41
The Best New Books
A heartwarming midwestern saga,
a multitasker’s tale of woe and
essays on nature and nurturing
Edited by Kim HubbardJ. Ryan StradalNOVEL
This charmer of a tale is a loving ode to the
Midwest, the power of persistence and, perhaps
above all, beer. Sisters Edith and Helen are estranged
for decades after Helen claims the family’s entire
inheritance so she can open a brewery. Edith is left to
struggle while raising her granddaughter Diana, who
despite the family rift grows up to become a
brewmaster herself. Warm, witty and—like any good
craft beer—complex, the saga delivers a subtly
feminist and wholly life-affirming message.Renkl
Late Migrations
NONFICTION
In a series of short essays
exquisitely illustrated by
her brother, Renkl
tells the story of three
generations of her family
and the natural world
buzzing around them. Late
Migrations has echoes of
Annie Dillard’s The Writ-
ing Life—with grandpar-
ents, sons, dogs and birds
sharing the spotlight,
it’s a witty, warm and
unaccountably soothing
all-American story.Mom) has been roped into
managing the school’s
safety-patrol brigade
and its (unwilling) parent
volunteers. But life’s not
all traffic vests and bake
sales: Jen’s parents
need help, her husband’s
making her cut coupons,
and her third grader
says he hates her.
Gelman’s laugh-out-loud
follow-up gets an A.CONTRIBUTORS BOOKS Elisabeth Egan, Lisa Greissinger, Robin Micheli
MOVIES Samantha Miller MUSIC Eric Renner BrownIn They Called Us Enemy, the Star Trek icon,
82, relives his family’s imprisonment in
Japanese-American internment campsQ&A George Takeibook^of^ theweekWhy a graphic
memoir?
People I consider well-
informed can’t believe
this happened in the
U.S. to innocent citizens
who had nothing to do
with Pearl Harbor or
WWII. And I thought
a comic would be a
wonderful way to reach
the young.
What do you recall
about beingtaken away in 1942,
when you were 5?
Soldiers marched
up to our L.A. home
and banged on the
door. In the camps my
parents said we were
on vacation. But we
were behind barbed-
wire fences with guns
pointed at us.
How do you feel about
the detention centers
at the border today?always intact with our
parents. Now we’re
tearing children and
infants away from their
parents and putting
them in cages.
—NICK MASLOWINS