Philadelphia Books

I decided to read a series of books set in Philly after reading about an exciting new thriller called Long Bright River by Liz Moore which also deals with the opioid drug crisis.

The heroine is a young insecure police officer, Mickey, who is raising her 5 year-old son alone. Meanwhile, her only sister, Kacey has gone missing. Kacey has a history of drug abuse and, to add to Mickey’s fears, a serial killer is targeting young women who are on the street.

It’s easy to identify with Mickey as she certainly doesn’t have it all together and makes some wrong turns before the surprise conclusion. All in all, it is a good read!

The second book was one I picked up in Los Angeles last in January when I went to Barnes and Nobles with Try and Yukie! Americanah is a book by NIgerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche.

She writes about the immigrant experience, focusing on young professionals who have come to study at top U.S. universities. Ifemelu experiences racism for the first time when she arrives in a place where the majority is white. She draws a line between the situation for American Blacks. 

She writes of the hypocrisy of people who say they are color-blind but don’t see their own prejudices. She begins writing a blog about being Nigerian in America.

“Don’t preface your response with ‘One of my best friends is black’ because it makes no difference and nobody cares and you can have a black best friend and still do racist things…Don’t say your grandfather was Mexican so you can’t be racist..” (Adiche, Americanah p. 404)

The story takes her full circle as she returns to Nigeria after 10 years and meets her first love again. As an ex-pat myself I wonder if going home again is always a good thing. I enjoyed reading her experiences in America and thinking about the contrast with life in Nigeria.

I planned to read Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wiseman, which is autobiographical as he writes about his brother, serving a life sentence in contrast to his own successful life. I realize it isn’t set in Philly so i’ll keep it for next month.

Anyone have recommendation for a Philly book?

BTW, I am reading Yamashiro Tomoe’s fictionalized account of four years in Miyoshi Women’s Prison during the war. She was a “prisoner of conscience.”Last month we had the privilege of attending a lecture on Yamashiro Tomoe by a young Italian scholar studying at Oxford University.

Chiara Comastri lectures on Yamashiro Tomoe

Yamashiro Tomoe

Chiara Comastri has an amazing command of the Japanese language which put me to shame (after 47 years here in Japan!) And it amazed me that she discovered my favorite writer and activist Yamashiro whose books are out-of-print and little-known even here in Japan. She spoke mainly about Yamashiro’s postwar work with women in the farming community to raise their awareness and self-esteem.  I was thrilled as I want more people to know about and treasure the works of Yamashiro Tomoe.

Reading in Japanese takes time! I am committed to reading one book a month in Japanese for our Blue Stocking 読書俱楽部 Book Club. This month we were unable to meet due to the coronavirus pandemic and need for social distancing. I hope we can continue our group soon. Our prayers are with you in the U.S. and throughout the world.

A People’s History of the United States

Howard Zinn

It took me 20 years to get around to reading this book which has been printed in 75 editions by now! It is a great history of things not covered in our school books… unionizing the coal industry, women’ suffrage, anti-war protest and much more.

This updated version covered through the 2000 election, a much disputed one between Bush and Gore! Although the writer is biased toward socialism, it definitely gives us  a lot to think about.

Now I know the difference between the AFL ( a union for skilled workers) and the CIO, or Congress for Industrial Organization, a union of unskilled workers organized by industry. Sit-downs strikes in the 1930s achieved a minimum wage, a forty-hour week and child labor laws.

The red scare of the 1950s when school children were given air raid drills in fear of an atomic bomb attack from Russia is something I recall form my childhood. The McCarthy hearings, the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1950 and the Truman doctrine were all part of a widespread fear of Communism taking over hte world.

I’ll keep this on my bookshelf and will re-read parts of it I’m sure! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ghosts of Mississippi

Maryanne  Vollers

Not as well known as Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist and head of the NAACP in Jackson , Mississippi in hte early 1960s. He was just 37 years old when he was gunned down in front of his own home in 1963.  His wife and children watched him die in his own front yard.

A WWII veteran who fought in France, Evers returned .to his hometown after the war. He was shocked that many soldiers risked their lives for America, but weren’t allowed to register to vote. If a brave soul attempted to go to the courthouse and register, they were told to recite the Constitution as a literacy test.

