Author: Eden Etzel

2023 One Maryland One Book’ Final Selection is…

Posted on by Eden Etzel

After months of anticipation, we are excited to announce that the 2023 One Maryland One Book selection There There by Tommy Orange. There There wonderfully captures this year’s theme of Connection. The novel that follows the stories of twelve Native people as they converge on the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they do not know.

 

Cover of There There and author Tommy Orange.

Some characters come to the powwow with the best of intentions, like Dene Oxendene, a young local documentary filmmaker who is recording the oral stories of other Native persons for a project in memory of his uncle, or Jacquie Red Feather, a substance abuse counselor who is herself newly sober, looking to connect with family at the powwow. Others feel the weight of what’s come before them—like Jacquie’s half-sister Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield, who is raising three of Jacquie’s grandsons. One of them is Orvil Red Feather, a fourteen-year-old who is deeply proud of his Native heritage and intends to perform traditional dance at the powwow. Then there are Octavio Gomez and Tony Loneman, drug dealers who hatch a plan to rob the cash prize of the powwow. As all of these characters and more arrive at the powwow, each will be forever changed by the connections they make and the events that unfold.

There There’s release in 2018 brought it and its author so many accolades that it would be quite the challenge to list them all here. It was named “One of the Best Books of the Year” for several publications including The Washington Post, NPR, Time, and The Boston Globe, among many others. Colm Toibin raved about There There for the New York Times with the headline: “Yes, Tommy Orange’s New Novel Really Is That Good,” rounding out his review by saying: “Nothing in Orange’s world is simple, least of all his characters and his sense of the relationship between history and the present. Instead, a great deal is subtle and uncertain in this original and complex novel.” There There was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and longlisted for the National Book Award.

We at Maryland Humanities understand the impact that such a novel can have on its readership. We encourage readers across the state to read There There and lookout for the accompanying programs that are happening in their communities. This book will continue to amaze and make those aware of the modern Native American experience.

You can purchase a copy of There There through Maryland Humanities’ Bookshop.org site.

You can read an excerpt of the opening pages to There There online or listen to the audiobook recording here:

 

Top Eleven Titles for the 2023 One Maryland One Book Selection

Posted on by Eden Etzel

Surprise! 2023’s One Maryland One Book program doesn’t have a top ten—but a top eleven! Centered around the theme of Connection, our shortlist of titles includes novels, memoirs, and nonfiction from recent years.

Graphic of sign on string that says “Attention! 2023 OMOB Top 11.” After the word “attention,” there is the logo for Maryland Humanities One Maryland One Book Program, that includes the website www.onemarylandonebook.org.” The background is sky blue.

Though the books represent a wide diversity of experiences and histories, their shared themes and common narratives have captured a moment in our current world; on what it means to feel alienated by those around you and seeking out those who are far away.

Though these books’ settings range from the deep historical past to a speculative future, our authors are all keenly responding to the needs of the moment: How do we find connection with each other? How can our connections keep us nourished, or pose danger? In knowing one another and ourselves, what can we gain, lose, and regain later on?

We invite you to learn more about our top eleven titles below. Remember, only one will be the 2023 One Maryland One Book selection, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add all of these memorable titles to your to-read lists. Our selection (organized alphabetically by author) will be announced in March. 
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The book cover of “The Vanishing Half: A Novel” by Britt Bennett. Text says “A New York Times #1 Bestseller,” and a quote attributed to People, that says “Breathtaking.” There are two stickers: one says “One of the New York Times Best Books of the Year.” Another says “‘Good Morning America’ Book Club: A GMA Book Club Pick.”The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Meet the light-skinned Vignes twins, who’ve grown up in the small southern town of Mallard and try to escape when they’re sixteen. Stella makes it, passing as white with a white husband who does not know her history, while Desiree eventually returns home with her daughter. The intersection of their daughters’ lives provides the ground for exploring multiple characters and generational experiences of race and belonging in America. Bennett is praised in Entertainment Weekly as “a storyteller in total command of the narrative, her shattered family portrait pieced back together with artful restraint and burgeoning clarity.”

