FROM OUR BOOKSHELF
Celebrating Cultures Dive into far-off cultures or celebrate those close to home with these selections, available for free from the New Orleans Public Library: Paulina Bren’s The Barbizon: The Hotel that Set Women Free, is the fascinating story of one of New York City’s most famous residential hotels, the women who lived there (Sylvia Plath, Liza Minnelli, Grace Kelly, and Joan Didion, to name a few), and how their time in the Barbizon shaped their futures. Beyond simply telling the biography of a building, Bren vividly illustrates these young women’s lives as they search for something more, while navigating the rapidly changing social culture and customs of 20th century New York. Prospect.5 New Orleans: Yesterday We Said Tomorrow archives the 2021 Prospect New Orleans exhibition, a citywide contemporary art triennial that started in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In this exhibition catalog, artistic directors Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi bring together 51 artists to engage New Orleans as context as they reconsider the concept of history, both global and local. Memphis by Tara Stringfellow traces three generations of a Southern Black family as one daughter learns the generational sacrifices that ensured her life wouldn’t be defined by loss and anger while simultaneously discovering a power that might help change her family’s legacy. Along the way, she finds she is part of a long matrilineal tradition, which is exactly what she needs to help her family heal.
Marie Simoneaux is the marketing associate responsible for the Library’s social media content and impact stories. 6
JULY/AUGUST 2022 | LABOOMERSMAG.COM
Robin Goldblum is the New Orleans Public Library's Adult Education Programming Librarian.
