Tag: february

Warriors Don’t Cry

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Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High. New York: Pocket Books, 1994.

If you stop and think about it, 1957 was not that long ago. Think about the span of a lifetime, on average. Think about the course of history and how slowly it moves. 1957, given all that, was yesterday. While we do not have clear lines of segregation that we did back then (water fountains, bathrooms and backs of buses to name a few) we still have the invisible lines that separate white from black. If that were not the case we wouldn’t have the rash of “firsts” that we have had recently: first black coach to win the Superbowl, first black President of the United States…These firsts would have happened years ago if the invisible line didn’t still exist to a certain degree.

I cannot imagine Melba Patillo Beals’s life. One of the scariest scenes for me was when she first tried to go to Central High after desegregation was declared. The hatred and violence she described seemed subhuman, barbaric even. Could we really live in a society that contained so much hatred? The obvious answer is yes, and we still do.

True to Beals’s title, Warriors Don’t Cry is a “searing memoir of the battle to integrate.” Every day was a struggle. Civil rights were hardly observed in a civil manner. Utter hatred spawned uncontrolled violence. For Melba Beals this hatred was not something she read about or glanced at on the television. She live it in every step she took. She experienced it first hand simply because of the color of her skin. How brave of her to write it all down! How lucky for us she decided to remember it all! Warriors Don’t Cry is not an eye-opener. We have seen these things all along. Her memoir keeps it all in view.

While I didn’t find any quotes that struck me one way or another I was moved by Melba’s experience with her “own” people. In addition to whites who were having an extremely hard time accepting integration, there were a fair number of blacks who didn’t want it either. Melba was making enemies on both sides of the color divide.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Civil Rights and Wrongs” (p 49).

Hiding Place

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Azzopardi, Trezza. The Hiding Place. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000.

    I have to start by saying I would love to meet William Gedney just to ask him about the photograph on the cover of The Hiding Place. I guess Francine Kass (who designed the cover) would be more appropriate to ask of these questions. Nevertheless, here are the things I would ask of either:

    1. The girls are in the kitchen obviously paring something (apples? potatoes?). Why do they all have one leg up; why are they standing like storks?
    2. The painting of the Last Supper – was that meant to be symbolic since the girls are standing in a kitchen?
    3. There is a fourth pair of feet and evidence of a little knee behind the child leaning on the refrigerator. Who is she and why isn’t she more visible? I took this to be Dolores, the narrator of The Hiding Place. She is the youngest daughter and paid attention to the least. More symbolism?

    The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi is sad, sad, sad. Dolores Gauci is the youngest of six daughters born to Maltese immigrants Frankie and Mary. Her view on the world is both tragic and innocent. She is at once stoic and childish; solemn and naive. What Dolores sees is a family slowly dismantled by a gambling and always losing father. As her siblings are bartered away Dolores must face a grim childhood with fewer and fewer protections as even her mother’s will to survive slips away. Serving as the backdrop for the Gauci family is the 1960s landscape of Cardiff, Wales, an immigration town populated with citizens hardened enough to do just about anything to survive.

    Favorite lines: “Her fury travels down the spoon and into Luca’s dinner. I am breast-fed: I get rage straight from the source” (p 22), “As with all truth, there is another version” (p 75), and “She’ll be scrubbing the steps again, probably – it’s a job best done in anger” (p 126).

    BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “The Immigrant Experience” (p 123).

    Company of Three

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    O’Connor, Varley. Company of Three. Chapel hill: Algonquin Books, 2003.

    There is mystery that surrounds Company of Three. At face value it is the story of three actors struggling to see their name in lights on Broadway. New york City in the 1970s is a hub for creative activity such as dance and the theater and Robert, Patrick and Irene stand in the spotlight, ready as ever for their close ups. Company of Three follows their successes, their failures, their struggles. It examines their friendships and love affairs and what they mean to one another. Ultimately, it is the story of how far they would go for their careers and for each other.