The book cover of “All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir” by Nicole Chung. Text at the top says “National Bestseller.” A quote at the bottom, attributed to Entertainment Weekly, says “A family story of heartbreaking truth—personal in detail, universal in its complexity.”All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

Nicole Chung’s memoir chronicles how the author grew up as a transracial Korean American adoptee, faced prejudices that her white adoptive family couldn’t protect her from, and developed into the writer she is today. She becomes determined to find the Korean parents that gave her up as a baby, and we navigate that journey with her. Mariya Karimjee of NPR raves, “Chung’s writing is never overtly sentimental, but it’s crisp and clear and evocative…she makes sure to include her confusion as well as the difficulty she has explaining this to her white parents, who loved her absolutely.” Chung’s follow-up about her adoptive parents, A Living Remedy, is due out this April.

The book cover of “Infinite Country: A Novel” by Patricia Engel. At the top, a quote attributed to Esquire says “Breathtaking.” At the bottom, a quote attributed to O, the Oprah Magazine, says “A knockout of a novel.”Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

A bestseller and winner of several prizes, Patricia Engel’s timely novel of border crossings and separations follows the journey of a young Colombian family who flee to the United States to escape violence. Once there, they overstay their visas and become undocumented, putting the family under additional strain. “At its best,” Jake Cline observes in The Washington Post, “Engel’s novel interrogates the idea of American exceptionalism,” and praises her as “a gifted storyteller whose writing shines even in the darkest corners.”

The book cover of “Lakewood: A Novel” by Megan Giddings. At the top, a quote attributed to Essence, says “Reminiscent of Jordan Peele’s terrifying film ‘Get Out.’” At the bottom, a quote attributed to O, the Oprah Magazine, says “A knockout of a novel.”Lakewood by Megan Giddings

While many of the novels on this list live in literary realism, Megan Giddings’ debut novel veers deep into genre, with reviewers praising it as a new classic in Black horror. Lena Johnson is a young Black woman who participates in a medical research study to support her family. But, echoing the Tuskegee experiments or Maryland’s own Henrietta Lacks, Lena soon learns horrifying truths of how others use Black bodies for science. A 2020 NPR Book of the Year, Chicago Review of Books praises its “plainspoken yet detailed prose” which “keeps us tightly wound, hanging on Giddings’ every word and Lena’s every move. We feel a paranoia unique to the digital age…constantly being heard and watched.”

The book cover of “Homegoing: A Novel” by Yaa Gyasi. There is a quote attributed to Ta-Nehisi Coates that says, “‘Homegoing’ in an inspiration.”Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Gyasi’s novel opens on two half-sisters born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana, one married off to a life of luxury and the other sold in the slave trade and shipped to America. The book tracks the Black diasporic experience across the next two centuries through the half-sisters’ descendants. In the San Francisco Chronicle, Anita Felicelli writes, “Gyasi’s eye for details and her subtle, restrained style — neither scolding nor impressed with itself — trusts the reader to draw fascinating connections between the moral and social issues faced by the two family lines.”

The book cover of “Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations” by Mira Jacob. There is a quote attributed to Celeste Ng that says, “Hilarious and heart-rending…exactly the book America needs.”Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob

A poignant book for our times, Mira Jacob’s graphic memoir is told as a conversation with her mixed-race son about her journey through race, love, sex, family, and the hopes and fears she has for him as a second-generation American. As Ed Park notes in the The New York Times Book Review, “Among its many virtues, Mira Jacob’s graphic memoir helps us think through this term [person of color] with grace and disarming wit.”

The book cover of “Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time” by Sheila Liming. There is a quote attributed to Andrew Rose that says “Jam-packed with eloquent and authentic testimony.”Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time by Sheila Liming

Releasing later this month, this book will be the newest title on our list. Working from the assumption that playing is to children as hanging out is to adults, professor Sheila Liming makes the case for why unstructured social time is important and how we should do it, in an engaging, readable fashion. On the heels of worldwide quarantine and a reexamination of what our free time can produce, Liming shows us how getting together can be an act of resistance.

