After the Last Border by Jessica Goudeau should be required reading for people who fear or loathe strangers coming to the United States to avoid persecution, war and chaos in their home countries. The author tells of two such women, weaving between their alternating stories the history of immigration and refugee resettlement in this country. …
Category: reading list
A mystery and a period piece
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford is a quickly unspooling, cinematic mystery set in the fictional city of Cahokia, during the 1920’s. (The real Cahokia had vanished by 1200 C.E., leaving behind only mounds of grass-covered dirt in Illinois, near the meeting of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.) The population of author Spufford’s Cahokia is divided …
A Vietnamese novelist captures troubled history
The Mountains Sing , a first novel by Vietnamese poet and author Nguyen Phan Que Mai, is a saga about the Tran family, against the backdrop of 20th century Vietnamese history, is told from two perspectives. First is that of grandmother Dieu Lan, telling her family story to her granddaughter Hu’o’ng, nicknamed Guava. Dieu Lan, …
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The story behind the score: Handel and history
Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah by Charles King is a delicious mix of history and music, against the backdrop of 18th century England. George Frideric Handel had grown up in Halle, Germany, worked for a while in Italy and moved to England, where he eventually became a citizen. …
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Literary fireworks for the July 4th holiday
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is one of the most captivating works of fiction I’ve read in a long time. (I thank my reliable source Beth G. for the recommendation.) Set in rural England, this is a story of youthful passion, class differences, family loyalty, secrets, crime, coverups, abiding love, wrong decisions, their consequences, …
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An accomplished journalist’s candid memoir
Lost and Found: Coming of Age in the Washington Press Corps by Ellen Hume captures the idealism of a young reporter, from her early days as a cub in California, moving to the L.A. Times and its Washington Bureau, and her intuitive skills in ferreting out the truth behind the headlines and press releases. As …
A novel novel: when blacks were slave owners
The Known World by Edward P. Jones , published in 2003, is a richly woven saga set in antebellum South between 1840 and 1860. The central focus is the Townsend family headed by Augustus and Mildred, who are freed former slaves. They have also bought freedom from their white former owner, William Robbins, for their …
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A biography of politics, power and sex
Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell, author of A Woman of No Importance, is another display of the author’s mastery of biography. In this scrupulously researched and documented chronicle, her subject is Pamela Churchill Harriman, a too-often-dismissed woman of consequence. A woman of power and influence, she was, in the 20th century, an even more influential courtesan …
Diving deep into the cover-up of Biden’s diminished capacity
Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, was much anticipated, heavily promoted and widely reviewed. It ended up as a three-day story. More than one person has said, “Why bother? We know what it’s about, and Democrats should be looking ahead, not …
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Memorial Day remembrances of fathers at war
The War Diaries of Simon Robert Gordon by Constance Gordon Kean is a daughter’s loving tribute to her father’s and mother’s 1940’s romance against the backdrop of a world war. Her father, a sergeant stationed for three years in the Middle East, kept a daily journal, sharing life behind the front lines supporting combat troops …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 