This is a memoir about seeking home on Coast Salish and finding a sense of community and belonging. Sasha LaPointe is an artist named for her great-grandmother, who helped preserve her indigenous language of Lushootseed. In this book, she combines the aesthetics and freedom of punk rock with her love of her culture and lineage. She addresses the way that trauma in indigenous communities, both historical and recent, continues to impact these communities and how she’s working toward healing as she finds her place in the world. 

It’s no secret that the music industry is incredibly sexist. (Emo, as discussed later, is no exception). And unfortunately, that attitude shows up in a lot of the music histories I’ve read. That’s part of why I make a point of seeking out female voices when it comes to history and analysis of any kind of music. Can’t Stop the Grrrls specifically addresses the sexism and double standards that we take for granted. 

I love essay collections. Especially funny ones that I can dip in and out of throughout the day. Samantha Irby writes amazing essays, so I’m really looking forward to this one. According to the description, she’ll be going into topics like talking to teenagers (a common fear), getting a pandemic dog, and bathroom etiquette. So I can only imagine how hard we’ll all be laughing when this book finally comes out!

We hear a lot about masculinity. But in this memoir/essay collection, Manuel Betancourt goes deep into the idea of what it is to be attracted to men and masculinity. He considers his own childhood, surrounded by images of what a man should be. Then also goes into ideas of homoeroticism and the dangers of internalizing certain ideas about masculinity. As someone who is not male, masculinity is a fascinating concept to me. I’m looking forward to reading Betancourt’s thoughts.

I’m a sucker for a music history book. This one is being compared to Meet Me In the Bathroom, which I couldn’t get into. However, I definitely want to give it a try, especially combined with the Hirsch book I mentioned above. The emo explosion happened throughout my teenage years and while I wasn’t a huge emo kid, it definitely had an impact on the world around me, for better or for worse. So I’m excited to see how this book is done.

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