November 2019 Cookbook Reviews

The Soup Book: 200 recipes, season by season by DK Publishing

I enjoy soup especially in the winter, but I tend to stick with the handful of soup recipes I cook over and over. So, I decided to check out The Soup Book to get some more soup ideas and recipes. I like that the recipes are organized by season as I do like to eat seasonally as much as I can. There is also a chapter on techniques like making your own stock, ways to thicken soup, etc. There is also a chapter with bread recipes since bread and soup go so well together. There are definitely some new soup recipes I'd like to try in here. Overall, a good soup cookbook that can help you open your soup horizons more.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: the New Frontier by Ree Drummond

I've always loved Ree Drummond and her show and recipes, but many of them are so high calorie that you would need to be working cattle all day to eat like that. However, in The New Frontier many of her recipes are healthier, lower-carb, etc. while still including more indulgent recipes as well. And as is her cookbook signature, all the recipes have tons of step-by-step photographs to go along with the instructions. There are definitely a few recipes I'd like to try. Overall, another great cookbook by The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond.

Seeking the South: finding inspired regional cuisines by Rob Newton

I love Southern food so I was excited to check out this cookbook. Author Rob Newton explains that while people think of Southern food as all the same there is a lot of variation between regions of the South. So, this cookbook is organized by region - Upper South, Deep South, Gulf Coast, Coastal Plains and Piedmont, and Lowcountry and Southeast Coast. Each region's recipes are divided into appetizers, side dishes, main courses, and dessert. The last chapter includes recipes for pantry basics like pickles, cornbread, salad dressings, etc. While I really liked how he broke the recipes down by region, there just weren't very many recipes I wanted to try. But there is a lot of great information about the different regions of the South and why they eat and cook the food they do in those areas.

Half Baked Harvest Super Simple by Tieghan Gerard

In Half Baked Harvest Super Simple Tieghan Gerard gives us even more delicious sounding recipes to drool over. In this cookbook she focuses on easier/more simple recipes with either few ingredients or that you can just throw in a crockpot and forget about until dinner. I really liked that in several recipes she gives several ways to make something - crockpot, instapot/pressure cooker, or stove top. That way depending on how much time you have or what kitchen tools you have you can make the recipe any one of three ways. There were quite a few recipes I want to try in here. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more from Gerard in the future.

South by Sean Brock

This is such a beautiful cookbook that I may end up buying this one. In the introduction Brock talks about his history in the South and how he got into cooking. He also explains about the microregions of the South and how the same ingredients can be used very differently in different regions, but it's all food of the South. He also talks about the importance of eating and cooking seasonally and sourcing heirloom ingredients. The recipes are organized traditionally by snacks, soups and salads, poultry and meat, vegetables and sides, etc. Brock also gives 5 different recipes for cornbread! Throughout the book Brock has sections with other tips/topics like caring for and seasoning cast iron and canning seasonal produce. Overall, there were LOTS of recipes I'd like to try and this looks like an amazing book.

November 2019 Reviews

Be More RBG: speak truth and dissent with supreme style by Marilyn Easton

This is a quick read that will inspire you to Be More RBG in your daily life. The book is broken down into 5 parts - dare to dissent, change the world, notorious, off the bench, and supreme wisdom. Each section has quotes from Ginsberg and then some tips or ideas of how to incorporate what she's talking about in your own life. Ginsberg is a HUGE role model for women and everyone should try to Be More RBG.

The Good Neighbor: the life and work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King

Fred Rogers was a pioneer in television programming for children for over 40 years. As the creator and star of public television's Mister Rogers' Neighborhood he helped thousands of children connect with their emotions and learn that they were loved for who they were. Fred Rogers grew up wealthy, but sheltered and often lonely. Because of that he retreated into his world of make believe with puppets and music - both of which would help him create the beloved Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Throughout his career Rogers would testify before Congress about the importance of public television and its funding, write several books and operas, create non-profits, and influence adults and children alike. Almost everyone he interacted with became a close friend and his dedication to friends and family were legendary - he never forgot birthdays or holidays and even in his last days worked out what gifts he wanted to leave to all his close friends. Many people who never met Rogers wondered if the Mister Rogers on TV was a persona, but everyone who knew him commented that he WAS Mister Rogers - quiet, patient, thoughtful, and caring. Rogers became a cultural icon and even today more than 16 years after his death people still quote him and re-watch episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. This is a very thorough biography of a wonderful and creative man and his impact on our culture.

Some quotes I liked:

"And he understood that television could give him a unique opportunity to marry his skills in music and entertainment with his interest in children's education. Fred saw that there could be a career opportunity that would blend his aspirations in the more structured field of education with his powerful, more free-form creative instincts. He saw the chance to be both an educator and an artist, and he knew right away that he wanted it." (p. 68)

"Silence - Fred's willingness, as a producer and as a person, to embrace the quiet, inactivity, and empty space - and his calm demeanor were completely unexpected in the television of the 1970s. They were qualities that captivated children and their parents." (p. 194)

[A memorable meeting between Rogers and a fan] "...a twelve-year-old boy who was autistic: 'I tried to get as much information from the family as I could so Fred had an idea of what their problems were. This was a mother and father, and the autistic boy was, I think, the oldest of three. He had a sister, and he also had a younger brother, all of whom, they claimed, had never heard him speak...Fred, when he came out to visit with the family, had the King and Queen puppets on his hands, and he started talking to the family, and he finally got to the boy, who was almost as tall as Fred at that point. The child started speaking in full sentences to the King and Queen. Well, I don't know if you can imagine what the family was going through at that point, hearing their son speak for the first time.'...Lynch [Rogers' secretary] rushed upstairs to get the family their own King and Queen puppets from Rogers's office." (p. 224-5)

"Academics who've studied Rogers's work often marvel at how young children calm down, pay attention, and learn so much from this television production - and at how they remain calm and centered for some time after watching the Neighborhood. Rogers himself put great care into the pacing of the program to help children slow down and steady themselves." (p. 245)

Varina by Charles Frazier (Evening Edition book club)

When Varina Howell agrees to marry much older widower, Jefferson Davis, she expects to have a more secure life than the one she had for the first seventeen years of her life. Davis's family owns land in Mississippi and she expects to live her life there. But, when Davis decides to pursue a career in politics Varina follows him to DC and enjoys life there very much. Until Davis is appointed the president of the Confederacy, then Varina's life changes drastically, often daily. Eventually forced to flee Richmond once the war is over, Varina only hopes to save her children from whatever fate she and Jefferson face. Told back and forth through time as Varina recounts her life history, we see what her relationship with Jefferson was like and how she survived after the Confederacy fell.

I didn't love this book and Varina is not very likable at first. She did grow on me a little as you see glimpses of her character throughout her story. In my opinion, the book is somewhat over-written and overly sentimental and descriptive. But, the main point that shines through is that no one wins when it comes to war and the Civil War was brutal for almost everyone at that time. No matter the side in the end everyone was barely scraping by and trying their best to just survive. It will be interesting to see what my book club thinks of this one.

Rachel Ray 50: memories and meals from a sweet and savory life by Rachel Ray

I was never a huge follower of Rachael Ray, but she always seemed down to earth and approachable. I also liked that she didn't have children and was unapologetic about it. As someone who is childfree by choice I'm always on the lookout for other childfree people out there. This book was half memoir/essays and half recipes. Each chapter starts with a personal essay - some are about her and some are about other people who shaped her life - then there are a few recipes that correspond to that person or time period of her life. All of the chapters are divided into three categories - family, friends, and work. There are some funny stories and some heartwarming ones and lots of recipes that look amazing. I was super impressed that she keeps separate notebooks for recipes - ones for work, ones for personal/at home cooking, etc. I also loved the copies of her notebook pages on the inside covers of the book. I am also someone who still needs to write things down and loves a good list. Overall, it was an interesting collection of essays and recipes from Rachel Ray to celebrate her first 50 years.

