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Books for Avoiding April Showers

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From Texas Standard:Clay Smith of  Kirkus Reviews brings us two hard-hitting books to read during April showers – both of them tackling issues swirling about in popular media and the news.

In fiction, Smith recommends  God Help the Child by Toni Morrison. In the book Morrison, the only living Nobel prize winner for literature, tackles race and childhood.

“Toni Morrison is great at excavating our history and looking at myth,” Smith says. “It definitely has some surreal and allegorical elements to it…it's powerful.”

For the non-fiction lovers, Smith recommends  Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by John Krakauer. The book delves into the University of Montana’s football team, a series of rapes and the blinded justice system surrounding the college town.

“It’s a tough read,” Smith says. “This the rare book that has an opportunity to influence the national conversation that’s happening right now about college rape.”

 

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Emily Donahue is KUT’s news director. She has spent more than two decades in broadcast journalism and launched KUT’s news department in 2001. Previously, Emily was part of the Peabody-award winning team at Marketplace as producer of the Marketplace Morning Report. Since coming to KUT, Emily has overseen a doubling of the news staff and content, the accumulation of more than 50 local, national and international awards for journalistic excellence and served on several boards, including the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters and as a member of the 2011 Texas Association of Broadcasters Open Government Task Force. Emily lives in Austin and is currently working on her Master’s in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.