Today, September 6th, is national Read a Book Day. It’s a good day to reflect on the importance of literacy, and how many people here in the US and across the world still do not have the tools to read. Our team here at FCP is proud to have partnered with organizations working locally and internationally to expand access to education and increase literacy rates, such as GO Public Schools and Worldreader. In honor of national Read a Book Day, our staff is sharing books they’ve loved in the last year.
Sarah Hersh-Walker, FCP’s COO says:
My pick from the last year is To Obama, With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope. I was engrossed by this book and its exploration of the millions of letters that President Obama received while in office. It’s fascinating to learn about the process of managing all of this correspondence. It’s also equally compelling to read samples of the letters (and some of the president’s response!). This book took me on a journey and gave me the chance to read about human experiences that are different than my own (if only for a page or two). I laughed, I cried, and I learned more about the world around me.
FCP Founder and Principal Dan Cohen, devourer of SciFi (or in this case, CliFi):
While I’ve been blown away by the near-fiction works of Malka Older and Eliot Pepper, no book from my ereader over the last 12 months has stayed with me more than Loosed upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction. It is a short story collection of climate fiction featuring well-known and personal favorites including Paolo Bacigalupi, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Margaret Atwood. Some of the images are haunting while others hopeful. All of the stories imagine futures not just impacted by climate change, but where reality has been seismically shifted in unrecognizable ways that feel eerily familiar.
Katherine Zaremba, Communications Coordinator, with a fun fiction pick:
I often listen to audiobooks while commuting, and recently loved the audio version of Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The book is a documentary-style retrospective on a fictional rock band, pieced together from interviews with the band and other characters. Reid said part of her inspiration for the book was watching an Eagles documentary and delighting in the petty grievances and victories these larger-than-life stars were wrapped up in, even so many years after they’d occurred. The book captures this spirit perfectly, bringing to mind greats like Stevie Nicks and Joan Jett. For me, what elevated “Daisy Jones and the Six” from an incredibly fun read to a standout was the multi person audiobook recording. I’ve heard other audiobooks attempt a similar style, but often feel the book is slowed down by frequent switches. This audiobook kept pace and managed to be richer for being read in multiple voices, which added to the documentary feel. Audiobooks have come along way since they debuted on cassette tapes – if you haven’t tried one recently, “Daisy Jones and the Six” is a wonderful place to start.
Senior Communications Counselor Erin Ivie on her pick, There, There by Tommy Orange:
I know, I’m hardly alone in this — I don’t know one person who’s read this book that didn’t fall head over heels for it. This book should be required reading no matter when you live, but especially for folks like the FCP team with a deep connection to Oakland.
Writer Kaya Oakes said it well: There,There embodies “colliding visions of Oakland’s identity, and arguments about whom the city really belongs to,” and that in so doing, “Oakland becomes a character as much as any of Orange’s other individuals.” Your heart will break for Orange’s characters, and Oakland is one of them.
Erika Brink, Communications Counselor says:
One book that stands out to me from the past year (although, admittedly, it was published in 2017 and I was late to the game) is They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib. The collection of essays appears at the surface to be a series of pop culture musings and concert reviews, but it engages deeply with topics ranging from Carly Rae Jepsen concerts to Fall Out Boy’s rise and fall and re-rise to Serena Williams and tone-policing. It was refreshing to read a collection of short essays, but even more impactful to read them through Abdurraqib’s thoughtful, deft perspective. There is a touching depth of emotion in every essay. The eye-opening collection illuminates new ways of thinking about the ways music and culture are entwined with life’s moments, how our ideas of community can be created and expanded, and what it means to love one another.
