Haawa to those of you who wrote or stopped into the shop to say, “Yeah, me too!” after last month’s Book Talk column about Freedom to Read Week. It’s reassuring to know that many of us in Haida Gwaii value books and good information and are looking out for one another. I’m not surprised by this. But it’s one thing to assume and another to know.
Sometimes the world serves up the perfect segue: The company formerly known as Facebook (Meta) officially does not want you to read this new memoir, so I feel legally obliged to promote it here. It’s called Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, written by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former director of global public policy for Facebook.
Wynn-Williams once advised Facebook’s top brass, including COO Sheryl Sandberg of Lean In memoir fame and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. She is a tenacious character, an ambitious woman, and a Facebook optimist turned whistleblower. Circa 2010, she says she saw the platform as having great potential for global good. At the time, Facebook was concentrated in the U.S. She pitched and eventually got herself a job as a kind of diplomat or foreign policy interpreter—a position that became increasingly vital to the company as its business grew internationally. Wynn-Williams left the company in 2017 and alleges sexual harassment, among many other colossal and well-publicized wrongdoings by Facebook and its executives.
In a panicky and comical move, Meta has placed a gag order on this book. They’ve taken Wynn-Williams to arbitration, alleging that she’s breaching a non-disparagement contract. For now, the author (and only the author) is barred from promoting her book. But at what cost? By trying to smother this book, Meta has instead fanned its flames. Careless People has become a #1 New York Times Bestseller and an instant classic example of the Streisand effect.
Here are a few more new releases we recommend:
Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green – A moving and deeply researched story of one of the world’s most preventable diseases and why it is still a global scourge. This non-fiction title really surprised me, because I’ve mainly known John Green and his brother Hank as successful novelists and YouTubers. The audiobook version, available through Libro.fm, was captivating from start to finish. Green lays out why today’s TB is not really caused by a bacteria that we know how to kill, but by social systems. “The disease was where the cure was not, and the cure was where the disease was not.”
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad – The title comes from a tweet this Canadian journalist wrote not long after the bombardment of Gaza began in 2023. “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” In the book, the word “this” carries a lot of weight. El Akkad refers to not only the ongoing genocide led by Israel and the U.S., with Canada’s participation, but the hypocrisy of the West. In a recent speech on foreign policy, Canadian Senator Yuen Pau Woo from B.C. also pointed out the double standards. Canada rightfully opposes Russia’s land grab in Ukraine, he says, so why can’t we also find the courage to care about Gaza? Recent estimates are that 45,000 Gazans have been killed in direct attacks. The number goes up to 186,000 when you factor in casualties caused by Israel’s policies to block humanitarian aid. Who could not be against this?
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor – Let’s end with something fun, because this science fiction novel blew my mind. The main character, Zelu, is a feisty paraplegic sci-fi writer who struggles as an outsider. She overcomes long odds to strike it rich, navigating the trappings of fame, life with a disability, and her Nigerian family’s judgement. There are robots, action, family drama, and a novel-within-a-novel. Okorafor has become one of my favourite authors, and I’m so glad I picked this one up. I also recommend her Binti series.
What are you reading these days? Visit Which 3rd Avenue Books in Daajing Giids and tell us. Open Fridays 6–9 and Saturdays 12–5. www.which3avebooks.com