Recommended reads to get you Tucson Festival of Books ready

Even Google has trouble deciding how many genres there are in popular literature today, but we can all agree how many sub-genres there are:

Lots!

Serious writers and readers can readily name more than 50 sub-genres that further divide fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and most of them will be represented at next weekend’s Tucson Festival of Books.

Here, courtesy of the festival volunteers who recruited them, is a multi-genre sampler of the books and authors who will be part of our book festival, curated for their connections to Tucson and Arizona.

“The Church of Baseball” by Ron Shelton. Unless you’re a lollygagger, you won’t want to miss University of Arizona grad Ron Shelton next week. He wrote and produced three of the most unique sports movies of all time: “Bull Durham,” “Tin Cup,” and “White Men Can’t Jump.” Several big scenes in “Tin Cup” were filmed in Tubac — Jack Siry

“Solito” by Tucson’s Javier Zamora was one of 2022’s most honored books. Two weeks ago, it was longlisted for a PEN America Award as the year’s best memoir. Zamora immigrated to the U.S. as a child, and trust us: it wasn’t easy. — Sara Hammond

“All My Rage” by Sabaa Tahir won the 2022 National Book Award for Children’s Literature. Tahir’s protagonist is a teenage girl whose experiences you’ll find unforgettable. — Kathy Short

“Rim to River” by Canyon del Oro High School alum Tom Zoellner will be released Tuesday, Feb. 28. In it, Zoellner recounts his hike from Utah to Sonora, a journey that gave him plenty of time to reflect on all he was seeing and feeling along the way. — Bruce Dinges

“American Cartel” by Sari Horwitz and Scott Higham is a deeply-researched expose of the drug industry, and how it both created and fueled the opioid epidemic that has killed more than a million Americans. Horwitz grew up here and was the student body president at Tucson High School. — Maria Parham

“Dining With the Dead” by Mariana Nuño Ruiz is a beautifully presented, beautifully illustrated cookbook published by Rio Nuevo Publishers in Tucson. Nuño Ruiz is a popular chef who offers a number of dishes we might try during our annual Day of the Dead celebrations next November. — Jennifer Slothower

“The Hawk’s Way” by Sy Montgomery. One of America’s most loved naturalists will be back in Tucson to discuss her relationship with Jazz, a Harris hawk with a 4-foot wingspan. When we say this author is for the birds, we mean it as high praise. — Abby Mogollon

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“For Twice in My Life” by Phoenix author Annette Christie was released three weeks ago and exemplifies why romance fiction has become the hottest genre in American literature. Layla and Ian have broken up, but a motorcycle accident gives them both a second chance. — Jessica Pryde

“Collateral Damage” by UA grad and former Bisbee resident J.A. Jance will feature detective Ali Reynolds and be set in Sedona. Jance has never missed a Tucson book festival. “Collateral Damage” will be released next week. — Bill Viner

“Sinking Bell” by Tucson’s Bojan Louis offers us a look — a collection of looks, actually — at Navajo life in contemporary Arizona. Louis’s stories are set in Flagstaff. — Margie Farmer

“A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman” by Lindy Elkins-Tanton. Elkins lives in Phoenix, works at Arizona State University, and is one of the ranking space scientists in the U.S. Her field has long been dominated by men. Her memoir reflects on her own rise through the ranks. — Jennifer Casteix

“The House of Eve” by Sadeqa Johnson. Released three weeks ago, “The House of Eve” is Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club pick for February. It introduces us to two pregnant Black women who must make impossibly difficult choices. — Anne Spieth

“Postcolonial Love Poem” by Natalie Diaz. Diaz was raised on the Mojave Reservation in Western Arizona. Her “Love Poem” is a remarkable collection that won her a Pulitzer Prize … and is now the featured text in Big Read Tucson. — Savannah Hicks

“Where Butterflies Fill the Sky” by Zahra Marwan is a children’s picture book featuring a family that moves from the desert of Kuwait to the desert of New Mexico. — Kathy Short

“Dinosaurs” by Tucson’s Lydia Millet is a warm tale about a newly arrived resident of Phoenix who finds himself when he finds his passion for desert animals. Millet was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction in 2020.

“Hidden Life of the Desert” by Thomas Wiewandt. Will you be bringing a camera to the festival? Are you looking for tips from award-winning Southwest photographers? Wiewandt, Virgil Hancock and John Schaefer will be happy to oblige next weekend.