    In truth, it is that friendship that has me scratching my head. At one point in the story the three friends vow to always be there for one another and someday run a theater together. They even seal the deal in blood. Yet, despite their close bond and the pact they have made, Patrick keeps some very dark secrets from his friends. Curiously, he lies continuously so his connection to Robert and Irene is questionable.

    Best quote (and why I think people take up acting): “Acting was not the departure from myself that I thought it would be, but rather a journey into the very parts of myself I thought I would rescue me from” (p 57).

    BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “All the World’s a Stage” (p 7).

    Why Things Bite Back

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    Tenner, Edward. Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.

    I first became interested in Why Things Bite Back when I thought of the title in relation to health and flu vaccinations. The more aggressively we try to fight the ills of the seasonal flu the more resilient the virus gets.  Now with the vast-reaching and rapid spread of the H1N1 virus Why Things Bite Back seems even more telling.

    Edward Tenner takes an in-depth look at the technology that first set out to make our lives easier, more convenient, and faster: technologies that include chemistry, invention, ingenuity and just plain luck. The advances science and medicine don’t come without fault and failure. It’s these drawbacks that Tenner describes as “revenges.” Seat belts that save adults but kill children, for example. The unexpected thrill to Tenner’s book is that it isn’t dry and didactic. There is actual humor hidden in the irony.

    My favorite line (for obvious reasons), “…what are we to make of stepping from office elevators into our cars and driving to health clubs to use treadmills (a feature of nineteenth-century prisons)…” (p 10).

    BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Dewey Deconstructed: 300s” (p 66).

    Fire Next Time

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    Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. New York: Dial Press, 1963.

    The Fire Next Time is a slim yet powerful 120 pages. Baldwin does not waste a single page on empty words or phrases. Every sentence is an argument for America to beware of “the fire next time.” He implores the reader to take a page from history and not turn a blind eye to it; we must change the course of racial inequality in order to survive. Even though The Fire Next Time was published not even ten years after the integration of Little Rock’s (Arkansas) Central High Baldwin’s fiery words hold true today.

    The title, The Fire Next Time, is drawn from a “recreation of the Bible in a slave song” – ‘God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time’ (p 120), yet there are several examples of such warning scattered throughout the entire book. This warning is in a couple of my favorite quotes.

    “But, in the end, it is the threat of universal extinction hanging over all the world today that changes, totally and forever, the nature of reality and brings into devastating question the true meaning of man’s history” (p 71), and “Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets ans one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time” (p 105).

    BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in two chapters: “African American Fiction: He Say (p 10), even though it isn’t fiction, and again in the chapter “Essaying Essays” (p 81).

    Color Purple

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    Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Pocket Books, 1982.

    To put this on the list is either to admit I never read it before or I don’t remember it. Those are the rules. Supposedly. Only this time it’s different. I chose to reread The Color Purple out of respect…and to get from under the sugar rush I got from other books I’ve read this month. Let’s face it, there is not much sweetness and light in The Color Purple.
    Alice Walker has a masterful voice. Just by starting chapters “Dear God” the voice evokes prayer, a quiet kind of desperation. It’s even worse when it’s coming from a child in the beginning. Most people start uttering “dear God” when things turn bad and for Walker’s main character, Celie, it’s always bad. From the very first chapter you learn she is being raped by her own father, tolerating pregnancies and beatings while taking care of her siblings, only to be sold off to a man who does exactly the same. Different man, different children to take care of – same struggles to survive. Yet, Celie is clever, strong and more importantly, resilient. She knows how to make it through the toughest of times. She even learns how to blossom when Shug Avery, her husband’s lover, comes to town. She discovers love, sexuality, and a sense of self.

    Favorite lines: “Sometimes he still be looking at Nettie, but I always git in his light” (p 6).
    “Like more us then us is ourself” (p 14).
    “His little whistle sound like it lost way down in a jar, and the jar in the bottom of the creek” (p 71). Love that imagery!

    BookLust Twist: In Book Lust twice: in the very first chapter called, “A…My Name is Alice (p 2), and “African American Fiction: She Say” (p 12).

    Powers That Be

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    Halberstam, David. The Powers That Be. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1979.

