Four Summer Reads from Longhorn Authors

By Alcalde Staff in Good Reads, May | June 2021 on June 2, 2021 at 12:02 pm | No Comments

Seale learns that wasting time is wasting life in this witty and devastating account of his stroke at age 50 and subsequent life in recovery. He finds that patience and a little rebellious swagger can go a long way in adapting to a series of suddenly one-handed tasks. The humorist, former reporter, and once editor of the Alcalde also takes the opportunity to lampoon the experience, giving voice to stroke survivors in a revealing critique of rehab culture and the health care and insurance industries. 

Wings of Ebony 
by J. Elle, BJ ’07

The first book in J. Elle’s young-adult duology follows demigoddess Rue and her journey to the hidden magical island of Ghizon. Elle is a mentor and former teacher in inner-city Houston who provides a unique perspective on racism, privilege, and community through Rue, a Black girl from a poor neighborhood in Texas. The story remains grounded in reality, even after Rue becomes empowered with magic to save her homeland. Wings of Ebony debuted on The New York Times bestseller list following a viral tweet that described the story as “The Hate U Give meets Wonder Woman in a Black Panther world.”  

Town Crier 
by Sarah Matthes, MFA ’19

Matthes dedicates her debut collection of poetry to her friend who died of cancer in 2016, poet Max Rivto. Town Crier explores the pervasiveness of loss, but a sense of hope propels the book through her laughter and lament. Her Kabbalistic poems use humor as a way of mourning and playfully examine religion and traditions through a modern lens. Town Crier is the winner of the 2020 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, and Michener graduate Matthes has earned awards from the Academy of American Poets and Robinson Jeffers Foundation.  

The Sweetness of Water
by Nathan Harris, MFA ’20

Two freedmen bond with a grieving farmer in this debut novel from Michener Center alumnus Harris. His Reconstruction-era epic introduces a rich cast of characters in the fictional town of Old Ox, Georgia, a community angry to learn of the unlikely friendship. As the relationship evolves, the former slaves are faced with a discovery of their own: a pair of Confederate soldiers home from the war who are caught breaking taboos in the woods.