Once again, NPR's Books We Love project rounded up hundreds of book recommendations from critics,

writers, and NPR journalists to try to give you just the read you're looking for.

Today we're bringing you recommendations for books that touch on identity and culture.

I'm Linda Holmes and today we're talking about more Books We Love on Pop Culture Happy Hour

from NPR.

Joining me today is Code Switch Senior Correspondent Karen Griggsby Bates.

Welcome back, Karen.

Hey, Linda, I am so happy to be here.

Yeah.

So NPR's Books We Love project used to be called the Book Concierge, but whatever you call

it, it is a great way to find a book for any occasion, any reader, and any set of tastes

and interests.

It's a labor of love and literacy put together by a wonderful team and dedicated to our

dear friend and colleague NPR Books Editor Petra Mayer, who died in November.

And one of the tags that they used to help you find books is called Identity and Culture.

I want to add, it's fair to say that lots and lots of books, maybe practically all

books, are about identity and culture in some way or another, but we're talking about

some today that are particularly sharp or specific in their consideration of those themes.

I want to dive right in.

Karen, you picked several books from this category for Books We Love.

Tell me about the first one.

My first book is The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, is by Honoré Fennon Jeffers.

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