    When I told a friend I was reading this as my last February book his eyes lit up – said that Halberstam was one of his favorites, “for the sheer irony of him.” Whatever that means.

    Despite its heft (being 771 pages long), The Powers That Be was an extremely entertaining read. But, I have to confess I ran out of February and didn’t finish it in time. Back to the book: Halberstam’s style of writing is intimate. It is as if he is taking his reader into his confidences – leaning in to tell the reader secrets in a hushed, yet knowledgeable voice. His prose is not gossipy, but rather matter of fact. Yet, there is a hint of society tell-all about it. In one particular section Halberstam states Edward Murrow was “ungodly handsome” (p 40), but then does not offer proof by way of pictures or real description. The reader simply has to take his word for it (luckily I’m old enough to remember what Murrow looked like). Halberstam deftly wraps the political and economic climates around the historical who, what, where, when and why of all media giants. Events like the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, Communism, and Vietnam all played a crucial part in influencing print, radio and television communications. How the world received information changed all landscapes – political, economic, social, forever.

    BookLust Twist: Mentioned twice in More Book Lust. First in the chapter called, “The Fourth Estate” (p 92) and in the chapter, “David Halberstam: Too Good To Miss” (p 112).

    Cult of Personality

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    Paul, Annie Murphy. The Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves. New York: Free Press, 2004.

    Okay. How many of us think of a well toned guy with long hair jumping around in bright colored spandex when we hear the words “cult of personality”? Am I the only one who thinks fondly back to Living Colour days? Probably. I’m showing my age.

    At any rate, the book The Cult of Personalityby Annie Murphy Paul is compelling. Fearing it to be a dry, psychology “talk-shop” laden lecture on personality tests I read it along side a fictional psycho-babble book. Oddly enough, I found the nonfiction just as interesting as the fiction. Paul’s book didn’t need the fictional bells and whistles to be a page-turner. Paul has a style of writing that is reminiscent of Halberstam such that you feel as if you are getting good society gossip (like the details of a juicy affair) along with the cut and dried information on how a test was conceived.

    BookLust Twist: In More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Dewey Deconstructed” (p 62).

    Bedtime for Frances

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    Hoban, Russell. Bedtime for Frances. New York: Scholastic, 1960.

    Sometimes it is difficult to reread something from your childhood. I hate to admit that. Really. To me, that implies a loss of something special. I hit a roadblock when I reread Bedtime for Frances. Simply put, it is a cute little story about a badger that can’t fall asleep. She finds many reasons to stay awake: she needs kisses from her parents, she needs another glass of water, she hears a monster, and she sees a monster. The list goes on and on. This isn’t a badger only phenomenon. As a kid I can remember not wanting to go to sleep and finding a million reasons why I shouldn’t. Once I overheard my parents watching a program in the other room. It was Billy Joel talking about piano lessons. When he demonstrated the exercises he remembered from childhood I jumped out of bed and came running; for those were the very same exercises I had been practicing just the day before. But, back to the problem with rereading some books for kids. Instead of finding Frances cute or even laughable I was annoyed with her dare I say, childish antics. I identified more with the parents who wanted to eat their cake, drink their tea and watch television in peace. I couldn’t understand why they gave into every little Frances whim and request! In the end Frances fell asleep despite having a real life distraction to really keep her awake.

    BookLust Twist: From More Book Lustin the chapter, “Russell Hoban: Too Good To Miss” (p 113).

    Tracks Across America

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    dscn0495Fisher, Leonard Everett. Tracks Across America: The Story of the American Railroad 1825-1900 with photographs, maps, and drawings. New York: Holiday House, 1992.

    My father-in-law has a love affair with trains. He can’t wait for me to move out of his house so he can set up his ultimate railroad village complete with snow covered trees and a ski loving community. I can’t say I blame him. There is a romance associated with the railroad whether it’s the real deal or in miniature.

