On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous | Ocean Vuong | Brittany's Pick

A letter from a son to a mother who cannot read, unearthing a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serving as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. 

The Undocumented Americans | Karla Cornejo Villavicencio | Brittany's Pick

One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.

On Consolation | Michael Ignatieff | Nonfiction

Timely and profound philosophical meditations on how great figures in history, literature, music, and art searched for solace while facing tragedies and crises, from the internationally renowned historian of ideas and Booker Prize finalist. Recreating the moments when great figures found the courage to confront their fate and the determination to continue unafraid, On Consolation takes those stories into the present, movingly contending that we can revive these traditions of consolation to meet the anguish and uncertainties of our precarious twenty-first century.

The Fortune Men | Nadifa Mohamed | Fiction

In Cardiff, Wales in 1952, a young Somali sailor is accused of a crime he did not commit. At first, Mahmood believes he can ignore the fingers pointing his way; he may be a gambler and a petty thief, but he is no murderer. He is a father of three, secure in his innocence and his belief in British justice. But as the trial draws closer, his prospect for freedom dwindles. Under the shadow of the hangman’s noose, Mahmood begins to realize that even the truth may not be enough to save him. A haunting tale of miscarried justice, this book offers a chilling look at the dark corners of our humanity.