Tuesday, December 7, 2021



 

 TYC Book Club 2022 Season

      We are looking forward to a new year and a new season of reading. The last few years during the pandemic have not been easy at TYC, but we have continued to meet, and many of us have found the book club to be a place of connection during these difficult pandemic years. 

       Our first book selection of the new season for our March meeting is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Claudia Lewis has volunteered to host our March meeting at her home on Sunday, March 20th from 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome, but please contact Claudia ahead of time to let her know you are planning to attend.

Hope to see you at the meeting. 

Denise David and Linda Maddigan

 

 Meeting #1   March 20th from 12:00 until 2:00 p.m.

 

 Times-News 

 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a book that covers four generations of a family. We think you will find it to be an engaging book to read.

   It is the story of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family who struggle to find a home in Japan. The story is absorbing as it moves through "love, loss, determination, luck, and perseverance." The book is a National Book Award Finalist. It is described as a page-turner even though it is 400 pages in length. It has been described as an "exquisite, haunting, epic." We think you will enjoy this book.

The New Yorker recently had an article about Min Jin Lee. This excerpt may help us think more fully about why she wrote Pachinko.

Amid a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes, Lee has also taken on a new role, becoming a kind of spokesperson for Asian Americans. “It’s a very strange thing because I would rather not say anything. I would rather not draw attention to myself,” she says. “But, because I’m trained in history, I realized how important it is to be visible for Asian Americans in this country.” It’s a reminder of the first line of “Pachinko,” which reads, “History has failed us, but no matter.”

 

Note: Sandy and Kim mentioned that  Pachinko is now a movie that can be streamed through Apple+ TV


Meeting #2   Meeting Rescheduled to  May 22 at 12:00 to 1:00 at TYC.  


The Paper Bracelet by Rachael English


The Paper Bracelet is a novel by Rachel English, an Irish journalist, who writes this fictional account based on her interviews with women who had lived through a shameful legacy of the treatment of pregnant women in 1970’s Ireland. Pregnant women were sent to a home for unwed mothers where they were to repent their sin, deliver their babies, and ultimately sign away their children. 

 

The book is described as an engrossing page-turner that you will not be able to put down, or when you do, it might be to compose yourself from reading this poignant story. 

Meeting #3   June 12th from 12:00 to 1:00 at TYC 

 

Cover image for The School for Good Mothers 

School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan is a novel about a future time where parents (mostly women) are sent to government-run reform school after they have been reported for being bad mothers. It is a fast, compelling read that reminds us of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, a future dystopian world.  We will have some provocative discussion about this book. 

This book was suggested by Jenna Bush Hager of the Today Show Book Club who says: "This book is every mother’s worst nightmare written in exquisitely beautiful prose...It offers a sharp social commentary about parenthood and the vulnerability of mother."


Meeting #4   July 17th from 12:00-1:00 at TYC 

 This Tender Land by William Krueger

 

 

This Tender Land, which was recommended enthusiastically by a book club member, is the unforgettable story of four orphans who travel the Mississippi River on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression.

Reviewer, Joe Hartlaub, comments about the book:  "A reading of This Tender Land flows like the Mississippi River, which runs through the novel in a quiet backdrop. Although it takes place in a bygone era, the themes are contemporary, as occurs with the best of historical fiction, of which this book should certainly be included. You will not be disappointed with the story and will read it effortlessly from start to finish in a single sitting."
 
We are not suggesting that you will read this in one sitting, but we think you will enjoy this book. 😀
 

Meeting #5   August 21st  from 12:00-1:00 at TYC  

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

 DEI Book Club —The Personal Librarian — By Marie Benedict & Victoria  Christopher Murray | MyLO

 This is the story of J.P. Morgan's personal librarian, a woman who rose to prominence in the early 1900's, but as if that is not remarkable enough she was actually an African-American woman who passed as white. The book explores her life and contributions as well as the personal cost of "passing" in a society of Jim Crow, hangings, and incredible racial bias.  

Reviewer Pamela O'Sullivan of the Library Journal writes of this book, "... excellent ... This fictional account of Greene’s life feels authentic; the authors bring to life not only Belle but all those around her. An excellent piece of historical fiction that many readers will find hard to put down."

Author Marie Benedict explains in her author's note that she has had a long time interest in Belle da Costa Greene, but she did not feel comfortable writing the story until she came to work with an African American author, who could help her truly bring out the racism Bella endured. So it came to be that she and Victoria Christopher Murray worked together on this book, the story of an African American woman who helped J.P. Morgan build his massive art and manuscript collection. However, no one knew she was Black. 

 

Meeting #6  Sept. 18th from 12:00 to 1:00 at TYC 

Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin 

Cover image for The Music of Bees 

 The Music of Bees may remind you of Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine, an earlier book club choice. It is the story of three unlikely people who find connection and friendship working on a bee farm. 

The author, Eileen Garvin, is herself a beekeeper  who lives in Hood River, Oregon, where she sets her story.We learn a lot about bees and about friendship, as well as about the power of compassion and the courage to start over.

 

Meeting #7  Oct. 2nd from 12:00 to 2:00 at Claudia Lewis' home.

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict 

 Claudia Lewis has graciously agreed to host our October meeting at her home. Please call Claudia or Linda or Denise for directions.

We thought we would finish out the reading season with another book by Marie Benedict, who so often tells the little known stories of women. This book focuses on the life of film star of yesteryear, Hedy Lamarr.

When she lived in Germany, she was known as Hedwig Kiesler, and she attended many dinner parties with high level Nazis, who thought of her as a beautiful airhead, not realizing she was a brilliant woman who would use her knowledge for important scientific breakthroughs. Quite a remarkable story.  

If you are interested in delving deeper you may want to read other books that explore the subject in greater depth:  

Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes

The Life of Hedy Lamarr by Stephen Shearer

Ecstacy and Me, My Life As a Woman Hedy Lamarr's autobiography

 

 





 

 

 

 

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