The book cover of “Our Missing Hearts: A Novel” by Celeste Ng. Text says “The number 1 New York Times bestselling author of ‘Little Fires Everywhere.’” There is a sticker that says “Reese’s Book Club.”Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng’s latest novel, which Shondaland calls “deeply poetic, beautifully and succinctly written, and thoroughly immersive,” is the story of Bird, a twelve-year-old Chinese American boy, and the quest to find his mother in a dystopian America that has a strong hate of China and tears dissident families apart.  Bird seeks out a network of underground librarians who use his mother’s poetry to communicate, from Cambridge to New York City. The book asks questions about the power and limitations of art, what gets passed on to children, and how people can survive in a broken world.

The book cover of “There, There” by Tommy Orange. Text on the right said, going vertically says, “National Bestseller.” There is a quote attributed to Margaret Atwood that says, “An outstanding literary debut!”There, There by Tommy Orange

This Pulitzer Prize finalist has been hailed as a new classic for Native American literature. Orange, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, brings us a dozen characters as they converge on the Big Oakland Powwow, each with separate agendas and carrying different backstories of the modern, urban Native American experience. But, as Constance Grady describes in Vox, “…there’s a unified flow from chapter to chapter; it can sweep you along. This is a trim and powerful book, a careful exploration of identity and meaning in a world that makes it hard to define either. Go ahead and go there there.”

The book cover of “Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments” by D. Watkins. Text on the top says, “New York Times Bestselling Author.”Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments by D. Watkins

Baltimore literary star D. Watkins chronicles his experiences with toxic masculinity and the relationships with his father and the Black boys around him while growing up in East Baltimore. Through detailed vignettes, humorous exchanges, and haunted memories, Watkins tells the story of how he became the writer and professor we know today. Kirkus Reviews called it “a startling and moving celebration of a brutal life transformed by language and love.”

The book cover of “Red at the Bone: A Novel” by Jacqueline Woodson. Text on the top says, “New York Times Bestselling Author.” There is a quote attributed to the New York Times that says, “Profoundly moving.” Text in the middle of the cover says “National Book Award-winning Author of the New York Times bestseller.”Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Celebrated literary star Jacqueline Woodson uses the power of poetry, memory, and time to tell the story of sixteen-year-old Melody, her mother, and the history of her family. Weaving between class, race, gentrification, sexual desire, parenthood, and loss, we see the way young people are forced to make life-altering decisions before they are fully old enough to understand their impact. Tayari Jones writes in Oprah Magazine, “There is pain on these pages, but hope glimmers between the lines.”

Top Three Titles for One Maryland One Book 2022

Posted on by Eden Etzel

This year’s One Maryland One Book theme is “New Beginnings,” and we want to share the three titles that our Selection Committee narrowed it down to! All of our finalists this year are written by women of color. Only one of the following books will be our pick: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster, and Aftershocks: A Memoir by Nadia Owusu.
A collage of three book covers: “Aftershocks: A Memoir” by Nadia Owusu; “What’s Mine and Yours: A Novel” by Naima Coster; and "Clap When You Land" by Elizabeth Acevedo.

The Young Adult title in our Top 3 is Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. If selected, it would be the first novel told in verse chosen for the One Maryland One Book program. Two sisters, Camino and Yahaira, find each other after losing their father in a plane crash. 

Camino lives in the Dominican Republic and only gets to see her father during the summer. Yahaira lives in New York and wants to accompany her father every year when he goes on his business trip to the Dominican Republic. Camino’s heard so much about the United States and New York from her father and wants to see it for herself. Yahaira is Dominican but has never been to the Dominican Republic and struggles with her identity. The novel dives deep into issues of immigration, socio-economic and cultural differences, grief, and painful secrets. It is being developed into a television series by Emmy winner Bruna Papandrea. Acevedo will serve as an executive producer on the series and write its pilot episode.  

Acevedo was inspired by the 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587, which was bound for the Dominican Republic from New York. The plane crashed in Queens and killed everyone on board. Acevedo dedicated the novel to those who lost their lives on that flight, which received less attention than it otherwise might have because of its proximity in date to September 11, 2001. However, Acevedo has said that the crash rocked her community and that everyone knew someone who was on the flight.

