"Every well-written book is a light for me. When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the wilderness."
~Kate DiCamillo
Recommending a book was a favorite part of my job as a librarian. Handing a book to a child and asking "Have you read this?" was a sacred rite. It always brought untold joy to my librarian heart when a child decided to give a new book a chance. So it is here that I want to once again share books that I have read, books that were a light for me, books that enlightened, thrilled, troubled, or simply offered a new perspective. Maybe they will be a light for you as well. I hope so. It would make my librarian heart so happy. ~c.h.
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Powers once again weaves science and story to ask how can we continue to exist on this planet and not destroy what sustains us? Told through the lens of Theo Byrne an astrobiologist, widower, and father of Robin his troubled, grieving son. Robin struggles in school and at home controlling his emotions. Emotions rooted in his deep love for the natural world. I was moved by Theo’s fierce love for his son. Yet, when he seeks out an unusual methodology for helping Robin navigate his frustrations, I, too, was bewildered. In the end, I was left restless and sad. Yet, perhaps that is what is needed if we are going to preserve this planet for our children. Rarely, are we changed or moved to action by happy stories or tidy endings. Hope must reside in our resolve to change. Happily, Powers keeps writing and pointing the way. © c.h.
The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams
I was drawn to “The Hour of Land” by my admiration of Williams’ writing and her subject…our National Parks. Yet, it wasn’t the pleasant read I expected. Nor was it a melding of pleasant words and beautiful scenery. Quite honestly much was painful, discouraging, and yet sadly necessary to take in if we are to salvage our parks and our earthly home. As Williams writes “Perhaps this is what our national parks hold for us: stories, of who we have been and who we might become- a reminder that as human beings our histories harbor both darkness and light. To live in the United States of America and tell only one story, from one point of view diminishes us all.” I cannot think of a better writer than Ms. Williams to remind us that this is indeed “The Hour of Land.” I only hope we will finally listen.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
I am not sure what drew me to Obama’s book…the review in the New York Times or my interest in learning Obama’s take on the first four years of his presidency. I am a slow reader so I must admit that I was daunted by the length of A Promised Land (700+ pages) and the reviewer’s comment about the long passages on policy. Yet, I still wanted some glimpse into how and why this man became the first African American to occupy the White House. What really drove him to achieve all that he did in such a seemingly short amount of time?
I found Obama’s presidential insights interesting and truly enjoyed the descriptive color he added to his impressions of world leaders as well as political friends and foes. Reading about his first four years was also a walk back in time. I found myself comparing all that the Obama administration faced with Biden’s current challenges of an economic downturn and a pandemic. I gained a deep appreciation for all the people who work tirelessly to solve the many problems and crises our government faces.
However, I often sensed Obama’s careful remove especially from the issues of race and the frequent political discord he faced coming from the other side of the aisle. I saw his anger flash and then simmer when Joe Wilson yelled, “You LIE!” in the midst of his State of the Union. Yet, his “gloves” never came off in his retelling of these events. Oh he easily admitted his failings, uncertainties, and imperfections as well as always giving credit to his “team” when things went well. Yet, there was this professional polish that coated those first four years with a hopefulness that surely flagged at times. I certainly cannot fault him for holding back. Perhaps it is the result of living in a fish bowl for eight years or simply living as a black man in our country?
As I closed A Promised Land last night, I still wondered what is it really like to be Barack Obama? What can he still teach us about race, struggle, and finding a way forward in these oh so difficult times. Perhaps he is saving it for the next volume. I am sure I will be curious enough to read that one, too. ~c.h.
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
I was first introduced to Jacqueline Woodson as an elementary librarian. Her thoughtful picture books like The Other Side and her award winning autobiography Brown Girl Dreaming were favorites of mine. It seemed logical that I would like this “adult” novel even though the line between YA (young adult) and adult novels is continually being blurred by talented writers like Woodson.
Another Brooklyn is narrated by August who along with her younger brother was abruptly moved to Brooklyn by her father. Why they left her mother and her family home in rural Tennessee behind is not immediately clear. Along with young August we struggle to learn what happened to her mother as we travel through her memories. August’s voice is pitch perfect in Woodson’s lyrical prose. A prose that is spare, fast-paced but rich with poetic imagery. Yet it is August’s story that pulls us in. The story of a young black girl finding her way through friendships, adolescence, and adulthood without a mother to guide her.
Another Brooklyn left me pondering my own adolescence and the friendships I held dear. How they sustained me through the awkwardness and angst of growing up in a very different world from young August’s. Yet isn’t that what all good writers offer us…a glimpse into another world but also the gift of connection. ~c.h.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates grew up in Baltimore not more than an hour’s drive from my hometown of Bethesda. Yet our lives could not have been more different if we lived on opposite sides of the planet. However, there was far more that separated us than geography and the decades between us.
