____________________________________

Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation

3.5

Unknown by many, this is the story of the dinner between President Theodore Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington at the White House. The year was 1901 and until then, no black person had sat down and dined in the White House with the President. This was unheard of. The premise was that once you allowed a black man to dine at the table of a white man, least of all a President, the next thing you know the black man will be marrying a white girl. Although segregation was no longer legal in the country, the Black Race knew its place and what was acceptable. After the infamous dinner, the division between the races became more apparent once again, and segregation was legal to the States that chose to segregate.

The book parallels the lives of these two men. It begins with Booker T. growing up in slavery, and Teddy growing up in a wealthy family in NYC. As they get older, it tells of their lives in school, college, then into adulthood.

Booker T. became very successful building a college in Tuskegee. He started out in an abandoned church and through the hard work of his students and himself, built the University brick by brick. Booker T. wrote an autobiography titled, "Up From Slavery", which attracted the attention of donors. One was Andrew Carnegie who donated a library to the college. To attract other donors, Booker T. asked the then Vice President, T.R., to come to the South to meet various people. T.R. thought it was a good idea to establish a political toehold in the South. He also wanted to visit there since his mother was born on a plantation right outside of Montgomery.

Before he was able to go,  President McKinley was shot and later died. T.R. was now the President of the United States. Since he had already established a relationship with Booker T., their friendship, respect, and support continued. Booker T. advised T.R. as to which black politicians and men would make good judges and hold seats in Congress. He told T.R. of the social unjust and lynchings in the South. Together the two men fought to change the practices of the South and to fight for equality. After the dinner, when  T.R. found a very qualified black man for an appointment, Senator Tillman, a white supremest, fought for 3 years against the nomination. 

A wonderful read.

2.75

Theo Decker, 13, and his mother, were on their way to a meeting with Theo's Principal.  Since they had a little extra time, his mother decided to go into the NYC museum to check out an exhibit. While viewing the painting, 'The Goldfinch', Theo becomes enamored with a little girl with red hair. As his mother moves on, he stays behind to be near the girl. In a flash, there is an explosion. Theo awakens to see the destruction and smoke around him. He eyes the elderly man who was holding the red hair girl's hand and goes over to him. The man, Welty, is severely injured. He hands Theo his ring, points out the Goldfinch, and gives him the name to take his belongings. Theo grabs the painting and is able to get out of the building but cannot locate his mother. He heads home amid chaos on the street, but continues in hope that his mother will be home when he gets there. She doesn't arrive after several hours, so he calls a number to report her missing. He soon is informed that she died in the explosion and must now live with his father, grandparents, or a friend. Since his father cannot be located and his grandparents, whom he hardly knows, cannot take him, he moves in with his school friend Andy.  Andy's wealthy family lives on Park Avenue.

This book won Tartt the Pulitzer in 2013. There has been much controversy as to whether this book should have won.  The one big question our club had, along with many others, was, "Where was the editor?" Tartt gets really bogged down with details. She spends way too much time on an occurrence that lasts pages and only takes place in an evening or a couple of days. This 771 page book could have been cut down by at least 150 pages or so.

Empty Mansions

The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune

3.5

This is a fascinating and sad story of Huguette Clark and her family. It is also a great book to read of the history of the copper mining era, discovery of what we now call Las Vegas, and other historical discoveries mentioned in the book. 

The Shoemaker's Wife

3

It is the early 1900's in the Italian Alps, that Catarina Lazzari finds herself with two sons that she can no longer care for. She has no money and is suffering from severe depression from losing her husband in the mines, back in America. She takes the boys to a nearby convent and leaves her sons for the nuns to raise. Eduardo is the eldest and falls in to step with the Catholic Church and his devotions. Ciro on the other hand does not have much use for religion, but takes pride in his work to clean and help at the church. The nuns are quite taken with the boys, especially Sister Teresa, who in her heart becomes a mother to Ciro. A few years pass. When Ciro discovers that Don Gregario is having inappropriate contact with a young female parishioner, Ciro's girl crush, Don Gregario bans him from the convent. He wants to send him to the work farm, but the nuns make arrangements for him to go Stateside to live with Sister Teresa's uncle in Little Italy, New York City. He will help the uncle in his shoemaker shop. Eduardo leaves with him and travels to Southern Italy to join the priesthood.

Just above the village where the convent is, resides the Ravanelli family. Marco, the father has a horse and carriage business. It is he who transports the Lazzari's to the convent. His eldest daughter, Enza, helps her mother with the house and the care of her brothers and sisters. When death falls to a younger sister, it is Ciro who has to go to their village to help the church dig the grave. This is where he meets Enza for the first time. The Ravenelli's have been renting a house for years hoping to buy it in the future. When the landlord goes back on his word, they are forced to move. Marco and Enza decide to go to the States to earn enough money to send back to Italy so that the family can build their own house. Enza goes to Hoboken, New Jersey and Marco travels to California. Enza is an excellent seamstress and secures a job at a local garment factory. This is where she meets her best friend, Laura. Laura saves Enza from an assault by the boss, so the two decide to head to New York City. It is there that they are hired to work for the Metropolitan Opera House.

Enza and Ciro, star-crossed lovers since they were teens, always running into each other, misunderstandings, bad timing, until one day fate happens. This is their love story.

The Invention of Wings

3.6

Sarah Grimke was fifth in line of a family of ten children in the year 1803. She was the daughter of a wealthy father who was a judge on the South Carolina Chief Court. He was the owner of a southern plantation with seventeen slaves. Sarah mother's family was sent to Charleston from England to establish the city. She came from the elite of Charleston's families.

When Sarah was four, she witnessed a slave being severely whipped and witnessed the cuts and blood from the lashes. Sarah was horrified and from that moment on was against slavery and the inhumane treatment of the slaves. After this horror, Sarah developed a stutter. This stutter would remain with her off and on throughout her life. It would be exacerbated by stressful situations. On Sarah's eleventh birthday, she was presented with a ten year old slave girl named Hetty Hetty was known as Handful by her mother and other slaves. Upon receiving Hetty as a gift, Sarah immediately rejected her. She didn't believe in slavery and that one person could be given another person. Her mother was embarrassed and beside herself. Sarah was told she need to accept Hetty-Handful as her slave. Sarah didn't require much from Handful. Sarah herself was very independent and strong willed. She loved to read and learn. She loved to sneak into her father's library and to read his law books. Had she been a boy, she would have been allowed to read all of them  and to become a lawyer. But that was not the case for the time. She was expected to learn and become a woman, wife, and socialite.

Sarah taught Handful to read which was against the law. When writing was discovered outside in the mud after a storm, Handful had written her name and erasing it in the mud didn't work, Handful was whipped. Sarah had all her books and library privileges taken away.