Naima Coster’s novel, What’s Mine and Yours, is a family saga that addresses many aspects of race and identity. In a North Carolina county, an initiative is set in motion to bring Black students from the East Side to a predominantly white high school on the West Side. Jade is determined to protect her son as he finds his way as an anxious, sensitive young Black man. Another mother, Lacey May, refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything other than white.

Coster’s inspiration for this novel came from listening to episodes of This American Life reported by Nikole Hannah-Jones. Hannah-Jones discussed a school integration that took place in Missouri; Michael Brown attended the same school. Coster was challenged by Hannah-Jones’ work and asked herself questions like “How would parents interact with their children in the event of a school integration?” and “How would the integration affect the way people see themselves and what they’re entitled to?” Already having in mind the characters of two mothers, Coster places their stories in the context of a school integration and shows us what happens.

The memoir on our list is Aftershocks. Author Nadia Owusu is of mixed heritage: her mother is Armenian and her father is from Ghana. Owusu was born in Tanzania and grew up all across the world, in England, Italy, and East Africa. She experienced a tumultuous childhood with her mother abandoning the family when Owusu was four. Nine years later, her father passed away, leaving her with her stepmother. She moved to New York City at age eighteen and stayed there, eventually becoming an urban planner.

Owusu uses the event of an earthquake to construct her story through all the grief she’s endured.  The memoir is broken into segments all associated with earthquakes, including “First Earthquake,” “Foreshocks,” “Faults,” “Aftershocks,” etc. When she was seven, her mother showed up to visit Owusu in Italy the same day that there was a disastrous earthquake in Armenia.

Owusu writes of the many cultures she is a part of and her time in a boarding school in London. Moving to New York City proved challenging because of panic attacks, being in the World Trade Center subway station on September 11, and seeing the treatment of Black people in America. Mental health is also a strong theme throughout the book. She names certain sections “The Blue Chair” after a piece of furniture she picked up off the street, brought back to her apartment, and sat in for days during periods of melancholy.

Owusu’s memoir is expansive with depictions of mental health, searching for a feeling of place in the world, and identity.  

Only one of these three titles will be this year’s One Maryland One Book selection, although we think all three should be added to your “to be read” list! Whichever is selected, these are fascinating choices.

Subscribe to our e-newsletter or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to find out our final pick in March.  

Top 10 Titles for One Maryland One Book 2022

Posted on by Eden Etzel

We think it quite fitting that we announce our top titles for One Maryland One Book 2022 in the first month of the year, as this year’s theme is “New Beginnings.” We have ten powerful contenders this year.

A collage of the following ten books divided into two rows: “The Office of Historical Corrections” by Danielle Evans, “Clap When You Land” by Elizabeth Acevedo, “Dominicana” by Angie Cruz, “What’s Mine and Yours” by Naima Coster, “There There” by Tommy Orange, “Mary Jane” by Jessica Anya Blau, “All You Can Ever Know” by Nicole Chung, “Everywhere You Don’t Belong” by Gabriel Bump, “Afterlife” by Julia Alvarez, and “Aftershocks” by Nadia Owusu.

Our two compelling memoirs on our top ten list this year are about finding your place in the world when you grow up in a different background than you were raised in. Nadia Owusu, author of the memoir Aftershocks, was abandoned by her mother at age two and lived a nomadic upbringing with her father, until he died when she was thirteen. Owusu felt anchorless as she found herself coming of age with a stepmother in the United States, with no place feeling like home. The other memoir, Nicole Chung’s All You Can Ever Know, chronicles how the author grew up as a transracial adoptee and how she formed her identity as a Korean American, faced prejudices that her white adoptive family couldn’t protect her from, and how those experiences affected her development as a writer. Chung becomes determined to find the Korean parents that gave her up as a baby. She attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Danielle Evans’ The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories has a unique format. The novella and stories that make up the book center around characters that are confronting issues of race, friendship, culture, history, and more. Whether it is a white girl who faces backlash after her photo wearing a confederate flag bikini goes viral, or a photojournalist who confronts her own issues as she attends an old friend’s wedding, Evans does a brilliant job of providing smart voices to her characters and exploring complex human relationships. Evans lives in Baltimore, and teaches at Johns Hopkins University.