Vollers writing pulls  you into the narrative and keeps  you reading as she tells the story of Medgar Ever’s life and also the struggle for justice. It took over 30 years to convict the white supremist killer.

I highly recommend this very readable and engrossing book that brings an era to life.  As Evers’ son said at his father’s grave in Arlington, many people remember Malcolm and Martin, but “forget the other M.” Medgar Evers should not be forgotten. He stood up for his beliefs in an era when it wasn’t yet done.

 

 

Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life

In the 1930s, the Spanish Civil War was a cause which inspired many idealistic young Americans to go and fight against Franco’s Nationalist regime. Martha was quite young but had published several pieces in well-known magazines. She was sent to Paris to work in the United Press bureau. After returning to America,she met Hemingway in 1936 and they agreed to go to Spain to cover the war for Collier’s Weekly.

Collier’s Weekly with an article by Gellhorn

What she saw there had a great impact on the young Bryn Mawr graduate. Gellhorn later married Hemingway and they lived together off and on for four years but more important , she always seemed to be in the right place at just the right moment in history.

She covered the rise of Hitler in Czechoslovakia in 1930 and was the only female journalist present at the Omaha Beach landing on D-Day.  Managing ot be among the first reporters at the liberation of the Dachau death camp in 1945, she saw things that affected her for the rest of her life.

 

Gellhorn covered the Vietnam war for the Atlantic monthly in the 1960’s and 1970’s. She always focused on how ordinary people were affected by the war rather than on military advances or troop numbers. She visited orphanages and hospitals and talked to people on the street. This gave her articles a very personal and unique touch.

 

Active into her 80’s, she covered war in Central America and kept writing and traveling. I was amazed that she traveled to Brazil to write about the murder of street children when she was 85 years old. I believe she was a strong and independent woman and I came away from this book with a deep admiration for her.

Homestead

I have often listened to Pete Seeger sing about the bloody strike at the Homestead, Pennsylvania Steel works in 1892 when the owners called in Pinkertons to put down the strikers, but I never knew all the details. Andrew Carnegie left everything up to  director Henry Clay Frick who ordered Pinkertons to come up the Monongahela river in barges and forcibly disburse the strikers. Nine workers and 7 Pinkertons were killed when both sides opened fire.

Henry Clay Frick

This history tells the story from the building of the town of Homestead to the dissolution of the Homestead steel works in 1986. Production was at a peak during WWII when U.S. Steel made armored plate for battleships and tanks, at which time the company employed over 15,000 people. Steel girders made there were used in the Empire State Building, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Workers at HOmestead around 1892

William Serrin, a journalist for New York TImes, visited Homestead during many turning points and met many of the people who still remember the steel works in its heyday. He has written a very engrossing history of the plant, the men who started it and the workers who are really the main players! errin gives the story a personal touch by delving into the home life of several workers and tells us how they coped when the works were shut down without notice. A great read!

Jack London: An American Life

 

by  Earle Labor

I thoroughly enjoyed this biography of a rough and tumble young man who made his own way in the world, travelling widely and using all his adventures to create his novels and short stories! From being an oyster pirate in Oakland to signing on as cabin boy on a sealing ship which took him to Yokohama at the age of seventeen, he was always up for any new experience. Off to try his hand at prospecting in the Yukon, he came back empty handed except for a wealth of stories to tell.

London in Yokohama, 1093

I was interested to learn about his life and especially his voyage to Hawaii, Samoa and the Solomon islands on a small sloop with a motley crew and his “game-for-anything” second wife Charmian Kittredge. They had some narrow escapes and suffered from malaria, open sores and other tropical ailments.

Jack with Charmian

Jack London was also an occasional journalist who reported on the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and the heavyweight championship fight between Jack Johnson and James J. Jeffries.

Reporting on the Russo-Japanese War, Korea,1904

 

I visited Jack London’s ranch or the small cabin they had lived in north of San Francisco. He was very proud of the ranch where he applied natural farming methods, raising vegetables, pigs and cows. He and Charmian were building a beautiful home overlooking the sea. It mysteriously burned to the ground just before completion.

