Karen
A widowed white Irish American father and his two black adopted sons are at a Jesse Jackson event in Boston when they are involved in an accident. Another person involved in the accident, seemingly an unrelated bystander, turns out to be much more connected to their family than they initially thought. On top of that, the ne'er do well estranged older son (not adopted) chooses that night to reappear at home. Family drama ensues.
This is family drama, but it is very polite, well behaved drama. Characters disagree with each other vehemently, but there is no yelling, banishing/disowning each other, or even cursing. Still, the characters are interesting people and the story is compelling. The title, "Run," refers both to the sport and running for office, with a pleasant bit of ambiguity, since the widowed father is a former Mayor of Boston and would like one or both of his adopted sons to become President of the United States. My one complaint about this book is that it becomes hard to believe the eleven year old girl is really only eleven as the story advances.
A widowed white Irish American father and his two black adopted sons are at a Jesse Jackson event in Boston when they are involved in an accident. Another person involved in the accident, seemingly an unrelated bystander, turns out to be much more connected to their family than they initially thought. On top of that, the ne'er do well estranged older son (not adopted) chooses that night to reappear at home. Family drama ensues.
This is family drama, but it is very polite, well behaved drama. Characters disagree with each other vehemently, but there is no yelling, banishing/disowning each other, or even cursing. Still, the characters are interesting people and the story is compelling. The title, "Run," refers both to the sport and running for office, with a pleasant bit of ambiguity, since the widowed father is a former Mayor of Boston and would like one or both of his adopted sons to become President of the United States. My one complaint about this book is that it becomes hard to believe the eleven year old girl is really only eleven as the story advances.
I read this book because I encountered James Rebanks on Twitter and enjoyed his posts about raising sheep in England's Lake District. Rebanks writes about how his experience of the Lake District as his ancestral home, where his family has been raising sheep for hundreds of years at least, is different from the romantic vision that non-farmers have of the place. As he describes the work he does throughout the seasons, the relationships he has with his parents and neighbors, and a bit of the history of sheep farming in his part of England, you gain some appreciation of what he means. The book is engaging, even for a non-farmer. Well worth reading.
I read this book because I encountered James Rebanks on Twitter and enjoyed his posts about raising sheep in England's Lake District. Rebanks writes about how his experience of the Lake District as his ancestral home, where his family has been raising sheep for hundreds of years at least, is different from the romantic vision that non-farmers have of the place. As he describes the work he does throughout the seasons, the relationships he has with his parents and neighbors, and a bit of the history of sheep farming in his part of England, you gain some appreciation of what he means. The book is engaging, even for a non-farmer. Well worth reading.
Libertie is an African American girl and then young woman growing up in the shadow of her mother's reputation as a respected doctor and her mother's ambition for her to become a doctor too. Libertie has her doubts about whether she's cut out for the medical profession, and questions her mother's choice to treat white women despite their racist attitudes and behavior. However, she doesn't openly oppose her mother's wishes. This book is Libertie's coming of age story, set in Kings County, New York a little before and then after the Civil War. It's an enjoyable novel to read, with complicated yet sympathetic characters, and real personal conflict, in a recognizable historical setting. Highly recommend.
Libertie is an African American girl and then young woman growing up in the shadow of her mother's reputation as a respected doctor and her mother's ambition for her to become a doctor too. Libertie has her doubts about whether she's cut out for the medical profession, and questions her mother's choice to treat white women despite their racist attitudes and behavior. However, she doesn't openly oppose her mother's wishes. This book is Libertie's coming of age story, set in Kings County, New York a little before and then after the Civil War. It's an enjoyable novel to read, with complicated yet sympathetic characters, and real personal conflict, in a recognizable historical setting. Highly recommend.
The author sets out to find "the wild places" in England, Ireland, and Scotland, thinking that they are isolated places that have been left alone, but comes to believe that wildness is bursting out everywhere. In the process, you visit some astonishingly beautiful places with him (and various friends of his, especially a character called Roger) and learn about their geologic and social history. This is a wonderful book.
The author sets out to find "the wild places" in England, Ireland, and Scotland, thinking that they are isolated places that have been left alone, but comes to believe that wildness is bursting out everywhere. In the process, you visit some astonishingly beautiful places with him (and various friends of his, especially a character called Roger) and learn about their geologic and social history. This is a wonderful book.
This book is an epic consideration of parenthood in circumstances where the child profoundly challenges the parents' expectations: cases of deafness, Down Syndrome, dwarfism, schizophrenia, transgender, prodigies, children of rape, and children who become criminals are all examined. While it is a doorstop of a book (702 pages of narrative, 960 pages including notes, bibliography, and index), it is compulsively readable. Andrew Solomon's narrative is precise about difficult or nuanced emotions, but never dense.
One of the most fascinating discussions in this book is about the tension between whether to "cure" conditions like deafness, or celebrate the distinct identity that the condition confers. Solomon examines this dilemma and the nuances it takes on with each case that he considers. Is the condition a disability or an identity? Can a disability be separated from a person's identity? Would it be appropriate to grieve if, for instance, no more children were born with dwarfism, deafness, or autism?
