Friday, November 30, 2018

Memoir Review: Born a Crime

The first book I tackled for Nonfiction November was one I'd been meaning to read for a while: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah. The popular comedian and host of The Daily Show here turns his attention to his own childhood in both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. I was finally motivated to listen to the book on audio (read by the author) when I heard that Book Cougars, my favorite books podcast, had chosen it as a November read-along (check out the episode with their discussion at the link). I'm so glad I didn't put off reading this book any longer because I was riveted by its powerful, thought-provoking, and hilarious stories.

Noah explains at the start of the book what South Africa was like during apartheid; they looked at race very differently than Americans do. Black South Africans were those who were a part of over a dozen African tribes native to the area. Whites were mostly European immigrants - beginning with the Dutch but including others - who were the ruling class (quite a trick as they were vastly outnumbered by blacks 5 to 1 at the time). And mixed race people, like Noah, whose mother was black and his father white? They were almost non-entities, referred to as colored and lumped together, regardless of the mix of their races, and segregated from both blacks and whites. In this way, Noah says that he grew up feeling that he didn't belong - not with his mother's black relatives nor with his white father nor even in the colored neighborhoods where he and his mother later lived. His lighter brown skin visibly set him apart during those years, but language and humor helped him to feel more a part of things among his classmates. He recounts his earliest memories as a small child, not allowed to hold hands with his father in the park or even acknowledge that he knew him, going to both private and public schools, spending time with his mother's black family, the cruel and abusive step-father who was later in his life, and many tales of mischief!

The result is a series of stories that paints a vivid picture, of both South Africa overall and this one child's very unique experiences growing up there. His matter-of-fact details of living in poverty are often stunning and the blatant racism horrifying, but because it is Trevor Noah, those darker moments are well offset by plenty of humor. I was often laughing out loud while listening to this audio book and playing bits of it for my husband and son (who is a big Noah fan) - I wonder what my neighbors think when they see me walking along the streets laughing hysterically all by myself? As evidenced by all the trouble he got into as a kid, Noah is clearly very smart, and here that intelligence comes through as fascinating insights into the societal and cultural standards that kept blacks in a lower class (and coloreds even lower) and kept the poor from ever digging out of poverty, including things that are just as true here in the U.S. Through it all, his mother comes through as an amazing woman, and much of this memoir is a tribute to her strength, love, and commitment to giving Trevor a better life. I was captivated by every moment of this audio book; it is definitely one of those cases where the audio is best, hearing these stories in Noah's own South African accent, including bits of many other languages throughout. Besides, his comic timing is impeccable. Whether you are a fan of his political comedy and stand-up routines or not, you don't want to miss this moving, thoughtful, and very funny inside look at growing up in South Africa and the lingering effects of apartheid on a child who didn't fit in.

304 pages, Trevor Noah
Audible Studios/Brilliance Audio


Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book, from the beginning of the memoir, or buy the audio book through Audible.

You can purchase Born a Crime from an independent bookstore, either online or locally, here:
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Or order Born a Crime from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Memoir Review: Hey, Kiddo

One of the memoirs I read during Nonfiction November was a coming-of-age graphic memoir that was a National Book Award finalist this year: Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Though marketed as a teen/YA novel, it's appropriate - and enjoyable - for adults as well.

The memoir tells the story of Jarrett's own childhood and his family's history, beginning when his grandparents, Joe and Shirl, first met in high school all the way through Jarrett's own high school graduation. Jarrett was born after his mother, Leslie, his grandparents' oldest daughter, had an affair with a guy in a band. Shirl was livid that she'd gotten pregnant, increasing the rift between mother and daughter, but she adored her new grandson. Leslie was on a self-destructive path, though. After several arrests, she finally went off to prison, beginning a pattern of prison and stints in rehab that would continue throughout Jarrett's life. Jarrett went to live with his grandparents, who legally adopted him, and grew up with his younger aunts like sisters. He and his mother corresponded and swapped drawings with each other, but Jarrett saw her only rarely. Joe and Shirl loved Jarrett, but they had already raised five kids of their own. Shirl, in particular, was a chain smoker and heavy drinker who could lose her temper easily and never patched things up with Leslie. The memoir also covers Jarrett's coming-of-age: his search for his father, struggles with his mother, and path to becoming an author-illustrator.
A sample page from Hey, Kiddo

