Susan Kiyo Ito always knew she was adopted, but uncovering her birth family became a decadeslong process marked by moments of warm connection and icy divides — raw stories compiled into a memoir that’s alternately touching and heartbreaking.

Opening on the moment when Ito is about to meet her birth mother for the first time, “I Would Meet You Anywhere” transcends a title and becomes a refrain throughout the book. Ito’s relationship with Yumi is fraught, but her birth mother holds the key to the information she needs to find the other half of her DNA. Ito meets Yumi when and where the latter deems convenient — New Jersey, California, a small Midwestern town; in a house, a hotel, a hospital. And Ito would meet her anywhere.

In the process of finding her birth parents and piecing together her origins, Ito explores the theme of family — and what it means to occupy the various roles within it — pondering the symmetry in the first 17 years she spent living with her mom, Kikuko, taking care of her to the last 27 years of her mom’s life when their roles reversed.

Meanwhile, Yumi flits in and out of the story, leaving the impression of her taking up more space than her physical presence.

Ito is left wondering about the reproductive choices that have shaped her life, starting with her conception. After all, what choice did Yumi have? Her family had started over with nothing after the U.S. forced them into internment camps, along with other Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals.

There aren’t many things Yumi refuses to talk about, but these topics are the most important ones, big question marks that threaten to burn answerless into oblivion.

Unlike Yumi, the author is completely open about her thoughts, feelings and experiences. Ito’s prose follows her mood; the default of easy conversational writing becomes stilted when she’s upset and flowing when she’s hopeful.

“I Would Meet You Anywhere” is breathtaking. Like a master quilter, Ito is able to find the patterns and fit them together in a beautiful, cohesive story that’s balanced and satisfying, working in tandem to create a blanket of meaning enshrouding an entire life, plus some. — Donna Edwards, Associated Press

There’s no shortage of books that have focused on the recent history of social media companies and the founders of the tech giants running them.

In “Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet,” Taylor Lorenz makes a valuable and entertaining contribution to that collection by telling the story through the prism of the users, creators and influencers who have shaped social media and its impact on our culture.

Lorenz, technology columnist for The Washington Post, has written what she calls a social history of social media that profiles the figures who have had arguably more influence on the landscape of the modern Internet than most Silicon Valley executives.

From mommy bloggers to TikTok celebrities, Lorenz focuses on the users who “revolutionized new approaches to work, entertainment, fame, ambition in the 21st century.” Lorenz tells how tech companies struggled to adapt to users’ needs and demands. The book is an enlightening history of pioneering influencers such as bloggers Heather Armstrong and Julia Allison, as well as the rise and fall of platforms such MySpace and Vine.

Lorenz also explores the dark side of social media’s rise, looking at how platforms have been weaponized from “Gamergate” to the spread of misinformation during the pandemic. She lays bare the challenges created by the transformation of social media, noting that “tech founders may control source code, but users shape the product.” — Andrew DeMillo, Associated Press