Dirt to Soil: one family's journey into regenerative agriculture by Gabe Brown

When Gabe Brown and his wife first started farming they took over her family's farm. In the beginning Gabe did everything the "traditional/industrial" way his father-in-law taught him. But, the first four years after taking over were a series of disasters. On the brink of financial ruin, Gabe started thinking outside the box - initially just to save money. But, once he started to see how no-till and cover cropping helped not just his bottom line financially, but in the output of the crops he was hooked. He started researching regenerative agriculture and trying to incorporate ways to make his farm healthier - both financially and the health of his crops and animals. In Dirt to Soil Gabe shares his story, both the good decisions and the failures they learned from. Often failure is what helps the most if you're willing to be open-minded and learn from it. While this book is pretty detailed in the soil health aspect, there are things that are applicable even if you're just trying to grow your own food in a backyard garden and not farming for profit/career. Gabe reminds me a lot of Joel Salatin - another lunatic farmer who is embracing the counter-culture, unorthodox lifestyle.

Some quotes I liked:

"First, I realized that I had come to accept the degraded condition of our ranch as normal. Instead of reversing the degraded conditions, I had been trying to hang on not let things become worse. I was trying to sustain the operation in a poor state of health, not help it recover and improve. I know sustainable is a popular buzzword today. Everybody wants to be sustainable. But my question is: Why in the world would we want to sustain a degraded resource? We instead need to work on regenerating our ecosystems." (p. 24)

"The fusion of life transforms dirt into soil. Dirt becomes soil not simply because there is enough organic matter in the soil but because there's life if the soil - and not just any life but the full spectrum of soil biology. As Ray likes to say, without life we might as well be farming on the moon." (p. 50)

"The best thing about raising hogs, other than the bacon and pork chops, is the economic return. Our hogs finish in seven months and provide superior meat quality. Per dollar invested, on our operation, hogs are second only to honey." (p. 90)

"The owner of the apiary [who provides the honeybees for Gabe] told us that the hives placed on our property yield 19 percent more honey as compared to the hives placed on other properties. I see this high yield as proof of the diversity and health of our ecosystem. We pay them a fair price, thus helping support a local business. Then we sell the honey to our customers at a small profit. It's a win-win situation for all involved, including the bees!" (p. 103)

"He [Jack Stahl] considers the use of GMOs to be an act of arrogance, as well. 'Over the long run, you can't manipulate nature and win. It will always have the final word.'" (p. 157)

"The US government has propagated this mindset with its cheap food policy. It wants to ensure that citizens have an abundant supply of cheap food. Notice I did not say nutrient-dense food. The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world, and yet, its citizens are not healthy. Are farmers and ranchers to blame for all this? No, not entirely, but we need to take our fair share of the blame. The American public needs to take their part of the blame, as well, for allowing this to happen. Through their buying dollars, consumers have made the choice that they want this system, even as they choose to ignore the environmental degradation, the mistreatment of animals, and the overall decline in human health. And think of what else this production model has caused. It has led to tighter and tighter margins for producers. Lower margins mean producers must farm more and more land to make ends meet. Farm sizes increase, leaving fewer farms overall and fewer people operating the land. In other words, this production model has also lead to the decline of many of our small towns." (p. 177)

"In 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that diet alone, sourced from the conventional production model, could no longer supply adequate amounts of nutrients and advised all adults to take one multivitamin per day, reversing a long-standing position. The sales of supplements have since grown into a $30 billion-a-year industry." (p. 185)

"Once, when I was speaking to a large crowd of corn and soybean producers in Nebraska, I asked how many of them made a profit on their corn the previous year. One person raised his hand. Yes only one. I asked how many planned on planting corn the following year. Every hand went up. This is an example of how entrenched people are in today's production model." (p. 190)

The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! by Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem is an icon, so lots of things that she's said over the years have been re-quoted over and over. In this book Steinem collects some of her most famous quotes on several different topics. The book is divided into 6 chapters - Families Born and Chosen, Changing Aging, Work is Not a Four-Letter Word, Among Co-conspirators and Adversaries, Laughing Our Way to the Revolution, and In the Street. Each chapter has a few pages written by Steinem about that topic and then there are several pages of quotes. The last page of each chapter has quotes from other feminist women that pertain to that chapter's topic. This is a short, quick read that you could probably read in one sitting. Steinem is always inspiring and this book is a collection of all her inspiring highlights. Overall, a great feminist book!

As this is a book of quotes, of course there were several that I loved:

"For instance, in Sex and World Peace, Valerie Hudson and other scholars conducted a study of violence in a hundred nations around the world. The single biggest determinant of whether a nation would be violent, both in its own streets and in military violence against another country, was domestic violence in the home. More than poverty, access to natural resources, religion, or even degree of democracy, they found that violence against females was the indicator and normalizer of all other violence." (p. 9)

"Democracy begins with owning our bodies. By that measure, women have rarely lived in a democracy." (p. 23)

"Women are not going to be equal outside the home until men are equal inside it." (p. 32)

"We are all engaged in the task of peeling off the false selves, the programmed selves, the selves created by our families, our cultures, our religions." - Anais Nin (p. 53)

"Prostitution isn't the oldest profession, it's the oldest oppression." (p. 67)

"Not one study has proved that women talk more than men, but numerous studies indicate that men talk more than women. Women are thought to be more talkative than men because they are being measured against the expectation of female silence." (p. 95)

"The first resistance to social change is to say: It's not necessary." (p. 99)

"A woman who aspires to be something will be called a bitch." (p. 109)

"So use laughter as a guide:
- Try to stay away from places where you're not allowed to laugh, including religious ones. The absence of laughter is a giveaway that the religion in question is more political than spiritual, more about a hierarchy with God at the top than about godliness in all living things.
- Try to stay away from workplaces where laughter is absent. The degree of freedom where you work is indicated by the presence or absence of laughter.
- Try to stay away from social settings with no laughter. Your ability to laugh is a sign that you're doing the right thing with the right people in the right place. Laughing together creates instant community." (p. 122-23)

Eat Joy: stories and comfort food from 31 celebrated writers by Natalie Eve Garrett, ed.

This was a really quick read. Stories about comfort food with a recipe included at the end of each story. The stories were divided into 4 categories - Growing Pains, Loss, Healing, and Homecoming. My favorite one was the story by Anthony Doerr, but there were several really good ones I liked. It's interesting to think about how much food ties into comfort and how comfort can be for something bad or to celebrate something good. Overall, a good, quick read that made me think about my own comfort food and how much cooking is tied to love.

Together: a memoir of a marriage and a medical mishap by Judy Goldman

Judy Goldman's husband Henry suffered from back issues for many years - even having to retire early from his ophthalmology practice because of it. So when he reads an article about epidural shots to relieve back pain he's very interested. The shots are in two parts and after the first part he experiences some numbness in one of his legs, but they don't think much of it. But, after the second shot both of Henry's legs are numb and he can't feel anything from the waist down. The doctor who gave him both shots is less than helpful and doesn't have an explanation. The next several months to a year is an ordeal as they try to figure out if Henry will get any use of his legs back. Judy always saw herself as the meeker partner, but now she has to step up to make sure Henry gets the care he needs. Judy tells the story of Henry's "medical mishap" and how that situation highlighted some of the strengths and challenges of their marriage. She does a good job of blending their personal history with the story of the "medical mishap" and how they dealt with it and worked to move on with their lives.

The Little Book of Bob: life lessons from a street-wise cat by James Bowen

This is a quick read that would make a great holiday gift for a cat lover or Bob fan. In The Little Book of Bob James Bowen recounts some of the life lessons he's learned from having Bob the cat in his life. The book's stories are organized into 6 sections - lessons in friendship, what we need to be happy, how to get the most out of life, how to survive all that life throws at us, how to be good to ourselves, and lessons in day-to-day life. Each section has a few stories about James and Bob that highlight that section's theme. A quick, uplifting read.

