January Reading

As I said in my post yesterday on Freeman, I am changing things up a bit with this blog. I plan to wait until the end of the month and review all the books read for that month then.  There is an exception to that, however.  If I read a book that I cannot wait to share, I will post about that book at the time I have finished reading it.  We'll see how this goes.

1) My Father and Atticus Finch by Joseph Madison Beck.  I got this for Christmas (it was on my wish list) because, of course, anything Atticus-related is a must-have.  The sub-title for the book is "A Lawyer's Fight for Justice in 1930's Alabama".  The author's father was Foster Beck, an attorney in southern Alabama, who was chosen to defend a black man who had been accused of raping a white woman.  Sound familiar? The case was State of Alabama vs. Charles White, Alias.  It occurred around the time that Harper Lee was about twelve years old.

This was an interesting read and certainly there were similarities to To Kill A Mockingbird.  My problem with the book is that I felt like it could have been presented in a magazine article just as well and would have covered the facts. Admittedly, Mr. Beck's intent with the book may have been to tell the story of his father, not just about the one case, and if that is so, then the book did a fine job.  I was more interested in the actual case.  And the case was covered well.

2) Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  I began this book a while back, reading only one chapter per day for study.  The book was published in 1952 and was based on radio talks that C.S.Lewis gave between 1942 to 1944. I found it to be a rather difficult book to read.  It is what some might call "heady" and I just plowed through those parts.  My main objection to the book (which I have to add is considered a classic read) was his comments on black people and gay people. There is nothing Christian about those stances.

3) Spandau Phoenix by Greg Iles.  Greg Iles is one of my very favorite authors.  While perusing the very small library in our town, I happened across this book, which I had not heard of.  I checked it out of the library, and learned it was the first book that he had written.  It is about post World War 2 and Rudolph Hess, the last prisoner in Spandau Prison, died.  Or was it Rudolph Hess?  It was a good story and clearly well-researched, but I felt like it went on and on.  It's a very long book, as his books are, but usually I don't want his books to end.  This one I was praying for the end.  I was hooked enough to finish it and it was a good story, just seemed too long.

4) The Golden Age by Joan London.  So now that I have complained about the books that I have read, here's one that I absolutely loved!  Both of my book groups read this book and it was highly praised by both! The story takes place primarily at The Golden Age, an old pub in Australia that had been made into a children's hospital for children with polio.  Frank Gold was the main character of the story.  He and his parents had escaped from Hungary during the war and ended up resettling in Australia.  Soon after, Frank was diagnosed with polio.  When he arrived at the Golden Age home, he was the oldest patient there. He soon met Sullivan, a young boy in the home who was in an iron lung.  Sullivan was a poet and introduced Frank to poetry and to writing poetry.  Frank's other friend in the home was Elsa, who Frank fell in love with and they developed a romance in the home.

There were a lot of wonderful characters in this book, including both of Frank's parents, Elsa's parents, and the head nurse at the Golden Age.  All of the character's had to deal with various issues, including displacement, love, hope, loss of hope, etc.  It's a beautiful book.

Freeman

I have decided to try blogging about books in a slightly different way than in the past, primarily because I seem to have trouble blogging in a timely manner after I finish a book!  So I am going to try blogging at the end of the month about books I have read that month.  There will be exceptions...like this post.  When I read an exceptional book, I will give that book it's own post!  And that is true of Freeman by Leonard Pitts, Jr., a post-civil-war novel.


This is the story of Sam Freeman, a run-away slave, who ended up in Philadelphia where he worked for years at a library.  Sam had learned to read from his mistress when he was her slave in Mississippi.  When he ran away, he left his wife there with the intention of buying her back.  While he worked to earn money, the War broke out and that delayed his plan.  Fifteen years after leaving Mississippi, the Civil War had ended and Sam decided to set out by foot to walk from Philadelphia to Mississippi to find his wife.
Freeman

The book alternates between Sam's story, his wife Tilda's story, and Prudence, a strong-willed, widowed, privileged young woman from Boston who was against slavery. Prudence and her "sister" Bonnie left Boston following the War to open up a school for the former slaves living in Buford, Mississippi.

Tilda had been sold off when times got so bad that her mistress had to sell her. She was sold to an abusive slaveholder.  When the War ended, her master decided to leave his burned out farm and travel to where his beliefs in slavery would be
upheld.  He took his remaining three slaves with him, including Tilda, and they began walking west.

Prudence faced enormous resistance to opening a school for blacks in Mississippi and she paid dearly for her efforts.

This is a stunning story about the aftermath of the Civil War, as families tried to reunite and others tried to bring true freedom to those who had been slaves. Pitts is a wonderful writer (2004 Pulitzer Prize winner for his column).  The book was a great read.

Review of 2016 reading with favorites listed and statistics

Happy New Year 2017!  It is time for both my favorite books read in 2016 and some statistics for last year.  First, my top 17 books!

Plainsong-Kent Haruf

The Revenant-Michael Punke

Big Magic-Elizabeth Gilbert

Eventide-Kent Haruf: very good

The Signature of All Things-Elizabeth Gilbert

Memory-Philippi Grimbert

Benediction-Kent Haruf

My Name Is Lucy Barton-Elizabeth Strout

The Green Road-Anne Enright

Always outnumbered, always outgunned-Walter Mosley

These is my Words-Nancy Turner

Fates and Furies-Lauren Groff

The Underground Railroad-Colson Whitehead

Wintering-Peter Geye

Safe From the Sea-Peter Geye

The Lighthouse Road-Peter Geye

To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee

Now, of course, I need to narrow this list down First of all, I have two clumps of books by the same authors, so they will be counted as only two books, instead of six.  Also, I had re-read To Kill A Mockingbird last month, and since it is always my number one book, it is out of the running!

So now to narrow this list to my top 8:

Plainsong-Kent Haruf

Eventide-Kent Haruf

Benediction-Kent Haruf

The Signature of All Things-Elizabeth Gilbert

Memory-Philippi Grimbert

My Name Is Lucy Barton-Elizabeth Strout

The Green Road-Anne Enright

Fates and Furies-Lauren Groff

The Underground Railroad-Colson Whitehead

Wintering-Peter Geye

Safe From the Sea-Peter Geye

The Lighthouse Road-Peter Geye

As much as I really loved the six books that I have clumped together, I am taking them out for the next round.  But make no mistake, I really loved those books!

Top 6 books of 2016 that I read:

The Signature of All Things-Elizabeth Gilbert

Memory-Philippi Grimbert

My Name Is Lucy Barton-Elizabeth Strout

The Green Road-Anne Enright

Fates and Furies-Lauren Groff

The Underground Railroad-Colson Whitehead

I love that four of the six are written by women.  But now the narrowing down continues:

My top 3 books:

Memory-Philippi Grimbert

My Name Is Lucy Barton-Elizabeth Strout

The Green Road-Anne Enright

And my favorite book read in 2016:

Memory by Philippi Grimbert

It is interesting that two of the top three are older books that I came across on my bookshelf while looking for something to read.  I had read them long enough ago that I did not remember them, so it was fun to re-read them and again remember why I had kept them all this time!

Statistics: I read 72 books in 2016, and 18 of them were non-fiction.  I am sure that the non-fiction number is my highest ever, so I am pleased with that! Of course, I want to go over my 72 read this year, so I am thinking that I need more beach time for reading!!!