News of the World by Paulette Jiles

 "To comfort himself and slow down his mind he thought of his time as a courier, a runner, and Maria Luisa and his daughters. Maybe life is just carrying news. Surviving to carry the news. Maybe we have just one message, and it is delivered to us when we are born and we are never sure what it says; it may have nothing to do with us personally but it must be carried by hand through a life, all the way, and at the end handed over, sealed.

                         -the Captain's musings from the novel

This book was chosen as a 2020 selection for Page Turners partly because it was available as a Book Bundle (collection of books of the same title) from our public library. Sadly when it came time to read it, COVID19 prevented the distribution of copies. I was able to order a copy from the library but before the print copy arrived, I received the audio version on CDs. I began listening in my car. The narrator is quite good, sounding like the main character, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, might have spoken. I didn't think I was going to like the book so much but it is historical fiction so I gave it a chance. I ended up enjoying it very much.

The Captain is a 70-something retired soldier and an itinerant reader of the news of the world. He travels around Texas reading to paying audiences. While in Wichita Falls ( North Texas) he is paid to take a 10-year-old girl rescued by the Army from the Kiowa natives back to her aunt and uncle near San Antonio. Johanna Leonberger's parents were killed at the time she was kidnapped and she has been living with the tribe for at least 4 years, long enough to forget her name, the English language and to feel the Kiowa are her only family. She presents quite a challenge for a while until Cho-henna learns to trust the Kep-dun. 

In A Note from the Author, one learns that according to historical records, people taken captive by the natives "became Indian in every way and rarely readjusted when returned to their non-native families. They always wished to return to their adoptive families, even when they had been with their Indian families for less than a year." I found this intriguing.

The author provides a map of the journey which is treacherous with rivers to cross and bad guys to avoid. So the plot is exciting in parts but with some doses of humor along the way. Example: The Captain describes his deceased son-in-law as "too big to be a human being and too small to be a locomotive." In another instance someone describes a couple of brothers who might cause trouble as both "one brick short of a load." Often Johanna's pronunciations of English words would make me smile.

I loved the ending which I shall not reveal. Perhaps you can predict it. I rate the book a 5.

A film version of "News of the World" will have a Christmas release. It stars Tom Hanks as the Captain. I can hardly wait to see it!

More after Page Turners meet...

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We had 17 members at our Zoom meeting, including one new person. News of the World was well-liked with almost all ratings either 4 or 5.  One participant said she would have liked to give it a 6! Our average was 4.3 making it the second highest of the year's 11 books. 

A number of folks enjoyed the humor, as I did. Most agreed the main characters were likeable and the ending was quite satisfying. 

I showed a trailer of the film version and several showed an interest in seeing it together, if possible. I am trying to include the link here.

https://youtu.be/zTZDb_iKooI

Honeysuckle Season by Mary Ellen Taylor

 "Olivia had locked away so many memories over the years that they had tangle together. She feared a tug on one would unravel the entire lot. Confession might be good for the soul, but by her way of thinking, it did little else. Her secret had served a purpose, and if keeping it meant her soul was bound to this earth forever, then so be it."                        -from the novel

Libby McKenzie returns to Bluestone, VA after experiencing a series of profound losses---multiple miscarriages, divorce and the death of her father. She has taken up freelance photography and when she "shoots" a wedding at the Woodmont Estate, a series of mysteries and family secrets begin to be revealed. The estate is now owned by Elaine Grant, a descendant of the wealthy Carter family who is attempting to restore Woodmont to a semblance of its former glory. Included in the renovation is a curious greenhouse overgrown with honeysuckle vines.

There are multiple time settings starting with 1994, then flashing back to the early 1940's and the unlikely friendship of Olivia Carter and Sadie Thompson. The story moves forward again to Libby's story of 2020 but revisits the earlier time frequently. Along with the changes in time, numerous characters are introduced and I found it all a bit confusing at times.

I found Honeysuckle Season satisfying but I can't say I found it memorable or that I loved it so I will give it a 3 rating.

Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey

 "Of course, we're made up of what we've forgotten too, what we've tried to bury or suppress. Some forgetting is necessary and the mind works to shield us from things that are too painful; even so, some aspect of trauma lives on in the body, from which it can reemerge unexpectedly. Even when I was trying to bury the past, there were moments from those lost years that kept coming back, rising to mind unbidden."                                  -from the memoir

I was invited to participate in an intergenerational book study of Memorial Drive. A couple of other seniors and I would be reading and discussing the book along with students in the UCF Honors College. The book was chosen by their professor and it was an excellent choice because of the multi-age perspective of the author in her memoir.

Natasha Trethewey identifies as "a child of miscegenation" (a new word for me); her mother was black and her father, white. Her first years were spent in Mississippi where mixed-race marriage was not universally accepted. The family lived near maternal relatives. I especially liked Tasha's grandmother and Aunt Sugar, a feisty lady. When her parents divorced, 6-year-old Tasha and her mother relocated to Atlanta and within the year her mother, Gwen, met a man she would soon marry. Tasha calls him "Big Joe" and doesn't like him from the start.

