#michelle burford

[wttnblog]

10 Anticipated May Book Releases: Memoirs, Queer Fiction, Fantasy, and More

It’s May, and that means I’m back with another list of books coming out this month that I am desperate to get my hands on. Unlike usual, there’s a heavy emphasis on memoirs in this list. I’m not sure what it is about the month of May, but everyone’s publishing! Aside from that, we have queer romance, a thriller, fantasy, and so much more. If I missed out on your book coming out this month (or one…

[whilereadingandwalking]

In February 2022, WNBA star and USA Olympian Brittney Griner entered Russia to join her overseas team, Ekat, after a much-needed break spent home with her wife. What she didn't know is that she'd accidentally left two near-empty medical marijuana vape cartridges in her carry-ons. That mistake would lead to a nightmare and a movement for her safe return.

Griner's memoir Coming Home, written with Michelle Burford, is honest, emotional, and (at least for me) intensely anxiety-inducing. From the moment Russian security tags her for a bag check—seemingly at random—her confusion and terror is palpable. Her politically motivated wrongful detainment and exaggerated punishment is felt like a punch to the gut. Knowing what was coming actually make the memoir more suspenseful. She writes about the damage her body took, the lack of translation, the fear of losing her 30s, livelihood, marriage, father.

She also discusses how much her body has been a spectacle all her life. As a 6'9" woman with masculine features, Griner has had to navigate life as if she is a Black man, with all the risks that comes with. She's also had to endure countless humiliations of people assuming she's a man and demanding proof of her womanhood. In Russia, this continued in dehumanizing fashion. Guards pulled down her shirt, mocked her, laughed at her. And once home, US citizens infuriated my her having once knelt during the national anthem, upset at the trade made to bring her home, would continue this misgendering and misogynoir. It never gets easier, she says.

Griner's memoir could have just relayed the events and the fear that came with them, and it would have been compelling. But it's also a rich, open look into Griner's life, into her personhood, into her traumas old and new, and into what motivates her as a person and athlete. She writes of her own internalized guilt, PTSD, and the way it changed her and her wife's lives forever in ways that can't be repaired. It is an unabashed, completely bare portrait of her person and story, and is particularly powerful because of it.

Content warnings for suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, racism/misogynoir, sexual harassment, PTSD/trauma.

[female-buckets]

From the nine-time women’s basketball icon and two-time Olympic gold medalist—a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home. On February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner arrived in Moscow ready to spend the WNBA offseason playing for the Russian women’s basketball team where she had been the centerpiece of previous championship seasons. Instead, a security checkpoint became her gateway to hell when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil. Brittney’s world was violently upended in a crisis she has never spoken in detail about publicly—until now. In Coming Home, Brittney finally shares the harrowing details of her sudden arrest days before Russia invaded Ukraine; her bewilderment and isolation while navigating a foreign legal system amid her trial and sentencing; her emotional and physical anguish as the first American woman ever to endure a Russian penal colony while the #WeAreBG movement rallied for her release; the chilling prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout; and her remarkable rise from hostage to global spokesperson on behalf of America’s forgotten. In haunting and vivid detail, Brittney takes readers inside the horrors of a geopolitical nightmare spanning ten months.   And yet Coming Home is more than Brittney’s journey from captivity to freedom. In an account as gripping as it is poignant, she shares how her deep love for Cherelle, her college sweetheart and wife of six years, anchored her during their greatest storm; how her family’s support pulled her back from the brink; and how hundreds of letters from friends and neighbors lent her resolve to keep fighting. Coming Home is both a story of survival and a testament to love—the bonds that brought Brittney home to her family, and at last, to herself.

[panda-grenade]

Panda's Doctor Who adventure

My name is Panda and I’m undertaking a self made challenge. First thing about me, I’m autistic and coming out of lockdown has been very stressful for me. Another big thing about me, is I’m a big fan of Doctor Who. 

So it challenging myself to be around people more and travelling on different forms of public transport, places and all the sensory overload. As its the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, I challenged myself to get as many autographs as possible from the series as possible, while trying to learn to be around other humans (not necessarily to engage but to be out of my little bubble). The autographs I collected will be raffled off for two charities. The National Autistic Society and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Support UK. 

