True Tales, Life Stores

You Sound Like a White

Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation

by Julissa Arce

available in March, hardcover, Flatiron Books

When someone tells you that you sound like a white person, is it a compliment? Follow Julissa as she discovers herself through this memoir, while facing racism and battling assimilation. A powerful and real story that offers readers a look into the constructs and walls that exist for people of color, and how we are learning to knock those down. –Ronnie

This Monk Wears Heels:

Be Who You Are

by Kodo Nishimura

available now, hardcover, Watkins Publishing Kodo Nishimura rose to fame following his appearance in Queer Eye: We’re in Japan. Now this celebrity make-up artist and ordained Buddhist monk shares his unique and practical guide to positivity and self-acceptance. Readers will learn from the author’s path to self-love and resilience and modern take on Buddhist teachings.

Bomb Shelter:

Love, Time, and Other Explosives

by Mary Laura Philpott

available in April, hardcover, Atria Books This book is full of witty humor and tragic moments. A collection of essays that translate into a memoir, Philpot does an excellent job of making you laugh and cry. Read about Frank the turtle, Mary's optimistic and anxious nature, and her adventures as she navigates her own path through life. A Relatable rollercoaster of a read! –Hanna

Every Good Boy Does Fine:

A Love Story, in Music Lessons

by Jeremy Denk

available now, hardcover, Random House

Jeremy Denk is a world-renowned performer as a classical pianist and also has a wicked sense of humor. It takes humor to write a book about practicing piano as a child and then continuing to practice as an adult. Denk explains how classical music is relevant to real life; how composers dealt with their real life and their deadlines, and students, and not getting the next gig, all the while having passionate themes screaming in their brain and publishers screaming about dates. –Kelly E.

Left on Tenth:

A Second Chance at Life

by Delia Ephron

available in April, hardcover, Little, Brown Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak (sister Nora, husband Jerry). Months after Jerry’s death, she decided to make one small change in her life — she shut down the landline, which crashed her internet, putting her in Verizon hell. She channeled her grief by writing an op-ed, which caught the attention of Peter, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates years before, set up by Nora. After several weeks of exchanging emails, he flew east to see her. Four months later she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia. In Left on Tenth, Ephron navigates the lows of enduring cutting-edge treatment and the highs of a second chance at love. With clarity, warmth, and honesty about facing death, Ephron invites us to join her team of warriors and become believers ourselves.

Shop 24/7 at Villagebooks.com

Sea State: A Memoir

by Tabitha Lasley

available now, hardcover, Ecco

A mid-30s London journalist relocates to Aberdeen after a messy breakup, with the goal of writing a book about the men who work on offshore oil rigs in the North Sea – but the story quickly becomes more about obsessive love, albeit with one of her interviews subjects, who happens to be married, among other drawbacks. Tough, self-aware without being self-pitying, at times mordantly funny, this book will stick with you. –Jean

In Their Own Words

Now in Paperback!

Educated: A Memoir

by Tara Westover

available now, paperback, Random House Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. When one of her brothers got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Girls Can Kiss Now: Essays

by Jill Gutowitz

available in March, paperback, Atria Books Has pop culture shaped us all? Are we addicted to it? This collection of essays reveal the power and influence that pop culture has introduced into the lives of so many. It is focused on the lesbian image that pop culture presents. Read along to remember some iconic moments of pop culture in the past several years, and see how it has shaped and molded the author's life, and maybe even our own. –Ronnie

Easy Beauty: A Memoir

by Chloé Cooper Jones

available in April, hardcover, Avid Reader "I am in a bar in Brooklyn, listening to two men, my friends, discuss whether my life is worth living." So begins Jones' astounding account of seeing and being seen as a woman born with sacral agenesis, a visible congenital disability that affects her stature and gait. She describes how, from an early age, the world declared and implied her exclusion because she looked different from others. Reading Easy Beauty is not unlike reading memoirs by Maggie Nelson or Roxane Gay. Like these writers, Jones has a prodigious, spiky intelligence and emotional depth, which she brings to a particular physical experience.

Warming Up Julia Child:

The Remarkable Figures Who Shaped a Legend

by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz

available in April, hardcover, Pegasus Books Julia Child's iconic television shows required a team of innovators to bring out her unique presence and personality. In this book, Julia is the central subject, but Horowitz has her share the stage with those who aided her work. She reveals that the most important element in Julia Child’s ultimate success was her unusual capacity for forming fruitful alliances from television networks to publishing houses.

March is Women's History Month – commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role and journeys of women now and throughout American history.

The Chuckanut RADIO HOUR

at the FireHouse Arts & Events Center featuring author

SASHA LaPOINTE

Thursday, April 14, 7pm

(doors 6:30pm)

Join us for an evening of live entertainment of music, poetry, comedy, and literature. Seating is limited so register today at:

Village Books Presents TheChuckanut

RADIO HOUR

villagebooks.com

Red Paint:

The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk

by Sasha LaPointe

available in March, hardcover, Counterpoint Shasha LaPointe is deeply connected to her heritage, specifically, the women in her family. Red Paint is a journey, as Sasha delves into the meaning of home and roots and family and self. She brings us along for the ride, up and down the Washington coast as she navigates first love, marriage, pregnancy, and loss, all while researching her ancestry and honoring the women who came before her. It’s poetic, raw, unfiltered and difficult. I loved it. –Claire