Charlotte, Handful's mother, was an excellent seamstress. She made a particular quilt illustrating her life history from her mother's origins in Africa, to Charlotte's present time on the plantation. Charlotte was very stubborn and took risks just because she wanted to oppose her owners. This led to whippings and other forms of punishments.
Charlotte taught Handful to sew. They both became very valuable to the Missus and Little Missus at the plantation house. Charlotte began sneaking out at night to go into town to sell things that she had made. She was saving her own money for the future. While out, she met a man named Denmark Vesey. Denmark was a free slave and instrumental in planning a revolt in Charleston.

Sarah fled to Pennsylvania to join the Quakers since they also did not believe in slavery. Sarah became very vocal against slavery and also for the equal rights of all women. She wrote pamphlets which were distributed throughout the country. Harriet Beecher Stowe was inspired by these writings when she wrote, "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

Nina later joined Sarah and the two became well known in history for their fight against slavery and women equality

The book is written in sections of different spans of time. Each chapter in the time span is written alternatively between Handful and Sarah. The author came across the names Sarah and Angelina Grimke while reading a list of 999 names of women who had made important contributions to history. When she discovered that these two sisters came from the same city she lived in at the time, she began to discover their history. Her thorough and extensive research created this amazing, historical fiction novel. Based on facts of the sisters, her family, and others, along with creative writing of dialogue, Sue Monk Kidd wrote an exceptional novel depicting the lives of slaves at the time and the two women who fought to change it. This is another piece of history many of us do not know.

Someone Knows My Name

4

It is London, 1802, and Meena, now an old woman, was brought here by a group of abolitionists to tell her story which was why the trade in human beings must be stopped. She is also told to write her story to document her life. She begins to tell her story to a classroom of children. Aminata Diallo was a young girl of ten, when she was captured by slave traders and witnessed her parents murder.

Aminata was born in the village of Bayo, three months by foot from the Grain Coast in West Africa. She spoke two languages, Fula and Bamana, each from the tribes of her parents. The day she was captured, she had been coming home with her mother after delivering a baby in another village. Her mother was a baby catcher and Aminata had always gone with her mother. She could now catch a baby on her own. Aminata was yoked and bound to other slaves as they made their trek through numerous villages and picked up more slaves as they went. She could not understand why, as she walked through these villages, no one would help save her. Another young African boy, Chekura, was freely walking beside them. He was actually working for the slave traders. He looked after Aminata on the trek but told her if he didn't work for them, he would become a slave. This was the only way he could secure his freedom.

The slaves were boarded onto a large slave ship. Many slaves had been waiting on the boat for some time. Aminata knew the minute she was near the boat, that the smell was of death and decay. She saw slaves being murdered and those sickly and dead, were all thrown overboard.The slaves were held in the belly of the ship. At night they would yell their names and the villages where they came from. It was their only way to establish that they were still their own property. When they reached America, they were separated into groups to be auctioned off. Aminata was surprised that she saw slaves that were walking around freely through this town of Charles Town. She was later shocked when she saw her new friend, Chekura, bound and now a slave himself. He had been tricked by the traders.

3

In Monterey, California, there is a street lined with canneries. These are used for the sardines brought in by the fishermen. This became known as Cannery Row.

Cannery Row is home to the many people who live and work for the canneries. It is also home to the many businesses that support these people.

This story revolves around the main goal of throwing Doc a thank you party for everything he has done to help the residents of the Row. Doc is a marine biologist who collects sea creatures along the coast then sells them to labs, scientists, and museums. He also becomes known as the smartest man on the Row and listens to whomever needs to talk.

The novel is made of vignettes of each character or groups of characters, and how they all blend in together. You have: Doc the scientist, Mack and the boys who for all their good intentions seem to mess everything up, Dora Flood who is the owner of the Bear Restaurant and Whorehouse and is a savvy businesswomen, Lee Chong who is the owner and operator of the local grocery store, and numerous other characters who weave their way in and out of each others story lines.

Steinbeck based this novel on the actual canneries in Monterey.

"In Monterey, Ed Ricketts' laboratory survives (though it is not yet open to the public) and at the corner which Steinbeck describes in Cannery Row, also the store which once belonged to Lee Chong, and the adjacent vacant lot frequented by the hobos of Cannery Row. The site of the Hovden Sardine Cannery next to Doc's laboratory is now occupied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. However, the street that Steinbeck described as "Cannery Row" in the novel, once named Ocean View Avenue, was renamed Cannery Row in honor of the novel, in 1958. The town of Monterey has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters from Cannery Row, historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts.^[18]".

Steinbeck later wrote the novel, "Sweet Tuesday", which continues with the characters of Cannery Row years later.

3

Jean Louise Finch, twenty five, has been living in New York City. She returns home to Maycomb Junction, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch, who is now elderly and suffering from arthritis. He is having a hard time getting around and doing things for himself. He moved in with his sister Alexander who still lives in the house that she and Atticus grew up in. Atticus has his own law firm and has always been known as a very fair lawyer. Jean Louise, known as Scout to her family and childhood friends, is being persuaded by her Aunt to return to Maycomb permanently to help and continue her life there. Her childhood friend and now boyfriend, Henry, lives in Maycomb as well. He is a lawyer in Atticus's law firm.

Within just a few days, Jean Louise notices nothing ever changes in Maycomb. She goes on a date with Henry and they are spotted swimming in the river together. The next day at church, the gossip is already spreading that they were skinning dipping and the disgrace she must be to the family, especially Alexander.

Aunt Alexander hosts a tea for the women in town to say hello to Jean Louise. Jean Louise realizes from the conversations between the women, that all they have to talk about is themselves, their family, gossip, and the black race. Jean Louise having lived in New York for five years, is now used to seeing black people everywhere and treated more or less as equals. But the South is still the South, and the Negro race is still considered to be less equal to the White race in every way possible.

In the Finch house, they had a black maid and workers.They were never treated badly, unfairly, or disrespectful. Jean Louise's mother died when she was two so she never knew her. She and her brother Jem, who passed away when he was in his twenties,(it is never explained how he died), were raised by their father and their maid, Calpurnia. Calpurnia was the closest thing to a mother Jean Louise knew.

After the tea, Jean Louise was to visit her Uncle but heard of meeting at the Court House that both her father and Henry were attending. She slips into the Court House and up to the balcony where she use to go to watch her father argue his cases. She is shocked to hear a visiting speaker talk about the Negro Race as being one of less than human and how they needed to make sure they were kept separate from the Whites no matter what the law said. The fact that Atticus and Henry were there as part of the group horrified her. She then lost all respect she ever had for both of them.

Scout grew up with a father who could do no wrong. He always treated her, along with the people in town, fairly and just. Seeing another side of her father, one she did not know, threw her whole present and past in a tail spin. She didn't know which father was the real one, so to speak. It was time for her to grow up and figure out how to put the father of her past memory into the father that she sees before her now.