Until the final chapter, Solomon's prose is measured and calm in its description and analysis of people's relationships to the challenges presented by their children. The final chapter, where he describes his own journey to fatherhood in light of all the work he had done for this book, is a shift to a much more emotional tone. It felt like a radical change after 600 pages of his previous tone, but was fitting to his subject matter and allowed him to sum up the wide ranging investigation of his book.
Read if you're looking for stories about people adjusting to parenting situations that are radically different from what they expected. It's mostly uplifting, boosts empathy.
This book is an epic consideration of parenthood in circumstances where the child profoundly challenges the parents' expectations: cases of deafness, Down Syndrome, dwarfism, schizophrenia, transgender, prodigies, children of rape, and children who become criminals are all examined. While it is a doorstop of a book (702 pages of narrative, 960 pages including notes, bibliography, and index), it is compulsively readable. Andrew Solomon's narrative is precise about difficult or nuanced emotions, but never dense.
One of the most fascinating discussions in this book is about the tension between whether to "cure" conditions like deafness, or celebrate the distinct identity that the condition confers. Solomon examines this dilemma and the nuances it takes on with each case that he considers. Is the condition a disability or an identity? Can a disability be separated from a person's identity? Would it be appropriate to grieve if, for instance, no more children were born with dwarfism, deafness, or autism?
Until the final chapter, Solomon's prose is measured and calm in its description and analysis of people's relationships to the challenges presented by their children. The final chapter, where he describes his own journey to fatherhood in light of all the work he had done for this book, is a shift to a much more emotional tone. It felt like a radical change after 600 pages of his previous tone, but was fitting to his subject matter and allowed him to sum up the wide ranging investigation of his book.
Read if you're looking for stories about people adjusting to parenting situations that are radically different from what they expected. It's mostly uplifting, boosts empathy.
This is a Pulitzer Prize nominated novel from 1991 about the killings of Osage people in Oklahoma in the 1920's to take over their land and the oil beneath it. It covers the same events that were covered by David Grann's non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon, but it tells the story from the perspective of the extended family of Belle and Moses Greycloud, an aging couple who own valuable land and who repeatedly lose family members in the killing. As a novel, it's a beautiful but wrenching story, with a cast of unique, likeable characters who are caught in a system that is rigged against them. As a reader, you are drawn in to feel a part of the community surrounding Greycloud family so that you can feel the weight of their grief and their helplessness to protect themselves against more loss. It's not an easy read, but the story is so well told that you will want to keep showing up to read it.
This is a Pulitzer Prize nominated novel from 1991 about the killings of Osage people in Oklahoma in the 1920's to take over their land and the oil beneath it. It covers the same events that were covered by David Grann's non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon, but it tells the story from the perspective of the extended family of Belle and Moses Greycloud, an aging couple who own valuable land and who repeatedly lose family members in the killing. As a novel, it's a beautiful but wrenching story, with a cast of unique, likeable characters who are caught in a system that is rigged against them. As a reader, you are drawn in to feel a part of the community surrounding Greycloud family so that you can feel the weight of their grief and their helplessness to protect themselves against more loss. It's not an easy read, but the story is so well told that you will want to keep showing up to read it.
This is a harrowing tale of a British Navy shipwreck off the coast of Patagonia in 1742, and the struggle of the survivors to save themselves. David Grann sets the scene thoroughly, describing how the voyage came to be planned, how the ships in the convoy got their crews, who the notable personalities were, so that by the time they set out on their voyage, you have a good picture of the situation and a sense of dread about what's going to happen to them.
Grann includes extensive notes on his research for each chapter. Logbooks and diaries from the voyage exist, as well as narratives written by survivors after they made it back to England. As Grann points out, all of these were carefully constructed to make the writer appear justified in his actions, though it's clear that almost everyone did terrible things after the shipwreck.
I recommend reading this wrapped up in blankets, with a hot beverage within reach, while a storm rages outside. Feel deeply thankful that you are not a castaway on a remote island off the Patagonian coast, and that you can read about this fascinating disaster and its aftermath in comfort.
This is a harrowing tale of a British Navy shipwreck off the coast of Patagonia in 1742, and the struggle of the survivors to save themselves. David Grann sets the scene thoroughly, describing how the voyage came to be planned, how the ships in the convoy got their crews, who the notable personalities were, so that by the time they set out on their voyage, you have a good picture of the situation and a sense of dread about what's going to happen to them.
Grann includes extensive notes on his research for each chapter. Logbooks and diaries from the voyage exist, as well as narratives written by survivors after they made it back to England. As Grann points out, all of these were carefully constructed to make the writer appear justified in his actions, though it's clear that almost everyone did terrible things after the shipwreck.
I recommend reading this wrapped up in blankets, with a hot beverage within reach, while a storm rages outside. Feel deeply thankful that you are not a castaway on a remote island off the Patagonian coast, and that you can read about this fascinating disaster and its aftermath in comfort.