So far, I’ve pushed myself to: 

Signing Spectacular 

John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Peter Purves (Steven), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), Nicholas Evans (Monsters) and Julian Glover (Multiple)

London Film Fair 

Milton Jones (Multiple), Michael Troughton (Guest), Nick Hobbs (Monsters), Mike Kent (Monsters), Derek Chafer (Cyberman+), Prentis Hancock (Multiple), Daisy Beaumont (Guest) 

Who’s at the Playhouse 

Nicola Bryant (Peri), Mark Strickson (Turlough), Colin Spaull (Multiple), Trevor Cooper (Multiple) and Jeff Rawle (Multiple) 

London Film and Comic Con 

Mandip Gill (Yaz), Sacha Dhawan (The Master), Christina Chong (Guest), Christopher Fairbank (Guest) and Brian Blessed (Guest) 

Dublin Comic Con 

Michelle Gomez (Missy) 

Bedford Who Charity Con 

Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Frazer Hines (Jamie), David Gooderson (Davros), Christopher Ryan (Sontarans), Andrew Burford (Cyberman) and Derek Martin (Stunt man) 

I don't always remember to take photos of the guest signing, or I'm not allowed. I've got a lot more to go.

How the raffle will work, there is a tier system, with level of donations. 

£50 per ticket for Doctor Who autograph bundles - These are split in Doctors 1-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11-13. These bundles currently include 7 Doctors,  2 Masters, 13 companions, 10 guests stars, 6 Monsters. There is at least 1 Doctor in each bundle, there is 4 bundles to win. (When making donation you can choose with bundle.) 

£30 for mystery box filled with lots of Doctor Who related stuff. 

£15 for a hat signed kindly by Frazer Hines 

Under £15 will get to choose a future stream from the TARDIS mug

It will run on my twitch channel, in November with a celebration of two weeks of Doctor Who's 60th.

[fnovelso]

Non-Fiction Books About Actors: “In The Country We Love: My Family Divided” ; Diane Guerrero, Michelle Burford

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

The Olympics may be over, but it’s never too late to find the courage to soar!

[Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance by Simone Biles with Michelle Burford]

[rebeleden]

Coming Home https://a.co/d/04Zq8S9n

100

WOW

KUDOS TO SHERO BG!!!

CC RABID MISOGYNOIR AND BLACK FEMICIDE

LESBIAN HATRED KILLS

CC AMERIKKKA

CC AUDREY LORBER

STOP KKK VANILLA ISIS

[haveyoureadthispoll]

From the nine-time women’s basketball icon and two-time Olympic gold medalist—a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home.On February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner arrived in Moscow ready to spend the WNBA offseason playing for the Russian women’s basketball team where she had been the centerpiece of previous championship seasons. Instead, a security checkpoint became her gateway to hell when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil. Brittney’s world was violently upended in a crisis she has never spoken in detail about publicly—until now.In Coming Home, Brittney finally shares the harrowing details of her sudden arrest days before Russia invaded Ukraine; her bewilderment and isolation while navigating a foreign legal system amid her trial and sentencing; her emotional and physical anguish as the first American woman ever to endure a Russian penal colony while the #WeAreBG movement rallied for her release; the chilling prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout; and her remarkable rise from hostage to global spokesperson on behalf of America’s forgotten. In haunting and vivid detail, Brittney takes readers inside the horrors of a geopolitical nightmare spanning ten months.  And yet Coming Home is more than Brittney’s journey from captivity to freedom. In an account as gripping as it is poignant, she shares how her deep love for Cherelle, her college sweetheart and wife of six years, anchored her during their greatest storm; how her family’s support pulled her back from the brink; and how hundreds of letters from friends and neighbors lent her resolve to keep fighting. Coming Home is both a story of survival and a testament to love—the bonds that brought Brittney home to her family, and at last, to herself.

[bysharalynne]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: "More Myself" by Alicia Keys - 1st edition & printing. Hardback w/ cover jacket.

[rockislandadultreads]

Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month!

Finding Latinx by Paola Ramos

Young Latinos across the United States are redefining their identities, pushing boundaries, and awakening politically in powerful and surprising ways. Many of them - Afrolatino, indigenous, Muslim, queer and undocumented, living in large cities and small towns - are voices who have been chronically overlooked in how the diverse population of almost sixty million Latinos in the U.S. has been represented. No longer.

In this empowering cross-country travelogue, journalist and activist Paola Ramos embarks on a journey to find the communities of people defining the controversial term, "Latinx." She introduces us to the indigenous Oaxacans who rebuilt the main street in a post-industrial town in upstate New York, the "Las Poderosas" who fight for reproductive rights in Texas, the musicians in Milwaukee whose beats reassure others of their belonging, as well as drag queens, environmental activists, farmworkers, and the migrants detained at our border. Drawing on intensive field research as well as her own personal story, Ramos chronicles how "Latinx" has given rise to a sense of collectivity and solidarity among Latinos unseen in this country for decades.