Jarrett recounts the full story of his childhood in an honest, unflinching way. There were certainly plenty of rough patches but also lots of love and happy memories, too. In this way, his memoir is authentic and real, with sad, difficult times interspersed with funny moments and good times. His grandparents devoted their lives to him, a fact he came to appreciate more as he grew up, and encouraged his artistic pursuits. The drawings that fill the graphic memoir are mostly black and white, with accents of burnt orange (a choice he explains in an afterword) that bring his memories to life on the page. This engrossing story about how addiction affects families is ultimately also about how love can heal.

320 pages, Graphix (an imprint of Scholastic)


Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

You can see more sample pages from the beginning of the memoir here - click on Look Inside.

You can purchase Hey, Kiddo from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Or order Hey, Kiddo from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Nonfiction Review: Happiness Is a Choice You Make

At the beginning of Nonfiction November, I waded through my large collection of downloaded audio books to mark the ones that were nonfiction. One had particularly caught my eye: Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old by John Leland. Based on extensive interviews with people age 85 and up, this book captivated and inspired me.

As the subtitle implies, the author spent a full year interviewing six New Yorkers who were all over 85 years old. In focusing in on these six people, he was able to get to know them intimately - the stories of their past lives, as well as their lives now. They are a diverse group, but Leland extracted life lessons from his talks with each of them. There is Fred, an elderly black man, still managing (barely) to live on his own in his 3-story walk-up, who is full of life and likes to dress sharp. Ping is an 89-year old woman who had immigrated from Hong Kong 30 years ago and still enjoys playing Mah Jongg but thinks old people complain too much. Ninety-year old John feels he lived a good life and, despite losing his sight, still finds joy in music and friends, but he lost his lifelong partner, Walter, and is now ready to die. Helen, also 90, lives in a Hebrew nursing home but has found a second love in Howie, a fellow resident. Ruth, 90, is fiercely independent, in spite of increasing disability, and loves her daughter but prefers to do things on her own, rather than accept her help. Jonas, a Lithuanian refugee and the oldest of the bunch at 92, was also the most active, still performing poetry and music in the East Village and continuing his career in film. Finally, the author adds himself to the story, relating his own mother's challenges and his emotional struggles to adjust his relationship with her.

I was riveted by every moment of this audio book, read by the author. In Part 1, he introduces "the elders" and summarizes some of their hardships and joys, interspersed with statistics, studies, and facts about aging. Part 2 provides an up-close chapter with each of the elders, focusing in on their lives and what Leland learned from each of them during his year. I found I could relate to much of the book, both because of helping to care for my 93-year old father-in-law (who, like John, often says he is ready to die) and because of my own life with chronic illness. So many of the lessons learned from the elderly also seemed perfect for those living with chronic illness, with its physical challenges and built-in restrictions, that I often paused the audio to grab my Quote Journal and add another passage that I wanted to remember, like this one:
"Here was a lesson on the myth of control. If you believed you were in control of your life, steering it in a direction of your choosing, then old age was an affront because it was a destination you didn't choose. But if you think of life instead as an improvisation in response to the stream of events coming at you - that is, a response to the world as it is - then old age is another chapter in a long-running story."
Chronic illness (and, apparently, old age) is nothing if not giving up control. This helps me better relate to some of my father-in-law's frustrations. I found the entire book interesting, engaging, and inspiring. Leland's profiles of the six elders are completely honest and authentic, bringing the reader/listener into each of their worlds, which - let's face it - will some day be our worlds, too.

256 pages, Sarah Crichton Books
Macmillan Audio

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Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample from the beginning of the book here.

You can purchase Happiness Is a Choice You Make from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Or you can order Happiness Is a Choice You Make from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Monday, November 26, 2018

It's Monday 11/26! What Are You Reading?

Happy Cyber Monday! I will be focused on getting my shopping done today, so I may not have time for blog visits until later this week, but I look forward to seeing what everyone has been reading!

