Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See (Books & Banter book club)
Tan Yunxian was born into an elite family of scholars. Her paternal grandparents are both doctors which was rare in that they worked together and that her grandmother was also a doctor from a family of generations of doctors. When Yunxian's mother dies when she is eight-years-old she goes to live with her grandparents because of her father's work travel. Her grandmother recognizes her sharp mind and starts to train her as a doctor. But when she is married off at fifteen, her mother-in-law forbids her to continue her training and also forbids her friendship with Meiling, the daughter of a local midwife. Yunxian's transition into her husband's family home is turbulent, yet Yunxian perseveres and is eventually able to resume her medical studies and even practice on the women in her husband's extended family. Based on a real female doctor in China during the 15th and 16th centuries, Lady Tan's Circle of Women imagines this trailblazer's story.
This is the fourth Lisa See book that I've read and I did not like it at all. If not for my book club reading it I would have quit. The writing was good and she obviously did a TON of research and while Tan Yunxian's story is amazing, the book was so overly detailed and there were SO MANY tangential characters that it bogged the whole book down. There was violence in all the books by See that I've read, but there was just SO MUCH graphic medical stuff in this book that I could have done without - the eunuchs and tapeworm especially. But there was also a LOT of detail about clothing, ceremonies, medical remedies, etc. I also hate in historical fiction books when so much of the storyline is about the petty dramas and backbiting of women - not to say it wasn't true but does it have to be so much of the focus. Especially when the title suggests that Yunxian will have a "circle of women" around her helping/supporting her. Also, for some reason in this book the focus on footbinding just made me angry. It was patriarchal torture that was framed as bettering the woman and a physical manifestation of class. And in this book she talked about another sexual component of it that was even more disgusting. I was hoping that the "woman doctor" would see how destructive the footbinding culture was and try to end it but that wasn't the case. It was also odd how often Yunxian referred to people with "big feet." This whole book's focus on footbinding just made me angry. Overall, I did like the character of Yunxian (less so when she insisted on purchasing concubines for her husband) but did not care for this book. I'll be curious to see what my book club members think of this one.
A Call to Farms by Jennifer Grayson
The average age of a farmer in the US is 58 and rising. While the cost of farmland (and housing in general) has skyrocketed. This situation makes it hard for older farmers to get out and young people interested in farming to get in. In A Call to Farms Jennifer Grayson looks at several different small farms that are finding ways to grow food and create business ventures for young farmers. While she doesn't directly address the issue of how current farmers could partner with young, hopeful farmers to preserve farm land, this book explores several very unique farms that show what you can do on a smaller property and/or with a unique business idea. She tends to throw in personal opinions quite a bit but it's not so much that it gets in the way of the farm stories. A few times she's a little disparaging to farmers who either "ghosted" her or canceled at the last minute. But it's not clear did they have a genuine emergency or were too busy to fit in an interview or if she jumped the gun by flying across the country too quickly. Other than that she does showcase some unique situations and I like her overall message that many smaller farms could definitely replace our current monoculture "go big or go home" agriculture. She also does a good job of highlighting more diverse farmers - women, people of color, and even an indigenous tribe working to grow food for their tribal community. These people are often left out of the current monoculture/big ag as well. Overall I liked it and I really liked the focus on smaller, regenerative farming as being the solution to our food systems failures.
Some quotes I liked:
"What we have right now is a precious spark of enthusiasm for reclaiming gardening wisdom. The National Gardening Association reported that more than 18.3 million Americans started gardening in 2021 alone. 'There's a huge resurgence of people who are really excited to provide for their needs and to feel empowered,' Natalie [Bogwalker of Wild Abundance] said. 'People are starving for it, and for good reason. I think COVID really allowed for that to blossom.' In other words, the pandemic was a collective initiatory experience - one that prompted so many of us to consider alternative paths for our very precious lives." (p. 53)
"What's also seldom noted is what really led to the rationing and food shortages that prompted the US government to propagandize World War II's Victory Gardens: the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, who until that moment constituted two-thirds of the West Coast's farmers (growing 40 percent of California's vegetables alone). This chapter in our nation's history was shameful even before the evidence emerged that internment was orchestrated by the US government as an agricultural land grab for corporate agribusiness. Victory Gardens were the decoy." (footnote on p. 54)
"But there was a more insidious reason it was easy to find farmland to rent in Connecticut, a state with some of the highest property taxes in the country. '[Property owners] want a tax break,' said Jonathan [Kirschner of Ambler Farm], glossing over a fact understood by every farmer and wealthy investor but unperceived by a general public that has romanticized the profession of farming: Farmland owners are privy not only to numerous tax exemptions and deductions but also a sizeable property tax discount in most states. In Connecticut, $15,000 in farm sales or expenses wins you a property tax abatement of up to 50 percent. Not surprisingly, Jonathan had recently been approached by folks in town who wanted their land farmed, with no lease payment necessary." (p. 73)
"If you, too, are an introvert, I think it's important to know: Yes, humans evolved for social connectivity; yes, many ancestral societies farmed communally, and that model has tremendous potential in the modern agricultural world. But if you're drawn to the happy hermit path of regenerative farming, Alex and Yoko [of Assawaga Farm] are a great example of how to be successful." (footnote on p. 103)
[On intentional farming communities that sound amazing but are VERY pricey] "Serenbe (i.e., the Nygren family) owns the land. The farm manager may be well compensated, but it's a hired position, one that changed hands several times even before I arrived. The farm's interns receive a $1,000 monthly stipend and free housing, but I'm guessing when their internship is over they won't stay in a community where a one-bedroom condo lists for $500,000 and most houses are over $1 million. Even Serenbe's farm animals, I realized, are superficial, reserved for a petting zoo while the farm grows only vegetables. This despite the fact that livestock integration would not only build soil but also a more diversified local diet for residents who, when I was there, shopped for meat, dairy, and staples at chain supermarkets in the outside suburbs...But as with Serenbe, the Kiawah River agrihood - replete with twenty miles of waterfront, an on-site Auberge hotel, and $1 million to $6 million homes - is likely not within the reach of most farmers." (p. 166-67)
While You Were Out: an intimate family portrait of mental illness in an era of silence by Meg Kissinger
Meg Kissinger is the 4th of 8 children growing up outside Chicago, IL during the 1960s. While her family looked like the ideal family from the outside - living in a huge house, members of a country club, vacations, etc. on the inside they were struggling. Meg's mother suffered from severe depression and anxiety and her father had wild mood swings and would later be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As her older siblings headed toward adulthood they also started exhibiting signs of mental illness. She would lose two siblings to suicide in a time when these kind of things weren't talked about and were a source of shame for the family. Each family member dealt with things in their own way and they NEVER talked about it all together. Meg's way of dealing was to become an investigative reporter who researched and wrote a lot about mental illness, including a few personal stories as well. Only later, after both of their parents had died, did Meg finally start seeing a therapist to deal with all the family trauma. Once she did she knew she had to write a much more personal story - this book.
