Books Worth Giving, Lives Worth Living: Imani Perry, Norman C. Ellstrand, Co-op Booksellers' Top 5 of 2018

It’s that most wonderful time of the year and our booksellers and books are here to help, surprise, challenge, and delight every reader on your list. From Biography to Cooking (of a sort), indulge in books worth giving and lives worth living, with Imani Perry on the radiant and radical life of playwright Lorraine Hansberry in Looking for Lorraine; Norman C. Ellstrand on the romance of plants and your food in Sex on the Kitchen Table; and Co-op Booksellers' Top 5 favorite books of 2018.

Imani Perry spoke about Chicago-born playwright Lorraine Hansberry and her own archival research with a delightfully engaged audience at the Co-op in November 2018. In the prolific spirit of her biographical subject, Looking for Lorraine is one of three books by Perry released this year. Have a look at Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation and May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem.

Geneticist Norman Ellstrand was joined at 57th Street Books by Krissa Skogen and Nyree Zerega in November 2018, where they talked about Ellstrand's evocatively-titled exploration of vegetal reproduction: Sex on the Kitchen Table. Ellstrand's reading list, captured on the podcast with Co-op bookseller Mark Loeffler, can be found in text-form here.

Co-op booksellers have more to say on their top 5 selections than we had room for in this epsiode. Peruse their lists here.