Impactful Books to Get Cozy With This Winter

This new highly-acclaimed biography of Eleanor Roosevelt is being touted as the definitive account of this First Lady’s monumental life. Not only does it invite us to bear witness to the tribulations of life in the Oval with all the political challenges of the day, but it offers granular depictions of life at home with the five children Eleanor had with FDR. It also chronicles in detail their open marriage and affairs too numerous to count (though I tried).

For me this was unputdownable. It is the true story of how this talented writer and married mother of three turned herself, and her marriage, inside out and upside down, to find and honor her authentic self. Spoiler alert: She left her husband and married the woman who became her true life partner, managing to harmoniously blend all her loved ones. You go girl!

A New York Times bestseller, the subtitle of this book is: ‘Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism.’ Written by a white woman, it is a handbook for those in denial of historic inequities that continue today. Not an easy read but certainly an enlightening one given today’s urgent need to seek justice for all. Should be of interest to anyone seriously interested in reading anti-racist lit.

On the lighter side, the title refers to what comedians say to one another when they have an idea for a ‘bit’ but are unsure of its comedic power. If you would like to be the arbiter of Seinfeld’s material, read this book. If you would like to laugh during a pandemic, read this book. It covers everything from the 1970s through the 20teens, with Seinfeld’s take on everything from cotton balls to Flex Seal, an infomercial product he is obsessed with.

The brilliant Isabel Wilkerson dissects our own American caste system by comparing it to the stratified societies in India and Nazi Germany. Her analysis and research are deep and spot on, explaining why today we find ourselves in the midst of a country-wide reckoning over racial injustice.

Another New York Times bestseller. If you want to know what it’s like to flee from the violence of drug cartels in Acapulco, Mexico, follow this thrilling, nail biter about a middle class book shop owner and her 8-year-old son as they walk endless dirt roads and ride atop moving trains to escape to the U.S

The author died in 2001 at the age of 94. A fuller life you will not find. Wife of Charles Lindbergh, mother of six children, (the oldest famously kidnapped and killed as a child), author and aviator, she chronicles the challenges she and all women face as a result of their multiple roles and responsibilities — during a short escape to the beach. I recommend re-reading every decade to glean fully the wisdom it imparts.

This memoir subtitled, ‘A Photographer’s Life of Love and War,’ recounts one intrepid female photojournalist’s trajectory after 9/11, as her career takes her to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Libya. In the Middle East, she faces grave danger as she documents the true victims of war, focusing especially on violence against civilians, mostly women and children.

This memoir tracks the author’s transition from her predictable job in book publishing to the drama, ambition and avarice of startups in the high-tech world of Silicon Valley. If you would like to be a fly on the wall of the machinations and after-work happy hours that are at the center of business in Silicon Valley, this book will take you there.

A debut memoir about growing up poor and black in New Orleans with a single mother and 11 siblings. The house, bought by Broom’s mother when she was nineteen and raising her first child, becomes a central character in this book. A victim of time and neglect, it manages to remain a sacred monument to the bonds of one family and their dreams.