Book Club: What are you reading?

[Virginia]

I have not read this one yet.

Last week I read Where the Crawdads Sing. I think it has been on the top best seller list for about 20 weeks, so I decided to give it a try.

It is about a little girl who is left alone in Marsh Lands from a very young age on. She cannot read or write because she has not attended school. It tells of how she survived and then thrived by learning to read and writing books about different creatures and things she found interesting in the Marshland. It also has some suspense in it.

[Lazarus]

I am just starting -I Am Malala-

[Sunshine]

I am just starting -I Am Malala-

When you finish it, read Ayn Hirsi’s book, Infidel. A non fiction book too — if you read a fictional account, you would think,,”no way that would happen in real life”, but it did and is!

[agate]

I just finished the first book in Elena Ferrante's "Neapolitan novels"--My Brilliant Friend, and now I'm moving to the second one. It's still holding my interest, this time around. (A year or so ago, I gave up on it.)

I also recently finished a remarkable book by Zora Neale Hurston, Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo." It was written in 1927, when the author interviewed the man who was one of the last survivors of the last shipment of African slaves to arrive in this country. The book wasn't published until 2018, long after the anthropologist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston's death.

[Cherie]

Reading "Upstairs at the White House" by West. Mr West became the head Usher during the Truman Administration (but started working at the White House during FDR's third term). He talks about the running of the building and working with the first ladies over time from Eleanor Roosevelt to Bess Truman to Mamie Eisenhower to Jackie Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson and Pat Nixon. There is a great deal of historical information shared as well as the interior reconstruction during the Truman administration when the white house began physically collapsing from the inside and had to be gutted and rebuilt. Each first lady redecorated to her tastes (the government budgeted $50,000 for that at the beginning of each administration) but it was under Mrs. Kennedy that the transition from a home and offices took place with extensive searches and furnishing the mansion with period pieces from previous administrations and the White House guide book was developed by her to offset the cost of renovations and restorations and continues to serve today as a source of income to keep the "museum" functioning. I love the inside looks at the personalities and happenings that depart from politics and showcase real people.

[Virginia]

Cherie, I read that book with my book club. That month it was right on target for me. I love history and found it very interesting and also enjoyed the inter-workings of this wonderful House.

You gave a very good description of the book.

[Sunshine]

Cherie: that sounds like a fun and interesting read! It brings to mind The Residence, an insider look by the Usher and staff of the WH residents and residence, across many presidents. It was interesting that the elder George Bush family was remembered very fondly. The Carters were described as not at all like their warm and generous image—didnt surprise me. Although I am a Democrat, never warmed to Jimmy and Roslyn...

[Virginia]

I just finished a book, which I was so sure I was not going to like, but was reading it with the book club. I ended up liking it a lot. The title is "The Call" by Yannick Murphy. The man is a Veterinarian so there is quite a lot about different animals in addition to what turned out to be a very loving, down to earth and real family.

[Lazarus]

My book club is going to read The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. I have no idea what the book is about so it will be a nice exploration. I have been reading I Am Malala but for some reason it is a slog. But I admire the struggle and reading about her parents gives a great picture of loving parents and great parenting. So I will hurry and finish before my club meets next week.

I am getting sort of lazy and using Audible more. I use my poor eyes to color in adult coloring books and find that is enough strain for them! I have almost finished every drawing in The Enchanted Forest and it has been a remarkable experience. Never thought I would or would want to do this. I have learned so much I need to write an essay about this hobby!

[stillstANNding]

Linda, I got my mom into coloring and she got her sister into coloring. At the time, Mom was in a bridge club and mentioned it there and most of the women (in their 80 & 90’s) were colorers, too!

ANN

[agate]

The coloring books they have now are a far cry from those in my childhood. I've been very tempted to try them and have given them as gifts sometimes. My DIL likes them.

I'm halfway into the second book of the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante. This story has a lot to say about the conditioning of women of my generation but it says it through the story. Nobody gets on a soapbox and lectures. It's just there in the story--two women taking different paths in their lives, one marrying at 16, the other apparently continuing in school.

[Virginia]

I just finished a very good book. The title is An Invisible Thread. It is about an 11 year old boy in New York who was panhandling in order to eat. A lady walked by and didn't give him much thought when he said "Lady can you spare some change?" So much of that goes on in places like that. She passed him by, started crossing a street that was close by, got into the street and turned around and went back. She looked and saw he was only a boy. She told him she would take him to McDonalds to eat. He ordered a Big Mac, French fries and a large chocolate milkshake. She had the same. Afterward she asked him if he would like to walk around Central Park and they did.

They went on to become very close friends and he would stop each morning at her rather swank N.Y. apartment building on the way to school and pick up a lunch that she would pack for him. He asked her to put it in a brown paper bag so people would think he had someone who cared about him. The friendship has lasted through the years. He says she saved him, but she says he saved her.

I am reading this with the book club and it is a very good selection. If anyone is ever feeling bad about what they don't have this is the book to read. It is a true story and very graphic about how people often live.

[Sunshine]

Virginia,
Thanks for the read! Check out this article and read the embedded twitter feed: So reminiscent of the book you just read:
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[Sunshine]

Yes, I used coloring books when I was very ill last year. And when my dear, dear family member was in harms way during surgery for cancer, coloring books helped save my sanity: it has a way of calming the spirit, putting you in a light trance when you need to be in a light trance.

I highly recommend it. At first, I criticized self for using it, as I am a scientist and always turned to reading books. But I was too distraught to read, and coloring was a wonderful channel. Try it, you might like it. And it will be there for you when you need it the most.

[Lazarus]

Yes, I used coloring books when I was very ill last year. And when my dear, dear family member was in harms way during surgery for cancer, coloring books helped save my sanity: it has a way of calming the spirit, putting you in a light trance when you need to be in a light trance.

I highly recommend it. At first, I criticized self for using it, as I am a scientist and always turned to reading books. But I was too distraught to read, and coloring was a wonderful channel. Try it, you might like it. And it will be there for you when you need it the most.

Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.