One quote I really liked:

"Boats don't sink because of the water around them. Boats sink because of the water that gets into them. Bob seems to have the gift of not allowing what happens around him to get inside him. He merely sails serenely on." (p. 103)

Southern Women: more than 100 stories of innovators, artists, and icons by the editors of Garden & Gun 

I love Garden & Gun magazine and the books they publish are always great, so I was really looking forward to Southern Women and it did not disappoint. Organized into seven categories, performers & players, chefs & mixologists, innovators & iconoclasts, artists & artisans, singers & songwriters, writers & readers, and tastemakers & trendsetters, 123 Southern women are highlighted. Some are well-known names like Oprah Winfrey and Dolly Parton, but I liked that Garden & Gun chose to highlight some newer faces that are already making a name for themselves in various industries in the South. A great collection of stories about women that show all the diversity and drive women have in the South, both in the past and present.

October 2019 Cookbook Reviews

Southern Baked: celebrating life with pie by Amanda Wilbanks

I fully expected this cookbook to just be recipes of pies and desserts based on the title, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it covered a lot more. Wilbanks talks about how she learned to cook and make pie and how her business, Southern Baked Pie Company, was born. But, in this cookbook she breaks the recipes down into meal ideas based on the month of year and any holidays or special occasions in that month. This makes for a very well-rounded cookbook with TONS of recipes (both sweet and savory) that I want to try. I also like that in the first section of the cookbook she gives her basic pie dough recipe and lots of tips for making pie and different ways to use the dough. Overall, a great cookbook with much more than pie recipes.

Heritage by Sean Brock

Sean Brock is a pioneering Southern chef who wants to help bring back heritage Southern food. This cookbook is interspersed with stories from Brock and about people and farms that he sources food for his restaurants from. His focus on local, seasonal food is great and I try to do the same. Even though he says some of the recipes are more simple and designed for home cooks, I thought most of the recipes seemed pretty complicated and I'm not an inexperienced cook. But, I still found several recipes I want to try and I'm excited to check out his newest cookbook South.

Rustic Joyful Food: my heart's table by Danielle Kartes

This cookbook is so full of simple, yet nourishing and comforting recipes that I will probably end up buying it. In the introduction Danielle Kartes talks about her love of cooking and how that led her to work in restaurants and eventually open her own. When she had to close down her restaurant it took a few years before she was ready to start creating again, but when she was she had the idea to write a cookbook. This cookbook is just full of wonderful recipes and there were SO MANY I want to try! Kartes encourages cooking from scratch, which is my thing too, so she gives several "pantry staples" recipes for stocking homemade basics. Overall, definitely a great cookbook and I will be watching for more from Danielle Kartes.

Heirloom: time-honored techniques, nourishing traditions, and modern recipes by Sarah Owens

After reading the Introduction and Part One Preserving Traditions I was super excited about this book. The author talks about the importance of heirloom, not just what you might think of heirloom vegetables, but heirloom as a way of preparing food based on time-honored traditional ways. In Part One she covers various ways to preserve food - fermentation, pickling, freezing, dehydrating, etc. and gives several recipes for stocks, vinegars, etc. But, once she got into the actual recipes there just weren't that many I wanted to try. She encourages using heirloom grains, which could be hard to source and would take time to learn to use, and not everyone can do that. I really thought that this cookbook would be right up my alley and that I would find lots of recipes I wanted to try, but there just weren't that many I want to try. The cookbook is beautiful and I agree with her food philosophy, but just wasn't as excited about it after reading through it.

October 2019 Reviews

The Sun Does Shine: how I found life and freedom on death row by Anthony Ray Hinton (Evening Edition book club)

In 1985 Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested for 3 robbery murders. While he was scared he was innocent and had an airtight alibi - he had been at work on the night of the 3rd murder. But, his innocence did not change the views of the Alabama courts. Due to a joke of a court-appointed attorney and falsified evidence by the Alabama prosecutors Hinton is sentenced to the death penalty. His first three years on death row were dark. Hinton was furious at what had happened to him and all he could think about was getting revenge on the people who fabricated evidence and ignored his innocence. Then he had a breakthrough - he could let the state of Alabama kill him the whole time he was in prison or he could live inside himself the best he could under these circumstances. After his appeal with the same court-appointed attorney is denied his case is taken up by Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative and for the next 27 years he goes through appeal after appeal trying to get higher courts to overturn his conviction. Hinton spends 30 years on death row in mostly solitary confinement. His mental strength and faith were the main things that kept him going. He also had an incredible friend, Lester, who came to EVERY SINGLE VISITING DAY and after 30 years was able to pick Ray up when he was finally released. This story is heart-breaking and terrifying and should be required reading for EVERYONE. After all Hinton went through the state of Alabama never apologized or gave him any kind of compensation for spending 30 years on death row as an innocent man. This should definitely make for a good book club discussion.

There are LOTS of quotes I liked:

"McGregor [the prosecutor] may have won, but I don't think he or the judge realized that by sentencing me to death, they were giving me the only shot I had at proving my innocence. Now that I was sentenced to die, I would be guaranteed an appeal and guaranteed some representation by my attorney. If I had been sentenced to life, I would have had to hire an attorney to appeal." (p. 14

"Acker [a police detective] turned around and looked me in the eye for the first time since I had told him I was at work on the twenty-fifth. 'You know, I don't care whether you did or didn't do it. In fact, I believe you didn't do it. But it doesn't matter. If you didn't do it, one of your brothers did. And you're going to take the rap." (p. 51)

"...a man laughed. A real laugh. And with that laughter, I realized the State of Alabama could steal my future and my freedom, but they couldn't steal my sense of humor. I missed my family. I missed Lester. But sometimes you have to make family where you find family, or you die in isolation. I wasn't ready to die. I wasn't going to make it easy on them. I was going to find another way to do my time. Whatever time I had left." (p. 118)

"Bring in the books, I thought. Let every man on the row have a week away, inside the world of a book. I knew if the mind could open, the heart would follow. It had happened to Henry. Look at him sitting here in a locked room with five black men who had nothing to lose...I had no anger toward Henry. He had been taught to fear blacks. He had been trained to hate. Death row had been good for Henry. Death row had saved his soul. Death row had taught him that his hate was wrong." (p. 153)

"Compassion doesn't know what color you are, and I think Henry felt more love from the black men on death row than he ever did at a KKK meeting or from his own father and mother...Henry was the first white man to be put to death for killing a black in almost eighty-five years. His death meant something to people outside of the row. It was making a point about racism and justice and fairness like all the books we had been reading in book club, but to us, it was a family member being killed. There's no racism on death row." (p. 161)

"'Yes, I'm firing you. Thank you for everything up until now, but I'd rather die for the truth than live a lie. I'm not agreeing to life without parole. I'll rot and die in here before I agree to that. But thank you for working so hard.'...I would bend over when the guards made me do it. I had no choice. But I wasn't going to let anybody else shake me down. I wasn't ready to give up on my life. I was going to walk out of this place as an innocent man, or I was going to die trying. Nothing more and nothing less." (p. 164-65)

"I wasn't surprised that the State was doing its best to keep me locked away and quiet. It was what the court had done from the beginning. It was still a lynching. It was taking decades to get the noose wrapped just right. I also wasn't naive. The State was unwilling to admit it had made a mistake. Alabama would rather stay wrong than admit it had been wrong; rather accept injustice than admit that it had been unjust." (p. 185)

[From an article Bryan Stevenson wrote for the Birmingham News] "With 34 executions and seven exonerations since 1975, one innocent person has been identified on Alabama's Death Row for every five executions. It's an astonishing rate of error. What most defines capital punishment in Alabama is error. Reviewing courts have concluded nearly 150 Alabama capital murder convictions and death sentences have been illegally and unconstitutionally imposed. Reversals outnumber executions 5 to 1. While some states have seriously examined their death penalty systems and pursued reforms, Alabama leaders have recklessly called only for speeding up the execution process." (p. 210)

[After Hinton's release from prison, his first night in a real bed] "It was all strange, and I could feel the anxiety start again. I began to breathe heavy and fast. What was happening to me? I wondered if I should wake up Lester and have him take me to the hospital. Was this how it ended? The day I get my freedom, I have a heart attack? I tried to steady my breath, but it was like the walls were moving in and out and the room was spinning. I didn't like this. I got out of bed and ran into the bathroom. I locked the door behind me and sat on the floor with my head between my knees. Immediately, my heart stopped pounding and my breathing slowed. I lifted my head and looked around. The bathroom was almost exactly the same size as my cell. I stretched out on the floor, my head resting on the bath mat. I would sleep in here tonight. This felt like home." (p. 236)

