WHAT SHALL WE READ
2020 - 2021
Suggestions from BAD members will be posted here so you can have a think before we vote .... in July??? or whenever .... Let's start with no more than 3 suggestions in each in fiction and non-fiction ... if there are not enough to choose from (unlikely!) then a few more can be added .... let's make this a curated, rather than long & unwieldy, list ...
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from Andrea:
FICTION
There There by Tommy Orange
304 pages
Tommy Orange’s wondrous and shattering novel follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism.
Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
A modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice. Ayesha Shamsi lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her one hundredth marriage proposal. Then she meets Khalid, who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental.
When a surprise engagement is announced between Khalid and Hafsa, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and the unsettling new gossip she hears about his family. Looking into the rumors, she finds she has to deal with not only what she discovers about Khalid, but also the truth she realizes about herself.
NONFICTION
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain 368 pages
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.
In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.
The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family
by Bettye Kearse 272 pages
In The Other Madisons, Bettye Kearse—a descendant of an enslaved cook and, according to oral tradition, President James Madison—shares her family story and explores the issues of legacy, race, and the powerful consequences of telling the whole truth.
For thousands of years, West African griots (men) and griottes (women) have recited the stories of their people. Part personal quest, part testimony, part historical correction, The Other Madisons is the saga of an extraordinary American family told by a griotte in search of the whole story.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
by Bryan Stevenson 368 pages
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit.
Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.
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from Lori:
The Dalai Lama's Cat by David Michie 2012
It's fiction, a very light introduction to Buddhist thought and precepts wrapped into a story about a cat adopted by the Dalai Lama. Light and happy, sort of, or at least not difficult and deep.
Also,
Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery 2014
Non-fiction, story of a 67 year old woman and her hike from end to end of the the Appalachian Trail in 1955, when women didn't DO that sort of thing. I haven't read it yet, but the sample was well-written and read easily. It has a sad back-story (apparently), and has a message, but appears quite inspiring and not too deep and dark!
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From Janice:
FICTION
The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride
Joe Siple 223 pages
With all his family and friends gone, one-hundred-year-old Murray McBride is looking for a reason to live He finds it in Jason
Cashman, a ten-year-old boy with a terminal heart defect and a list of the five things he wants to do before he dies.
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb
Melanie Benjamin 458 pages
A vivid journey of a perfect woman in miniature through showboats, sideshows and circuses of rough nineteenth century America. Under three feet in height, beautiful Winnie possesses a strong intelligence and a sense of humor. As amazing fame is poured upon her for her tiny size, she only wants to be loved for herself-a desire which may never be fulfilled
The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett 352 pages
Stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one white, one black.
"Bennett's tone and style recalls James Balwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but is especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison's
The Bluest Eye."
Kelly Reid, Wall Street Journal
NON-FICTION
WALK TO BEAUTIFUL
Jimmy Wayne 376 pages
Imagine yourself a thirteen-year-old boy, hundreds of miles away from home in a strange city and your mom leaves you at the bus station, parking lot and drives off into the night with her lover.
Walk to the Beautiful will open your eyes to the hurting people around you but more importantly, to the opportunities to help others in large and small ways everyday
SUNNY'S NIGHT'S/Lost and found at a bar on the edge of the world
Tim Sultan 288 pages
Tim Sultan captures the fun and grittiness of the life of an outsider and the drinking establishment for all types of creative folks and the bars eventual decline as technology and gentrification emerge It's a story of how to live in our modern world.
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LOUIE'S SUGGESTIONS
NON FICTION
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace
Jeff Hobbs 402 pages
A compelling and honest portrait of Robert's relationships with his struggling mother, with his incarcerated father, with his teachers and friends. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace encompasses the most enduring conflicts in America, race,class drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship and love.It's about the collision of two fiercely insular worlds-the ivy- covered campus of Yale University and the slums of Newark, New Jersey and the difficulty of going from one to the other and back
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from Ann:
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan
Managing a failed seafood restaurant in a run-down New England mall just before Christmas, Manny DeLeon coordinates a challenging final shift of mutinous staff members, an effort that is complicated by his love for a waitress, a pregnant girlfriend, and an elusive holiday gift.
My friend loved this novella. A good read for December.
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.
Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country by Pam Houston
On her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, beloved writer Pam Houston learns what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it. Houston’s ranch becomes her sanctuary, a place where she discovers how the natural world has mothered and healed her after a childhood of parental abuse and neglect.
The Dutch House by Anne Patchet
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
The Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
This is an epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents, following two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a new place to call home.
My friend found this book to be multilayered and delightful.
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from Heidi:
NON-FICTION:
UNTAMED BY GLENNON DOYLE 352 PAGES
“An emotional gut punch . . . an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to
share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her
inner strength and resiliency. Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of
female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.”—Kirkus
Review
HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD BY ROBERT COLKER 400 PAGES
The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children,
six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science’s great hope in
the quest to understand the disease.
FICTION:
ALL ADULTS HERE BY EMMA STRAUB 368 PAGES
A warm, funny, and keenly perceptive novel about the life cycle of one
family–as the kids become parents, grandchildren become teenagers, and a
matriarch confronts the legacy of her mistakes. From the New York
Times bestselling author of Modern Lovers and The Vacationers.
