I was posting the pile on my nightstand every month but got sidetracked, so I’m sure I’ve missed something. A quick note on two important favorites:

The Reckonings, by Lacy M. Johnson

When I read my friend Kelly Thompson’s Guernica interview and this NPR review of Lacy Johnson’s newest book of essays, I knew I needed to own a copy. This morning I read the last paragraph of the first essay about ten times while crying into my coffee. If you’re a trauma survivor, this book is a balm.

The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of our Era, by Akhil Reed Amar

I don’t remember how I heard about this 2016 book on constitutional journalism by Yale law professor, Akhil Amar. I ordered it from my public library and received a notice that it was available yesterday, just hours after the GOP-in-Chief announced that he was rethinking the 14th Amendment. The Constitution Today is described as a “handbook for thinking constitutionally about today’s headlines,” and I’m already knee-deep.  (Check out p. 240 for a breakdown of what the 14th Amendment has to do with same-sex marriage for your daily dose of brain-burning.)

What’s On My Nightstand

Fiction

An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones

Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones

The Vampire Gideon’s Suicide Hotline & Halfway House for Orphaned Girls, by Andrew Katz

Bell Canto, by Ann Patchett

 

Short Fiction

We’ll Always Have Paris: Stories, by Ray Bradbury

“Cecilia Awakened,” by Tessa Hadley

“The Wind Cave,” by Haruki Murakami

Sour Heart, by Jenny Zhang

 

Children’s Fiction

Catwings, by Ursula K. LeGuin

Quiet, by Tomie de Paola

 

Nonfiction

The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of our Era, by Akhil Reed Amar

The Reckonings, by Lacy M. Johnson

You Are a Badass®: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, by Jen Sincero

 

Journal

The Paris Review, Issue 225

Ploughshares Fall 2018

 

Essay / Interview / OpEd

“You’re Disillusioned. That’s Fine. Vote Anyway,” by Roxane Gay, The New York Times

“Lacy M. Johnson: Moving the Conversation Toward Justice,” by Kelly Thompson, Guernica

“Maltese for Beginners,” by Judith Thurman

 

Poetry

“Brett Kavanaugh Does the Dishes,” by Katherine Harer

“Epithalamium,” by Sarah Holland-Batt

“Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night” by Mary Oliver

“Bees,” by Maya Ribault

 

Magazine / Newspaper

Lesbian Connection: free to lesbians worldwide, but the suggested donation is $7/issue (more if you can, less if you can’t)

The New Yorker

The Week

Vanity Fair

 

Random 

“I VOTE / I MUST” button (given to me by my local postal worker after we talked about the pipe bombs sent and I showed her my “VOTE” t-shirt. She reached behind her and dug through a box and said “A sweet old lady named Mrs. Lovejoy makes these buttons, and she said to give them to whoever needs them, so I’m giving this one to you.”)

birthday card, by Atticus

ukulele cheat sheet

Bach’s Rescue Remedy

library card, Free Library of Philadelphia

 

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