"I forgive them. I made a choice after those first difficult few weeks at Lester's when everything was new and strange and the world didn't seem to make sense to me. I chose to forgive. I chose to stay vigilant to any signs of anger or hate in my heart. They took thirty years of my life. If I couldn't forgive, if I couldn't feel joy, that would be like giving them the rest of my life. The rest of my life is mine. Alabama took thirty years. That was enough." (p. 238)

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler (Books & Banter book club)

Willa Drake grew up with a most likely mentally ill mother and a very enabling father. While she didn't realize how abusive her mother was as a child, I'm not sure that she really did understand that as an adult either. She married her college boyfriend and gave up her dreams of working as a linguist to follow him to California. She had two sons and was widowed at 41. The book tells 3 defining moments for Willa - when she is 11, 21, and 41 - then picks up with the present when she is 61 and remarried. Her son's ex-girlfriend is injured and needs someone to care for her 9-year-old daughter. A neighbor mistakenly thinks Willa is the child's grandmother and calls her. Willa is feeling at loose ends and decides on a whim to go and ends up really enjoying her time with Cheryl. Willa's current husband on the other hand is not happy about this recent turn of events. Willa tends to go along with whatever the men in her life want her to do and now after this she has to determine what SHE really wants for one. The ending is ambiguous, but I'm hoping that for once Willa does what she wants for a change.

A quote I liked:

"Sometimes Willa felt like she'd spent half her life apologizing for some man's behavior. More than half her life, actually. First Derek and then Peter, forever charging ahead while Willa trailed behind picking up the pieces and excusing and explaining." (p. 187)

Inheritance: a memoir of genealogy, paternity, and love by Dani Shapiro

How much of your identity is tied to your biological DNA? Dani Shapiro grew up in an Orthodox Jewish house and knew her family lineage. But, she never looked Jewish - she was fair with blonde hair and blue eyes. As the only child of older parents she often felt out of place, many of the other Orthodox Jewish families had several children. But, she never questioned her biological identity in her family. Then on a whim she and her husband decided to do Ancestry DNA analysis and when the results came back they rocked her world - she was not biologically related to her father. Both of Shapiro's parents were dead, so she couldn't get answers from them. As a writer and her husband with a background in journalism, the couple began to research and very quickly found information based on a few scraps of information Shapiro remembered from her mother. She even found her biological father within 2 days of finding out this information. But, this was just the tip of the iceberg for Shapiro - she had to figure out how to deal with this bombshell and what it might mean for her family. As she sorts through information and begins to communicate with her biological father and other family members, she is also working through feelings about what makes a family. A fast read about how one family's secret impacted several people over fifty years in the future.

Some quotes I liked:

[During a conversation with her father's only living sibling] "She trained her whole ninety-three-year-old self, every cell in her being, in the direction of consoling me. Every bit of energy. It was the purest manifestation of love I had ever experienced." (p. 138)

"Those early months were taken up first with the disbelief that my parents could have ever knowingly participated in such a deceit, and then later with anger and sorrow that they had made the choices they did - even though those choices resulted in my existence...But now I was coming to the awareness that my young parents-to-be had none of these tools. They possessed only their own fear, shame, despair, and desire for a child at any cost. They joined hands and went deeper into the wilderness until the only way out was through. There was no going back. And then they pretended it never happened. They never spoke of it again - not to each other, not to family, nor to friends." (p. 222-23)

The Friends We Keep by Jane Green

Maggie, Evvie, and Topher meet their first year at University and become inseparable. They end up renting a house together and living together as an odd little family for the rest of college. After college they go their separate ways - Evvie becomes a model in New York, Topher gets into acting and is cast in a soap opera, and Maggie married Ben, her crush throughout college. The three friends lose touch, but decide to reconnect at their 30th University reunion. After the reunion some devastating secrets come out that will change everyone's lives.

I love Jane Green and was really looking forward to this book, but it was very disappointing. I won't give anything away, but the main "secret" is pretty big and devastating. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY their friendship would have survived and continued as it does in the book. I saw this coming from the end of the first section of the book and knew it was going to be like a Hallmark movie where everything works out perfectly in the end. Very unrealistic and not like most of Green's other books. I'll keep reading Jane Green, but I wouldn't recommend this one.

American Predator: the hunt for the most meticulous serial killer of the 21st century by Maureen Callahan

When Samantha Koenig disappeared from the coffee stand where she worked in Anchorage, Alaska it seemed like she might be a runaway at first. But, then her boyfriend saw a masked man rummaging through the truck they shared and they got a ransom note. Samantha's kidnapper, Israel Keyes, was caught in Texas after the police followed ATM withdrawals and surveillance footage. Keyes had no criminal history and was barely on the radar at all, but he admitted to kidnapping and killing Samantha. The FBI realized that this was not the first time Keyes had killed and they were soon engaged in a cat and mouse game with Keyes to see if they could get him to admit to any other murders. Keyes traveled all over the country and would bury "kill kits" in remote places. These kits would have a handgun, suppressor, ammunition, knife, and zip ties - everything he needed to kidnap and kill someone. Keyes eventually admitted to a double murder in Vermont and alluded to several other murders, rapes, and kidnappings and police managed to connect several missing persons cases with Keyes timelines and travels over the years. Keyes committed suicide in prison, so the full extent of his crimes may never be known. But, what the police were able to piece together is terrifying because Keyes picked people at random to kill and was meticulous in his planning and cover ups.

Some quotes I liked:

"Before his death in 2016, [Roy] Hazelwood [a pioneering FBI behavioral profiler] spoke about Keyes. Hazelwood's decades of service had left him with a cynical view of the FBI's truthfulness in general, and he believed stranger abductions are far more common than the Bureau insists. He was convinced that the proliferation of hard-core pornography, so easily and anonymously accessible online, has contributed to increasingly sadistic crimes and murders. He believed that technology, the mainstreaming of violent pornography, advances in ever-faster travel, and an overall culture of misogyny, from politics to entertainment, would only continue to breed more aberrant and dangerous criminals. He made this prediction in 2001." (p. 179)

[In interviewing one of Keyes only friends during his military service] "Are you surprised, they asked, that Keyes has been arrested for kidnapping and murder? 'I'm surprised he...got caught,' Perkins said. 'He was smarter than that.'" (p. 234)

[Keyes was almost able to escape at a court hearing in Anchorage] "Bell's warnings [to the Alaska corrections officers] had not been taken seriously. In fact, they had not been taken at all, because that was how Keyes had nearly escaped. In the three hours between transport and the court hearing, Keyes had been given lunch, the standard meal for the standard inmate: a brown bag containing a carton of milk, an apple, and a sandwich wrapped in cellophane. Keyes had used his stored-up pencil slivers to pick the locks on his cuffs and leg irons, then used the cellophane to make his leg irons look tied together." (p. 238)

The Whole Okra: a seed to stem celebration by Chris Smith

If you love okra and want to know literally EVERY SINGLE THING you can make, eat, and do with okra this is the book for you. Chris Smith is British, so he did not grow up eating okra. But, he married a woman from South Carolina and once he had eaten really good okra he was hooked. Smith has done things with okra that I would never have dreamed of doing. He covers the history of okra, the slime issue/factor, how to best cook and preserve okra, eating okra flowers and leaves, making and using okra seed and pod flour, making paper from okra stalks, and of course how to best grow your own okra. There are several recipes included - some like the okra face mask and hair treatment might be a bit much for some people. But, there are some recipes I'd like to try and this book is definitely a great exploration of all the wonders that is okra! It was also cool that Smith and his family now live in Asheville, so lots of the resources and restaurants he referenced are ones I could actually check out. Overall, a really thorough look at one of the South's favorite vegetables.

Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson enrolled in law school on somewhat of a whim, which is incredible given what you will learn about him in this book. Once in law school a lot of the courses seemed arbitrary and not applicable for the real world. In his second year of law school Stevenson signed up for a one-month intensive course on race and poverty litigation that required students to work with an organization doing social justice work. Stevenson ended up interning with the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. That was where he met his first death-row inmate and that was also where he found his life's calling. After finishing law school Stevenson worked for SPDC in Atlanta, but so many of their cases dealt with prisoners in Alabama that he ended up moving to Alabama and opening his own non-profit legal organization, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Since the very beginning of EJI when it was just Stevenson, one other lawyer and a receptionist they have been inundated with inmates and family members trying desperately to find someone to help them in the brutal legal system. Stevenson tells the story of EJI and his work through the story of Walter McMillian, one of the innocent people Stevenson is able to get released from death row. McMillian's story is interspersed with other aspects of social justice and race that Stevenson and EJI have worked on like child imprisonment, mentally handicapped prisoners on death row, and arbitrarily long prison sentences for minor infractions - almost all disproportionately for African-American or other minority groups. The stories in this book are heartbreaking and infuriating. To read story after story after story of poor people being railroaded by the state is just mind blowing. Equally mind blowing is how often the state turns a blind eye to this injustice even in the face of compelling evidence of innocence over and over and over again. This is a hard book to read, but it's an important book to read and should be required reading for EVERYONE. The world needs more people like Bryan Stevenson.

Some quotes I liked:

"It wasn't until 1967 that the United States Supreme Court finally struck down anti-miscegenation statutes in Loving v. Virginia, but restrictions on interracial marriage persisted even after that landmark ruling...Even though the restriction couldn't be enforced under federal law, the state ban on interracial marriage in Alabama continued into the twenty-first century. In 2000, reformers finally had enough votes to get the issue on the statewide ballot, where a majority of voters chose to eliminate the ban, although 41 percent voted to keep it. A 2011 poll of Mississippi Republicans found that 46 percent support a legal ban on interracial marriage, 40 percent oppose such a ban, and 14 percent are undecided." (p. 29)

[In the court proceeding to present the evidence that showed Walter McMillian was innocent] "In the last pretrial appearance, the judge had asked, 'How much time will you need to present your evidence, Mr. Stevenson?' 'We'd like to reserve a week, your honor.' 'A week? You've got to be joking. For a Rule 32 hearing? The trial in this case only lasted a day and a half.' 'Yes, sir. We believe this is an extraordinary case and there are several witnesses and -' 'Three days, Mr. Stevenson. If you can't make your case in three days after all of this drama you've stirred up, you don't really have anything.' 'Judge, I -' 'Adjourned.'" (p. 164-5)

"The tapes that Tate, Benson, and Ikner had made when they interrogated Myers were pretty dramatic. The multiple recorded statements Myers gave to the police featured Myers repeatedly telling the police that he didn't know anything about the Morrison murder or Walter McMillian. They included the officers' threats against Myers and Myers's resistance to framing an innocent man for murder...All of these recorded statements were typed, exculpatory, and favorable to Walter McMillian, and none of them had been disclosed to McMillian's attorneys, as was required." (p. 182) [also infuriating is that the prosecutor, Tate, had immunity and could not be sued for damages after McMillian was released from prison]

"Today over 50 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States have a diagnosed mental illness, a rate nearly five times greater than that of the general adult population. Nearly one in five prison and jail inmates has a serious mental illness. In fact, there are more than three times the number of seriously mentally ill individuals in jail or prison than in hospitals; in some states that number is ten times...when I still worked in Atlanta, our office sued Louisiana's notorious Angola Prison for refusing to modify a policy that required prisoners in segregation cells to place their hands through bars for handcuffing before officers entered to move them. Disabled prisoners with epilepsy and seizure disorders would sometimes need assistance while convulsing in their cells, and because they couldn't put their hands through the bars, guards would mace them or use fire extinguishers to subdue them." (p. 188)

"Terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan cloaked themselves in the symbols of the Confederate South to intimidate and victimize thousands of black people. Nothing unnerved rural black settlements more than rumors about nearby Klan activity. For a hundred years, any sign of black progress in the South could trigger a white reaction that would invariably invoke Confederate symbols and talk of resistance. Confederate Memorial Day was declared a state holiday in Alabama at the turn of the century, soon after white rewrote the state constitution to ensure white supremacy. (The holiday is still celebrated today.)...In fact, it was in the 1950's, after racial segregation in public schools was declared unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education, that many Southern states erected Confederate flags atop their state government buildings. Confederate monuments, memorials, and imagery proliferated throughout the South during the Civil Right Era. It was during this time that the birthday of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was added as a holiday in Alabama. Even today, banks, state offices, and state institutions shut down in his honor." (p. 192-3)

"...even today almost half of all states (twenty-two) offer no compensation to the wrongly imprisoned. Many of the states that do authorize some monetary aid severely limit the amount of compensation. No matter how many years an innocent person has been wrongly incarcerated, New Hampshire caps compensation at $20,000; Wisconsin has a $25,000 cap; Oklahoma and Illinois limit the total amount an innocent person can recover to under $200,000, even if the person has spent decades in prison. While other states have caps of more than a million dollars, and many have no cap at all, several states impose onerous eligibility requirements. In some jurisdictions, if the person lacks the support of the prosecuting attorney who wrongly convicted him, compensation will be denied." (p. 245)

"The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It's when mercy is least expected that it's most potent - strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering. It has the power to heal the psychic harm and injuries that lead to aggression and violence, abuse of power, mass incarceration." (p. 294)

The Next Right Thing by Emily Freeman

I read this book as part of a women's Bible study at my church, so I read it in 4 chapter increments each week. When I first started reading it I wasn't sure how much I would get out of it because I don't have trouble making decisions, which seemed to be somewhat the focus of the book. But, there was still a lot that I found helpful and through the course of reading the book for this class I did find myself having to make some harder decisions, so it was helpful to be reading and discussing during that time. The overall message I got from the book is there is not one perfect right decision for everything. If you're trying to follow God prayerfully doing The Next Right Thing is all we can do. The only downside of reading a book only 4 chapters a week is that it's harder for me to remember all the things I liked about it because now it's been so long since I started reading it. But, I did like it and I would read something else by this author again.

September 2019 Reviews

The World According to Fannie Davis: my Mother's life in the Detroit Numbers by Bridgett M. Davis

Growing up Bridgett was the youngest of five siblings. She only knew her family as successful and she never wanted for anything. But her older siblings remember the harder times before their mother Fannie became a Numbers runner. Numbers was and is an illegal lottery that started in Harlem and while all walks of life played Numbers it was primarily known as a part of African-American life in Detroit and other major cities up North. Fannie Davis was an entrepreneurial woman who was determined to defeat the poverty that plagued most African-Americans even "up North." With her husband on the bottom rung of the Detroit auto industry constantly being laid off and rehired, she borrowed $100 from her brother and started running Numbers. She eventually became one of the only female Numbers bankers, meaning she had enough cash put back that she completely worked for herself and did not rely on a larger funder to back her business. Growing up Bridgett and her siblings knew to NEVER speak about what their mother did or how their family earned a living. This was so ingrained in her that she had trouble even starting to write this book, but she knew she wanted to share her mother's story and legacy. The World According to Fannie Davis is Bridgett's ode to her mother. Bridgett gives a history of the Numbers game and how it evolved over time, but the majority of the book is about her mother and the incredible legacy she was able to create all from an illegal business.

