True Crime Must-Reads
When I’m not writing for True Story, I’m hosting Read or Dead, Book Riot’s mystery and thriller podcast. We feature true crime, and over the past couple of years, we’ve been having this ongoing conversation about different approaches to the genre. How does a writer respectfully tackle an event they aren’t part of? What would a true crime book look like if the author is part of the community impacted by the event that they are reporting on?
Today we’re looking at books that take a unique approach to true crime. These are books where the writers go above and beyond to be respectful and thoughtful with their reporting.
But first up, bookish goods!
Bookish Goods
Badgers and Gourds Bookmark by thetinytoucan
Who doesn’t love a fall-ish scene featuring adorable woodland creatures?! Just autumn perfection. $4
New Releases
Soup Meals: Soups to Feed Body, Soul & Friends by Emily Ezekiel
Soup season is upon us! There’s nothing like a warm cup of soup on a cold, blustery day, and Soup Meals gives readers dozens of recipes — Minestrone, French Onion Soup, Matzo Ball Soup — that can be easily edited depending on readers’ preferences.
Ordinary Disasters: How I Stopped Being a Model Minority by Anne Anlin Cheng
In her new collection of essays, Anne Anlin Cheng writes about race, gender, colonialism, migration, and so much more. Her work integrates her own identity as an Asian American immigrant in a relationship with a white man. Cheng asks how these things impact her life and how does her identity change her view of the world?
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
Journalist Tanya Talaga investigates the deaths of seven Indigenous high school students in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Each one of these students moved from rural locations in the northern part of the province to attend school. Talaga pieces together the students’ lives, trying to better understand why each student died. Woven throughout is the dark history of the residential school system across Canada and its lasting effects on Indigenous communities.
The Third Rainbow Girl by Emma Copley Eisenberg
Eisenberg volunteered to work for a nonprofit in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. She ended up living there for years, falling in love with the region and its people. But while there, she learned of two middle-class, white women who were murdered as they were traveling through the area. The Third Rainbow Girl combines Eisenberg’s own story of working in West Virginia, the case of the two “Rainbow Girls,” and the history of Pocahontas County. Even with its many moving parts, Eisenberg deftly weaves the different parts together to create something wholly unique.
That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, on TikTok @kendrawinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles on Book Riot.
Happy reading, Friends!
~ Kendra
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