I hope all those in the U.S. had a nice Thanksgiving. I did improve enough from my recent 6-week long relapse (of my chronic illness) to make the trip to my hometown - but just barely. It was extra-exhausting, with different family gatherings each day, and a 7-hour drive each way (though the long days in the car were the easy part). Of course, it was wonderful to see all of my family, though. I'm just happy to be in my quiet house and back on the couch today!

We didn't have a lot of reading time this weekend (I can only manage some light magazine browsing in the car), but here are the books we've been reading this past week:
  • I finished Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, which has been on my bookshelf for decades. It's a true crime story set in Savannah, GA, with vivid descriptions of Savannah and its very quirky citizens. There's a murder at the heart of the book, but it is also very amusing. I enjoyed it and am glad to have finally read it!
  • Now, I am reading one last nonfiction for the month: The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner. The subtitle is pretty self-explanatory - it's a memoir with chapters written by the three authors about the year they spent traveling around the world. The travel is fascinating, but I am also intrigued because they all work in magazines/freelance writing (which is what I do, though on a much smaller scale), so it's been interesting so far.
  • On audio, I am still listening to Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old by John Leland. The author, a reporter, spent a year interviewing seven elderly people (ages 85 to over 100) and wrote about their lives and what he learned. It's fascinating, especially since my father-in-law is 93, and as someone living with chronic illness, I can personally relate to some of the struggles of the elderly. I'm really loving it.
  • My husband, Ken, is reading a book I gave to him for his birthday, The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad, a thriller by an author he hadn't tried yet.
  •  Jamie, our 24-year old son, is back to his favorite Wheel of Time series and is now reading the final book #13, Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.
Just one blog post last week before we left:
Movie Monday: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - a fun Harry Potter-themed fantasy set in 1920's New York

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Time for me to get shopping! 

Monday, November 19, 2018

Movie Monday: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Our older son came home for Thanksgiving break this weekend, and I was still sick, so my husband, son, and I settled in for a night of pizza and a movie! The pizza was delicious - a rare treat since I am usually dairy- and grain-free - and we decided to watch a movie we've all wanted to see since its release in 2016: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Harry Potter aficionados will know the title is a reference to a textbook used at Hogwarts and written by Newt Scamander. This movie takes place in 1920's New York.

As the movie opens, Newt, played by Eddie Redmayne, is arriving on a ship into New York. He's been traveling all over the world doing research for his upcoming textbook on magical beasts, and you can tell from his challenges going through customs that his plain, brown suitcase seems to hold some of his research subject matter. Newt is used to life in England, where magical and non-magical (aka Muggles) people live side by side, but here in the United States, the magical world is kept secret from so-called Non-Mags. As Newt struggles to adjust to this and other cultural differences, several of his magical creatures escape, through a series of amusing events. Along the way, Newt meets a non-mag named Jacob Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler, and a fellow witch named Tina, played by Katherine Waterston, who works for the US version of the Ministry of Magic and tries to turn Newt in for letting his magical creatures escape. Another force at work is an organization hunting witches called the New Salem Philanthropic Society. As Newt's escaped creatures wreak havoc and he tries to collect them all, there is an evil force unleashed upon New York City that threatens them all, witches and Non-Mags alike.

We all enjoyed this exciting, delightful movie very much. It's fun to see the wizarding world during an entirely different era and new place than the familiar Harry Potter stories but told with the same creative energy and sense of humor. The story itself has plenty of suspense and action but also a sense of wonder, especially where Newt's various creatures are concerned. All of the actors are wonderful in this movie, fully inhabiting their roles and making you believe it is New York in the 1920's (but a New York we have never seen!). It's a complex and intriguing plot that pulls you right in. We all loved spending two hours in this unique, colorful, and compelling world.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is currently available for streaming on Amazon, starting at $2.99, or on DVD.

If you've already seen this first movie, its sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald (a villain introduced in this first movie) is currently in theaters. I am hoping to get feeling better in time to see it on the big screen! Find times and theaters near you:







Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

It's Monday 11/19! What Are You Reading?