Harper Lee wrote this book in the 1950's. On the advice of her editor, this was not the time to publish this book. It was too relevant for the time period and could cause a backlash resulting in low sales and ratings. She suggested that Harper Lee write a book with her characters being younger. Hence, we have, "To Kill A Mockingbird". We all agreed it was the best advice she could get and indeed take.

4

The book is beautifully written. The theme of light is carried through the story in various ways. All the Light We Cannot See won the 2015Pulitzer Prize.

3.25

In 1934, a brilliant German geochemist named Ida Noddack, read and disagreed with Italian physicist Enrico Fermi's paper on elements of an atomic number higher than 92. It was later referred to as "Tubealloy" by the Project. Ida had devised her own periodic table in 1925 and discovered element 75, rhenium, named after her homeland, the Rhine Valley. She felt that Fermi's results were inconclusive and came up with her own theory and published her own paper.  She was dismissed by all. Later, Lise Meitner, an Austrian physicist who escaped Nazi Germany, was part of a team that discovered fission.

In 1942. the Corp of Engineers, went into Tennessee near the Black Oak Ridge and acquired, evicted, many farms as a declaration of War. The land was to be used as a site for "The Project". This would be a top secret city which would house the factories and the employees along with their families to create the atomic bomb. Their sister city would be located in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The city would house the army, scientists, and the many workers needed to work in the plants. Free bus service was provided for those who lived off site.The city was named Oak Ridge.

Women were recruited right out of high school and college. The pay was better than other jobs available and housing was affordable at low rents. The recruiters looked for rural women and those right out of high school because they felt these women would do their jobs without questions and they would not be curious. There was a shortage of labor as many men were fighting the war and women were eager to work and look for a new adventure away from their own hometown. The only thing the women knew was that they were not allowed to tell their family what they were doing. Secrecy was number one, even among each other. No worker could tell another worker what they were working on. In fact, they only knew how to do their job but not what it was for. If word got out that someone talked about what they were doing or asked questions, they were immediately dismissed.

The jobs ranged from sitting for hours watching gauges, looking for leaks along pipes, secretaries, switchboard operators, and teachers.The women lived in dorms and apartments. Families lived in small trailers and houses.

This is the South and it is life in the 1940's. Blacks were treated very differently there. They were not allowed to bring their children and husband and wives could not live together. They lived in huts because "that was what they were use to".

Oak Ridge was just like any other city. It had stores, dance halls, tennis and basketball courts, churches, and movie theaters. However, Blacks were segregated form these facilities.They had their own Negro Village.

The author interviewed a few of the remaining women alive for this book. It is through their stories and in depth research by the author that this story is being told. Although the title refers to the girls of Atomic City, it is a science lesson in the creation of uranium for the bomb and all those involved in "The Project". An interesting note at the end of the book is that in early 1946, Lise Meitner was honored as The Woman of the Year and met President Truman. It is reported that he said to her, "So you're the little lady who got us into this:". However, on December 10, 1946, the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics would go to Wolfgang Pauli and that Otto Hahn had been awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of fission. Many were shocked that Lise was excluded and she was listed as Hahn's junior associate.

Author Visit

We were very fortunate to be able to have Mr. Terrell come to our meeting to discuss his two novels and a novel he is working on to be published soon. It was an amazing evening.

Jack Acheson tells his story of growing up in Kansas City in the 1950's. His father, Alton Acheson, was always telling Jack about his hero, Tom Durant. Tom was the president of Union Pacific Railroad and made his fortune buying up undeveloped land cheap, then building the railroad on it. Alton saw the undeveloped land around the Kansas City area in the same way, but for future highways and suburban neighborhoods in Kings County, Kansas. A state line runs through Kansas City separating the two states and counties. Alton saw the need for future highways connecting through the two counties to make distance into the city quicker.. With an interstate, people could now move out of the city into suburbs in Kings County.

Alton did not have the money to back his ideas so he took them to the Bowen Company, (he was an "associate" of theirs). Prudential Bowen, the president of the company, had bought several acres of land in Kansas City, and had built a large shopping area and residential areas. Alton pitched his idea to Prudential then through orchestrated meetings and happenings, convincing the company and others to back him. He took Jack along with him on all his endeavors to be his cohort in manipulating or causing events to happen.

Alton was to work with Nick Garaciello, an employee of one of the investors. Nick had two children, Nikki, the daughter,and Lonnie, the son. Lonnie attended school with Jack. Alton and Nick were to go into Kings County and buy up farm lands so that they could have a thoroughfare for the highway and land for the suburbs. Nick and Alton would take their two families under the guise of picnics so they could survey the land and then approach the owners for a buyout.

Prudential Bowen's son, Henry, had a daughter named Geanie. Jack had a crush on her and eventually when his dad was doing business with her dad, they struck up a conversation. Eventually, Jack, Geanie, Lonnie, and Nikki became friends and started doing things together. Tragedy befalls one of them and the remaining three stay connected for many years.

At the same time, Alton and his family, who rented an apartment in downtown Kansas City, realized their was money to make by getting their neighbors to want to move out of the neighborhood and into the suburbs. One way to get people to move out was to drive them out. Alton began his own business providing loans to black families to be able to purchase homes in his own neighborhood. In the 1950's, there were still segregated neighborhoods. As black families began to move in, more white families moved out.

This is a historic fictional novel of any major city, USA in the 1950's. Since it is based in Kansas City though, we can't help but compare it to its own history. J.C. Nichol's was a land developer who built the Plaza shopping center which has an annual light ceremony every Thanksgiving. Nichols built neighborhoods which had clauses that no African American or Jewish people were to be allowed to buy property. I-35 and I-70 connect through Jackson County. Missouri, and Johnson County, Kansas.

It is a story of childhood, relationships between workers, a man and a woman, a father and a son. money, greed, race, and the Great American Dream.

Everything a great book needs.

When Stan Granger set out to pull in his fishing lines that day, he didn't expect to pull up a body. He had done this before, many times. The Missouri River was known for bodies being dumped in Kansas City, then floating down the river to be snagged in lines or brush. The body was a young white woman, one Stan had seen before. Stan keeps the information to himself from the police. The suspect, Booker Short, had been working at the hunting lodge where the victim, Carissa Sayers, had stayed and hunted with her father and his buddies. Mercury Chapman, one of the original members of the Lodge, had hired Booker when Booker came to town, skipping his probation, looking for work. Booker claimed to Mercury that Mercury owed it to him since his grandfather had saved Mercury's life in WWII.

While at the Lodge, Booker and Carissa become involved. Carissa's father, Judge Sayers, is very possessive and controlling of Carissa. She purposely does things that she knows will irritate her father to make him mad and to feel like she has some control of her life. Her relationship with Booker sets off a chain of events that ends with her ultimate death.