Some quotes I liked:

"But the most important reason for its beauty was this: unlike the policy [an earlier lottery game], Numbers was a black-owned and black-controlled business. The Numbers blossomed into a lucrative shadow economy in the early 1920's, and moved into black communities across America, thanks in large part to the Great Migration." (p. 61)

"A 1972 Detroit Free Press article quoted a Detroit Baptist minister who once famously said from the pulpit, 'I know some of you are taking the numbers of our hymns and betting on them. I'm not saying whether I approve or not, but if you play them...be sure to box 'em.' Certain preachers actually built their church followings on the claim that they had the ability to prophesy, and would give out numbers that had supposedly come to them in their dreams." (p. 133)

"For those who knew us, our family secret (as far as it was a secret at all) didn't possess the potency I gave it. People admired my mother not so much for what she did as for the kind of woman she was. And yet I don't want this point to get lost: My mother launched a Numbers operation out of necessity, but despite its constant challenges, she enjoyed running her own business. Self-employment allowed her a coveted life of rugged individualism, as they say. By contributing to this thriving underground economy, my mother was able to live out Booker T. Washington's dream of Negroes' self-reliance, and as such she moved through the world as a head-held-high, race-proud black woman." (p. 290)

Rough Beauty: forty seasons of mountain living by Karen Auvinen

A few months before her 40th birthday Karen Auvinen's cabin in the Colorado Rockies burned to the ground. She lost everything except her truck, her dog Elvis, and a few articles salvaged from the fire. Never one to rely on others, Karen had a very hard time accepting help from people after the fire, but she had no choice because she literally had nothing. After the fire Karen reevaluates her life and slowly starts to realize that she does need connections and her small town really rallies to help her rebuild her life.

While some parts of the book were really interesting, a lot of it was very depressing and sad. Karen had a rough childhood and doesn't have a good relationship with anyone in her immediate family. This comes up again and again as her mother's health declines steadily throughout the book. She also loses her beloved dog Elvis and that was hard to read. I don't have dogs, but I had an elderly cat and we just lost her sister last year, so that was a hard few chapters to read. Based on the book description I thought it was going to be a more uplifting book, but it was pretty depressing overall. I am glad I finished it, but I wouldn't really recommend this one.

Save Me the Plums: my Gourmet memoir by Ruth Reichl

Ruth Reichl's love of food and cooking started when she stumbled upon some back issues of Gourmet magazine and convinced her father to buy them for her. When she asked her parents to buy her the ingredients needed to cook some of the recipes in the magazine they did and she began doing more and more of the family's cooking. She and her father also bonded over visiting ethnic food markets and new restaurants in New York City. Reichl worked as a food writer and then as a restaurant reviewer for the New York Times before being offered the job as editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. While not sure she was qualified, Reichl couldn't turn down the opportunity to work for the magazine that inspired her so much. It wasn't always easy, especially in the beginning, but Reichl grew to love working at Gourmet. So, it was that much more devastating when the magazine closed in 2009 during the recession. Save Me the Plums is Reichl's memoir of her time at Gourmet. She is honest about her mistakes and things she would do differently, but her love of food, cooking, and Gourmet magazine shines through. One of the most touching chapters was in response to 9/11 Reichl called everyone at Gourmet to invite them to use the Gourmet kitchens to cook for the first responders. She wasn't even sure anyone would show up, but tons of staff showed up and cooked for all the emergency crews working at ground zero. A lovely tribute to Gourmet and Reichl's time there.

On Being 40(ish) by Lindsey Mead, editor

I just recently turned 40, so I purposely chose to read this book the week of my 40th birthday. A collection of female authors write about what it was like to turn 40 or reflecting on life in your 40's. While some of the names I recognized, many of them I did not. There were several that I liked - Soul Mates, There's a Metaphor Here, and Youth Dew were my favorites. But, the rest were just OK. Not much other than the three I mentioned really jumped out or were all that interesting. Overall, it was OK, but not great.

Carving Out a Living on the Land by Emmet Van Driesche

Emmet Van Driesche and his wife Cecilia had worked together on farms before, but this book details their story of taking over a Christmas tree farm. In telling their story, Emmet shares both their mistakes and triumphs. Running a small farm is not easy and taking over an established farm over time can be even harder and more complicated. But each year they have made more money than the previous year by adding income streams and also by streamlining the processes on the farm. While some parts of the book do go into more detail about their operation, all of it could apply to other farms or small businesses. There are also lots of pictures and information - including two appendixes and a list of resources. This is a very unique book - part farm instruction manual and part farm/business philosophy. Even if you don’t want to have your own farm if you’re interested in small business or even homesteading you could learn something from this book.

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

Jo and Bethie Kaufman grow up in the 1950's in Detroit in the stereotypical ranch house and a neighborhood full of friends. Jo is a tomboy who loves to run and play sports while Bethie is the pretty "good girl" who loves to let her mother dress her up and fix her hair. After their father dies things change drastically for the Kaufmans. And while Jo was the one who protested with her African-American friends outside of local businesses in high school, she ends up married and a stay-at-home mom to three girls. Bethie loses her "good girl" identity in college and ends up getting into the whole free love and drugs scene in the 1970's. Both Jo and Bethie deal with trauma, changes in culture, and their fluctuating relationship as sisters. Weiner does an amazing job of highlighting all the changes and issues for women from the 1950's to the present through Jo and Bethie. Overall, another AMAZING book by Jennifer Weiner who's books are always on-target in addressing what it means to be a woman.

I will warn any potential readers that there is a LOT of sex in this book - it's not gratuitus, but it is a lot. It's still a great book with two characters you will absolutely love, but just that small warning for anyone super sensitive to that.

August 2019 Reviews

The Polygamist's Daughter by Anna LeBaron

I had heard of this book, but when I read recently that the author was related to the author of The Sound of Gravel I was even more interested to read this one. While Anna's story is terrible and it's amazing that she survived and became a "normal" adult, it wasn't as well-written as The Sound of Gravel in my opinion. Anna is the child of Ervil LeBarron - one of the most notorious cult leaders of a polygamous offshoot of Mormonism. She barely knows her father and is constantly woken up in the middle of night to move somewhere trying to constantly evade the police and the FBI. When she is 14 she eventually escapes and moves in with an older sister and her family who had already left the cult. But, around the time she graduates from high school her brother-in-law Mark is murdered by members of her father's cult, even though he has long since died. Shortly afterward Mark's wife, Anna's sister, commits suicide leaving their 6 children orphans. Only after Anna is married and a mother herself does she finally allow herself to start healing and feel all the emotions she buried so deeply as a child and teenager. It's truly a miracle that she and her husband's marriage survived and that she was able to raise her children in the kind of healthy home she never had. Her story is one of survival and how she was able to rise above the life of her childhood into a happy, healthy life as an adult.

Women's Work: a reckoning with work and home by Megan K. Stack

Megan Stack left her job as a foreign correspondent when she got pregnant. She wanted to write a book and knew that work + baby + writing a book was just too much. Her husband made enough money to support them in Beijing, so she decided to work on the book before and once she had the baby. But, she was ill-prepared for the realities of having a newborn. She rarely got any sleep and could barely keep up the bare minimum of chores, much less any writing. So, like many wealthy people she hired help. But, hiring help opened her eyes to the plight of poor, domestic workers, especially women of color, yet she realized she was completely dependent on that paid help. Stack vacillated between wanting to have more of a real relationship with her help (who all had children of their own that they were handing off to someone else in order to help her with her children) and also not really wanting to know the reality of their lives outside her home. She also realized what women since the beginning of time have known that women do EVERYTHING while men go off to work and come home with the expectation of a clean house, well-behaved children, and a hot meal. While her focus became how women of her class "need" help and the sub-class of domestic workers that that creates, the real issue I see is emotional labor and how little her husband was expected to do in maintaining their shared home. She never gets much into what their life was like before children other than they both traveled a lot, but who cleaned then? who cooked? who made household appointments? who met the HVAC guy? etc. Stack is a good writer and I was interested in her story, but it was much less about the class of domestic help workers and more about her unease with being so dependent on this help.

There were a lot of mixed reviews about this book. Was Stack likeable? Not really. Did her husband come across as a dick? YES. I don't doubt that Stack loves her children, but she didn't strike me as someone who really wanted children. I'm still not sure why she had children when she really seemed to love her work and life before and couldn't manage even one day with them on her own. Maybe she bought into the lie that having children is the only way to have a "real family" or to be "complete". Whatever her reasoning she does come across as spoiled and helpless and her husband comes across as useless and uninterested in her and the children. Despite all this it was an interesting book and will hopefully open up some discussions about child-raising and our dependence on cheap, domestic help.