The books from the two male authors on our list fit beautifully with the theme of “New Beginnings.” There There by Tommy Orange, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, features a dozen Native American characters as they make their way to the Big Oakland Powwow: some attend to honor those who have died, some are performing for the first time, and they not realize how they are connected yet. The novel tells the story of the modern, urban Native American experience and some have dubbed it an instant classic. In Everywhere You Don’t Belong Gabriel Bump introduces audiences to the protagonist Claude McKay Love, who was raised on the south side of Chicago by a grandmother who is trying to mold him into an actor of change in his community. However, Claude does not want race to define his life, and we see Claude as he grows up and makes the decision to move away for college and start a new life outside of Chicago. But he finds in this hypnotizing and irresistibly written coming-of-age story, that there may not be any place he belongs

The one young adult title that made our list is the novel-in-verse Clap When You Land by National Book Award-winning author Elizabeth Acevedo. Land features two girls, Camino and Yahaira, one in the Dominican Republic and the other in New York City. They share the same father, but their lives are upended when their father’s death in a plane crash leads them to learn the other one exists. Camino and Yahaira’s lives will forever be different without their father, but perhaps they can find connection with one another.

The remaining four books on our top ten list are written by women who do a brilliant job of capturing past and present immigrant experiences, with America as the destination. They show how “New Beginnings” are possible for their characters. In Angie Cruz’s Dominicana, which was shortlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, Ana marries a man who is twice her age so she can provide her family the option of immigrating to America. At first isolated in her new Washington Heights home, she makes drastic plans to escape, then she meets her brother-in-law, who introduces her to what life could be living in New York City. Once her husband returns, Ana has to make the decision of whether to follow her heart or do what is best for her family. Naima Coster’s New York Times Best-Selling novel, What’s Mine and Yours, features the story of one North Carolina county where an initiative is set in motion to bring Black students from the East side to the predominantly white schools on the West Side. One mother is determined to protect her son as he finds his way as an anxious, sensitive young Black man, and another mother refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything other than white. These two families will connect in ways over the coming decades that neither is prepared for. In Julia Alvarez’s most recent novel Afterlife, readers will meet Antonia Vega, an immigrant and writer, who has just retired from teaching English. Her life tumbles into chaos when her husband unexpectedly dies, her sister disappears, and a pregnant, undocumented teenager appears on her doorstep. Antonia has always counted on words, but now the world is asking more of her than words. Jessica Anya Blau’s novel, Mary Jane, is set in 1970’s Baltimore. The fourteen-year-old title character gets a job nannying for a doctor who is also hosting a rock star and his movie actress wife for the summer. Mary Jane’s traditional upbringing is exposed to new and liberal ideas throughout the summer and come September she will know more of what she wants from the world.

We hope you have enjoyed learning more about our top ten titles. Remember, only one will be the 2022 One Maryland One Book selection, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add all of these memorable titles to your to-read lists. Our selection will be announced in March.  

Top Three Titles for One Maryland One Book 2021

Posted on by Eden Etzel

This year’s theme for One Maryland One Book is “Hope” and we want to share the three titles that our Selection Committee narrowed it down to! All of the books this year are written by Black men. Only one of the following books will be our pick: Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho, The Book of Delights by Ross Gay, and Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City by Wes Moore with Erica L. Green.

NFL linebacker-turned-Fox-Sports-commentator Emmanuel Acho began a series of videos in June 2020 titled Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. He saw the need for, especially white Americans, to have difficult conversations regarding race and racism in America. In his videos he’s hosted actor Matthew McConaughey, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and four members of the Petaluma, California Police Department. Acho sees these conversations as a way for white people to ask questions that they normally would not ask a Black person for fear of saying the wrong thing. His goal is to begin dialogue towards healing and transformation.

Oprah Winfrey saw the series and asked Acho to adapt it into a book, which has now been a New York Times Bestseller since November 2020. Chapters of the book open with questions that Acho received from viewers. Historical context revolving issues such as bias, voter suppression, and interracial relationships are included; Acho also shares anecdotes from his childhood, growing up in Dallas, his time at the University of Texas, Austin, and his time in the NFL.