3.25

This is the story of Lily and her 'laotong' Snow Flower. A laotong is considered an old same. Meaning, the two girls are matched together being born of the same year, month, etc. They have a ceremony which binds them together for life. Throughout the years they communicate with writings on a fan, embroidery on handkerchiefs, and compose stories in their secret code called nu shu. This secret code of women's writings go back centuries.

Lily is a young girl living in 19th century China in a small remote village of Puwei. Her family does not have much, but when Madame Wang, the matchmaker sees Lily's feet before binding, she finds them delicate and small, realizing she will make a fine match with a man of better status. She matches Lily with Snow Flower to be laotongs. Snow Flower comes from a more prosperous family in the Tongkou village. From here on the girls will do many things together at the same time including there foot binding. Foot binding was very painful but essential for a young girl for her future status. Women who were not foot-bound, were generally servants.

As the girls grow older, they have families, and the change in status switch between the two girls. Lily finds out later, that Snow Flower, who she has idolized, has been keeping a secret from her and Lily's family has known this all along.

This is a book of historical fiction. It gives you a glimpse of what life was like in China a century ago for women, men, and the family. It was important for a woman to have a son. A son would stay home for life and bring his bride and raise his family in his childhood home. He would always look after his mother. A daughter was a burden. She waited on the family, cleaned, and spent her days upstairs in the women's chamber learning skills for her future husband. When she married, she would leave her home and village to move in with her husband's family to take care of them. The Chinese customs and traditions are informative, however, not all these practices pertain to all parts of China.

2.5

Mary Jo, the youngest of the Soames daughters, begins the narrative of her family on a return visit to the family farm in the 1950's located in southwest Missouri.Her parents began their life there in the late 1890's. The Soames had 4 daughters. Jessica was the oldest, then Leonie, Mathy, and Mary Jo. Every summer the daughters return for a visit, except Mathy who died as a young adult. They would gather at the farm to coordinate the time when the moonflower vine would open in the evening for the one night a year that it blossomed. Mary Jo sets the stage of the stories of each family members. Although each member has their own story, it is narrated by the author, not the family member, like Mary Jo's. Each person's section also intertwines with the other members so it isn't really only about that person.

Matthew was a school teacher and administrator. He was ruled by God, his work, and his farm. His family always came last. During the school year the family would live in town but when the summer came, they returned to the family farm to work the land. Everyone was always working during those summer months. They rose early and had chores all day. However, Matthew didn't enjoy being at home with his family. He didn't like the noise of his family. They interrupted his life and what he wanted to do. What he wanted was to be by himself in his own world. Although Matthew was a devout christian man, that didn't stop him from eying and lusting over the young women students in his school. He may not have physically had an affair, but he did mentally and emotionally. He would stay late at school to be with one under the guise of tutoring.

His family felt his absence and his wife Callie, knew and felt his emotional and physical withdrawal from their relationship. When a man traveling through town became a hired hand, Jessica fell in love with him and they ran away together to marry. Leonie, who was the perfect daughter, was perfect to a fault and always put her family in front of everyone, even herself. Mathy was the free spirit who was always taking off by herself since she was a young child. She was very adventurous and broke her father's heart when she ran away with the one student that Matthew had conflicts with all through the student's time at school. Mary Jo was much younger than her sisters. She would leave the farm and travel to New York City for her career. Callie was the hardworking mom and wife who only wanted to please her husband and raise her children. She didn't have an interest in studies, (she was illiterate), which angered Matthew.

The book does give us an insight to life in the Ozarks during the first half of the century. It was unfortunate that the book we read had a foreword by Jane Smiley. She compared this book to "To Kill A Mockingbird". That set us up to expect more than this book delivered. Recently a manuscript of Carleton's was found and has now been published. The title is "Clair de Lune."

2.5

This is a book of collected stories written by Lahiri.

Part One consists of 5 separate stories. Part Two titled, "Huma and Kaushik", is three stories. The first is by Huma, the second by Kaushik, and the third is a combination of the two once their lives reunite in Rome when they are adults.

All stories have the common theme of immigration into the USA from the Bengal region in India. The Bengali parents move to the States and the children become americanized. There is a conflict between the children wanting to follow American traditions and clothing, whereas the parents want to hang on to their traditions and socialize with other Bengali families. Once the children are grown, they marry with white Americans infusing the traditions of the two. Sometimes they work and sometimes not.

The tone and style of all stories read the same so that they flow together. I never felt a difference from one story to the other. This book is an interesting look into the Bengali culture and the experience of immigration.

3

The small town of Holt, Colorado, could actually be any small farming town, in any State, in any time period. In fact, there is never an inference as to what year this is with the exception that when you paid the newspaper carrier, you received a paper stub for your receipt. I remember these from the 1980's and before.

Tom Guthrie is a high school teacher with a wife and 2 young sons ages 8 and 9. His wife, Ella, stays in the dark guest room suffering from depression. We never learn exactly why she is depressed. Guthrie is left to take care of the land, house, and children along with his own job at the school. At school he is under pressure to pass a student who is not doing his work and is a bully. The school just wants him to graduate and leave,  whereas Guthrie does not want him to be the exception. Through out the book, this student, Russell, will cause trouble for Guthrie and his family.

Victoria Roubideaux is a high school teenager who is kicked out of her house by her mother when she becomes pregnant. She goes to her high school teacher, Maggie Jones, for help. Ms. Jones makes arrangements for her to stay with 2 old bachelor brothers, the McPherons

The McPheron brothers lost their parents when they were young and the two have stayed on the farm ever since. When Ms Jones ask them to let Victoira stay with them, they take her in. They develop a bond and relationship with this young woman and her unborn child.

The book is written without using quotation marks for the dialogue. At first you have to figure out who is talking but it doesn't take long to understand who is talking to whom. The flow of words is smooth as is the storyline. It is a simple story of a few people in a small town, how they look after each other, and how their lives intertwine.

Geraldine Brooks

3.5

In the Spring of 1996, Dr Hanna Heath, a conservator of rare manuscripts, received a call at 2 A.M. telling her that the Sarajevo Haggadah had turned up. The Sarajevo Haggadah was a illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in the 1400's in Spain. At that time, the Jewish belief was firmly against illustrations of any kind based on a commandment in exodus. Hanna was asked to come to Sarajevo to document the book, a book thought to be gone, perhaps lost forever during the book burnings in WWII.

Hanna meticulously takes apart the codex to research and repair the book so that it can be displayed in a museum. As she takes the book apart, she finds an insect wing, notices that the binding clasps are missing, wine stains on a page, saltwater stains on another page, and a white hair. Wanting to know the history of the book and the people behind it, she travels to various places and seeks research acquaintances for information on what she has found.