    I think Fisher’s title would have been only slightly more accurate if he had added the word quotations to “with photographs, maps, and drawings” because that’s all that was missing. In addition to an informative narrative and the before mentioned photos, maps, and drawings Fisher includes fitting quotes from Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Woodrow Wilson as well as song lyrics and poetry fitting of the railroad era. While Tracks Across America is a condensed version of the story of the American railroad Fisher makes an effort to include all aspects of the history including life before the railroads, the building period, the Civil War, Native American “resistance” (really hard to read), famous robberies and disasters, and progress with bigger and faster engines.

    One of the best discoveries was learning the origin of the phrase “wrong side of the tracks.” You were on the wrong side if the wind blew the soot and dirt from the trains in your direction. It was considered in poor taste to have a church or home “on the wrong side” but my question is this, what happened when the wind changed direction?

    Favorite quote: “…that rails were to a train what water was to a boat; and that if a bridge was necessary to take a train over a river, then that bridge had a perfect right to be there” (p 47). This was Abraham Lincoln’s argument during his 1856 trial defending the railroad against a steamboat’s claim of damage.

    BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Riding the Rails: Railroad History” (p 200).

    Inn at Lake Devine

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    Lipman, Elinor. The Inn at Lake Devine. New York: Random House, 1998.

    This kind of fiction reminds me of delicious junk food. Tastes so good going down but does nothing for you later. I found The Inn at Lake Devine very easy to swallow – read it over the course of two days while keeping up with two other books I had going.
    How to describe this book? Simple, yet not. It’s about Natalie Marx, a young Jewish woman looking to start a professional career as a chef. As a young girl she learned first hand about “polite prejudice” when her family is denied a reservation to a Gentile-only, family-run resort in Vermont (The Inn at Lake Devine, of course). This exclusion creates curiosity in Natalie and she sets out to get herself invited as a guest. Fast forward ten years and through some near incredible coincidences Natalie finds herself entangled with the Inn at Lake Devine family once again. Only this time she is all grown up and ready to face the stereotypes and the complications of the heart head on. Of course it involves falling in love with the “enemy.” Under the cute romance there is an honest commentary on what it means to marry outside your religion, what it means to be accepting of societies different than your own.

    Favorite lines: “‘I wipe the fuzz off peaches when a customer wants nectarines”‘ (p 61). Love the sarcasm!
    “Most beautiful and moving in a repertoire of beautiful and moving carols was Silent Night in German and English, by candlelight” (p 95). That’s my favorite part of the service, too.
    And one more: “‘Natalie can tell whether boiling water has been salted just by sniffing the steam,’ said Kris” (p 170). Damn, she’s good!

    BookLust Twist: From Book Lustin the chapter, “Elinor Lipman: Too Good To Miss” (p 146).

    A Reconstructed Corpse

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    Brett, Simon. A Reconstructed Corpse. Toronto: World Wide Books, 1996.

    Just to hold this book in my hands was fun. It’s one of those pocket-sized paperbacks with a loaded cover. Depicted is a foggy night. A not so put-together man walks by an overturned metal garbage can. A large brown paper package tied with white cords and blood dripping from it has presumably spilled from the canister. Among the debris is broken egg shells, a worn shoe that has seen better days and an empty bottle. As if the title can’t tell you, you know by the illustration it’s a murder mystery.

    Simon Brett’s A Reconstructed Corpse is a fun mystery. Charles Paris, a down and out actor, has been hired to play the role of a missing man on a true crime series called “Public Enemies.” Think re-enactment shows like “Unsolved Mysteries” or more recently, “America’s Most Wanted.” Charles’s role goes from that of a missing man to a presumed murdered man when body parts start showing up each week…right before airing. It’s a little too mysterious for Charles and soon he finds himself not only playing the dead man, but amateur detective on the side.

    Phrases that caught my attention: “…fastidiously groomed and languid to the point of torpor” (p 9). “he put everything grittily – he was constitutionally incapable of speaking without grit” (p 29). He shoehorned a smile on to his face” (p 31).

    I think my only complaint would be the silliness over identifying the body parts. The missing man’s wife was asked to look at the arms through plastic and she made an affirmative identification based on a fake Rolex watch. Whatever happened to DNA evidence?

     

    BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter, “All the World’s a Stage” (p 8).

