We continue an annual Connections tradition by talking to community leaders about their favorite books of the year. We also get insight into how they think, what they read, and why. Our guests:
- Leslie C. Youngblood, author of “Love Like Sky” (“The Season of Styx Malone” by Kekla Magoon)
- Gary Craig, watchdog reporter at the Democrat & Chronicle, and author of “Seven Million: A Cop, a Priest, a Soldier for the IRA, and the Still-Unsolved Rochester Brink’s Heist” (“Crimes of the Father” by Thomas Keneally)
- Annette Ramos, executive director of the Rochester Latino Theatre Company, and co-chair of La Cumbre’s Arts & Culture Committee (“War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony” by Nelson A. Denis)
- Pastor of Matthew Martin Nickoloff, pastor of the South Wedge Mission (“Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words” by David Whyte)
- BJ Scanlon, local activist and member of the theatre community (“Everything is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love, and Loss” by Stephanie Wittels Wachs and “Bread & Wine: An Erotic Tale of New York” written by Samuel R. Delaney and illustrated by Mia Wolff)
- Elissa Orlando, senior vice president for television and news at WXXI (“Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders)
- Amit Batabyal, Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics at RIT (“China’s Crony Capitalism” by Minxin Pei)
- Emily Hessney Lynch, director of content for I Heart ROC and freelance social media strategist (“They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us“ by Hanif Abdurraqib; “Exit West: A Novel” by Mohsin Hamid; and “Gmorning, Gnight! Little Pep Talks for Me & You” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and illustrated by Jonny Sun)
- Brian Koberlein, senior lecturer of physics and astronomy at RIT, and author of One Universe at a Time (“The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers)