Supposedly, Coates was inspired to write this “letter” to his teenage son after re-reading James Baldwin’s, “The Fire Next Time.” Yet, he also told Jon Stewart in an interview that he wondered if it was a way of dealing with the death of his college friend, Prince Jones.
“He was trailed through three jurisdictions by a police officer who mistook him for somebody else and shot him down. That was horrific. I don’t know if I made my peace with it… writing is something that we do to try to do that, to try to make some sort of sense of it.”
I wonder now if I was drawn to the book, because I, too, wanted to make sense of another black man’s murder.
Coates’ poetic rage spills out on the page at a frenetic pace. I found myself highlighting passages with a similar frenzy. Coates seems to be racing to save not only his son but the “Dreamers” from their ignorance. Admittedly, it was a tough but enlightening read for this white girl from Bethesda. In the end, I was left with more questions than answers to the despair I felt after George Floyd’s murder. Yet, perhaps that is what good writers often do? Inspire the questions but leave us to find the answers.~c.h.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
As a child, I was always drawn to books about families…the Wilders in the Little House series, the tiny “Borrowers,” and the quirky Little family in EB White’s Stuart Little. I think what intrigued me as a child was the interplay between the siblings. As an adult, I am still drawn to family dramas but am more intrigued by the interplay between the adults and their past. Thus, The Dutch House drew me in with its promise of a family story well told by my hometown’s literary star, Ann Patchett.
Patchett deftly takes on the voice of middle aged Danny Conroy whose memories are bound and bookended by the years he spent in his father’s grand house. Long after Danny and his older sister Maeve move out, the house remains a touchstone for them. It pulls them back again and again to not only make sense of their past but reconcile it with their present. Patchett’s skillful storytelling reminds us that our pasts do shape and tether us but bind us only if we let them. ~c.h.
Becoming by Michelle Robinson Obama
I so wanted to adore this book...adore it as much as I admire the author. Yet when I went to rate it, my hand hovered between the third and fourth star, and I am not quite sure why. As I read other reviews, it seemed opinions were either effusively glowing or scathing. Like our politics there seemed to be no middle ground for opinions like mine.
Michelle Obama is a good writer. Her style is easy and conversational but also conveys her intelligence and insight. As I read, “Becoming”I felt as if I was getting to know a smart, new friend. However, there were moments when my interest lagged with her many details. They seemed to slow down the narrative of her early life and gave few insights into the woman she was to become. In my opinion, it took far too long to get Barack and her family to the White House.
Having grown up in D.C. and remembering the Kennedy kids, the Johnson daughters and Tricia Nixon, I always wanted to know what it was like to actually live in that grand house. So I thoroughly enjoyed Mrs. Obama’s descriptions of the residence, her life there, and the herculean effort it took to maintain some semblance of normalcy for her girls. She is upfront about relying on help and “her team” to get the job done. A luxury she knows all too well most parents lack.
Despite the glimpses into her disappointments, her “swerves,” and struggles, in the end I still felt a distance. It seemed as though she had more to share perhaps with a closer friend. It wasn’t the tangible or titillating facts that I yearned for like smoking marijuana or Barack’s messy closet. I wanted to know more about Michelle the woman who soldiered through those tough moments in her life especially as they left the White House to the next president. If ever there was a time to witness two polar opposites moving in and out of the “people’s house,” it was in January of 2017. Perhaps Michelle became more guarded and cautious living in the public eye for so many years. Maybe she just wanted to “go high” when so many others “go low.” I certainly cannot fault her for avoiding the “low” and ending her book on the same hopeful note she and her husband began their uncertain journey. Perhaps that is reason enough to give “Becoming” four well earned stars and look forward to the next installment. ~c.h.
Let Me Be Frank by Julia Claiborne Johnson
“Let Me Be Frank” was the perfect book to read during a pandemic....
Mimi Banning was once a rising literary star. Yet, in middle age she remains a one-hit-wonder and now finds herself in desperate financial straits. She asks for a sizable advance from her publisher and an assistant to keep her on track as well as watch her nine year old son Frank. So editor, Issac Vargas, agrees and sends his young assistant, Alice. Alice, a no nonsense Nebraskan, is the perfect narrator for this tale. Her wry sense of humor and insatiable curiosity drive the storyline around this odd little family…the reclusive, brilliant, & often cantankerous Mimi; the inquisitive, quirky Frank who has a mind full of facts, a penchant for old movies and a sartorial style to match; and the mysterious Juilliard trained handyman, Xander, who stealthily slips in and out of their lives with the ease of a conman.
