Carol's Suggestions for our April 26, 2020 Book

POMPEII BY ROBERT HARRIS  278 pages, 2005

     - "Terrific... gripping... A literally shattering climax." -- The New York Times Book Review All along the Mediterranean coast, the Roman empire's richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas, enjoying the last days of summer. The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. But the carefree lifestyle and gorgeous weather belie an impending cataclysm, and only one man is worried. The young engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct that brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay of Naples. His predecessor has disappeared. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. 

 GOD HELP THE CHILD  by TONI MORRISON   192 pages,  2016
       At the center: a young woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life, but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love. There is Booker, the man Bride loves, and loses to anger. Rain, the mysterious white child with whom she crosses paths. And finally, Bride’s mother herself, Sweetness, who takes a lifetime to come to understand that “what you do to children matters. And they might never forget.”
        A fiery and provocative novel, God Help the Child—the first book by Toni Morrison to be set in our current moment—weaves a tale about the way the sufferings of childhood can shape, and misshape, the life of the adult.

 

 THE MOMENT OF LIFT: HOW EMPOWERING WOMEN CHANGES THE WORLD by MELINDA GATES  288 pages, April 2019

      Melinda s unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world and ourselves. Writing with emotion, candour, and grace, she introduces us to remarkable women and shows the power of connecting with one another. When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.

 

 

MR PENUMBRA’S 24 HOUR BOOK STORE BY ROBIN SLONE,   304 pages, 2012
      The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything―instead, they "check out" large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store.

 

THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, BY STEVEN KING  272 pages, 1999

six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the constant bickering between her older brother and her recently divorced mother. But when she wanders off by herself, she becomes lost in a wilderness maze full of peril and terror. As night falls, Trisha has only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, and only her             courage and faith to withstand her mounting fears. For solace she tunes her headphones to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games and follows the gritty performances of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon.

“ Despite its brevity, the novel ripples with ideas, striking images, pop culture allusions and recurring themes, plus an unnecessary smattering of scatology. It's classic King, brutal, intensely suspenseful, an exhilarating affirmation of the human spirit” Publishers Weekly

 

ELOQUENT RAGE: A BLACK FEMINIST DISCOVERS HER SUPER POWER by Brittney Cooper, 288 pages, 2018 – 2019

From One Review:    The level of analysis of the structures that weigh down black women (as a demographic) is so high, I found myself awed at how rock solid her case is for why we all should own our rage. She does not mince words or try to make the data, research and her anecdotal evidence comfort black men and white people who believe themselves to be good. She weaves feminist theology in with honest assessments for the realities of overachieving black girls who can not be fully convinced that their silence and submission will save them. This book has me speechless hours after finishing it.