Some quotes I really liked:

"It was motherhood that forced me to understand the timeless horror of our position. The obvious, hidden-in-plain-sight reason women had not written novels or commanded armies or banked or doctored or explored or painted at the same rate as men. The cause was not, as I had been led to believe, that women had been prevented from working. Quite the opposite: we had been doing all of the work, around the clock, for centuries." (p. 35)

"This line of thought was dangerous. If I found out too much, if the facts were too grim, then I might conclude that my domestic arrangement was fundamentally unfair. That was my formless and underlying fear: that if I understood too much, I might have to rip apart the status quo. I could either drown or I could wear Xiao Li as a life vest. There was no third choice." (p. 46)

"I was new to India. I didn't know yet that domestic staff are routinely forbidden to sit on their bosses' furniture, drink from their cups, or eat from their plates. I didn't understand that, for millions of women across India, domestic work was not a path to upward mobility, but a life sentence. Society deemed them more respectable than sex workers, but only just. Their willingness to work in other people's homes marked them as dirty and undesirable. I didn't know any of that, but I would learn." (p. 128-9)

"This was welcome because Sundays were a recurrent disaster. Every seventh day, the cheerful fictions of our domestic life were painfully exposed as a batch of lies. On Sunday Tom discovered that hanging out with tiny children was not a sun-washed field and overflowing picnic basket, but a jumble of physical needs and messy rooms and senseless tears. On Sunday I discovered that my partner didn't know where the diapers were kept and thought it prudent to let crusty dishes fester in the sink because a 'maid' would arrive twenty-four hours later. By the time the sun set on the Sabbath, we were often simmering and hardly speaking." (p. 166)

"And yet honest discussion of housework is still treated as taboo. For all her advice about holding one's place at work, this is a realm that Sheryl Sandberg has mostly managed to sidestep. Instead of addressing directly the employment of domestic workers in her home, she has pointed out that men aren't asked that question. By implication, since men aren't asked, she shouldn't have to answer. And she's half right - men aren't asked that question. But this is a dodge. Men ought to be asked. Everyone ought to be asked. Who's cooking the food, who's minding the kids, who's scrubbing the toilets? How do you manage to be out in the world, and if you are here, who is there?" (p. 328)

Travels With Foxfire by Phil Hudgins and Jessica Phillips

An entertaining collection of short stories about what life used to be like and still is today in the Southern Appalachian mountains. The subtitle sums it up well, "Stories of people, passions, and practices from Southern Appalachia." The stories are divided into topical sections - my favorite section title was "food fit to eat." The stories cover everything from famous people like author and farmer Dori Sanders to unknown, but interesting folks. While the stories were very interesting reading a book like this makes you realize how much of the "old ways" are being lost or could be lost in the next several years. But that's the point of Foxfire to capture and record these "old ways" and stories for posterity.

It Happened Like This: a life in Alaska by Adrienne Lindholm

When Adrienne Lindholm was a child her family took a month-long, cross-country trip to several National Parks from their home in Pennsylvania. This was when Lindholm first discovered her love of the outdoors and nature. In college she met a friend and they moved out to Colorado - working any job they could find just to be able to live out West. After several years of adventures in several Western states Adrienne gets a job as a park ranger in Denali National Park in Alaska - the ultimate outdoor adventure destination. Once in Alaska Lindholm loves it and finds a group of friends who all came to Alaska looking for adventure like she did. Eventually she falls in love and gets married and decides to stay in Alaska.

There were a few things I didn't love about this book. Lindholm talks about how before moving to Alaska she hated the idea of hunting, but once there she saw how many people depended on hunting for their food. She started being more open to hunting as a better alternative to the industrial food industry and did actually hunt, but then barely mentioned it again. It just seemed odd that she did it a few times and just dropped it. I was also disappointed that the last several chapters of the book were about her struggle with her husband over having children. He decided he couldn't live without children, but she was still on the fence. She eventually gave in and then they struggled with several miscarriages before finally having their daughter when Lindholm was almost 40. I don't begrudge their decision to have a child, but I'm tired of so many women who say they don't want children then giving in because it's expected or everyone else is having kids, etc. and now their life is complete. The book wasn't amazing, but the end was just not what I was expecting in terms of the focus of the book. It just goes to show that even in Alaska among very adventurous people there is still that pressure to "settle down" and have kids.

Growing Perennial Foods by Acadia Tucker

As a gardener I'm just getting started with perennial crops and would like to add more in the future. In this book Tucker does a great job of explaining the prep work of gardening in the first few chapters. She explains the importance of good soil and building soil and also planning out your garden based on your yard/space available. The majority of the book covers perennial plants by category - herbs, fruit, and vegetables. Each entry gives basic info about that plant like varieties, companion plants, etc. then best places to plant that type of plant, how to plant, growing, challenges, and harvest. Each entry also includes one recipe using that plant/produce. Overall, a good look at starting to grow perennials.

The Woman's Hour: the great fight to win the vote by Elaine Weiss

In 1920 suffragists had been fighting for women's right to vote for 70 years. In the summer of 1920 thirty-five states had voted for the 19th amendment to the US Constitution, but thirty-six were need to ratify the amendment and Tennessee could make or break this fight. In The Woman's Hour three very different women come together in Tennessee for this fight. Carrie Catt was the president of the National American Women Suffrage Association (the more mainstream suffragist group). Sue White was a young activist for the more radical suffragist group the National Women's Party. And Josephine Pearson was the president of the Tennessee State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. All three of these women would work to pull in local support for their group and cause and meet with dozens of Tennessee lawmakers to try to persuade them to vote on their side. This book focuses on the last six weeks leading up to the Tennessee vote on the 19th amendment. While the subject matter is fascinating I felt like the book got bogged down in details. I appreciated learning more about the 3 women who were the focus of the book, but there was just a LOT of detail about everyone involved in all sides of this issue. It reminded me in some ways of Hidden Figures a really great story, but just too bogged down in minute detail to really read as well as I hoped. It is amazing to read how many women fought against suffrage, but then women are still fighting against women's issues to this day. It was also interesting to see just how tied suffrage and abolition were - basically anything that threatened white men being in power was a hard fight to win. And even though abolition was granted first, I still think white women had it better than anyone of color during that time. Freedom on paper is not the same as actual equality - something we're still fighting for to this day. Overall, it wasn't a great book, but I'm glad I read it to know more about just how hard women fought for this basic right.

Some quotes I liked:

"Woman suffrage could upend the supremacy of the white race and the southern way of life. After the brutal disruptions of the Civil War and the upheavals of Reconstruction - when black men were allowed to vote (and some were even elected to the legislature) but former Confederate soldiers were considered traitors and stripped of their voting rights - the southern states had finally achieved a degree of equilibrium, in terms of restoring racial and political relations, the Pearson family believed. Jim Crow laws kept blacks in their place. But if a federal amendment mandated suffrage for all women, that would mean black women, too. Then Washington could demand that black men be allowed to vote, and that was totally unacceptable." (p. 11)

"Even in the few instances where Suffs were victorious in the border states of the old Confederacy, as in Arkansas, they still had to endure the rabid rants of defiant legislators: 'I'd rather see my daughter in a coffin than at the polls,' one doting father exclaimed during floor debate in Little Rock." (p. 95)

[After the 19th amendment passed in Tennessee Carrie Catt wrote] "The vote is the emblem of your equality, women of America, the guaranty of your liberty. That vote of yours has cost millions of dollars and the lives of thousands of women. Women have suffered agony of soul which you can never comprehend, that you and your daughters might inherit political freedom. That vote has been costly. Prize it! The vote is a power, a weapon of offense and defense, a prayer. Use it intelligently, conscientiously, prayerfully. Progress is calling to you to make no pause. Act!" (p. 323-24)

"On November 2, 1920, American women did act - they voted. About ten million women went to the polls, just over a third of the eligible female electorate; nationwide, an estimated three women voted for every five voting men. Women voted in every state except Mississippi and Georgia, which, in an effort to prevent black women from participating, refused to extend registration deadlines to allow women enfranchised by the Nineteenth Amendment to cast ballots." (p. 325)

