2019 Santa Barbara Reads Program Guide

The Things They Carried
by Tim O’Brien
Visceral, personal, and profound,
this classic captures not only the
war, but the effect the memories
of it have on those who return
home.
Brothers and Keepers
by John Edgar Wideman
Family tragedy and sociological
conundrum intersect in this
memoir of a professor whose
brother is imprisoned for life.
Far From the Tree:
Parents, Children and the
Search for Identity
by Andrew Solomon
This well-researched book weaves
together stories of families who
face all sorts of challenges and
explores the question at the core
of parenting: when should you love and accept
your children for who they are, and when should
you challenge them to become their best
selves? Through stories of families of prodigies
and criminals, to those with severe disabilities or
mental health concerns, Solomon finds
commonalities that reflect the human condition.
Mind Your Head
by Juno Dawson,
illustrated by Gemma Correll
Mental health is just as important
to overall well-being as physical
health. This book integrates the
author’s own stories with real-life
mental health tales from young
people around the world and practical
information from clinical psychologist Dr. Olivia
Hewitt.
Why Are We in Vietnam?
by Norman Mailer
Originally published in 1967, this
story is a recounting of a father
and son’s hunting trip in the
wilds of Alaska that reveals the
conflicting emotions and
creeping disillusionment that
came to define a generation.
Night Sky With Exit
Wounds
by Ocean Vuong
Vuong’s powerful collection of
poetry explores themes of family,
grief, war, memory, and the
experience of Vietnamese refugees.
Borderlands/La Frontera:
The New Mestiza
by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Anzaldúa’s book—which itself
lives at the border of poetry and
prose, Spanish and
English—examines what it’s like
to live at the intersection of
multiple identities.
I'm not into all this
academic stuff. Too
much analysis. What
ever happened to
reading a book
because you liked it?
FALL 2019 | SB READS 9