Alice manages Frank and his idiosyncrasies with a big hearted sensibility beyond her years and the reader cannot help but come to adore him just as Alice does. Yet, it is Alice’s curiosity that leads us to the truth behind Mimi’s reclusiveness and Xander’s disappearances. In the end, I was reminded that our gifts can often be mistaken for flaws, and a good tale told is a lovely antidote for the loneliness and malaise brought on by a pandemic. ~c.h.
The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham
Sometimes it is good to travel back in time especially when things seem as uncertain and precarious as they do now. Who better than Jon Meacham to be our travel guide? As a historian, Meacham looks at our past through the disparate legacies of our Presidents... their successes, failures, strengths, and weaknesses. Yet, it is his hope in “the most durable experiment in pluralistic republicanism” that Meacham leaves us with in the end. As Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Let us hope that Meacham and King are right, but it will be up to us the citizens. It is our participation and action that will insure this “grand experiment” continues to bend towards justice. ~c.h.
Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl
“Late Migrations” is a literary quilt. Each essay is a delicate delight with words stitched in such a way that you cannot help but admire the craft and skill of the maker. Yet, as any quilter knows you must also must stand back to admire a quilt in toto. Only then do you see how Renkl skillfully threaded her story together in a patchwork of hope and loss. And like a quilt, “Late Migrations” will keep you warm long after the last page is turned.
The Overstory by Richard Powers
I often read books that entertain, inspire, and widen my perspective, but every once in a while a book comes along that reaches deeper and makes a shape shifting change within me. The Overstory by Richard Powers was just such a book. It not only changed my perception of the natural world but illuminated our connection to it in a way that no other book of fiction has before.
Powers grows his tale like a tree, taking the roots of his disparate characters and threading them together into the sturdy trunk of his story. Then, he thrusts his characters up and out on differing branches to be dispersed as seeds. We the readers are the lucky recipients of these seeds. Like fertile soil we can nurture these gifts and bring them to fruition in our own lives. ~c.h.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief is the story Liesel Meminger, a young German girl who is adopted by a foster family just as Hitler’s reign of terror begins. “Death” is the narrator of her story. At first I found this a bit oft putting if not uncomfortable. However as I followed Liesel’s story, I realized that “Death” has a unique perspective. He sees both our evil and violent nature yet marvels at our compassion. At the end, he wonders how humanity can be “so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant” His removed but passionate interest in the dichotomy of humanity gave me some needed distance from the violence and horror of the time.
Death also sees time less linearly than humans do. As a result, he often gets ahead of the story giving the reader hints of what is to come without fleshing out the details. As a reader this only peaked my interest. I was curious and wanted to know how things would unfold. This wider view of time, also allows Death to fill in the details of German life without judgement. We meet the people in Liesel’s life through Death’s dispassionate observations: her beloved, accordion playing “Papa;” her sardonic, foul mouthed “Mama;” her thrill seeking best friend, Rudy; the mysteriously reclusive, mayor’s wife; and sensitive Max the Jewish son of a friend from Papa’s past. Through the lives of these characters, we are shown what life was like for the German people under Hitler’s brutal regime.
Like the readers of this story, we know how our own stories will end. While the details are not clear yet, each of us knows we will die. We can dread it or try to ignore it, but there is no escaping our inevitable demise. I wonder now if this isn’t the real message of Liesel’s story. Perhaps, Death is reminding us not of our end but of our living. Like a reader, we must turn our own pages to find out what comes next in our story. Our lives, like Liesel’s are filled with rich characters, adventures, stories, unexpected turns, and inevitable pain or struggles to overcome. Liesel, The Book Thief, reminds us to be curious and open to the wonder of what will happen in our next chapter. She urges us to be curious and brave. So why not turn the page? ~c.h.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
“An American Marriage” is the story of Roy and Celestial’s marriage, but it is also in many ways the story of every marriage. Roy & Celestial were married for only 18 months when Roy is falsely accused of a crime during a visit to his small hometown in Louisiana. Celestial a budding artist must return to their home in Atlanta alone. Suddenly, this young couple must subsist on letters and supervised visits while Celestial’s uncle works to free Roy from a twelve year prison sentence. Jones deftly tells the story through their letters and separated lives.
In a recent interview with the author, Tayari Jones, Jeffrey Brown asked about the title. “That’s a big title, right?” When Jones’ editor suggested the title, she balked, saying it sounded like it was “about white people living in Connecticut.” However, her editor challenged her.
“If you feel that this title doesn’t represent your work, I will support you in changing it. But if you’re afraid of stepping into the world of big ideas, if you’re afraid that your novel cannot support the weight of the claim of an American story,” he says, “I really implore you to rethink it.”