    Not a Day Goes By

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    Harris, E. Lynn, Not a Day Goes By. New York: Anchor Books, 2000.

    Since I chose a book from the chapter, “African American Fiction: She Says” (p 12 Book Lust), it was only fair I chose one from the “He Says” side as well. From everything I heard about Not a Day Goes By two words stood out, “sassy” and “sexy” – two of my favorites.

    In a word, Not a Day Goes By is about secrets. Former professional football star John Basil Henderson has some big ones he’s hiding from his fiance, Yancey. But, broadway star Yancey Harrington Braxton has even bigger ones she’s keeping from “Basil”. With their relationship chock full of lies, together they make the perfect couple. On the surface they are both beautiful, driven, talented individuals, but beneath those perfect facades hides homosexualty, a child out of wedlock, greed and old lovers who refuse to go away. Sexuality and sin ooze from nearly every page. Definitely a guilty-pleasure read! 

    Favorite line, “I still got my tough-guy swagger (when needed). The only difference between two years ago and today is I realize that a tough-guy swagger looks just as dumb as a robe and halo” (p 11).

    BookLust Twist: As before mentioned, from Book Lust in the chapter called, “African American Fiction: He Says” (p 11).

    Fool

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    Dillen, Frederick G. Fool. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 1999.

    Fool is the kind of book that initially makes you squirm. Its main character, Barnaby Griswold is such the train wreck that you cannot help but be embarrassed by him, and worse, for him. You pity him because he is the epitomy of loser in addition to fool. He cheats. He steals. What he does not have in morality he makes up in enormous ego. Middle aged and homeless. Paunchy and divorced, Barnaby seems like the ultimate lost cause. While the book has a predictable ending and there are no stun-the-reader moments you cannot help but fall in love with Barnaby and root for him as the underdog, even in his worst moments. Sort of like the Cardinals in the superbowl…

    Favorite quote: “Then he flared his shins to bend his knees, because evoking the gym on a good evening made him feel like an athlete” (p 132).

    BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust twice. In the chapter called, “Friend Makers” (p 95) and in the chapter called, “You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover” (p 238).

    Good Patient

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    Duisberg, Kristin Waterfield. The Good Patient. New York: St Martin’s Press, 2003.

    I am a sucker for first books. I seriously love that first attempt that gets published; the I-Made-It book. The Good Patient is not only Waterfield’s first book, it’s a great first book. I loved nearly every word of it (and yes, I will get to the “nearly” part of that statement in a moment). But, first the general overhaul:

    Darien Gilbertson reminds me of Brenda Leigh Johnson only in the extreme. Like Brenda, Darien is a force to be reckoned with in her professional life. She is successful enough to outshine the big boys. Yet, her personal life is a mess. Despite having a husband who adores her Darien has this insatiable need to self destruct. If she isn’t breaking her own bones, she is cutting and burning herself. She has more than come undone. When her husband forces her to seek professional help Darien is quick to accept, thinking she can do what she’s always done – outwit the therapist and beat the world of psychiatry at its own game. Little does Darien know she has met her match the moment she sits on Dr. Lindholm’s couch. In her own right Dr. Lindholm is a force to be reckoned with. There are times when The Good Patient gets a little extreme, a little over the top but for the most part, I enjoyed Darien’s first person account of how she puts herself back together. Filled with wit, sarcasm, humor and humility, I devoured The Good Patient in an afternoon and has been put on my “read again” list.

    Favorite places: Darien taking about her own birth, “Broke my collarbone and tore a hundred-stitch hole in my mother, just to get into the world” (p 4). A quote I think my sister can relate to, “The truth is there’s something wrong with my wiring that makes me smile at the most godawful things, at the most inconvenient times” (p 28). A quote that reminded me of me, “I am suddenly angry in a way I can’t explain, small tidal licks of irritation building under my skin” (p 143).

    BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter, “Shrinks and Shrinkees” (p 221). I would have also included it in More Book Lust in the chapter, “Maiden Voyages” (p 158) because it is a worthy first book (IMHO).