Alexandra's Staff Picks

For my LGTBQ+ book lists, search "LGBTQ YA," "LGBTQ Children's," "Queer Nonfiction," and/or "Queer Books I Have Read."

Showing 1 - 11 of 11  There are a total of 146 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The book of delights"
Star rating for The book of delights
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Author Ross Gay spent a year writing almost-daily essays about the things, large and small, that delight him"--
Book cover for "Citizen"
Star rating for Citizen
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
"Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV--everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come...
Book cover for "Come as you are"
Star rating for Come as you are
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
"A revised and updated edition of Emily Nagoski's game-changing New York Times bestseller Come As You Are, featuring new information and research on mindfulness, desire, and pleasure that will radically transform your sex life"--
Book cover for "Daring greatly"
Star rating for Daring greatly
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
Discusses how to embrace vulnerability in order to live whole, courageous lives, explaining that traits typically regarded as character flaws and weaknesses are actually clear paths to engagement and meaningful connections.
Book cover for "Educated"
Star rating for Educated
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University"--Amazon.com.
Book cover for "The gifts of imperfection"
Star rating for The gifts of imperfection
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
In this work, the author, a leading expert on shame, authenticity, and belonging, shares ten guideposts on the power of wholehearted living, a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness.
Book cover for "Gulp"
Star rating for Gulp
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Few of us realize what strange wet miracles of science operate inside us after every meal. In her trademark style, Mary Roach investigates the beginning, and end, of our food. Few of us realize what strange wet miracles of science operate inside us after every meal. In her trademark style, Mary Roach investigates the beginning, and end, of our food, addressing such questions as why crunchy food is so appealing, how much we can eat before our stomachs...
Book cover for "Salt, fat, acid, heat"
Star rating for Salt, fat, acid, heat
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat will make you a better cook" (Bon Apetit). Millions of readers and cooks of all levels have radically transformed their skillset thanks to this indispensable cookbook from the chef NPR called "the next Julia Child."

Transform how you prep, cook, and think about food with this visionary master class in cooking by Samin Nosrat that distills decades of professional experience into just four...
Book cover for "Stiff"
Star rating for Stiff
Author:
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:

Beloved, best-selling science writer Mary Roach’s “acutely entertaining, morbidly fascinating” (Susan Adams, Forbes) classic, now with a new epilogue.

For two thousand years, cadavers – some willingly, some unwittingly – have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified

...
Book cover for "Tiny beautiful things"
Star rating for Tiny beautiful things
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
"Tiny Beautiful Things" brings the best of Cheryl Strayed's published and never-before-published online columns in one place and includes a new introduction by Steve Almond. Life can be hard, life can be great. For years, the anonymous author of Dear Sugar was the one to turn to for advice. Now, the best of Cheryl Strayed's online columns are collected in one place for you to enjoy-- and learn from.
Book cover for "Wild"
Star rating for Wild
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
The story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe-- and built her back up again. A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again.