Hey everyone!
We’re back on that nonfiction grind today. Only one fiction pick out of the bunch. Also, Get Rec’d will probably pause while I’m out on maternity leave. It will return, though, so don’t panic!
Any recommendations you’d like to share? Leave them in the comments!
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Bad Company
For those who love a senior sleuth book, but want more thriller and less cozy mystery, this is an option for you.
International bestseller and groundbreaking icon Sara Paretsky returns with a brand new novel and character – proving once again that she’s one of the pre-eminent authors in crime fiction and beyond.
To all appearances, Lily Sedako is an ordinary retiree―a seventy-something single woman living in Chicago, her days filled with the routine tasks of normal life. But underneath that exterior, lies a remarkable past. A former CIA field agent, she spent her career in various Central Asian countries, most notably in Hayalistan, a former USSR territory. But everything went sideways when Lily’s connections to the mountain tribes resulted in her being moved to a new post and Rani, the tribal leader and first democratically elected President was removed, presumed killed, in a coup.All of this is long behind her when she receives an anonymous package containing a magazine with an article about Hayalistan―an article with a previously unknown photo showing Lily in the background. This was no mistake―someone out there is trying to expose Lily, after more than two decades, for reasons unknown. Even worse, the magazine story casts doubt on everything she believed to be true about her time in Hayalistan.
Lily is determined to find out who is behind this and, even more important, the truth of what really happened so long ago. As word of her investigation reaches the CIA, the company knows that they must silence her but Lily is no one’s pawn, even now. Using hard won skills and personal connections from her former life, Lily takes on the unwise, and perhaps impossible task of fighting back against the powerful forces aligning against her.In a powerful novel about love, power, corruption, aging, trust…and revenge, Bad Company reaffirms Sara Paretsky place as one of the pre-eminent crime writers of our time.
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Happy Snacking, Don’t Die
I’ve followed the author on social media for a long time now! Could I safely forage for things? Certainly not! However, this is one part foraging guide and one part vegan cookbook.
Beloved social media sensation Black Forager’s long-awaited guide to foraging, sometimes even in your own backyard, and vegan cooking.
Your next favorite ingredient might be hiding in plain sight in your own backyard. Alexis Nikole Nelson, best known to millions of fans as Black Forager, invites you on an adventure to discover the abundance around you. Alexis captivates people with her joyful enthusiasm and deep knowledge of foraging and inspires them to explore the bounty of their own backyards, parks, and trails, and now she does the same in her eagerly awaited first book.
Part foraging guide, part plant-based cookbook, Happy Snacking, Don’t Die! shows you how to turn common plants, flowers, and fungi into yummy, vegan meals during each season—no wilderness survival skills required. In spring, you’ll learn to pickle Magnolia flowers and turn Japanese Knotweed into a refreshing granita. Summer is for frying up Milkweed Buds, making Juneberry Hand Pies, and crafting Rosewater Baklava. When fall arrives, you’ll be making savory mushroom dishes (a.k.a. chicken of the woods) like Maitake steak and bacon. And in winter, cozy up with Pine Shortbread Cookies and Oyster Mushroom Chowdah.
With helpful plant identification photos throughout, this book is an essential resource packed with practical tips on ethical foraging and crucial safety information (so you “don’t die”) for people across the northern hemisphere. With her signature humor and infectious spirit, Alexis proves that foraging isn’t just for survivalists—it’s for anyone who wants to connect with nature and add exciting new flavors to their table.
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The Instigators
Apropos of nothing. This is less history and more memoir from a political strategist. However, if you want something with more of a history bent, I’d also recommend A Black Women’s History of the United States.
A top Democratic Party strategist and media contributor offers a bold and urgent reminder that young Black women hold the key to saving our democracy and building a truly multi-racial future that benefits all Americans.
Agitator. Troublemaker. Motivator. Initiator. Instigator.
“How can we build a truly inclusive multi-racial democracy?” For Atima Omara, the answer is The Instigators—a name she has given to a demographic of Black women between the ages of 18 and 45. These women are uniquely equipped to save American democracy. They didn’t ask for this ability, she argues. It was forced on them because racism and sexism have made them the most marginalized group in American politics. We can all benefit from their strategic know-how as we rebuild our society.
Black women have always been the most relentless instigators for change—building a democracy for all. Omara draws on her political knowledge and expertise, as well as history, to examine how they have responded to failed strategic decisions by movement leaders and the modern Democratic Party in previous elections as a context for the present. She also provides actionable recommendations to organizers, donors, candidates, strategists, political party leaders, that everyday people can use in their communities to build an inclusive democracy that endures beyond one election cycle.
The Instigators is at once an urgent political guide, historical exploration, and a poignant memoir that pulls from Omara’s two decades of work in Democratic politics and the progressive movement as an elected Democratic Party leader, movement organizer, former candidate, gubernatorial aide, campaign staff to candidates at the national, state, and local level; and now political strategist. Powerful, insightful, and practical, it is imperative reading for everyone eager to protect and rebuild our democracy and create a better tomorrow for all.
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The Misogynists
I’m sure the topic of this book isn’t surprising to anyone, but in case you have any art history or art criticism nerds your household. (Also that ebook price is criminal.)
A riveting exploration of six giants of modern art, revealing how misogynistic beliefs shaped their work and smuggled dangerous ideas into museums worldwide
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Art Book for Fall 2026, and one of Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026
Delacroix, Courbet, Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, and Picasso have long been considered essential figures in the history of modern art. But these six men were also unrepentant misogynists. In The Misogynists, art historian and professor Allison Leigh delves deep into the lives of these figures to show how they truly felt about women, how those beliefs worked their way into their art, and how these facts have been brushed aside by collectors, curators, and critics.
These six were wildly influential artists in their time and remain widely known—and loved—today. Their paintings are the jewels of permanent collections in the world’s most important art museums, and you can find reproductions of their works on all manner of merchandise, from T-shirts and socks to magnets and phone cases. They also exploited and degraded women in ways that shocked their contemporaries. And their sexist views infused the artworks, allowing dangerous ideas about women’s proper roles and overall value to pervade our temples of culture.
Blending extensive research and intense observation, and drawing on letters, contemporary criticism, scholarly biographies, and the work of gender theorists, psychologists, and philosophers, Leigh crafts a thoroughly readable, engrossing mixture of historical narrative, art criticism, and social analysis. The Misogynists is an essential reconsideration of the modern canon and the narratives that continue to shape how we see—and value—art today.
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This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!The Misogynists by Allison Leigh