This book reminded me a lot of Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker. Both were large, Catholic families in a time when mental illness or any weakness was NOT discussed publicly. In both cases the parents were also mentally ill as well although again not fully known the extent by the children until after the parents were gone. I did think the siblings in Meg's family had better relationships. Maybe because it was 5 girls and 3 boys instead of 8 boys and 2 girls. There was chaos in Meg's home growing up but not the level of violence as in the Hidden Valley Road home. It was just the perfect storm of the time period, the Catholic, huge families, and mental illness in both cases. Meg does an incredible job of telling her family's story and including all her remaining siblings' versions as well. This is a heart-breaking story of how mental illness impacted the Kissinger family.
Some quotes I liked:
[When Jake visited his college counseling center because he was depressed and struggling] "Jake told the man how lonely he felt and how sluggish he'd become, how he'd toss and turn all night long. He was scared and frustrated as he began to fail one class after another. The counselor's solution? Join a fraternity. Get drunk. Have more fun. Jake didn't know how to have fun, and nothing he was trying was working." (p. 83)
[After their sister Nancy committed suicide they were worried the Catholic church wouldn't perform her funeral since she committed suicide. They did, then this happened.] "Just as the gathering was about to end, a busload of nuns from our high school showed up to say the rosary. One old nun, who taught us math, pulled Mary Kay aside, pointed at Nancy's casket, and whispered, She's going to hell you know." (p. 113)
[When Meg wrote a story for her newspaper about Nancy's suicide and the impact on her.] "I was terrified to go into the newsroom the day after the story ran, afraid everyone would be staring at me. Her sister jumped in front of a train! The elevator doors opened, and I slinked to my desk, trying to avoid eye contact. That was some story, said the medical reporter whose desk was next to mine. Good for you. Colleagues I had never really talked to before stopped by my desk to hug me and to thank me for sharing my story. A quiet man on the copy desk told me his son died like that, too." (p. 156)
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Evening Edition - but read early)
Tova Sullivan started working the night shift at the aquarium after her husband died. Keeping busy always helped her cope and she's had more than her share of bad things to cope with including losing her 18-year-old son Erik, her husband's recent death, and estrangement from her brother. But at the aquarium she can be alone and clean and not think about her son and husband. She develops a relationship with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus after he escapes his tank and she helps untangle him from cords and get back to his tank. Marcellus is a Remarkably Bright Creature and can read the humans around him very well. He recognizes Tova's sadness and eventually helps her uncover the secrets around her son's death.
This storyline seems pretty implausible and it definitely is. I loved Marcellus's character - he definitely gave off Sad Cat Diary vibes in his "updates." Octopuses ARE Remarkably Bright Creatures but could one figure out the stuff Marcellus figures out about the humans around him? Doubtful. I did love his ending which I did not see coming. All the main characters are a little Island of Misfit Toys-esque and some like Tova and Ethan are very likable. But Cameron was pretty insufferable. I kept forgetting that he was a 30-year-old man and not an angsty teenager. A review I read said that the plot was pretty predictable but it took way too long to get there and I definitely agree. I also felt like the overall tone of the book was sad and depressing until close to the very end. I didn't hate it but I definitely didn't love it.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Books & Banter book club)
Alice follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole into Wonderland where nothing is as it appears. Alice grows and shrinks by eating or drinking concoctions or sides of a mushroom. She gets advice from a 3-inch-tall smoking caterpillar and a disappearing Cheshire cat. She almost drowns in her own tears and tries to play croquet with flamingos for mallets and hedgehogs for balls with the King and Queen of Hearts. She attends a never ending tea party with a Mad Hatter, March Hare, and sleeping dormouse. All the while wondering how she'll ever get back home. And she does get back home when she wakes up and realizes Wonderland was all a curious dream.
I haven't read this since I was an older child/young teenager. For whatever reason I just LOVED this book and the follow up Through the Looking Glass. While it didn't have quite the same appeal as an adult, the story is definitely unique, creative, and entertaining. It's also much shorter than I remembered. I basically read it in a two sittings. I think for the time period this was written (1865) it was probably pretty ground breaking and it's still entertaining kids and adults today.
Favorite Cheshire Cat quotes:
"'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I don't much care where-' said Alice. 'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. '-so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation. 'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'" (p. 49)
"'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. 'Oh, you ca'n't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.' 'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. 'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.'" (p. 49)