The Book of Delights began as a project for poet Ross Gay. Starting on his 42nd birthday he wrote an essay every day about something he found delightful. About 100 of those essays are collected in Delights: the topics range from nicknames to a praying mantis to what it is like being a Black man in America. Through his journey, he came to realize personal interactions with others was the main source of the delights he collected. The simple things, the subtle things, and even accidental things are what Gay came to be more aware of as he wrote daily about his observances. Something such as a high-five from a stranger was one of the kindnesses he encountered. In an interview with NPR, he confirms that he started writing the essays in August 2016, and in the midst of the election of 2016, Gay was trying to find the light in difficult times. Completing the project in August 2017, he came to realize that in his work going forward, he wanted to capture the joys in life and what connects us to one another.

Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City by Wes Moore with Erica L. Green captures the aftermath of the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray at the hands of Baltimore City police officers in April 2015. The book is told from the perspectives of seven people who were all affected by the events including a Baltimore Police Department captain, the sister of another victim of police brutality, and the owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

The book also chronicles the life of Freddie Gray. Moore says that the underlying conditions that Black citizens in poor Baltimore neighborhoods face on a daily basis—such as poverty, racism, and systemic injustice—need to be addressed. Gray was born months premature and underweight. He was also born addicted to heroin and exposed to high levels of lead as a child, growing up in Baltimore public housing. Moore says the systems that led to the injustice of Gray’s death need to be changed, so that what happened to Gray won’t happen again. In that way, there is hope moving forward, in that those responsible will be held accountable.

Only one of these three titles will be this year’s One Maryland One Book. Although, we do think all three should be added to your to-be read lists! Whichever is selected, these are fascinating nonfiction choices.

Subscribe to our e-newsletter or follow us on social media to find out our final pick in March.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on our blog do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Maryland Humanities or our funders.

Top 10 Titles for One Maryland One Book 2021

Posted on by Eden Etzel

It is time for us here at the Maryland Center for the Book at Maryland Humanities to reveal the Top 10 books for One Maryland One Book 2021! The theme for this year is “hope” and we have ten strong contenders.

Two of the nonfiction titles are accounts of events that happened in Baltimore. The first, Wes Moore’s Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City, details the days of unrest in the city of Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray. Alejandro Danois’s The Boys of Dunbar: The Story of the Greatest High School Basketball Team is also directly related to Baltimore. It chronicles the lives of the boys who came to be on Baltimore’s Dunbar High School’s basketball team in 1981–1982 during the crack epidemic. The team’s devoted coach, Coach Bob Wade, made the boys see a future for themselves, and four of them went on to play in the NBA.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (who hails from Baltimore) are all books that ask the reader to examine the history of institutional racism in the United States, and how it affects our day-to-day lives. In these titles, there is hope for what the future can be for this country when people have difficult conversations, learn more history, and work together to build a more equitable world.

Also in our Top 10 are two outstanding memoirs. Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz tells the author’s story of growing up in a turbulent environment, overcoming familial strife, colonialism, and sexual assault, and finding hope in the version that of herself that she always imagined. The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper, MD, is the account of a Black female emergency room physician. In addition to the book being her own story of self-healing, Harper comes to see how each of us is broken and uses accounts of her patients to show us how we can mend what is broken and heal ourselves.

One genre that we have not seen before as a One Maryland One Book selection is a collection of essays, and that’s what The Book of Delights by Ross Gay is! Gay reflects on the joys of life, such as nature, and tougher issues, such as what it is to be a Black man in America. The book is about the connection we have with the world and each other.

Finally, the last two books in our Top 10 are novels that have both been Oprah’s Book Club picks. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is about a couple that is torn apart when the husband is sentenced to prison for a crime they know he did not commit. Years later, when his conviction is overturned, he’s looking to return to his married life only to realize that his wife may have moved on. It is a look into how people can look for hope in the darkest of times. Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue is about two families, a Cameroonian couple living in Harlem, and a senior executive at Lehman Brothers and his wife. The financial crisis of 2008 upends all of their lives. The Cameroonian couple, the Jongas, are having their own issues, but must work together to keep their jobs, and their search for hope for the future.

