Weekend picks for book lovers – USA Today – USA TODAY

Compiled by Jocelyn McClurg, USA TODAY 6:06 a.m. ET Feb. 4, 2017

'Rest in Power' by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin(Photo: Spiegel & Grau)

What should you read this weekend? USA TODAYs picks for book lovers include two titles forBlack HIstory Month, one a memoir ofTrayvon Martin, the other a history of theEmmett Till case.

Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin; Spiegel & Grau, 331 pp.; non-fiction

The world will never know who Trayvon Martin the unarmed 17-year-old fatally shot in Florida by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012 could have grown up to be.

In a way, we never knew who he was. His humanity was lost, broken down into school records, headlines and 140 characters in the ensuing media scrutiny and trial of Zimmerman for his role in the altercation that ended in Trayvons death.

In Rest in Power, Trayvons parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, gather the pieces and attempt to present the whole of who their son was when he was just a boy before he became a martyr and before his death sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

But as much as the book is about Trayvons life, its also a meditation on the criminal justice system that his parents believe did not do him justice.

USA TODAY says ***out of four stars. Offers a prayer that someday, as Fulton writes, the killing will stop and the healing will begin.

USA TODAY

Trayvon Martin's parents honor son's 'Enduring Life'

4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster; Henry Holt, 866 pp.; fiction

This novel takes the life of one man, Archie Ferguson, born in 1947, and offers four alternative versions.

USA TODAY says *** stars. Give Auster full points for literary moxie4 3 2 1 must be applauded for its ambition.

USA TODAY

One man, four lives, in Auster's '4 3 2 1'

The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B. Tyson; Simon & Schuster, 304 pp.; non-fiction

Re-examines the case of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy who was visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955 when he was kidnapped and brutally murdered by two white men.

USA TODAY says ***stars. Tyson (applies) diligent research, scrupulous perspective and a vigorous aptitude for weaving public and intimate details.

USA TODAY

'The Blood of Emmett Till' remembers a horrific crime

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran; Putnam, 469 pp.; fiction

Who will get custody of little Ignacio El Viento Castro Valdez his young, undocumented Mexican mother, or the Indian-American couple in California who foster him?

USA TODAY says ***stars. Pulses with vitality.

USA TODAY

Two warring countries and one 'Lucky' little boy

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney; Ballantine, 336 pp.; fiction

The current renter of a gorgeous minimalist house in London tries to determine what happened to the girl who rented the house before she did.

USA TODAY says *** stars. Worth a few hours of idle pleasure.

Contributing reviewers: Jaleesa Jones, Eliot Schrefer, Gene Seymour, Steph Cha, Charles Finch

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Weekend picks for book lovers - USA Today - USA TODAY

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