For the bookshelf Juanita Stein » The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
In her new memoir, Michelle Obama goes beyond stories of her own life. As its title implies, Ms. Obama shares inspiring ideas about how to stay positive when all around us might be falling apart. Just like the rest of us, she has felt concerned, challenged, and sometimes lost in the constant flux of negative ideas and events that seem to persist more every day. In this follow-up to her immensely popular memoir Becoming, Ms. Obama builds a sort of toolbox for navigating change. Readers will feel as if they are sitting at her kitchen table sharing a frank dialogue about how to build and maintain honest relationships and overcome feelings of self doubt. One of the most inspiring and downto-earth women of our time, once again Michelle Obama engages readers in a way that few others have done by simply having an honest, open conversation about things that pretty much everyone can relate to. With compassion and candor, she describes the strength that comes from community and in the discovery and recognition of our own light. Hardcover, 336 pages, 799 pesos.
» Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus This delightful debut novel features a unique heroine named Elizabeth Zott, a chemist working at a research institute in southern California in the 1960s. She’s in a man’s world where women simply can’t be considered brilliant scientists. When Elizabeth finds herself in the unexpected situation of being a single mother who has to find a new way to make ends meet, she reluctantly takes a job as the host of a TV cooking show titled “Supper at Six” — but, not surprisingly, this is no ordinary cooking show. Elizabeth’s unconventional approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) quickly captures the hearts and minds of its exponentially-growing audience. But gradually, the backlash begins. Because as it happens, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women how to cook. She’s daring them to challenge — and change — the status quo. Laugh-out-loud funny, piercingly observant, and filled with an irresistible cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and captivating as Elizabeth herself. Hardcover, 400 pages, 654 pesos.
Juanita Stein owns the Mérida bookstore Between the Lines on Calle 62 and 53 in the Centro. Visit facebook.com/BetweenTheLinesMerida
YUCATÁN MAGAZINE | ISSUE 8
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