Each item takes us to a different century and location.
We start in 1996 in Sarajevo where Hanna begins her journey into the history and restoration of the Haggadah.
The insect's wing takes us back to 1940 in Sarajevo where the Jewish people are being round up and their books and belongings are being destroyed. Lola, a Jewish girl, loses her family to a Jewish roundup by the Germans. She fights with friends for the cause but later they are forced to leave the group. Lola is on her own. She returns to town where a coworker of her father's, introduces her to a Muslim family to protect her. In exchange, she will work for this family. Lola recognizes the woman, Stela. Lola would pick up and deliver Stela's laundry to her. Stela's husband Serif, works in the museum where the Haggadah is stored. Serif and the museum director realize they must save the book from being destroyed by the Germans. Serif takes Lola and the book to his dear friend's home to hide them both.
From there we go back into time and find the book in Vienna, Austria 1894. Florien Mittl was given the book by the museum to repair and rebind. He was very ill with syphilis and needed a "cure" from his Jewish doctor, Dr. Hirschfeldt. The new medication would be very expensive. This was the time when the Austrians were becoming very resentful of the Jews and their prominence in society. The German nationalists wanted to weed out the Jews and other foreign influences. Mittl used the book's clasps to buy his medication from the doctor.
The book is then traced back to Venice in 1609. Catholic Priest Vistorini is in charge of reading Jewish books to see if they are in conflict with the teachings and beliefs of the Catholic Church. Rabbi Aryeh is intrusted with the Haggadah to take to his friend, the priest. He believes that the priest will read it and will find that there is nothing offensive or against the doctrines of the Catholic Church.They share kosher wine, hence the wine stains.
Hanna now is investigating where the salt water stains came from. This takes her to 1492, Tarragona. David Ben Shoushan buys illustrations from a mute street boy. He is going to use them to create a Haggadah for a wedding gift for his nephew. The Spanish Inquisition is arresting and torturing Jews. David's daughter, Ruti, is given David's completed Haggadah to take to the binder. When the soldiers come to round up the Jews, Ruti escapes with the Haggadah.
A white hair is found in the book. Through testing, Hanna discovers that the hair is that of a cat that dates back to1480, Seville. Cat hair was used for paint brushes. A young African Muslim girl finds herself kidnapped and now brought to Seville to be a slave. She is dropped off at a calligrapher's studio. She was a very fine and talented artist in portraits. At that time, it was considered a sin to paint images and idols. She is hired by the Emir to paint likenesses of the Emira when he is away. She later befriends the Emira and when their safety, along with the Emira's brother are at risk. The girl and the Emira's brother, are given to a Jewish doctor. The doctor has the girl paint illustrations of the Haggadah for his deaf, mute son.

This wonderfully researched book is very involved with different characters and subplots. It is also insightful to the restoration of old manuscripts. The devastation of human life in the name of religion and purification dates back many, many centuries. When I finished reading the book, I listed on paper, starting from the back of the book, chronologically to see timeline of the book. It was easier this way to follow the book's travels. An excellent read and discussion for a book club.

3

When a cyclone hits a farm in rural Kansas, Dorothy and her dog Toto, are in the little house when they are swept up by the cyclone. They travel over many miles. The house sets itself down in the land of the Munchkins and the Munchkins thank her for killing the Wicked Witch of the East. All that is left of the witch is her silver shoes. The Witch of the North arrives and tells Dorothy to go to the Wizard of Oz to help her get home. Oz is in the center of the country and  is surrounded by a desert. To the north is the where the Good Witch lives, south is the of the land of the Quadlings, where Glinda, the Good Witch lives, and to the east is where the Wicked Witch of the East lives with the Winkies, whom she has made her slaves. On her way to Oz, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who wants a brain, the Woodman, who wants a heart, and the Cowardly Lion, who wants to be brave. They travel to Oz and must overcome obstacles getting there. Once there, they each meet a version of Oz, who wants Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch of the West.

They set out to the east where they meet many dangers and obstacles to overcome.

We all know the story, primarily from the movie. I had actually never read the book. There is so much more to the story, the towns, the people/characters, life's lessons, and what we already have inside if we only had confidence in ourselves. This was the first book in a series of OZ books.

Jamie Ford

3

Our story begins in the year 1986 in Seattle, Washington, at The Panama Hotel. Henry is observing the crowd that has gathered outside the old landmark. The hotel has a new owner, it has been closed since 1950, and items were being brought outside. The items had been once belonged to thirty-seven Japanese American families, who had left them there for storage while they were taken away to internment camps after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. As Henry watched the items come out, he saw a familiar parasol being opened. He wondered if there might just be something in those belongings that would belong to his childhood sweetheart, Keiko.

Henry was twelve years old when his father stopped speaking to him. His parents were Chinese and they wanted him to be American. His father insisted Henry speak only English in the house. Henry attends a white school, not the Chinese school, on scholarship. He works in the cafeteria during lunch and also after school. It is in the cafeteria that he meets, Keiko, a Japanese American.They become friends but Henry must keep their friendship a secret as his father sees the Japanese as his enemy. His father also makes Henry wear a "I am Chinese" button on his coat so that he won't be mistaken as Japanese. The one true friend Henry has is Sheldon, a black jazz saxophonist, who plays on the street and whom Henry gives his lunch everyday. They maintain their friendship throughout their adulthood. When Keiko's family is sent to live in a camp, Henry finds a way to visit her, via the cafeteria lady, then later through one road trip with Sheldon, and letters.

The story goes back and forth between the 1950's to 1986, where Henry's wife, Ethel, has just passed away from breast cancer. His son, Marty, is in college, and through the years, Henry and Marty haven't been close. It was always Ethel that held the family together and communicated between the two, just like Henry's parents.

This is a good history lesson of the times in Seattle during WWll, the "roundup" of the Japanese and Japanese Americans in the United States. We see the streets as Chinatown merges with Japantown. The Japanese destroy their Japanese belongings, pictures, anything that associates them with Japan, or, they ask friends to hide their belongings. Their abandoned property is sold leaving them nothing to return to. We hear the jazz of the streets and the clubs. Yes, Oscar Holden was a piano jazz musician in the 1940"s. We visit the inside the Japanese camps in California and then as they are moved East to Idaho.

In the end, things come full circle.