I know this is getting a bit boring to read each week, but I had another rough sick week. This mysterious and severe flare-up of my chronic immune system disorder continued - last week was even worse. Into my 6th week of this now, and it's getting old! We are leaving Wednesday morning for a 5-day trip to my hometown, with the usual holiday marathon of family gatherings with every branch of my family. That's tough for me under the best of circumstances, so fingers crossed that I improve enough by then to manage it! I am able to sit up a bit (sort of halfway) this morning, so I'm hoping for the best. Hope for the best & prepare for the worst is our family motto!

Sick days = more reading time, so I've been enjoying Nonfiction November. Here's what we've all been reading this past week:
  • I am still reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, which has been on my bookshelf for decades. It was published in 1994, and my mom lent me her hardcover edition, so you do the math! Do you think she still wants it back? Anyway, my husband read it way back then, and I am thrilled to finally get to it, after hearing so many accolades over the years. It's a true crime story set in Savannah, GA, with vivid descriptions of Savannah and its very quirky citizens. There's a murder at the heart of the book, but it is also very amusing.
  • I finished listening to Born a Crime by Trevor Noah on audio, and LOVED it!! My favorite book podcast, Book Cougars, is doing a readalong this month. Don't be put off if you don't like his TV show or stand-up routines. This is a memoir of his childhood growing up in both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, and it is stunning, fascinating, moving, and of course, very, very funny. His insights - into race and poverty and having grown up poor as a mixed-race child in a country that was divided into white and black - are brilliant. I loved every moment of it and never wanted it to end (and then lent it to my son). Highly recommended.
  • Next, I listened to another stunning childhood memoir, On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni (review at the link - I was so excited about it that I reviewed it immediately, despite my huge review backlog!). It's the story of the author's exodus from Iran in the 1980's to Turkey, where he tried to get a British visa - at the age of 9 and ALONE. I was riveted by this audio, read by the author, of his experiences as a small, sheltered child, separated from his loving parents and alone in a foreign country where he didn't speak the language. It's a moving, powerful memoir.
  • This morning, I just began listening to Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old by John Leland. The title is a pretty self-explanatory - the author, a reporter, spent a year interviewing seven elderly people (ages 85 to over 100) and wrote about what he learned. It's pretty interesting, especially since my father-in-law is 93.
  • My husband, Ken, just finished one of his birthday gifts from me, The Outsider by Stephen King. It's a suspenseful thriller with a touch of the supernatural (it is King, after all). He enjoyed it very much.
  • Now, Ken is reading another book I gave to him for his birthday, The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad, a thriller by an author he hadn't tried yet.
  • Jamie, our 24-year old son, is back to his favorite Wheel of Time series and is now reading the final book #13, Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.
Blog posts from last week:
Movie Monday: Ricki and the Flash - a fun movie starring Mery Streep as an aging rocker

Fiction Review: America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie - fascinating & compelling historical fiction

Summary of Books Read in October - a record reading month for me!

Memoir Review: On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni - powerful memoir of a boy's journey from Iran to Turkey to the UK, all by himself at age 9

Saturday Snapshot: Late Fall 2018 - a bit of late fall color & first snow!

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Saturday Snapshot: Late Fall 2018


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy Reads.

I haven't participated in Saturday Snapshot in a while because I really haven't left the house so not many photos to share! This severe flare-up of my chronic illness has continued (5 weeks now), so my life has been in limbo.

This week was especially bad but last week, I did manage to get outside a few times - just for very slow 10-min walks around my cul-de-sac, but it was wonderful to breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the last glimpse of color here. And, as you'll see in the last photo, fall took a weird turn here this week when we got a freak November snowstorm!

My neighbor's colorful backyard

Our backyard

Colorful trees and the clouds are breaking up!

Bare branches & blue sky

A single perfect leaf
Bright colored trees and blue sky!

Red trees are my favorite in fall

What??? Mid-November in Delaware??

Hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Friday, November 16, 2018

Memoir Review: On Two Feet and Wings

I have a bunch of nonfiction audio books to choose from for Nonfiction November, and I was unsure what to listen to next after finishing Trevor Noah's stunning memoir of his childhood in South Africa, Born a Crime (review to come). Even though it was also a childhood memoir, I was drawn to On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni. My instincts were right. I was riveted to this amazing story of resilience and survival, about the author's journey - alone - at age nine from Iran to Turkey in the 1980's.

