Essence_USA__February_2018

SCENE : PATRIK’S PICKS
SISTERS
WITH
VOICE S
LOVE AND HAPPINESS
With An American Marriage
(Algonquin Books of Chapel
Hill, $26.95), her fourth novel,
author Tayari Jones has
emerged as one
of the most
important
voices of her
generation.
This timely
Tayari
Jones
FIVE OF THE BEST BOOKS
OUT RIGHT NOW ARE
FROM THESE TALENTED
BLACK WOMEN
BY PATRIK HENRY BASS
story zeroes in
on Celestial and
Roy, a happy
couple whose love and loyalty
are tested when the husband
is arrested and both are swept
into the criminal justice system
with surprising results.
THE POWER OF PROSE
If you have loved ones who
cherish words, get them a
copy of Black Ink: Literary
Legends on the Peril, Power,
and Pleasure of
Reading and
Writing (37
Ink/Atria, $26).
Editor Stephanie
Stokes Oliver
gathers the
Stephanie thoughts of the
Stokes Oliver
greatest African-
American thinkers from
Booker T. Washington to
Ta-Nehisi Coates. Their
insights are priceless.
58 ESSENCE.COM FEBRUARY 2018
FUNNY GIRL
Stand-up comedian Tiffany
Haddish was the breakout star
of 2017’s summer blockbuster
Girls Trip. In her memoir, The
Last Black Unicorn (Gallery,
$26), we’re treated to a rarely
seen side of the irrepressible
cutup. “As a young kid, it didn’t
feel like nobody cared about
me or protected me (except
for my grandma),” she writes.
“Unless they was getting paid.
Unless it was making them
look good in some kind of
way. Me just being myself was
never good enough for anyone
to love.” All of that has
changed now.
RHYME AND FLOW
Are you among the more
than 100,000 people who
are addicted to Yrsa Daley-
Ward’s Instagram
profile? The
same inspiration,
power
and beauty
she offers
there is served
up in Bone
Yrsa
Daley-Ward
(Penguin, $15),
her arresting new poetry
collection, which is steeped in
personal memories that are
both unique and universal.
BELLES LETTRES
Zadie Smith is a writer’s
writer. She’s also a reader’s
delight, as she once again
reveals in Feel Free (Penguin
Press, $28). In this tour de
force essay compilation,
Smith takes us inside her
infinitely curious mind with
this premise: “Writing exists
(for me) at the
intersection
of three
precarious,
uncertain
elements:
Zadie
Smith
language, the
world, the self.”
Follow ESSENCE Editorial Projects Director
Patrik Henry Bass on Twitter @PATRIKSPICKS.
BASS, SEAN BURROWES. CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: KIRILL KOZLOV; DOMINIQUE NABOKOV;
DERRYS RICHARDSON; NINA SUBMIN. BOOK STILLS, JON PATERSON. PROP STYLIST, JULIE FLYNN.