My favorite holiday tradition is here: the unveiling of the end-of-the-year booklists! Oakland Public Library staff are pleased to share once again their favorite books from the last twelve months.
We'd love to hear your picks too--please share in the comments!
Afterparties
This debut story collection explores Cambodian and queer lives in California and how past trauma echoes from generation to generation. Deeply felt and bursting with humor, these stories are finely crafted and lovingly depict a community not often encountered in fiction.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Christy Thomas, Librarian, Main Library
Black Food
Black Food is a visual, tactile, flavorful and fascinating celebration of everything one can imagine about the food of the African diaspora and the African American experience. The editor, a diet activist and proponent of veganism, welcome contributions from around the world to the celebration. A little interaction by an amateur chef exploring the recipes contained herein will add mouth-watering delight to the compelling content of these pages.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
A Calling for Charlie Barnes
This is the quirky story of Charlie Barnes, a down-on-his-luck, thrice divorced, serial entrepreneur; as told by his author son, Jake. But how much are we to believe what we read? This book is funny and original. Fans of meta-fiction or films by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) will enjoy.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Brian Guenther, Senior Librarian, 81st Ave
The Code Breaker
This book is a fascinating read. The author explores the development of CRISPR, an easy-to-use tool to edit human DNA, which encourages scientists to race to create more tools that accelerate the transition to the next biotechnology innovation. UC Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna and her collaborator won the Nobel Prize in 2021.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Vicky, Librarian, Main
Counterpoints
This fascinating drill-down on the racial and socio-economic realities underlying the Bay Area's rapid demographic changes presents a chilling, sorrowful picture of where we are headed culturally in this area. Using computer-enabled methods to build maps and to pinpoint the impacts of greed and speculation in the real estate industry and the acts of brave resistance in response, the participants in the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project have produced a monument to the unrelenting struggle between workers and landowners and greedy investors.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
Crisis Zone
Simon Hanselmann's latest work was originally posted piece-by-piece on the author's Instagram in real time as the pandemic of 2020 was unfolding. The final result is compiled in the graphic novel, The Crisis Zone, where a witch, a cat, an anthropomorphic owl, a werewolf, and their colorful cast of friends try to survive the world engulfed in the throes of a global crisis. Each character reacts differently to the chaos -- escaping into online gaming, falling into conspiracy theory rabbit holes, obsessing over social media stardom, to name a few. Personally, I find this book hilarious; there were so many ridiculous moments that had me laughing out loud. At face value, this graphic novel follows the typical stoner tropes. On the other hand- themes of depression, poverty, gender expression, and sexuality add depth to many of the characters and their storylines throughout the series. Crisis Zone might not fit everybody's taste; there is a lot of explicit nudity/sex, drug use, violence, and other offensive material. Nevertheless, I still recommend it and hope that you will be entertained by this hyperreal account of our unprecedented year in lockdown.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Ryan, Library Assistant, Rockridge
Daughter of the Deep
This new series starter is an underwater adventure with all the humor and edge-of-your-seat suspense you expect from Rick Riordan, starring an ultra-smart Bundelkhandi Hindu girl who happens to be a living descendant of Captain Nemo of Jules Verne's 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Bonus rep: well-written sidekick with autism and adorable support dog.
Recommended for: Children
Recommended by: Margaret, Children's Librarian, Asian Branch
THE DAWN OF EVERYTHING
This monumental work presents a convincing challenge to much of what we have accepted to be the story of the origins of civilizations. The team of the late David Graeber, a self-professed anarchist anthropologist, and British archaeologist David Wengrow cover 30,000 years of human history to reach fascinating new conclusions about both human nature and how society could best be structured to accommodate the beings we are. Graeber met a tragic and sudden death while the book was underway but his collaborator was able to complete the text for a 2021 release. Graeber was an early organizer of the Occupy Wall Street movement, coining the slogan, "We Are the 99%," after a period of "academic exile" after being denied tenure at Yale University. This book will endure as a classic work in its field that will greatly influence our understanding of human history and evolution in perpetuity.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
DCeased: Dead Planet
5 years after a corrupted Anti-Life Equation infected the Earth with a zombie-like virus, forcing survivors to flee to a secondary planet, a rebuilt Justice League respond to a distress call coming from a survivor still on Earth with hopes of a cure. With suspicions that it all might be a trap, the League head back home to face-off against super-powered infected that were once their friends, family, and enemies in a last-ditch effort to save their home. This graphic novel is sincerely a must-read if you love horror, comic book heroes, or having your emotions crushed. Maybe you're like me and like all 3 of these things. Underneath the gruesomeness that zombies bring, Tom Taylor writes a beautiful story highlighting humanity's ability to prevail despite all odds being against them.
