Category: Biography

Biography, Black Experience, Family Drama, Indigenous American, literature, memoir

Year End Summary

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In this difficult year for us all, I have surprisingly been able to read.  While certainly not at the same pace as I am used to, especially since it took me three months to read 20, five months for the next 20 – which included a number of books in the 90-150 page length – and then 10 in the past 3 months.  Either way, I made it to my goal. 

This year’s reading included a number of books, non-fiction, that captured my time.  The Library Book and The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu stand out.  Both are stories of how books formed the basis of the area they were made, and how the impact of the threats to them have continued throughout time.  Destruction of books can kill a community.  The numbers of people that step up and help in LA and Timbuktu that put themselves in real danger to save these are nothing short of inspiring. 

Inspiration also came from Young Woman and the Sea as well as The Memo.  Both Gertrude Ederle and Minda Harts are victims of the society they are brought into.  As a girl in the early 1900s, not only was swimming not in fashion, but a woman’s ability to swim was questioned.  Trudy not only broke all the women’s swim records but also the men’s.  While she failed in her first attempt to cross the English Channel, it is widely documented that she believed she was poisoned by her coach to keep her from completing the feat.  Minda, on the other hand, discusses the need for women of color to not only lean in, but to bring your own chair. 

I read about people coming into their own understanding of the place they hold in their life, their family, society, and more.  Some were laugh out loud, others brought tears, and more were in between. 

From a fiction standpoint, as I look back on the titles, all seem to be searching for a place to feel fulfilled.  People trying to connect, being brushed off, being hurt, just trying to survive.  My favorites this year include:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats: A lovely story about the strength of real love.  This book was an amazing love story, while a bit unsettling about the legacy it left his daughter.

The Painted Drum: The history of Native Americans is something that has not been valued by the invaders.  When a woman comes in to catalogue a home of a deceased man, she encounters items he stole from a tribe when he was their “representative”.  Her journey to herself and her tribe, which was called to by the drum, was a lesson in the history of a people calling to its next generation, giving strength to carry on.

Where the Crawdads Sing: A compelling story, especially the isolation, that resonated due to the lock down.  The ending was worthy of Chris Bohjalian.

The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek: The concept of “colored” people in Kentucky is taken a step further when there is a group of “blue” people that are part of the community.  A real thing, this was a genetic quirk that actually existed.  The gradation of the color impacting the lives of people is amazing – there is always someone you can decide is lower than you. 

The Queen’s Gambit: After hearing about the TV adaptation, I pick up the book.  I have no idea how this book can be easily put into film, as the majority of the book is a metaphor of a game of chess, the game in question.  The Queen’s gambit is a move to start a game, similar to the first step to life.  As the story continues, each step in life becomes how Beth Harmon approaches the game.  To her, life is chess. 

Other titles that have left a lasting impression:

Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpen

Lilith’s Brood (Xenogenesis 1-3) by Octavia E. Butler

The Great Alone by Kristen Hanna

The One and Only by Emily Griffin

Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

The Dutch House by Anne Patchett

In the coming year, my focus will be to read books I own.  The titles may be a bit older, but I feel the need to do my bookshelves and brain the favor of slowing down the pace. 

Biography, book-review, memoir, Non-Fiction

Non-fiction in the air – even with a mask on.

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In the strange world we are living in, I am amazed that I am able to concentrate at all on any book.  It has been harder than ever for me, but every few weeks I try to pick up something new.  I tried The Water Dancer, American Dirt and Little Fires Everywhere, but I just couldn’t handle the difficult topics, even if they were so well written.  I will return to them when I feel more grounded.  Instead, I have spent the last few weeks reading books of real people, living real lives. 

This first book, after having sat upon my bookshelf for years, is The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs. It was surprisingly engaging.  As A.J. went through his quest to learn more traditions and live closer to the letters of the biblical law, I saw a man striving to find himself in so many ways.  This was just the method he was currently using.  I saw in myself the understanding I have always tried to have around religious rules, separating those from traditions and determining what these meant and why I would either to continue to observe it or not.  I felt light after reading this.  Somehow closer to myself and the “greater being” I believe in. 

After finishing this book, I found The Library Book by Susan Orleans.  I was expecting a novel, and jumped right in.  This is absolutely not a novel.  I found an intriguing story of how the Los Angeles Central Library was created and grew, only to be devastated by fire in the 1980s.  Hearing the story as we are taken through the halls of the rebuilt library, with a mystery of how the fire was started and how the institution has changed was fascinating for a self-proclaimed library lover.  This simply highlighted the unique and special place libraries, their caretakers, and their contents are. 

I followed this up with The Young Woman and The Sea by Glen Stout.  I was drawn to this after I heard him in a book group for my employer talking about the book.  The way he explained the world of the time, jumping in and out of the space, and the context of swimming within the larger woman’s movement made me seek this out.  Learning about Trudie Edele, the first woman to cross the English Channel, was not all I gleaned from his pages. While this was a bit long with suppositions on things going through Trudie’s mind when swimming, the details on how she was instrumental in breaking so many barriers simply by being herself was refreshing and exciting.  I had never seen her in that light before, and I gained additional admiration for her ability to put sportsmanship first and swam for the joy of it.

Who knows what I will pick up next?  Could be from the library, Amazon Prime or even my own bookshelf.  I will go where the spirit pulls, and do my best to share with you some highlights.