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.

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

 "..I think of Allen and know precisely what he would say---nothing is impossible. Take one step, and then another, and see where the path leads. Don't think of the obstacles, only the way around them."

               -from Sophie's diary

I finished this book club selection late and did not have time to post prior to the meeting. So I will simply include notes from today's meeting at one sitting. I shared with the group that I had read the wrong book last week which did not give me as much time to read this one. Silly me! A few weeks ago I received an offer from Amazon for a free or very inexpensive copy of a book set in Alaska, Toward the Midnight Sun. Thinking it was our September selection, I was thrilled and downloaded it to my Kindle. It was not until I finished and looked for discussion questions and reviews of the correct book that I realized the author was female and Toward the Midnight Sun had a male author. Of course, I had to quickly pay for the right eBook and start reading pronto!

I enjoyed the story and rated the book a 4. I didn't really see it as a page-turner but I found some of it compelling and all of it very unique and creatively constructed. I learned (or relearned) the word epistolary, meaning written by means of mostly letters and journal entries. There are two correspondences telling the story, one between newlyweds---Lt. Colonel Allen Forrester and wife Sophie---separated by the his expedition into the Alaska territory in 1894. The other was between Walt Forrester, the great-nephew of the colonel, writing to Josh Sloan of the Alpine Historical Museum in Alpine, Alaska, to offer journals and artifacts inherited from his great-uncle. That second set of letters were from a current time.

One member of our group said he resisted reading To the Bright Edge... because he really doesn't like epistolary novels but he ended up reading it in 2 days and rated it a 5! With all ratings between 3 and 5, no one really disliked the novel; the average was 4.2. In the discussion questions offered by the publisher, we agreed the genre was hard to pin down. Call it a mixture of historical fiction, adventure and love story. In Acknowledgments, the author says the novel was inspired by the real-life journey into Alaska by Lt. Henry T. Allen. The author lives in Alaska which obviously gave her a bit of advantage in her descriptions and research.

The magical realism involved in the story was intriguing, if weird. There was the Old Man, aka The Man Who Flies, that seemed to appear out of nowhere and probably took the form of a raven at times. Samuelson, one of Forrester's crew, said he was "devil and angel in one." A baby born of a tree, women who took the form of geese and a lake monster added mystery and excitement to the adventure. The raven, known as a harbinger of death, made frequent appearances throughout.

Parts of the book brought back memories of my two trips to Alaska, though my husband and I traveled by cruise line. I am thankful not to have suffered the torturous journey of the Forrester expedition. The crew saw the Aurora Borealis which we were not fortunate to catch. I remembered standing on a glacier and thinking what a beautiful blue color we saw in the crevasses. In the novel another crew member, Pruitt, said he saw in it the "hues of cold itself." The crew had a problem with mosquitoes at one point; while we were there someone told us the mosquito is the national bird of Alaska! 😀

I enjoyed Sophie's writing most, I think. I enjoy watching birds and especially love hummingbirds, as did Sophie. Her passion for photography was interesting, too. I had much to learn.

This book's structure reminded me of a piece of juvenile fiction I read years ago when I was teaching: Regarding the Fountain, A Tale in Letters, of Liars and Leaks, by Kate Klise. It was also epistolary: the whole story told in letters, postcards, memos, advertisements, classroom chalkboard writing. I found it so creative and enjoyable.

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Photos show the two books---the right one and the wrong one. Check out the authors' names.

Also the Rufous hummingbird, a favorite of Sophie

 

          

Toward the Midnight Sun by Eoin Dempsey

 "All talk was of the gold, or 'the color,' as those who boasted of having more experience had taken to calling it....It had overtaken all else in the minds of the men and women gathered here. There was nothing else now. It was their hope. It was the light at the end of the dark tunnel their lives had become. They had forsaken everything for its promise."

                      -from the novel

I actually read this book by accident! How? you may ask. I will explain in a later post.

The novel takes place over about 3 years time---1897 to 1900---and revolves around the Klondike gold rush. Anna Denton's father has been offered a "bride price" for her hand in marriage by a rich man known as the King of the Klondike. She is willing to marry Henry Bradwell, a man she doesn't know who is 30 years her senior in order to save her family financially. Starting in Seattle, she must make a long and treacherous trip to reach Dawson City in the Yukon Territory near the Canada/Alaska border. Chaperones have been hired by her prospective husband to get her there safely. 

On a boat to Skagway, Anna meets William Leary and Silas Oliver, a couple of friendly young men who are on their way to find gold and make their fortune. As luck would have it, the hired chaperones show they cannot be trusted and Will insists that he and Silas will get Anna to Dawson safely.

After a tedious journey, they do arrive in Dawson where Anna meets her fiancé. I felt the rest of the story was somewhat predictable although it did get rather exciting in spots. I rated this book a 3---good but not great!

I didn't realize until reading about the author that I had read another by him, White Rose, Black Forest, an historical fiction set in WWII Germany which I rated a 5. I guess it was just a more compelling story.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

"But where was there to go in this world that had taken everything she loved? This world of hunting wolves. She used to be the hunter, and now she was the prey."
                       -from the Prologue of the novel




After reading The Alice Network and enjoying it very much, I saw that the author had written a more recent novel, this one, The Huntress. It was another engrossing historical fiction.

The author weaves 3 stories into one. All take place before, during or after WWII. Jordan McBride is introduced first, age 17 in 1946, and an aspiring photographer in Boston. Ian Graham is living in Cologne, Germany, 1950, when the reader first meets him. He is a British war correspondent who carries some emotional wounds from the traumas he's seen and is working at tracking down Nazi war criminals, along with his American partner, Tony Rodomovsky. Nina Markova's story begins in Siberia before the war and continues into it as she becomes a Russian pilot and a member of the all-female night bomber regiment feared by the Germans who called them Night Witches.

Lastly, die Jagerin, the Huntress, is our antagonist. She is a Nazi guilty of heinous crimes who has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Both Ian and Nina have intense personal reasons to want her caught and punished. So the Huntress becomes the hunted, as the quote intimates.

Nina was maybe the most interesting character to me, with her misunderstanding of English and curses in Russian, she adds some humor to a serious story. She rose above a tragic family life and developed a passion for flying. She was fearless (except for one admitted fear, which I will keep to myself) and tenacious in a loveable sort of way. She reminded me of the women of the Alice Network.

Ms. Quinn provides much insight in the Author's Note where she describes her research (considerable!) and which characters are actual historical figures and who the fictional characters were based on. I found it fascinating.

My only complaint about the book is that many sections divided between Jordan, Ian and Nina end with cliffhangers, making you want to know more immediately but you must wait through the next two sections to find out what happened! Frustrating but making for a real page-turner! I will rate The Huntress a 5, an exciting and entertaining read!