[After much violence toward black women voting predominantly in the South] "After the election, NAACP officers testified before Congress, bringing documentary evidence of the violent suppression of black women's and men's vote in the southern states. A veteran white suffragist, Mary Ovington, begged her suffrage comrades to help: 'We must not rest until we have freed the black as well as the white of our sex,' she implored. 'Will you not show us how to make the 19th Amendment the democratic reality that it purports to be?' It is a race issue, not a woman's issue, insisted Alice Paul in refusing to allow her National Women's Party to take a stand on black women's disenfranchisement. With rare exceptions, white suffragists, satisfied that they finally possessed the vote, ignored the plight of their black sisters for almost the next half century." (p. 328)

"Although white women completed their quest for the vote in 1920, other Americans would have to wait. Native Americans finally succeeded in convincing Congress to grant them citizenship and suffrage in 1924, yet many Native Americans continued to be barred from voting by state laws until 1957. Asian Americans, even native born, were not permitted to become citizens or vote until the mid-twentieth century: Chinese Americans were not allowed citizenship or suffrage until 1943; for those of Asian Indian descent, these rights were withheld until 1946; and Japanese Americans were forced to wait until 1952. African Americans in southern states, while possessing suffrage on paper, could not freely exercise their franchise until 1965 and still face obstacles. It is perhaps telling that in a stubborn stance on states' rights, some states that had rejected ratification of the amendment waited decades to finally make a symbolic acceptance: though it had no bearing on (white) women's ability to vote, Maryland did not officially ratify the Nineteenth Amendment until 1958; Mississippi waited until 1984." (p. 329)

Everything Happens for a Reason: and other lies I've loved by Kate Bowler - Books & Banter book club

Kate Bowler is a professor at the Duke Divinity School. Her specialty and the subject of her dissertation is the "prosperity gospel" a theology that believes whatever good that happens to you shows God's blessing, but if anything bad happens it's because of your lack or faith or some unconfessed sin in your life. When Kate is 35 she is diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. She has a husband she loves, a great career, and a 2-year-old son. At first her diagnosis is grim and she does not expect to live even a year. In struggling with her grief and illness she realizes she bought into the "prosperity gospel" mindset more than she realized. She also sees how with any illness or disaster people want some kind of control - I did this that caused this or if I do that it will fix it - when really we have no real control. Over the course of the first year of her diagnosis Kate learns slowly how to surrender and not try to do everything. She is honest about her fears, but also about the hope and love she feels from her family, friends, and colleagues. An honest look at terminal illness that feels hopeful, but not disingenuous. She also includes a helpful appendix of what NOT to say to someone in her shoes and also one of things you SHOULD say or do to help.

Some quotes I liked:

"What would it mean for Christians to give up that little piece of the American Dream that says, 'You are limitless'? Everything is not possible. The mighty Kingdom of God is not yet here. What if rich did not have to mean wealthy, and whole did not have to mean healed? What if being people of 'the gospel' meant that we are simply people with good news? God is here. We are loved. It is enough." (p. 21)

"I used to think that grief was about looking backward, old men saddled with regrets or young ones pondering should-haves. I see now that it is about eyes squinting through tears into an unbearable future." (p. 70)

"Even when I was still in the hospital, a neighbor came to the door and told my husband that everything happens for a reason. 'I'd love to hear it,' he replied. 'Pardon?' she said, startled. 'The reason my wife is dying,' he said in that sweet and sour way he has, effectively ending the conversation as the neighbor stammered something and handed him a casserole." (p. 112-13)

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Rachel Chu has been dating Nick Young for two years while they are both living in New York City. When Nick invites her home to Singapore for his best friend's wedding Rachel is excited to go and meet his family. But, Nick has not told Rachel that his family is unbelievably wealthy and Nick has also not told his family about Rachel at all. Rachel is in for a rough time trying to navigate Nick's huge extended family and the opulence of the wedding they are attending. Nick is also a very desirable catch being from an old money Chinese family, so Rachel is also in for some serious back-stabbing from jealous women who want to get their hooks in Nick and his family money. Will Rachel survive this trip? And will her relationship with Nick survive?

I was prepared to hate this book as it's not what I normally would want to read. But, since my book club voted it in I was going to at least try. I quickly found myself wanting to know what was going to happen with Rachel and Nick. I liked it, but I'm not quite sure if I liked it enough to read the next two in the series. But, it should make for some good book club discussion.

Let It Bang: a young black man's reluctant odyssey into guns by RJ Young

RJ Young didn't know much about guns other than they could get him killed. As a black man RJ wanted to stay as far away from guns as possible. But, when he starts dating Lizzie, a white woman who's whole family is VERY into guns he decides to learn to shoot to get closer to his future father-in-law Charles. RJ buys his first handgun, gets his conceal carry license, attends his first gun show, and eventually becomes an NRA-certified pistol instructor. All the while navigating this new world as a black man. He encounters his share of racist comments and "jokes," but wants to prove to his in-laws and the gun world that he can not just learn, but excel at shooting. A very interesting look at the pro-gun world through the eyes of a black man.

Some quotes I liked:

"...the number of police shootings of blacks in that year - and certainly today - is nearly equal to the average number of black people who were lynched in this country at the height of 'separate but (un)equal.'" (p. 50)

"I was enduring the occasional quizzical look and snide comment from other [gun range] patrons too. The ones that stuck bit through to the marrow of who I am. Ain't you supposed to be shooting a basketball? and Hold it sideways, it's more your people's style were two of the less clever barbs along those lines." (p. 73-4)

[At the NRA instructor training class during a break] "...[a police officer taking the class] said, 'I know what you're doing.' 'I'm sorry?' [the police officer] looked irritated now. 'I know what you're doing. You're gonna teach them to shoot back.'" (p. 113)

"This apathy is the emotion I hate most. It makes me angriest and most fearful. If this man, intent on demonstrating to our class the importance of his services [U.S. Law Shield], chooses to make his case by citing an incident that half the country believes was a murder [Trayvon Martin being shot by George Zimmerman] - if he doesn't have the sensitivity to see me in the room and choose a different example, it shows that he doesn't believe I'm worth the effort. So why would anyone else who believes what he believes try to engage with me in a positive way? How do I begin a dialogue with a person like that? How do I convince him that my fears are real, and that he directly contributes to them?" (p. 120)

When I Spoke in Tongues by Jessica Wilbanks

Jessica Wilbanks grew up in a poor, working class area of southern Maryland. Her father was a bricklayer and her mother stayed home with Jessica and her brothers. Their family struggled financially and moved from rental house to rental house. They were also very involved in a small, Pentecostal church. Their church valued speaking in tongues which they believed was an outward sign of God's blessing on your life. Jessica received this gift when she was 11 shortly after she was baptized, but just two years later she would inwardly renounce her faith. As a teenager she began to rebel and looked forward to graduating from high school and getting out of her claustrophobic home and small town. In college she cemented her disbelief and rarely even spoke about her childhood church experiences. But, in graduate school she started researching the roots of the Pentecostal faith and was drawn to visit Nigeria where the Pentecostal church is growing by leaps and bounds. In the end she never returns to the faith of her childhood, but is able to make peace with it and with her family.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but I was not expecting the majority of it to take place and focus on Nigeria. I know this was Jessica's path to working through her own faith issues, but it seemed more about Nigerian Pentecostalism and less about her. The first half also ends on a very odd note of her being checked into a treatment facility for anorexia - which was never even hinted at before that chapter. I felt like a lot of her personal story was somewhat glossed over. I really didn't enjoy the book and had to make myself finish the second half.

A quote I liked:

"The faith that did so much good for the people of Nigeria seemed to be behind so many wrongs as well. The very pastors who greeted me so warmly after church services were the same ones who were spreading the idea that people could be possessed by witches. There didn't seem any way that I'd be able to follow all the tangled threads within the history of the church and find some pure kernel of good or evil underneath it all." (p. 219)