Only one of these titles will be the 2021 One Maryland One Book pick! We hope you consider these titles as you’re looking to add to your to-be-read lists this year. We will announce our pick in March.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on our blog do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Maryland Humanities or our funders.

Top Three Titles for One Maryland One Book 2020

Posted on by Eden Etzel

Governor Larry Hogan has declared 2020 “The Year of the Woman in Maryland,” which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that gave many women the right to vote. Our One Maryland One Book top three titles are all written by women authors this year. Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black, Tiffany D. Jackson’s Monday’s Not Coming, and Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women are the three books still under consideration for this year’s theme of friendship.

The covers of our Top 3 for One Maryland One Book 2020. WASHINGTON BLACK by Esi Eduygan, MONDAY'S NOT COMING by Tiffany D. Jackson, and THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN by Lisa See.

Washington Black, which was named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, follows the titular character, an eleven-year-old enslaved boy named “Wash,” on a journey with his newfound master, Titch, who happens to be an abolitionist. From the plantations of Barbados to the Arctic North, through Europe to North Africa, the book shows the reader the evolution of Wash and Titch’s relationship, presenting the question:  Can their connection be called a friendship? Black was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, named a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Fiction, and an Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction, among other prestigious honors.

Monday’s Not Coming, a Lincoln Award Nominee, 2019 Walter Award Honor Book, and winner of the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for New Talent, is about the friendship between middle school-aged girls Claudia and Monday. The history of the girls’ friendship is told through flashbacks, so the reader feels the impact Monday’s disappearance has on Claudia. She reaches out to Monday’s family and no one will tell her where her best friend has gone. After weeks go by, Claudia knows something is really wrong and in her own investigation into Monday’s disappearance she discovers shocking truths about Monday’s life. Inspired by true events that happened in Washington, D.C. and Detroit, Monday’s Not Coming explores what happens when a child of color goes missing in the United States.

The Island of Sea Women takes place on the Korean island of Jeju, home to the haenyeo (female divers) who live in a matrifocal society, where the women are head of the household and the men take care of the home and children. The novel focuses on the long-enduring friendship between Mi-ja and Young-sook; it follows them through marriage and becoming mothers along the backdrop of the Japanese occupation, World War II, and the Korean War and its aftermath leading up to 2008, where an older Young-sook reflects on the past. Strong outside forces will push the bounds of Mi-ja and Young-sook’s decades-long friendship.

Only one of these three titles will be this year’s One Maryland One Book, although we recommend adding all of them to your to-be-read lists! Regardless of which book ends up being the book, readers will be exposed to a strong bond between characters they won’t soon forget.

Subscribe to our e-newsletter or follow us on social media to find out our final pick in March.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on our blog do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Maryland Humanities or our funders.

Top Ten Titles for One Maryland One Book 2020

Posted on by Eden Etzel

It’s January, which means it’s time for the Maryland Center for the Book at Maryland Humanities to announce the top ten books for One Maryland One Book 2020! The theme for this year is “friendship” and there is a strong array of titles among the top ten.

There are two nonfiction titles this year. (CW: sexual assault.) Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco explores the friendship between Jeannie and Mark, the boy that raped her when she was a teenager, before and after the assault. Whereas Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Chapter of Harper Lee describes Harper Lee’s attempt to write her own true-crime account of a vigilante murderer, similar to her friend Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, which she helped him research. Filled with complex friendships, each of these titles bring about their own sense of crime and justice.

High-schoolers who participate in One Maryland One Book may be excited to read the one young adult title among the list: Tiffany D. Jackson’s Monday’s Not Coming, follows Claudia, a girl who is searching for her best friend Monday who seems to have disappeared overnight. Other books on the list that explore female friendships are Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women and Shobha Rao’s Girls Burn Brighter, which take place in the locales of Korea and India.

William Kent Krueger’s This Tender Land follows four orphans on an unforgettable odyssey across America during the Great Depression. Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black follows the journey of the titular character, an eleven-year-old slave, and his relationship with his new master across continents.

Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere and Karen Thompson Walker’s The Dreamers follow the relationships of those stuck in communities thrown into chaos. And Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone delves into a family’s history to show how young people are forced into decisions they’re not ready to make.

Only one of the previously mentioned titles will be the One Maryland One Book! If you’ve read any, let us know what you think. Hopefully, we’ve helped expand your to-be-read lists! Our pick for 2020 will be announced in March.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on our blog do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Maryland Humanities or our funders.

2019 One Maryland One Book: Top Eleven Titles Announced!

Posted on by Eden Etzel

Happy New Year from Maryland Center for the Book at Maryland Humanities! Whether you’re still curled up on vacation, grabbing the next train home, or just looking for an engrossing read to stave off the post-holiday blues, check out one of the books below. It could be the 2019 One Maryland One Book pick!

The 2019 One Maryland One Book theme is “Nature.” Readers across Maryland suggested more than 250 titles via email and the Maryland Center for the Book Facebook page. Our committee narrowed the list to the top 11 and will select the top 3 titles in late January.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or subscribe to Maryland Humanities’ e-News to get the latest updates on the selection process and be the first to hear what we’ll be discussing across our state. We will know the 2019 selection in March. Learn more about the criteria and process on our website.

Top 11 titles under consideration for One Maryland One Book 2019

About One Maryland One Book

One Maryland One Book author Tim Junkin discusses "Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence" at the Baltimore Book Festival, as part of the 2018 Author Tour.

 

One Maryland One Book author Tim Junkin discusses Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence at the Baltimore Book Festival, as part of the 2018 Author Tour.

 

 

When we read a great book, we can’t wait to share the experience and talk about it with others. That’s one of the joys of reading. In that spirit, Maryland Humanities created One Maryland One Book to bring together diverse people in communities across the state through the shared experience of reading the same book.

One Maryland One Book programs, including an author tour, take place each year in the fall. We invite you to participate in book-centered discussions and related programs at public libraries, high schools, colleges, museums, bookstores, and community and senior centers around the state. A calendar of free public events will be available online this summer.

What do you think of the 2019 Top Eleven list? Have you read any of the titles and if so, what did you think? Let us know by posting a comment below! Please share this news with fellow readers from Mountain Maryland to the Eastern Shore.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on our blog do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Maryland Humanities or our funders. 

The 2018 One Maryland One Book Top Three

Posted on by Eden Etzel

Bloodsworth by Tim Junkin book cover; Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson book cover; Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward book coverReaders from all over Maryland provided their suggestions based on the 2018 One Maryland One Book theme of “Justice.” The selection committee has been hard at work since November and recently narrowed the list down to three titles. Maryland Humanities provides free books to public libraries, public high schools, and a limited number of other educational organizations, so that the entire state has the opportunity to participate in this special statewide book club.

The titles that make up this year’s One Maryland One Book top three are ones that confront relevant issues in both our state and our nation as a whole. On our list we have the true crime account of the first man in the United States to be freed from death row by DNA evidence right here in Maryland, Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA by Tim Junkin, an award-winning novelist from the Eastern Shore of Maryland; a nonfiction social justice firsthand account of attorney Bryan Stevenson’s work to “defend the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those trapped in the furthest reaches of our criminal justice system” in Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson; and the 2017 National Book Award winner for fiction, which covers issues ranging from mass incarceration, child abuse, relationship violence, drug abuse, and more as a dysfunctional family takes a road trip through the rural South and Midwest in Jesmyn Ward’s profound and heartbreaking novel Sing, Unburied, Sing.

All three titles provide ample programming opportunities that can be held in libraries and classrooms. From Mountain Maryland to the Eastern Shore, residents can relate to the injustices touched on in these three books. Whether or not your pick from the top three becomes the One Maryland One Book, the other two titles will broaden minds by offering an opportunity to explore the injustices of others. The book for 2018 will be revealed in March via Maryland Humanities and Maryland Center for the Book social media and on our website.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on our blog do not necessarily reflect the views or position of Maryland Humanities or our funders.