Happily, she listened to him, because Celestial & Roy’s story is indeed an American story. Sadly, it is an America where black Americans are disproportionally incarcerated and falsely accused. Yet, I am glad her editor wisely prevailed, because the book also asks the big questions that inevitably come up in any relationship. How do we stand together and yet stand alone in our own right? How do I share my life without losing myself? Are my struggles intrinsically my spouse’s struggles? Must I bear their burdens as well as my own? When Roy writes from prison, “I am innocent.” Celestial writes back, “I am innocent too.” So many hard truths are conveyed in those few spare lines.
Marriage is often a tender, tentative dance of coming together and dancing apart. Tayari Jones creatively weaves these universal struggles into Celestial & Roy’s unique story and in doing so reminds us of the “big ideas” that connect us all. ~c.h. 4/5/18
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body: by Roxane Gay
This was a tough "read" or I suppose I should write "listen," because I listened to the audio version read by the author. It was tough because of the horrible incident Ms. Gay endured as a young girl. While I understood why she ate and became overweight, I wearied of her self loathing and wanted a tidy, happy ending like the close of a weight watcher's commercial. Alas, real life doesn't often offer tidy or happy-ever-after endings. What Gay's story does offer is an unflinching look at her trauma and struggle to recover. In other words, it offers an opportunity to understand & empathize. I hope I will never again look at an overweight person with judgement, pity, or worse disdain. Each person carries their own pain and struggles. It was good to be reminded to look beyond appearances and continue cultivating an understanding heart for friend and stranger alike. ~c.h. 3/22/18
Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship by Gregory Boyle
I am a firm believer in the serendipity of books. In other words, a book often crosses my path exactly when I need it. “Barking to the Choir” was no different. I needed this book not because I am a member of the “choir.” I needed the “barking” of Fr. Boyle. Boyle’s humor, honesty, and deep faith delivered the perfect message for me this Lenten season.
Father Greg Boyle , a Jesuit priest, is the founder of Homeboy Industries the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. “Barking to the Choir” is his second book and like his first book, “Tattoos on the Heart,” Boyle shares his wisdom from the streets and the young people he encounters in his work. The book is filled with little vignettes that illustrate Boyle’s larger themes of compassion, forgiveness, and the sustaining power of love to transform lives. Each young person comes alive in Boyle’s unique storytelling style. I laughed, gasped, and often wept as each story found its way into my heart. I cringed at the huge burdens so many children and young people are asked to carry, but I also marveled at their courage, faith, and the power of love to change lives so deeply damaged.
“Barking to the Choir” is not only a book of hope, but a book of faith. Faith in a God who delights in us all. The “choir” is simply asked to find that same delight in each other. Fr. Boyle encourages us in his words and actions to “stand in the margins” with the poor not because we have more or something to offer, but because the poor have much to teach us. And honestly, the“choir,” especially this member, still has much to learn. ~c.h. 3/17/18
Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship by Michelle Kuo
If you read only one book this year, please consider this one. Kuo offers powerful insights into our history; issues of race and class; pedagogy; the value of teaching through literature & writing; and our educational and “justice” systems. Yet, she delicately threads these heavy topics through the tender story of her student Patrick and their unlikely friendship. At the very least, it should be required reading for all teachers if not all Americans.~c.h. 8/10/17
Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver
Just about a year ago, my well read sister gave me Upstream, a collection of Mary Oliver’s essays. She knew how much I loved Oliver’s poems so it was a thoughtful gamble that I would enjoy her essays as well. She was spot on, and Upstream is now a treasured book.
While the book is only 175 pages, I sipped Oliver’s essays slowly taking almost a year to read through them all. Like her poems, each essay is a little jewel unto itself filled with wonder, noticing, and wisdom. As often happens with books I love, this one too was marked up with hearts and brackets where I lingered over the words. In my slow stroll, I discovered that Oliver’s writing is informed by the works of the “great ones:” Poe, Whitman, Shelley, Wordsworth, Emerson, and others. As she writes, these authors taught her “to enjoy, to question-never to assume or trample.”
Yet, It is Oliver herself who is indelibly imprinted in each essay. “Ropes” the story of the runaway dog, Sammy, was notably one of my favorites. Her delight in this Houdini hound was evident. However, it was the gifts that Sammy brought with all his leave taking that stayed with me. “Building a House” offered insights into Oliver and why she writes. As she says of the hodgepodge house she built with a wood scraps and found treasures, “I built it to build it.” Likewise, she walks attentively through her world and builds poems and essays with what she finds.
Finally, it is Oliver’s connection with nature that threads through these essays. The natural world is her touchstone, and she reminds us again, and again to pay attention to our own connections to this world. “I would say there are a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and chances are one.” I suppose it is the wonder and delight she finds in the world that keep Oliver writing and moving upstream. It seems we not only need the “great ones,” but also Mary Oliver’s work to show us the joy, the wonder, and the magical connective tissue that binds us all. ~c.h. 3/13/18no