Recommended for: Teens, Adults
Recommended by: Vic Martinez, Library Aide, Chavez, MLK, Main TeenZone
From Little Tokyo, with Love by Sarah Kuhn (Available from Link Plus)
Reads like a teen movie! Actually hoping it becomes one. I laughed, I cried.
Recommended for: Teens
Recommended by: SL, Library Assistant
How to Talk to A Science Denier
It was hard enough trying to manage conversations with the likes of those among us who challenge the notion of a greenhouse effect caused by humans burning fossil fuels or with people who insist upon a reptilian origin of the human species. Now we find ourselves embroiled in a life-or-death struggle to persuade millions of people that they are out of their minds if they resist a coronavirus vaccine out of distrust of the science. Luckily, just in time, we're provided this handy source of tips for changing even the most deluded mind, provided to us by an honest-to-God philosopher, currently working out of Boston University. While he's at it, he helps us understand what on Earth compels these people to think the way they do.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
I Alone Can Fix It
For the publishing industry, the Trump Administration presented an unprecedented opportunity for cashing in on White House reportage. A seemingly endless stream of scandal-ridden copy spewed from the presses of the book trade. Two modern masters of investigative journalism from the Washington Post teamed up for a second round (after 2020's A Very Stable Genius) of chilling presidential reality that clearly and meticulously confirms the severity of the narcissism plaguing Mr. Trump's dangerously disordered mind.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
King of the Blues
Few artists define a musical genre the way the B. B. King defines the urban blues. Under the very capable pen of Daniel de Visé, a Pulitzer Prize winner, we read how the musical brilliance and passion of a young sharecropper living the cabin life deep in the steamy delta plains of Mississippi emerged as the master of his form. Riley B. King, who adopted the nickname "Blues Boy" while spinning blues records for an African American radio station out of Memphis, has served as a primary influence of an entire generation of guitarists, in every genre of popular music. His life story mirrors the struggle for justice and equality that has come to envelope the African American experience in this country.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main LIbrary
Klara and the Sun
Klara and the Sun presents the world as seen through the eyes of Klara, an android, or AF (Artificial Friend). Klara is purchased for Josie, a teenage girl with an illness that may be life threatening, to help her combat loneliness. The story vividly portrays the relationships between teenage friends and between a mother and her daughter. Sura Siu does an excellent job narrating the audiobook, particularly in one scene where voice plays a part in the story.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Brian Guenther, Senior Librarian, 81st Ave
Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing
A collection of insightful and humorous essays, many of which go into the author’s childhood being raised in the cult known as The Family and her journey in finding her way through life after leaving. Her writing is refreshing in the searing anger she uses to justifiably eviscerate the oppressive systems that surround us. Her experiences also show the many parallels between cults and many aspects of mainstream American life that exposes how the two are much less different than we like to think.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steve Shaw, Aide, Dimond
Marshmallow & Jordan
Every little white elephant needs a best friend who is a human girl in a wheelchair! Set in Indonesia, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel from California artist Alina Chau will warm your heart.
Recommended for: Children, Teens
Recommended by: Margaret, Children's Librarian, Asian Branch
Outlawed
It’s the 1830s in North America, and a pandemic has wiped out most of the population. Ada, accused of witchcraft, is on the run and unexpectedly finds a new family with the Hole in the Wall Gang. This alt-history western is a feminist, queer and antiracist page turner and a ton of fun.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Christy Thomas, Librarian, Main Library
Paradise on Fire
Paradise on Fire is a survival novel inspired by the real life Camp Fire of 2018 (which is noted as the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history). The story's protagonist is Adaugo (Addy), a Black 15-year-old from the Bronx who lives with an overwhelming fear of fire because her parents died in a house fire when Addy was four years old. To cope, Addy obsessively draws maps and plots escape routes for every place and scenario she is in. Addy's Grandma Bibi signs her up for a Wilderness program in California, where she joins a group of Black youth from the East Coast. After Addy's skeptical view of the program and nature dissipate, she makes friends and falls in love with the terrain, but a huge wildfire flares and endangers the woods and her new friends - Addy is put to the test in utilizing her map-making skills to save as many people as possible. I love this book because the characters feel complex and real, it has a great afterward with information on California wildfires, and it's an own voices novel of modern-day Black youth taking the lead in the outdoors, which has commonly been a genre told with White characters as protagonists and supporting characters.
