How is everyone? Sounds as if COVID is going around again. My best friend in Indiana has it, and three of my relatives who were at the family reunion on Sunday tested positive in the last couple days. That means they didn’t get it there, but it does mean they were probably already positive when we were all together. Keeping my fingers crossed.

So, that probably makes my book for this week sound a little macabre. But, I have to say, it’s one of the best nonfiction books I’ve read this year, and it’s hard to put it down to finish my books for the Library Journal deadline.

I’m reading The New York Times book, Overlooked: A Celebration of Remarkable, Underappreciated People Who Broke the Rules and Changed the World by Amisha Padnani and the Obituaries Desk. You read that right. My sister, Mom, and I all appreciate a good obituary.

I’m going to quote the blurb for the book because I’ll be reviewing it myself in a couple days. And, I don’t want to repeat what I’ll write in my review. But, if you’re looking for an unusual nonfiction book, you might want to give this one a try. I remember when The New York Times started the new series, “Overlooked”.

An unforgettable collection of diverse, remarkable lives inspired by “Overlooked,” the groundbreaking New York Times series that publishes the obituaries of extraordinary people whose deaths went unreported in the newspaper—filled with nearly 200 full-color photos and new, never-before-published content

Since 1851, The New York Times has published thousands of obituaries—for heads of state, celebrities, scientists, and athletes. There’s even one for the person who invented the sock puppet. But, until recently, only a fraction of the Times’s obits chronicled the lives of women or people of color. The vast majority tell of the lives of men—mostly white men.

Started in 2018 as a series in the Obituary section, “Overlooked” has sought to rectify this, revisiting the Times’s 170-year history to celebrate people who were left out. It seeks to correct past mistakes, establish a new precedent for equitable coverage of lives lost, and refocus society’s lens on who is considered worthy of remembrance.

Now, in the first book connected to the trailblazing series, Overlooked shares 66 extraordinary stories of women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA figures, and people with disabilities who have broken rules and overcome obstacles. Some achieved a measure of fame in their lifetime but were surprisingly omitted from the paper, including Ida B. Wells, Sylvia Plath, Alan Turing, and Major Taylor. Others were lesser-known, but noteworthy nonetheless, such as Katherine McHale Slaughterback, a farmer who found fame as “Rattlesnake Kate”; Ángela Ruiz Robles, the inventor of an early e-reader; Terri Rogers, a transgender ventriloquist and magician; and Stella Young, a disabled comedian who rejected “inspiration porn.” These overlooked figures might have lived in different times, and had different experiences, but they were all ambitious and creative, and used their imaginations to invent, innovate, and change the world.

Featuring stunning photographs, exclusive content about the process of writing obituaries, and contributions by writers such as Veronica Chambers, Jon Pareles, Amanda Hess, and more, this visually arresting book compels us to revisit who and what we value as a society—and reminds us that some of our most important stories are hidden among the lives of those who have been overlooked.


Wheat about you? How are you feeling? What are you reading this week?