Kate Alcott

2.5

On April 10, 1912, in Cherbourg, France,  Tess walked out on her employer. She was hired as a servant, but she was also an amazing seamstress. Part of her duties was to design and sew gowns for the head mistress without any extra pay. She had heard a great ship, the Titanic, was leaving that day to head to America. This was Tess's opportunity to go to America and make her dream come true. On the docks she noticed Lady Lucille Duff Gordon, a world renown designer. She was heading to America for her fashion show. Tess approached her and as it turned out, Lucille was in need of a servant since her's had just quit. Tess was now employed and on her way to America. Lucille quickly became fond of Tess and had her move from steerage, to first class so she could be near Lucille. Of course the pretense was so that she would be there when Lucille needed her. She ran hot and cold with Tess but this was her way of manipulating her. On board, Tess met two men, Jim Bonney, a seaman, and Jack Bremerton, an older, twice divorced business man. Four nights into the trip, the Titanic hits an iceberg. There is a panic to get into lifeboats and Lady Lucille manages to get herself, her husband Cosmo, and just a few others into a boat then demands the sailors take off. Their boat was barely filled. Tess finds herself in a boat with Molly Brown, a strong business woman, and the two are the only ones who know how to row their boat. As the boats row away, they can only watch the ship sink as they listen to the final screams of the people still on the boat and now in the water. Of all the lifeboats, only one boat tried to go back to pick up any survivors. The ship Carpathia rescues all survivors and takes them to New York City.

The New York Times gets the news right away that the Titanic has hit an iceberg. No other paper publishes the news, waiting for confirmation, but the Times believes it is true and publishes the story. The editor sends Pinky Wade, a hard working woman reporter, to the harbor to interview the survivors as they get off the ship. She finds her way into a boat that is rowing out to the Carpathia with Senator William Smith. He will be in charge of the inquiry into the crash. Once in New York, a U.S. inquiry begins almost immediately by Senator William Smith.

This is the story few of us really know. We all know about the Titanic and the crash, the few survivors. But, this is the after story. There was a hearing that started in New York City, went to Washington, D.C., then back to New York.  Molly Brown, Lady Lucille and her husband Cosmo, were real. The testimony was taken directly from the Senate transcripts. Smith urged Congress and passed legislation to require sufficient lifeboats on all ships.

It is also a look into the year 1912. Woman were fighting for equal pay, equal rights, the ability to vote, and independence.. Fashions were changing. Transportation was changing. Hard working immigrants were coming to this country to better their lives. America was the land of hopes and dreams.

Destiny of the Republic

A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

Candice Millard

4

James A Garfield, the 20th President Of the United States, was shot four months into his presidency by Charles Guiteau, a mentally unstable, narcissist, who believed God had told him to kill the President.

Garfield grew up in poverty on a farm in Ohio. He loved learning,reading, and was very self motivated. As age sixteen, he left the farm to work on the canals. After almost drowning, he realized he was saved for a purpose and went back home. His mother, Eliza, came from a family of educated people and wanted her son to have the education he would need to be a successful man. He returned to school and quickly moved up in the education system, graduating from Williams College with honors. By age twenty-six, he returned to his preparatory school to become the school's president.

In 1859, when an Ohio state senator died, Garfield was asked to take his place in the election. He won. A year later, the Civil War began and Garfield, who believed in equality of all men, went to fight in the war. He quickly moved up in the ranks to brigadier general. He returned to Congress to fight for the rights of the black man.

In 1880 at the Republican Convention, Garfield was giving the nominating address for John Sherman, when he asked a simple question of what the party wanted. They responded with, "We want Garfield". He was then nominated and won the republican nomination for president. On November 2, he won the presidential election. He was now President of the United States.

On July 2, 1881, as he walked into a train station, Charles Guiteau stepped out and shot Garfield two times. Guiteau was quickly arrested. Garfield died a very long and painful death on September 19. It wasn't the bullets that killed him, but the doctors who infected his wounds time and time again with unsanitary hands and instruments.

Candice Millard brings history to life in this book. The story starts at the United States Centennial Exhibition, a worlds fair held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to celebrate the country's first one hundred years. It was at this fair, Alexander Graham Bell brought his telephone invention. Joseph Lister, a British surgeon, tried to convince his audience of the importance of antisepsis to prevent germs and infection. Few believed him. Had only the practice of antisepsis been used for Garfield, he wouldn't have died. Bell invented a device called an induction balance, which would be able to detect the metal bullet in Garfield. It would have worked had Garfield's doctor, Dr. Bliss, allowed Bell to use it on him properly. This truly was a case of malpractice.

Millard also does a wonderful job at writing the state of politics at the time. It gives a better understanding of the political party and how policies change. We learn about the life and the mental illness of a man who caused the death of a president. We will never know what changes he himself would have made for this country.

As I have written before in my reviews, this is the way to learn and understand history.

Cutting for Stone

Abraham Verghese

3.8

Sister Mary Joseph Praise came from India to Missing Hospital in Ethiopia, seven years before the birth of her twin sons. She had met the father, Dr. Thomas Stone, on the boat from India to Africa. He was quite ill and she nursed him back to health while on the boat. For seven years she worked beside him in the operating room at the Mission Hospital. All were shocked when she went into labor, including Dr. Stone, as she had kept her pregnancy hidden. The twins were adjoined at the head and had to be separated before the delivery. Sister Mary Joseph died on the table and Dr. Stone fled. The boys, Marion and Shiva, are now being raised by Dr. Hema and Dr. Ghosh. The two doctors, after ten years, admit their love and agree to marry with the condition that they must renew their marriage every year if they choose to continue.

The time period is in the second half of the 1950's during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie. The author does a wonderful job with his descriptions of multiple topics:

Political: The government politics and struggle with revolts and failed coups. The treatment of citizens and the prison system.
Medical: Since this takes place at multiple hospitals, the one in Ethiopia and later in the United States, many medical illnesses and surgical procedures are  explained and treated.
Ethiopia: The culture, food, land, way of life is vividly and sensually described.

There are multiple characters in this book. Verghese explains each character in depth beginning with their early lives until the end. Each one has a story and history.There are also many layers to the book.

Although my fellow book club members rated this book a 4, I brought the rating down because of issues I had. I don't believe Sister Mary Joseph Praise would have had sex with Dr. Stone. Although she may have had loved him,(we really don't know much about her thoughts, as she died), and her previous sexual experience being so tragic, she would not have given in to him under the circumstances. The book was very detailed and long. I have read long books before, no problem, but I do believe the editor could have done a better job. It is as if he wrote a story about every scenario he could think of. We have criticized other authors about this. And finally, I don't want to give too much away, but Marion, now a doctor studying in Boston for a period, goes to an authentic Ethiopian restaurant at the end of a street. He finds it is owned by a woman who lived across the road from him at Missing. Marion talks to her about Genet, the girl he grew up with at Missing, and the reason he fled Ethiopia. He learns that she too is now in the States and also been at the restaurant. When later Genet shows up at Marion's house, what happens there is unrealistic, especially with Marion being a doctor. It fell apart for me after that.