In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrero

Diane Guerrero, the television actress from the megahit Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, was just fourteen years old on the day her parents were detained and deported while she was at school. Born in the U.S., Guerrero was able to remain in the country and continue her education, depending on the kindness of family friends who took her in and helped her build a life and a successful acting career for herself, without the support system of her family.

In the Country We Love is a moving, heartbreaking story of one woman's extraordinary resilience in the face of the nightmarish struggles of undocumented residents in this country. There are over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US, many of whom have citizen children, whose lives here are just as precarious, and whose stories haven't been told. Written with bestselling author Michelle Burford, this memoir is a tale of personal triumph that also casts a much-needed light on the fears that haunt the daily existence of families likes the author's and on a system that fails them over and over.

Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz

In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age.

While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.

The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

For Ingrid Rojas Contreras, magic runs in the family. Raised amid the political violence of 1980s and '90s Colombia, in a house bustling with her mother’s fortune-telling clients, she was a hard child to surprise. Her maternal grandfather, Nono, was a renowned curandero, a community healer gifted with what the family called “the secrets”: the power to talk to the dead, tell the future, treat the sick, and move the clouds. And as the first woman to inherit “the secrets,” Rojas Contreras’ mother was just as powerful. Mami delighted in her ability to appear in two places at once, and she could cast out even the most persistent spirits with nothing more than a glass of water.

This legacy had always felt like it belonged to her mother and grandfather, until, while living in the U.S. in her twenties, Rojas Contreras suffered a head injury that left her with amnesia. As she regained partial memory, her family was excited to tell her that this had happened before: Decades ago Mami had taken a fall that left her with amnesia, too. And when she recovered, she had gained access to “the secrets.”

Interweaving family stories more enchanting than those in any novel, resurrected Colombian history, and her own deeply personal reckonings with the bounds of reality, Rojas Contreras writes her way through the incomprehensible and into her inheritance. The result is a luminous testament to the power of storytelling as a healing art and an invitation to embrace the extraordinary.

[bookclub4m]

16 Sports (Non-Fiction)books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina  by Misty Copeland

Indigenous Feminist Gikendaasowin (Knowledge): Decolonization through Physical Activity by Tricia McGuire-Adams

Rebound: Sports, Community, and the Inclusive City by Perry King

A Beautiful Work in Progress by Mirna Valerio

Basketball (and Other Things): a Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated by Shea Serrano

Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-hop, and Street Basketball by Onaje X. O. Woodbine

Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete by William C. Rhoden

In My Skin: My Life on and Off the Basketball Court by Brittney Griner

Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks by Chris Herring

A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History by Seth Berkman 

Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story by Wyomia Tyus, Elizabeth Terzakis

Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It Means for America by Jason Reid

Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, a Life in Balance by Simone Biles with Michelle Burford

My Olympic Life by Anita L. DeFrantz and Josh Young

Back in the Frame: How to get back on your bike, whatever life throws at you by Jools Walker 

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover

[ronmackpdx]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: More Myself : A Journey by Alicia Keys (2020, Hardcover) NEW.

[universitybookstore]

New from Flatiron Books, More Myself: A Journey, by Alicia Keys, with Michelle Burford. Inspiring.

[funsimplethings]

[showthisbooksomelove]

In the Country We Love ~ Diane Guerrero

In the Country We Love ~ Diane Guerrero

Rating: 4/5

While not poetic in the slightest, Guerrero’s story is incredibly important to read and published at an important time politically. Guerrero is emotionally honest as she processes her experience of having her parents deported when she was fourteen. Her grief manifested in different ways, from guilt, to anger, to sadness, to perfectionism, and everything in between. Not only does she…

[rebelliousmagazine]

'Just As I Am' by Cicely Tyson is Your New Favorite Memoir

'Just As I Am' by Cicely Tyson is Your New Favorite Memoir #JustAsIAm @IAmCicelyTyson #bookreview via @bookwormsez

Man, you’re picky. That’s not always a bad thing, either. You know what you want so you choose deliberately, carefully, with plenty of thought behind it. What’s right for you is right for you and you won’t take anything less. As in the new memoir Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson (with Michelle Burford), folks’ll just have to deal with it. Born in New York City a few days before Christmas 1924, Cicely…