AMERICAN DIRT BY JEANINE CUMMINS 400 PAGES
Lydia Quixano Pérez lives a comfortable life in Acapulco, Mexico, with her
journalist husband, Sebastián, and her eight-year-old son, Luca. Lydia runs a
bookstore and one day befriends a charming customer, Javier, who appears to
have similar interests in books. However, Javier is revealed to be the kingpin of a
drug cartel.
Sebastián publishes a profile exposing Javier's crimes, who then orders the
slaughter of Sebastián and his family. Lydia and Luca escape the massacre, but are
forced to flee Mexico, becoming two of the countless undocumented immigrants
from Latin America who undertake the dangerous journey to the United States,
taking a treacherous trip on La Bestia north of Mexico City.
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From Beverly:
Daisy Jones & The Six
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Fiction, 384 pages
Winner of this year’s Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction, Daisy Jones & the Six rewinds the clock
to the ’60s and ’70s, then zeroes in on the wild world of American rock and roll music. Conjures vivid imagery
by using the oral history format to provide a collage effect with multiple overlapping viewpoints.
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
Fiction, 422 pages
Sequel to the dystopian classic The Handmaid’s Tale. The book picks up the story 15 years after handmaid
Offred’s ambiguous fate in the theocratic nation of Gilead and continues the saga’s dark contemporary
resonance.
“The Giver of Stars”
by Jojo Moyes
Fiction, 400 pages
From Reese Witherspoon's list: “For years I’ve been a huge Jojo Moyes fan. Her characters are so compelling
and y’all already know how much I love historical fiction! Set in Kentucky during the 1930’s, the story follows a
small group of women known as the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. It’s such a great narrative about personal
strength and really captures how books bring communities together, especially for these women who are
completely bonded by their love of literature.”
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
by Jonathan Haidt
Non-fiction, 419 pages
4.22 stars on Goodreads
Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily
assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan
Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. (This book
explains why some communities are OK with beating wives, and some are not, and they both think
they're "good" and "right".)
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from Teri
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
(Fic, 2019. 246p)
Kirkus: A young man writes a letter to his illiterate mother in an attempt to make sense of his traumatic beginnings. When Little Dog is a child growing up in Hartford, he is asked to make a family tree. Where other children draw full green branches full of relatives, Little Dog's branches are bare, with just five names. Born in Vietnam, Little Dog now lives with his abusive—and abused—mother and his schizophrenic grandmother. The Vietnam War casts a long shadow on his life….. The result is an uncategorizable hybrid of what reads like memoir, bildungsroman, and book-length poem. More important than labels, though, is the novel's earnest and open-hearted belief in the necessity of stories and language for our survival. A raw and incandescently written foray into fiction by one of our most gifted poets.
I’m attracted to the description of the poetic language.
The Overstory; a Novel by Richard Powers
(Fic, 2018, 502p)
LJ: A National Book Award winner, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and three-time National Book Critics Circle finalist, big-issues author Powers here focuses on the environment, particularly on trees and the recent Timber Wars centered in the Pacific Northwest, as a disparate group of characters are brought together to save the last of the country's virgin forests.
Kirkus: Powers' (Orfeo, 2014, etc.) 12th novel is a masterpiece of operatic proportions, involving nine central characters and more than half a century of American life.In this work, Powers takes on the subject of nature, or our relationship to nature, as filtered through the lens of environmental activism, although at its heart the book is after more existential concerns…. A magnificent achievement: a novel that is, by turns, both optimistic and fatalistic, idealistic without being naïve.
Sounds like a challenging, but worthwhile book.
New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
(Fic, 2017, 204p)
PW: The latest in Hogarth's Shakespeare series finds Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring) relocating Othello to Washington, D.C., in the early 1970s, where sixth grader Osei, the son of a Ghanaian diplomat, faces his first morning at a new elementary school, his fourth in six years. The day starts well, as Osei meets popular girl Dee and the pair fall head over heels in love. But seeing the school's only black boy woo a white girl is too much for Ian, a schoolyard bully…
It is interesting to see how Shakespeare’s plays can be adapted to different times and places. I have enjoyed others in the series.
Book of Rosy; a Mother's Story of Separation at the Border
By Rosayra Pablo Cruz
(NF, 2020, 256p)
Kirkus: The true story of a Guatemalan woman's journey to the U.S. and what happened to her and two of her children when she crossed the border. As is the case for most immigrants, Pablo Cruz's decision to leave Guatemala and travel more than 2,000 miles to the U.S. was difficult. Yet her husband had been murdered, she'd been shot, and there were threats being made on her oldest son's life. … The tale is haunting and eloquent, giving voice to a sector of society that requires serious aid rather than the discrimination and racial prejudice they too often face.
Immigration is an ongoing issue that doesn’t seem to get any better.
The Body; a Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
(NF, 2019, 450p)
LJ: The author of numerous best sellers, including A Short History of Nearly Everything, the whimsical and ever-curious Bryson uses his own body as his story here, exploring it from tip to toe, inside and out, to clarify how the body works so brilliantly and how it also, finally, fails.
I’ve enjoyed other books Bryson. His writing is very witty, and yet conveys much information.