Early in the book, subtitled A Daughter's Memoir, we know that Tasha's mother was murdered but the who, how and why are revealed little by little and not until the final chapters do we learn details, making it something of a page-turner. The author lost her mother when she was only 19 and spent some 30 years subduing the memory before she decided to return to Memorial Drive in Atlanta, where the tragedy occurred. There she confronted her memories and sought ways of reconnecting with her mother's life while filling in gaps in her own.

Ms. Trethewey has a very lyrical style of writing and uses imagery and figurative language to great affect. It is not surprising to note she is a poet and, in fact, won a Pulitzer for Poetry in 2007 and was the US Poet Laureate from 2012-2013. The order of her story is not chronological, moving back and forth in time, a bit confusing for the reader. It is interesting to note that Natasha's father was a writer and exposed her to the classics and mythology at a very young age and even predicted she "would have to become a writer, that because of the nature of [my] experience I would have something necessary to say."

Although I wished the book had included photographs, the author's descriptions are vivid. On the book jacket, there is a lovely picture of Natasha as a baby with her mother. 

This memoir was poignant, not really entertaining, but thought-provoking and powerfully written. I will rate it a 4.

 

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

 "The opposite of 'racist' isn't 'not racist.' It is 'antiracist.' What's the difference? One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equality as an antiracist. One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an antiracist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of 'not racist.' The claim of 'not racist' neutrality is a mask for racism."               -Ibram X. Kendi, from How to Be an Antiracist

After the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in May brought on a rash of protests and a reenergized Black Lives Matter movement, some of our church members felt compelled to DO something. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, it did not seem safe to be protesting among crowds of people but we could definitely start listening, reading and discussing the racial problems facing our community and nation. We decided to meet once a week to discuss parts of How to Be an Antiracist, which had been a NYT nonfiction bestseller. We read and discussed 2 chapters per week, starting at the end of August. I have learned a great deal from the book so I could easily rate it a 5 for its educational value and the amazing research it took to write. There were parts I thought were wordy and repetitive and others that were intellectually over my head making for arduous reading. There were some very interesting parts where Kendi shares his memories and life experiences, so for entertainment, my rating is 3. Overall I give the book a 4. I am glad I read it. I am not sure I would have finished if it had not been for the stimulating discussions of our group each week.

I felt the quote above which comes near the beginning of the book is a good introduction to Kendi's content. Rather that setting himself up as a know-it-all on this subject, Kendi shares his journey of self-reflection and how he discovered the many racist beliefs he had held. I believe he is asking the reader to do some of this same personal evaluation.

One point that Kendi makes loud and clear is that judging a whole group of people by the actions of individuals is wrong. He wants us to know it is not groups of people that are the problem; the problems lie in unequal power and inequitable and unjust policies. The author stresses it is not enough to say "I am not a racist," we must become "antiracists." This means we must identify racist ideas and policies and stand against them.

It was surprising that there are so many ways in which racism is revealed---power, biology, ethnicity, body, culture, behavior, color, whiteness, blackness, class, gender and sexuality---all treated in separate chapters of the book. I found an interesting summary: "6 Ways to to Be an Antiracist Because Being 'Not Racist' Isn't Enough" by Rebecca Ruiz from the "Amplify" series. Here is the link:

https://mashable.com/article/how-to-be-antiracist/

This Magnificent Dappled Sea by David Biro

 "In all these years, it never failed to amaze him, this magnificent dappled sea of bone marrow, ever regenerating and replenishing itself in an ongoing cycle that made life possible---red cells that carried oxygen to the tissues, white cells that fought off infection, and platelets that made the blood clot."

                      -Dr. Matteo Crespi's thinking, from the novel

I would have never guessed the significance of the title as shown in the quote above. I was thinking---island, sailing, something to do with the ocean. Not even close! An Amazon First Reads selection, the book was a good choice. I finished it in a few days so I'd call it a page-turner. My rating: 4.

In this novel we are introduced to several characters who are suffering in some way. The most central character is Luca Taviano, who at age 9 is diagnosed with leukemia and the prognosis is grim in 1992. He resides with his grandparents in in a small town in Italy. Nina Vocelli becomes Luca's nurse; she is hurting from a romantic rejection and, I believe, low self-esteem partly due to a facial birthmark. The reader then meets Rabbi Joseph Neiman of Brooklyn, NY, who, in his 50's, is having a crisis of faith, feeling he is missing something in his life. Even Luca's grandfather, Nonno, is plagued by guilt from memories of the past and lies he has told. It is heart-warming how some of these folks save others and, in turn, are saved themselves. I loved this quote from the Babylonian Talmud used by Samuel, the rabbi's son, in his bar mitzvah speech: "Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as if he had destroyed the whole world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world."