Jack London, author of Call of the Wild and White Fang

Now that I know more of London’s life, I look forward to reading The Sea Wolf, a lovely edition my brother gave me some years back. I would recommend this fast-moving life story of a man who lived life boldly and fearlessly and worked very hard writing about it!

I Made It!! (75 books in 2014!)

I read five books in two weeks to catch up and just barely made it to my goal for 2014…75 books read.

To be honest, I chose some light reading towards the end,reading three mysteries that Santa brought! But I enjoyed it for a change!

The more serious books include The River of Doubt by Candice Millard, a fast-paced and exciting account of Theodore Roosevelt’s exploratory expedition to map the uncharted River of Doubt in the Amazon jungle. A great book! I felt like I was travelling along with them as they carried their boats through the thick jungle, encountering fierce natives, poisonous snakes and mutinous crew members. It was amazing to read how they took their boats over the steep falls.NOt everyone made it back. A thrilling adventure!

It took a little more effort to get into the story of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914, setting off events that led to World War I. The Assassination of the  Archduke by Greg King and Sue Woolmans tells the story of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia who died along with him. I thought the authors might be distantly related to the family because they had only praise for the Archduke and  Sophia. They did not provide an objective view and were too lavish in their praise for Sophia. She comes off as a saint!

The book goes on to tell the story of the three surviving children and their lives in Nazi Germany. It was ironic that they were not considered Hapsburgs during their parent’s life but were persecuted as beings such during the Nazi rule.

All in all, I enjoyed finding out the circumstances of this incident that changed history. I would recommend it if you are a history buff.

These are the mysteries I read:

I enjoyed these stories too! Sandra Brown’s book Best Kept Secrets,  was disappointing as it turned out to be a rather graphic romance novel instead of a detective story!

Rush to the Finish Line!

We began setting reading goals each year when my daughter used to come home for Christmas. We’d gather in the upstairs kotatsu for coffee every evening about 9:00 and  discuss the best books we’d read in the year. This began when she was in high school and continued through college. We decided to each set a goal for how many books we intended to read in the coming year.

For the last ten fifteen years or so, I wrote down the title, author and genre of each book, with maybe a few comments on a book i really liked. It definitely motivated me to read more! Now Goodreads keeps track of what I am currently reading and how close I am to my goal. My challenge for 2014 was to read 75 books! A little ambitious, huh?

I am on #68 but, with only three weeks left till New Years, I don’t think I’m gonna reach my goal. I have read a lot of good books this year though so I guess it is a win-win challenge anyway!

I didn’t have time to blog about what I read the last month so I’ll just catch up with a few quick notes!

Eighty Days:

Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History Making Race Around the World

Almost as exciting as Jules Verne himself, the spunky reporter for The World, Nellie Bly set off from New York on a ship to England. Suffering from seasickness the first few days,Nellie soon recovered and made the amazing trip in just 75 days! A monthly magazine that had heard of the challenge, immediately sent free lance writer, Elizabeth Bisland off to circle the globe in the opposite direction, hoping she could beat Nellie and sell more copies at the same time!

This is a fast-moving and readable story.

Life and Death in Shanghai     by Nien Cheng

I read this book about 30 years ago and bought it again. I know that the author was a Christian and worked for an American oil company in Shanghai before being imprisoned during the cCultural Revolution of 1967.

The rampant Red Guards invaded her home, smashing priceless Ming ceramics, burning antique scrolls and destroying everything in her home. She was taken to a detention center and continually interrogated, urged to confess to  crimes she didn’t commit. Most people broke down and denounced others to gain leniency. But Nien Cheng didn’t give in, even when tortured, even when she became very ill.

It is an amazing story of human endurance in the face of persecution. I enjoyed reading it this time as much as I did the first time!

The Cabinet of Curiosities          by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Took a break to re-read a mystery from my favorite detective writers, Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston! This on is particularly creepy and a great read!!

Nobody Nowhere  by  Donna Williams

The story of a childhood she later pieced together, an inspiring tale of a young autistic woman who managed to overcome her limitations and create a life for herself in spite of an abusive mother and absent father!

The Senator’s Wife                      By Sue Miller

Another fiction break! I got this for a dollar at the Largo  Library bookstore some years ago and finally took it to bed on a cold night! It was engrossing and kept me up till the wee hours! Good read!

