monsoon Books, 2022).

According to the publisher: “When a dikir barat singer is invited to perform at a circumcision ceremony in a remote coastal village in Kelantan, Malaysia, things take an unexpected turn in the normally quiet fish market. Mak Cik Maryam is called to investigate a baffling double murder, and the motives must be untangled and the guilty identified. Maryam’s own life is in grave danger when she and Mak Cik Rubiah delve deeper into this world of secrets.” Join Maryam in her sixth adventure in the latest in the Kain Songket Mysteries series.

(Colfax, Wis.: Hayriver Press, 2022).
This beautiful volume appeals not only lovers of nature and ethnic photography, but also to those fascinated by the North America’s ancient origins and living legacies, as embodied in its sacred sites and native peoples who revere and preserve them. According to the publisher, “The book — a collection of Butler’s photographs — uniquely draws together the apparent disparate qualities of our modern age with North America’s prehistoric roots. It achieves this unusual synthesis with magically evocative photography of sacred sites. Far more than any documentary style, Lynn Butler’s photographs capture the elusive spirit of traditionally holy locales. These include Wisconsin’s Black River Fall, with its secret rock art, disclosed to the outside world for the first time since the last Ice Age, some ten thousand years ago.”

(Little Cottage Press, 2022).
Written in rhyme and beautifully illustrated by Nur Efsan Topcu, this picture book, following Once in a Full Moon, is the second in a series about nature. “Its lively stanzas encourage young children to use their imaginations when looking up at the sky. From rainbows to constellations to pictures in the clouds, Kaufman believes there is much to see if only they lift their eyes,” the author says.

(Boston: Beacon Press, 2022).
Meet Sadia, a bright, spirited Somali Bantu teenager who rebels against her formidable mother; Ali, an Iraqi translator who creates a home with a divorced American woman but is still traumatized by war; and Mersiha, a hard-working Bosnian who dreams of opening a café.

(New York: Abrams Books, 2022).

Described by the publisher as “the perfect gift for every parent,” this book translates the science on what babies need for optimal growth from infancy through toddlerhood into a language that is easy for parents of all ages and backgrounds to understand. “Children’s minds are molded by experience, and science tells us that the way a parent touches, holds, looks at, and responds to babies and toddlers has a lifelong impact on the way that this brand-new person will come to see the world and their place within it,” the publisher notes. The book is filled with beautiful images of babies and toddlers matched with captions “spoken” in their voices and summaries of the research on the powerful impact of nurturing interactions.