Growing Together Blog

Hey hello! This is my first official “Book Breakdown” where I write about a fiction and nonfiction book that I read each month. These are books that we have here on the shelves at the Duxbury Free Library, and feature authors from historically marginalized identities (such as immigrant, POC, LGBTQ, and/or disabled authors).  Let's get started! Title: There There Author: Tommy Orange Summary/Themes: This novel brings together Indigenous histories and cultures throughout each story told, past present and future. From book jacket: "Follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize...together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American--grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism." Notes/Quotable Moments: "We are defined by everyone else." &quo

Hey there! As the year comes to a close, I wanted to give 5 recommendations of books that I’ve read this year. As per the theme of this blog, all of these books tell stories of LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and/or people from a historically marginalized group. Below you’ll find a brief synopsis of the book, and why I loved it. Note: Some of these books were published this year, but others were not.  Interested in any of these titles? Click the links below each image to reserve the book online, or call the library at 781-934-2721 Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (2017)  “In Her Body and Other Parties , Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism...Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment.”  There are a handful of authors that make me want to w