The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Mental Health

Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

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Madness by Antonia Hylton
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Hylton’s Madness shines a light on the intersection of systemic racism and mental health, and the legacy of de-institutionalization. Crownsville in Maryland was once the only asylum that accepted Black patients and also served as an unofficial jail for the same population, where some families would never know that their loved one had lived and died within its walls. Antonia Hylton treats this topic with the care it deserves, weaving in her own family’s hardships with mental illness, and the oral histories of the workers and patients of Crownsville. A necessary read for anyone interested in equity and anti-racist medicine.

Madness by Antonia Hylton, (List Price: $30, Legacy Lit, 9781538723692, January 2024)

Reviewed by Jordan April, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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The Well-Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith

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The Well-Gardened Mind
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I listened to this on audio (from libro.fm/avidbookshop) and really loved it. I’m a longtime lover of being outdoors, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I started growing potted plants on my own in earnest. This book highlights the ways in which gardening, in all its forms, has a demonstrably positive impact on your mind, your body, your relationships, and the world. Just a lovely tome no matter if you’re never planning to take care of plants or if you’re a master gardener.

The Well-Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith (List Price: $28, Scribner, 9781476794464, 7/7/2020)

Reviewed by Janet Geddis, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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This One Wild and Precious Life by Sarah Wilson

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This One Wild and Precious Life
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Part memoir, part philosophical reflection, Sarah Wilson delves deep into the global issues that have caused a sense of general unease that has encroached on us as of late. With her open and approachable voice, she takes a conversational approach to topics–climate change, capitalism, and social consciousness & activism, to name a few–that sometimes seem to serious and daunting to talk about, especially when we are constantly reminded of the circumstances that have created these “unprecedented times”. For readers of Glennon Doyle’s Untamed and Katherine May’s Wintering, this is yet another reflective and encouraging guide to a life that right now seems so uncertain.

This One Wild and Precious Life by Sarah Wilson (List Price: $26.99, Dey Street Books, 9780062962973, 12/29/2020)

Reviewed by Cat Chapman, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida

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