3.9

This is the real life story of Fred Harvey. A young immigrant from England, he worked his way up from dishwasher to owner of the largest restaurant and hotel industry along the railroad line. He employed the largest female workforce in the country, hiring single woman to work in his restaurants. They were known as the Harvey Girls. His restaurants were catered to excellent service and food. He had it down to a science so that when a train was about to enter the depot, the restaurant workers would start cooking so that the customers would sit down, be fed, and finished by the time the train was to leave the station. He bought the best and freshest foods. Since he worked with the railroad, he had access to receiving his goods quickly. He hired people he trusted and brought them up within the company, not looking outside for new help. His employees remained loyal. He introduced souvenirs and books into the depots and hotels to sell. Many books became best sellers because of this. Fred Harvey never took his business public. It stayed in the family and was always known as Fred Harvey.

Fred Harvey lost his first wife Ann during the birth of his second son. Four months later he mat Sally and was married. Two years later, both boys died from scarlet fever. Sally soon became pregnant and would eventually have five children: Fred "Fordie", Minnie, Byron, May, and Sybil. Fred Harvey traveled constantly taking Fordie with him and leaving Sally alone to raise the children. When he was at home, he was usually resting as Fred suffered from abdominal pains and headaches. For a time period, he returned to London to live so that he could recoup. While there, he visited a well known doctor and was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was now apparent that his long distress was caused by colitis and inflammatory bowel disease. He underwent surgery. At that time, almost 40% of patients died after surgery since there were no antibiotics and and the doctors did not yet believe in antiseptics and sterilization. Fred returned to the States but was still weak and ill. He survived for a few months. Ford was now in charge of the company, increasing its value by four times. Byron worked for the company in Chicago but was considered a "lazy rich", accustomed to always having money. Minnie was the one woman who was active in the company. At that time, women weren't considered to be capable of owning a business. Therefore, Minnie had to give her husband money to buy her stock in her own company. Sybil remained at home with her mother, and May married and moved to New York.
There are so many more details in the book about other family members and how they worked and fit into the business.

As I read through the book, I found myself putting post-its whenever I came upon a fact I wanted to share. This is another book where you start out thinking you are reading about one thing, only to find out it is a history lesson of a time period of our history that includes: the building of the railroad across the west, staking out free land, the Pullman Sleeper Car, food service on the trains, how our time zones were established, the beginning of the Federal Regulatory Agency, Interstate Commerce Commission and how their act of keeping railroad fares low affected the condition and upkeep of the railroads, the panic and depression of 1893, the creation of the National Park Service and the Grand Canyon, the REAL Indiana Jones, Charles Lindbergh and his international flight, the beginning of passenger air travel and their first served meals,the beginning of Howard Johnson's, Hertz Rental Car, and a brief mention of a man named Birdseye trying to create frozen vegetables. During WWI, in December 1917, the federal government took over the railroads. Ford Harvey was summoned to Washington to head the advisory board on how to feed America's troops and train passengers during wartime. The Harvey company always opened its doors to those in need.

Because we live here in Kansas City, it was very exciting for us to read about our own town and surrounding area. We still have two restaurants at Union Station, Harvey's and Pierponts.

The only negative I have to say about the book is that it reads pretty dry and tedious at times, but it is worth reading.

2.5

Karen Hollander is a powerful attorney who has written many novels. She was being considered for an appointment to the Supreme Court but withdrew her name. She has decided to write her memoir for fear that dementia may take away her memories and she wants to set the record straight.

Karen grew up in a suburb in Chicago in the early 60's. Her two best friends, Alex and Chuck, were fans of the James Bond novels and the three of them liked to reconstruct the missions of Bond in their own neighborhood. They stayed close friends throughout school and into college. As they entered college in the late 60's, students were protesting the Vietnam War, friends were being drafted into the war if they weren't in school, the Civil Rights Movement was strong, drugs were easy to access, and sex was an expression of "Free Love". Alex, Chuck, Karen, and their new friend, Buzzy, spent hours in discussion about the war, the government, officials, all in a heightened sense since they were taking drugs for hours at a time.Their discussions turned more aggressive as they devised a plot in James Bond fashion to take out the President of the United States.

Now Karen has decided to write her memoir.  Under the Freedom of Information Act, Karen requests copies of everything the government has under her name. She doesn't receive what she is hoping for and is worried there is more. She contacts an old boyfriend who works in the government to help her attain her information. In the meantime, she reaches out to her old friends to let them know that she is writing her memoir and asks them what they remember.

The story unfolds throughout the book jumping back and forth between time. This is an interesting look back into the 60's. The author being a male, did a great job writing in the voice of a woman.

2.5

Kansas City was a major player in the mafia during the 20th century. It began when Irish Jim Pendergast moved to Kansas City from St. Joseph, Missouri. He purchased a saloon in the West Bottoms, using money he won gambling, and began the biggest political machine a city could ever have. He helped his fellow immigrants and citizens when they needed food or care, but for a price. They would help and vote for the right politician who would look away at his illegal businesses. When his younger brother, Tom, moved to Kansas City at the age of 16, Jim hired Tom to help him. Tom Pendergast would become one of the top mob guys in history.The Irish Mob worked the political machine with the aid of the Italian Mob to control drugs, money laundering, politics, liquor, etc. At the same time the Mob was becoming a strong hold in the area, the Midwest desperado's were terrorizing the countryside with robberies and murders. At times, they helped each other out. At one point, Kansas City was known to have had the most violent murders than any other city, even Chicago.

The dots are connected from Kansas City, Missouri to Las Vegas, Florida, New York, Chicago, and all the way to the White House. It accounts from the 1800's up into the late 1980's.

This book is a complete history of the Irish and Italian mafia in the Kansas City area. It is well researched and at the back of the book, there is a complete list of who's who. Being from the Kansas City area, it was fun to read about the local history, businesses, streets, and landmarks. The one negative remark is that it was a dry read. I had read three different books about the KC Mob for my book club selection and they all read that way. This was the shortest of the three and most compact.

2.75

Room is the only room Jack knows. He has just turned five and he lives with Ma in Room. Room is an eleven by eleven foot space where Ma has lived for the past seven years since Old Nick kidnapped her. Every night Old Nick comes to Room but Jack is already in Wardrobe being quiet. Old Nick doesn't see Jack and Jack doesn't see Old Nick. Jack does however hear the noises Old Nick makes when he is in the bed with Ma.

Jack's whole world is Room and he lives a very structured life there with Ma. He only has Ma, and television, to teach him vocabulary, grammar, everything. He has meal time, study time, exercises, limited television time, art, etc. On Sundays, Old Nick leaves special requests for the week. These special requests consist of food and maybe a small toy or art supply. He has a few books which he likes to read over and over again. The only outside world he knows is Outer Space and what he sees as one dimensional on the television. There are no windows, only the skylight. The door to Room has a keypad for entering and leaving. Jack has no knowledge of what could possibly exist outside of the door. Ma realizes she has to get herself and Jack out of Room and devises a plan.

Jack is the narrator of the story and everything is seen through his eyes. The story is based on other news stories of kidnap and recovery. The author addresses the sociological, psychological, and physical issues that captivity play on the victims.

3.8

2.5

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was born in Montgomery, Alabama. She grew up as a Southern Belle, attending dances and attending events at the country club. It was at a country club dance where she met F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was in the service and stationed outside of Montgomery. After his discharge, they began a long distance relationship when he moved to New York City to begin his writing career. Zelda continued to date other boys, at the same time professing her love and affection for F. Scott.This made Scott very jealous and possessive. He began selling articles to magazines. When his book, "This Side of Paradise" was published, Zelda felt confident with his ability to provide for her and moved to New York City to be married. A year later they had a daughter, Frances.

As the Fitzgerald's began to make money, they spent it just as fast. They moved to Paris to socialize with other artists. Fitzgerald continued to write, but Zelda and Scott liked to party. They would become drunk and argue in front of guests and wherever they happened to be. There relationship was tumultuous. As his alcoholism worsened, her mental health became worse. She became obsessed with her ballet lessons. She had danced as a youth and wanted to dance in a ballet again. Her mental state was becoming more erratic so she went to a doctor. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was institutionalized in Europe.

Zelda was an artist, writer and dancer. While she was in the hospital, she began to write and paint again. Once back in the States, Zelda wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, "Save Me the Waltz" and it was published in 1932 without Scott's knowledge. Scott was furious as he was also writing a novel at the time, "Tender is the Night". Both books were about their relationship and life together. Zelda was Scott's muse. He used her life, letters to him, and her diary to write his novels. Without a Zelda, there would not have been a Fitzgerald as we would not have "The Great Gatsby", and other writings of his based on the two of them.

As Zelda's hospital bills accumulated, Scott was under more pressure to write for income. He published many short stories, which were his primary source of income. This increased his stress and drinking. At times, Zelda was allowed to go back to Montgomery to live while under the care of her mother, but she would eventually need to return to the hospital for treatment. Scott wanted her to have the best care. Although their relationship became very destructive and unhealthy to one another when they were together, they still were very much in love.

Scott moved to Hollywood to write for the films and continued publishing his short stories. He died on December 21, 1940 of a heart attack. Zelda died March 10, 1948 while in Highland Mental Hospital, North Carolina, from a fire that broke out in a dumbwaiter. Twenty patients died that day.

"Zelda" was written for Milford's dissertation. The research is extensive but can be long and dry in sections. It is a fascinating look into the time period of the roaring twenties, jazz era, and flappers. It also gives great insight into the love, personal, and lifestyle of the relationship between Zelda and Scott. After reading this book, it will be interesting to read Scott's novels again knowing that Zelda's own words and experiences are a big part of the novel.

3

When the author Dorothy Wickenden was going through her desk drawers back in 2008, she found a folder of letters her mother had given her years ago. They were letters from her grandmother Dorothy Woodruff who had traveled with her best friend, Rosamond Underwood.The first letter was dated, Friday, July 28, 1916, and was written on stationary from the Hayden Inn. The Inn was located in Colorado and the women had traveled there to begin a one year teaching job.

Dorothy and Ros met in Auburn, New York in kindergarten. They were together throughout their school years and both attended Smith College. At their first Smith reunion, many of their classmates were now married with children or had jobs as teachers and nurses. Neither of these appealed to Ros and Dorothy. They decided to go to Europe for a year accompanied by Ros's parents for the first few months. Ros and Dorothy lived in their own apartment in Paris and traveled through Europe. Upon their return, they attended social events, traveled to New York City to live for awhile, and then back to Auburn. After seven years out of college, they still wanted to find meaningful work and to not just settle.  In April 1916, they ran into another

2.5

This book was written in the 1960's and was based on interviews the author had mainly with suburban housewives. Women either married after high school or went to college to meet a husband. It was then expected of her to make a happy home for her husband and children, think Donna Reed or Father Knows Best,(referencing the black and white television shows of the late 1950's and early 1960's). The women were devoted wives and mothers who woke up early to pack lunches, make breakfasts, get the children off to school, the husband off to work, then spend the rest of the day cleaning the house, shopping, cooking, laundry, ironing, etc. She needed to be ready by the end of the school day to take children to lessons, get supper on the table, and to greet.her husband at the door with a drink. She had to look pretty for her husband so makeup, hair, and being dressed nicely was a must.  After dinner she cleaned up, bathed children, put them to bed, continued working until she fell into bed to please her husband.This lifestyle for these women became tedious and they felt unfulfilled. This led to depression and the women wanting more from their lives.

This wasn't true for all women. Many women had to work for a living, they had no choice. Other women wanted a career so they chose to work. The fact though was that women who did work, were not equal to the men in their jobs. They were paid less and did not move up in the company because men had priority.

3.75

A comet flies by a village in 17th century Persia, signalling misfortune for the villagers. The narrator, a young woman of 14, looks to her future of marriage and family. She enjoys spending time with her father and rug making. She has learned how to make her own dyes for the wool. When  her father dies suddenly, she and her mother are forced to move to Ishfahan to live with her half uncle, Gostaham. Gostaham is the Shah's rug maker. The mother and daughter seek refuge from the very well off uncle, but are forced to become one of the servants to earn their keep. Gostaham learns of his niece's love and talent of rug making and takes her under his care. She assists him and his workers in his work, but also allows her to create rugs of her own. He sees the talent and teaches and encourages her to make her own rugs. If she had been a male, she would have been able to work right along side of him openly. Since she was female, she had to work on her own time and stay hidden when her rugs were presented. The aunt is greedy and convinces her husband to have his niece wed by signing a 3 month contract which is to be renewed until marriage or the groom, Ferydoon, decides to end it. This contract gives the aunt and uncle money for the mother and daughter's keep.

The author takes us through the city of Ishfahan, describing the; buildings, market, mosques, beggars, smells, and colors. We learn the art of rug making; the knots, dyes, and the wool. We go into the slums where the tenants live in one room houses sharing a common area. We see the strength and comradery in the women to support themselves in a world of men. We went to a time and place we hadn't been before and we loved it.

3.5

Achebe eases us into his story set in a tiny set of villages in the 1980's.It is there where we meet key characters and learn some of their rituals, spiritual customs/values, and family lore. It is not until Part Three of the book when white missionaries arrive, bringing new tensions, misunderstanding, and ultimately, grief and loss.

This was the Nigerian's author first book and it was written in 1958. it is a fascinating intro into African Literature, showing an indigenous perspective of the struggle between tradition  and change. the book offered thought provoking material for discussion. Specifically, how a culture can be affected by outside influences and how care must be taken with outside influences and how care must e taken when an outsider offers to "help" another.

We found it interesting that the author wrote in English, suggesting that it was designed to be a book for others to read and learn from. it is included in most college World Literature course syllabus.

4