Heart in the Right Place   by Carolyn Jourdan

Now this was a book I really enjoyed. I guess it is light reading. All true and a very heartwarming story of what happens when a high-powered lawyer form New York returns to her Tennessee rural home to help her father in his small clinic. The colorful characters are quite entertaining and we can’t wait to see what Carolyn will decide in the end! Definitely recommended!

The Lincoln Letter  by   William Martin

Tracking down a diary that had belonged to Lincoln is the dream of any historian. Taking place in 1864 and the present,  this fast-moving story is simply entertainment. Picked this one up at the Media PA library sale this October!

and yet another mystery!!…

Gone Girl          by Gillian Flynn

Aunt Annie recommended this,or was reading it when I visited Philly. Have you seen the movie yet? It is a story that keeps us guessing till the end…and surprises us after all!

And just so you won’t think I’ve gone soft with my reading..

A Severe Mercy       by Sheldon Vanauken

This book contain many heretofore unpublished letters by C. S. Lewis, ANd no wonder as the writer got to know the famous man when he studied at Cambridge. This is a deeply touching story that wery well parallels Lewis’ own tragic love story we can read about in Surprised by Joy. Vanauken’s unique relationship with his wife, the tale of how, both agnostics, they find Christ. An important book about love and loss and what it means to follow Him.

Well, I may not make my 75 book goal but I did read some great books! Nien Cheng, Vanauken, and Carolyn Jourdan in particular!!

Books I Read on Vacation

What is the What                 by Dave Eggers

This memoir of a young boy’s escape from war torn Sudan to a refuge camp in Kenya and eventually to America, is classified as fiction because he was too  young to remember accurately all that happened when his village was razed and he lost friends and family. The tale of Valentino Achak Deng is a true story of one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.  It is told in a  matter-of fact manner yet holds the readers full attention.

I was impressed with Achak’s positive attitude in the faceof such suffering. He retains his faith in God in spite of all the bad things that do happen even after he reaches the “safety” if America. I would recommend this book.

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion        by Fannie Flagg

I picked this up at the airport for an easy read. It is entertaining as we’d expect of Flagg.

The Book Thief      by Markus Zusak

Annie recommended this book, and so, though I seldom read novels, I settled in and took it to bed with me on several consecutive nights. It was a good companion! Set in a Small German town during the 1930s and 1940s, the story of foster child taken in by a kind-hearted middle-aged couple, this is the story of a young girl coming of age, learning to love books, art and people, only to see the uglier side of life unfold around her too.

Yet something lovely remains in my mind after reading it… something beautiful  in the human spirit that cannot be vanquished be tyrants and bombs. A very good read.

The Joy Luck Club      by Amy Tan

I reread this best of Amy Tan’s novels after finding it on the dollar cart at a used bookstore. It is so telling about how many women lead their lives, often trying to compensate for some imagined insufficiency. I suppose I identify with this mother-daughter saga as I also live between two cultures that have such different values. Values that we tryt o measure ourselves against or live up to. A truly great book!

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana                      by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Finally I found this memoir of young sisters forced to put their education on hold and be shut up in the family home when the Taliban takes control of their area of Afghanistan. Kalima Sidiqi has to step up and find a way to support her family in a society where women are not allowed to work or to even leave the house without  a younger brother or close male relative as a chaperon.

Not only does she learn to sew, to negotiate prices and carry on a business, but she is able to teach and  employ many other girls, providing desperately-needed income for many families. A brave and true story.

A House in the Sky

by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett

Captured by rebels in Somalia and held for ransom,freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout survived 460 days in captivity, part of the time in utter darkness. I don’t want to give away details that would detract from the impact this book has on the reader. I really couldn’t set it aside.

Amanda kept sane by escaping in her mind to a “house in the sky” where she relived all her beautiful memories and “met” with her family. It is amazing how positive she could be and that she survived such an ordeal.  With the shocking and sad news of journalist Steve Sotloff’s execution at the hands of his captors so fresh in our minds, this story seems very relevant today. We can gain insight into how it is for the family of the captive desperately negotiating for the release of their child with little cooperation form their government.

Amanda Lindhout, survivor!

Lindhout has since formed an organization, the Global Enrichment Foundation, to help educate young people in Africa. I think you should read this book!