May Read: Educated

While I have no regrets about they hysterical and wonderful book I picked up this year in the Christmas book exchange I couldn’t help but get a tinge of envy for the two folks who left with Tara Westovers’ Educated. I look forward to reading and discussing with every in April.

“Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills bag.” In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father’s junkyard. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. As a way out, Tara began to educate herself, learning enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University. Her quest for knowledge would transform her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Tara Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education offers: the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes, and the will to change it.”–

 

 

My other thoughts/suggestions:

Margaret Atwoods “The Handmaid’s Tale”

or “Heavy” by Kiese Laymon:

Valentine’s Book Club

From Bonnie:

Hi Girls!  I’ve been thinking about what to serve for a Valentine’s meal for some time and finally have settled on a modified version of a ratatouille, a vegetable medley, which I found it in Isabel Allende’s 1998 book, Aphrodite, A Memoir of the Senses.  This is what her friend, Shekter, serves to Annette, the woman of his erotic dreams, whenever she comes to visit.  You will each have to evaluate it efficacy on your own as an aphrodisiac!  I will likely serve it with rice or quinoa and perhaps a few seductive oysters.  For sides I suggest the usual: appetizers, salads, bread, wine and desserts, either with or without hints of romance!

Kim Oh -Fruit Salad

Katherine _Appetizer

June -Hummus

Donna -Desert

Kim Hall -Green Salad

Caroline & Elizabeth -Bubbles & Bread

April Read: “Behold the Dreamers”

Behold the Dreamers  by Imbolo Mbue

A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream—the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy

New York Times Bestseller • Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award • long listed for the PEN/Open Book Award • An ALA Notable Book 2017

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY

NPR • The New York Times Book Review • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Chicago Public Library • BookPage • Refinery29 • Kirkus Reviews

Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades.

When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

Also proposed:

Educated by Tara Westover

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel