The Reading Room

Kala

“It takes strength to be open to life, to the possibility things will change for the better.”

Summary - Katherine ‘Kala’ Lanann was 15 years years old when she disappeared in November 2003, leaving her friends Joe, Aoife, Helen, Mush, and Aiden and the whole town of Kinlough in shock. The once tight-knit group of friends eventually go their own ways, their friendship fractured in the aftermath of Kala’s disappearance.

Begin Again

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

James Baldwin was a man beyond his time.

Summary - Begin Again (2020) looks back at the incomparable work of the writer James Baldwin, who spent decades dissecting America’s fundamental racism problem. His ideas may provide insights for us today, so Begin Again seeks to answer the question: What advice would Baldwin have on issues like Trumpism or Black Lives Matter?

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

“The sea was the first home I knew. Out here I spent my early childhood in a wild state of happiness, stretched out under the almond trees fed by brine, relishing every fish eye like precious can my toes dipped in the sea’s milky lapping.”

I absolutely loved this book. Safiya Sinclair is a poet and that is completely evident from the beautiful prose that lyrically tells her story. She evoked so much emotion in me – I laughed, I learned, and I cried. Memoirs can be so magical and this one was no exception – I felt completely mesmerized by Sinclair’s storytelling.

Son of Hamas

“For the first time, I began to question the things I had always believed in.”

Summary - Since he was a small boy, Mosab Hassan Yousef has had an inside view of the deadly terrorist group Hamas. The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader, young Mosab assisted his father for years in his political activities while being groomed to assume his legacy, politics, status . . . and power. But everything changed when Mosab turned away from terror and violence, and embraced instead the teachings of another famous Middle East leader. In Son of Hamas, Mosab reveals new information about the worlds most dangerous terrorist organization and unveils the truth about his own role, his agonizing separation from family and homeland, the dangerous decision to make his newfound faith public, and his belief that the Christian mandate to love your enemies is the only way to peace in the Middle East.

December Choices

December Choices

A History of a Burning Ozas narrative traverses almost a century of time, four generations of family, five continents and multiple languages, with the story moving between the perspectives of 10 characters (largely told in the third-person voice with a few detours into the first person during the last quarter of the novel). The result is a haunting, symphonic tale that speaks to the nuanced complexities of class and trauma for this particular family.

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

We have created a caste system in this country, with African Americans kept exploited and geographically separate by racially explicit government policies. Although most of these policies are now off the books, they have never been remedied and their effects endure.

This book is IMPORTANT. It is books like this that inspire me to get educated and VOTE (photo is right after I voted yesterday).

Summary - Rothstein calls upon his readers and American society at large to look at our countrys history of racist practices head-on. With detailed specific examples and carefully tracked source material, Rothstein explores the forgotten depths of multifaceted, often government-led, segregation that laid the foundation for many of the race-based inequities we are grappling with today.

Idea of You

Do not judge this book by its cover.

Its art. And it makes people happy. And thats a very good thing. We have this problem in our culture. We take art that appeals to womenfilm, books, musicand we undervalue it. We assume it cant be high art. Especially if its not dark and tortured and wailing. And it follows that much of that art is created by other women, and so we undervalue them as well. We wrap it up in a pretty pink package and resist calling it art.

Fresh Water

“You must learn to be generous with your absence to those who havent understood the importance of your presence.”

Summary - This tale evolves around a small graveyard in a small French town, Bourgogne. We meet an array of interesting, nuanced characters, including our main protagonist, Violette. The story of Violettes life is slowly revealed to us through her own words or through the interconnectedness with the lives of other people: Violettes difficult childhood, being born with nothing, her tragic marriage to Philippe, her daughter, her life working as a bartender, then as a level crossing keeper and finally her life as a cemetery caretaker.

Wellness

How do I even begin to describe this book…

First off, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this book. Thank you @negall for the ebook and thank you @prh for the audio – both were absolutely amazing but I ultimately ended up attached to the audio because the narrator did such a fantastic job.

Summary - When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the ’90s, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in Chicagos thriving underground art scene with an appreciative kindred spirit. Fast-forward twenty years to married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter numerous quandaries.

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

WINNER, WINNER…

Immigrants, she said. Our lives are never fair. My dad nodded. We have to try, he said. We have to try and accept our fate. My parents were always going on about fate. Sometimes I wondered if this fate thing was just something adults made up to make themselves feel better, like the tooth fairy.

Summary - Mia Tang, the story’s protagonist, is a 5th grader when she begins working with her parents at the Calivista Motel just five miles from Disneyland. Front Desk details the family’s first year managing the hotel including little daily occurrences, diversity issues and the building of community at the motel.