The plot unfolds when a bone marrow donor is found, leading to research into Luca's background. (Luca's father, Paolo, was adopted but both he and Luca's mother died in a car accident years before.) I will leave it at that...no spoilers!

I was struck by the fact that Rabbi Joseph met regularly with friends, Father Lazzaro and Imam Hussein, for conversation. It reminded me of "Friends talking Faith with the Three Wise Guys" that used to air on Orlando public radio. The friends were a Christian pastor, a rabbi and an imam. 

It was cool that Luca's birthday was March 11, same as mine! For his 10th birthday, he got a horse. I would probably have loved to have a horse when I was 10!

The author is also a medical doctor. It makes sense! Some of the medical jargon was over my head, for sure!

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

 "...in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."

                        -from the novel

I selected this novel when someone in our group suggested we should include a classic in this year's list. I thought I had read it years ago but I soon realized I probably had not. I didn't realize the length of the book (464 pages) and I barely was able to finish before the Page Turners met. Whew! I had gotten some negative feedback about the selection of the book so I wasn't very enthused about reading it. As it turned out, I really appreciated the beautiful writing and compelling story. It is easy to see how this classic book is known as a Great American Novel and earned Steinbeck a Pulitzer and contributed to his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

The story is set during the Great Depression in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and begins with the Joad family loading a truck with family and belongings to move to California. They have been forced from their land and livelihood by drought and bank eviction. The Joad family consists of Ma, Pa, Grandpa, Granma, Uncle John, Noah, Tom (just paroled from prison), Al, Rose of Sharon and her husband Connie, Ruthie and Winfield. It is almost impossible to imagine all those people and their belongings loaded on a truck! The family has seen fliers indicating there are jobs aplenty in California so they have high hopes for the future.

I cannot begin to relate the obstacles the Joads face as they make their way west! Car troubles, mean authorities, deaths, people who would try to cheat them out of the little money they had and deplorable camps called Hoovervilles which are barely livable. 

It is surprising how some of the problems facing the Joads are relatable to people today, particularly immigrants. It was easy to feel empathy for this family but at the same time, I found their determination, resilience, compassion and loyalty so admirable. I am rating The Grapes of Wrath a 4. The author's style is outstanding---realistic dialogue, detailed characterizations and descriptive passages interspersed with the continuing plot that are quite lyrical in nature.

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 Twelve Page Turners met to discuss The Grapes of Wrath. The group's average rating is 4.2, with most participants voting 5's and 4's. A few had read it in their youth and did not remember it fondly and so did not reread it. One of our members said the older she has gotten the more she understands and appreciates the book. Several of us agreed. Some of the comments we heard were: "masterful writing," "depressing," "a clash of classes," "poetic," "hopeful." It was interesting that some found it depressing and others hopeful. We all agreed that many people today, minorities and immigrants, could identify with the Joads. 

One member said, "I read it many years ago and could not bring myself to read it again.  All I can remember is that they were poor and down-trodden at the beginning of the book.  And at the end of the book they were still poor and down-trodden.  What is a book for but to lift you up?  This one, not so much!!"

What do YOU think about that statement? I had a literature professor once who said good literature should teach lessons about life. The Grapes of Wrath certainly qualifies as good literature even though I must agree it is NOT FUN to read!

A few in our group had seen the film based on this novel, some multiple times. Our discussion really makes me want to see the movie! (photos below)

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The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

 "Everyone lies about their lives. What would happen if you shared the truth instead?  ...maybe telling that story would change your life, or the life of someone you've not yet met."

                           -Julian Jessop, from The Authenticity Project

This novel was highly recommended by a friend and I found it quite delightful. It is cleverly written, a unique format with a story told by several interesting characters in short chapters, making for a real page-turner. There is much humor and a few twists and turns, adding to the entertainment value. 

Julian Jessop, an elderly gentleman, begins writing about his feelings of loneliness and invisibility in a composition book he entitles The Authenticity Project (see quote). He intentionally leaves the book in Monica's Café. Monica finds and reads Julian's story, decides to befriend him and eventually shares her own truths in The Authenticity Project book. As one might predict, the notebook gets passed along until 6 strangers have been connected by it, forming unexpected friendships, even romances along the way, and seemingly improving everyone's lives. Some characters are quirky and all have various real-world problems made easier by revealing the TRUTH. 

In her Acknowledgments, the author admits that this book is very personal for her and stems from her blog-turned-book, The Sober Diaries. She says, "What I discovered is that telling the truth about your life really can work magic and change the lives of many other people for the better." Herein, lies the theme of this novel.

I enjoyed the references to sites in London with which I was familiar: Chelsea and Sloane Square. It's interesting to come across British expressions like sweet shop, car bonnet, mobile phone, pushchair, portaloo and others. Bailey's Irish Cream, mentioned often, is a favorite drink of mine. Also it was quite a coincidence that I read How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny recently and she quoted Leonard Cohen's "Anthem" as Hazard does late in this novel:

"Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in."

Did I mention I REALLY liked this novel? My rating is a 5.