Olga Dies Dreaming (fiction – hardbound) by Xochitl Gonzalez
Pulling from her own personal experience in the high-pressure venues of New York City, author Xochitl Gonzalez tackles elitism, racism, and the pitfalls of ambition with a startingly personal brushstroke. Family drama, politics, long-buried secrets, and romance are all present and accounted for in this must-read debut. It’s 2017, just prior to hurricane Maria, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, are boldfaced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman who is closeted and being blackmailed regarding his true sexual identity, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers.
The Days of Afrekete (fiction- hardbound) by Asali Solomon
Liselle Belmont is having a dinner party. It seems a strange occasion—her husband, Winn, has lost his bid for the state legislature. Across town, Selena Octave is making her way through the same day, the same way she always does—one foot in front of the other, keeping quiet and focused, trying not to see the terrors all around her. Homelessness, starving children, the very living horrors of history that made America possible: these and other thoughts have made it difficult for her to live an easy life. The only time she was ever really happy was with Liselle, back in college. But they’ve lost touch.
Inspired by Mrs. Dalloway and Sula, as well as Audre Lorde’s Zami, Asali Solomon’s The Days of Afrekete is a deft, expertly layered, naturally funny, and deeply human examination of two women coming back to themselves at midlife. It is a watchful celebration of our choices and where they take us, the people who change us, and how we can reimagine ourselves even when our lives seem set.
The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Oursleves (nonfiction- paperback) by J.B. MacKinnon
A truly fascinating and important thought experiment about the tension between consumerism and climate change gets played out in the real world when Covid strikes in 2020. It’s widely known that the biggest factor affecting climate is consumerism. And it’s received wisdom that the engine that fuels the economic ecosystem is also consumerism. So, how do we solve that paradox? Can Earth be saved without economic collapse? Mackinnon started his investigation before Covid, looking for answers everywhere from big box retailers to hunter-gatherer cultures in Africa.
This book will make you think twice about how you shop, for what and how often, as well as how retailers can make a big dent for the environment, with an easy flip of a light switch.
Upcoming Events
Friday, April 22 @ 7:30 pm (ticketed – SF Palace of Fine Arts) Randy Rainbow, author of Playing with Myself
Viral sensation and three-time nominated musical comedian Randy Rainbow will discuss his intimate and light-hearted memoir that takes readers through his life—the highs, the lows, the lipstick, the pink glasses, and the show tunes.
Monday, May 2 @ 6 pm (ticketed – online) Mieko Kawakami, author of All the Lovers in the Night
Bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami invites readers back into her immediately recognizable fictional world with a new, extraordinary novel and demonstrates yet again why she is one of today’s most uncategorizable, insightful, and talented novelists.
Tuesday, May 3 @ 5 pm (free/in-store – SF Ferry Building) Danica Roem, author of Burn the Page
Danica Roem, the nation’s first openly trans person elected to U.S. state legislature, will be at our Ferry Building location to discuss her inspirational memoir-meets-manifesto.
Published on April 21, 2022
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