Recommended for: Children, Teens
Recommended by: Ms. Brianna, Children's Librarian, Elmhurst
The Planetbreaker's Son
A slim but surreal novella followed by several two short, short stories and an interview of this Oakland author, by Oakland's sci-fi master Terry Bisson, published by Oakland's PM Press in its "Outspoken Authors" series makes for an ultra-local product. The prose contained herein, however, will take you far, far away from our beloved city into the imagination of this highly original master of satire.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
A Report of the Exploring Expedition to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-'44
Not at all new, but newly republished with new introductions for renewed popular consumption, John Frémont's logs of this second trip west in 1842 provide vivid descriptions of our region prior to its sudden urbanization after the discovery of gold in Sacramento in 1846. His reports will help to inform thoughtful reassessments of our past in the current context of critical race theory and society's recent coming to terms with the colonial realities of the nation's westward expansion.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
Root Magic
This middle grade historical novel features a Gullah Geechee family of rootworkers who are surviving life under racist terror during the 1960s. A rare peek into Gullah Geechee culture that centers twins learning rootwork after the death of their Gran. The story is exciting, nuanced, and compassionate in its treatment of people vs. monsters.
Recommended for: Children, Teens, Adults, Families
Recommended by: Sunny K, Children's Librarian, Dimond
Seek You
A timely and heartfelt examination into loneliness in American life. Radtke’s writing on a difficult but universal experience is filled with empathy and understanding while her artwork perfectly captures the feeling of being alone. This book makes an excellent companion during these particularly lonely times.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steve Shaw, Aide, Dimond
Somebody's Daughter
Ford recounts her youth and young adulthood, marked by a complicated relationship with her often abusive mother, her adoration of a devoted grandmother, and a deep longing for her father who was incarcerated for thirty years from the time she was one year old. A heart-wrenching coming-of-age memoir of poverty, rape, isolation, relationships, smarts and success, told with profound vulnerability, verve, humor, joy, honesty and love.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Christy Thomas, Librarian, Main Library
Standoff
A prominent member of the indigenous people's movement presents a thought-provoking study on human attachment to the land in a side-by-side breakdown of protests by libertarian anarchists in eastern Oregon and by environmental activists along the Missouri River in North Dakota. The response to the different actions, by politicians, law enforcement agencies, popular opinion and the media makes a profound statement about American values, which the author addresses with highly memorable impact.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
Sunday Funday in Koreatown
Don't read this when you're hungry! Yoomi and her dad have a delicious day in Koreatown. Read this to your young kids at the start of the weekend so you'll still have plenty of time to visit the Korean grocery.
Recommended for: Children
Recommended by: Margaret, Children's Librarian, Asian Branch
Tokyo Ever After
Reads like a mix of "The Princess Diaries" movies and "The Royals" (TV show)! Think I need a sequel or two!
Recommended for: Teens
Recommended by: SL, Library Assistant
Warmth
In Warmth, a strident and passionately devoted climate activist reveals to the world, and to future children he is reluctant to have, what he's been going through emotionally and spiritually while he struggles to plan his future under the looming uncertainty of our carbon crisis. He eloquently shares his vulnerability, his frustration with the status quo and the ubiquitous terror and grief he feels as the storms and fires and heat waves presage the world to come. The writing reveals, too, what themes will emerge in our literature as heat consumes our world.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
We Are the Land
This book represents a long overdue work of scholarship, providing, at long last, an in-depth, non-Eurocentric look at the state's indigenous population, from its origins to its current conditions. Its academic value is enhanced by the first-hand contributions of one co-author, William J. Bauer, Jr., who is an enrolled citizen of the Round Valley community in Mendocino County and member of the faculty of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His collaboration here with Damon B. Akins, of Guilford College in North Carolina, is a major achievement in the field of ethnic studies of indigenous California.
Recommended for: Adults
Recommended by: Steven Lavoie, Senior Librarian, Main Library
What's Up, Beanie?: Acutely Relatable Comics by Alina Tysoe (Available from Link Plus)
A comic about relatable topics about family and awkward moments of social anxiety of a pink haired person. You will also get moments about love, childhood stories and her love for dogs. I love the illustrations in this book and the stories about Alina's life.
Recommended for: Teens, Adults, Families
Recommended by: Nancy T, Library Aide, Catalog Dept.