Abbas had a normal, happy childhood in Iran, going to school, playing soccer with his friends, and riding his bike. His parents mostly shielded him from the horrors of the Iranian Revolution going on around them, though Abbas knew that they used to be wealthy and now lived in a modest home with just the basics. One day, he saw his parents conferring quietly for hours and his grandmother's somber face and knew something had changed. The Ayatollahs had lowered the age of conscription into the army to just eight years old, and his father was determined to save Abbas from that fate, as one young cousin had already come back in a coffin. His father's passport had been confiscated, so the plan was for Abbas and his mother to fly to Turkey and from there, get British visas so they could move to England where they had family. His father would join them when he could. They sold everything - even their beds and cooking pots - to buy two plane tickets, but at the airport, officials came up with a flimsy excuse as to why Abbas' mother couldn't leave. Terrified of the consequences, Abbas' father put Abbas on the plane alone and made arrangements for a friend in Istanbul to meet him. That "friend" did show up at the airport but quickly left Abbas on his own - at age 9, in a large foreign city where he didn't speak the language, with no friends or family.

How Abbas manages to survive is the subject of the rest of the memoir. This is one of those cases where fact is stranger than fiction, and Abbas' story is truly stunning. He definitely encountered some obstacles and had some dark times, but this smart, kind, clever boy did survive - and even thrive at times. I just kept thinking of my own sweet, innocent sons at that age and could not fathom what they would do in Abbas' situation. I listened to the audio book, which was excellent, narrated by the author and written from the perspective of his 9-year old self. I was captivated every moment and never wanted the story to end. Young Abbas is quite the hero here, battling fear, economics, lack of language, loneliness, bureaucracy, and sometimes even cruelty. It's an incredible story, uplifting and powerful, and I am so glad to have listened to it.
NOTE: I think perhaps the book was originally marketed to middle-grade or teen audiences, and it is perfect for them, as it is told from the perspective of a 9-year old boy, but it is an equally moving and powerful story for adults, especially on audio. I downloaded this audio book FREE from Sync this summer during its annual program of offering 2 free audio books each week during the summer. Click the link to sign up for e-mails so you can sign up for SYNC in 2019 - very often, their books are like this one - books I've never heard of before but am so glad I read/listened to.

223 pages, Skyscape
Brilliance Audio


Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to an audio sample from the beginning of the book and/or purchase the audio from Audible.

You can purchase On Two Feet and Wings from an indie bookstore, either online or locally, here:
Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Or order On Two Feet and Wings from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.
from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Books Read in October

I can't believe I am writing my October summary on November 15, and there is snow on the ground outside! The weather has been crazy this year here. At least the books have been good! I continued to focus on the RIP Challenge in October, reading mostly dark and creepy books that I absolutely loved. Here's what I finished in October:
  • Never Best Against Occam: Mast Cell Activation Disease and the Modern Epidemics of Chronic Illness and Medical Complexity by Lawrence B. Afrin, M.D. - nonfiction (I'll review/discuss this one on my chronic illness blog)
  • The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher (UK) - teen/YA fiction
  • The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing - middle-grade graphic novel

  • The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (Norway) - adult fiction
  • Macbeth by William Shakespeare (Scotland) - play (both print and audio)
  • The Adults by Caroline Hulse (UK) - adult fiction - reviewed for Shelf Awareness (will link up when it is published later this month - hilarious family holiday drama!) 



So, that is a total of 10 books read in October! Wow, I'm impressed with myself. Two of them were middle-grade graphic novels (and quick reads), just one teen/YA novel, one nonfiction, one play, and five adult novels. I listened to two on audio. These were all good, and I thoroughly enjoyed the four dark and creepy novels for the season, but my favorite was a complete surprise to me - America's First Daughter, a historical novel I didn't even plan to finish and ended up loving it! The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo also deserves a special mention - a kids' graphic novel so clever, fun, and funny that I immediately requested its sequel.

Progress in 2018 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges. I read 6 books from my own shelves for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge, bringing my total-to-date to 26! Woohoo! R.I.P. Challenge is always good for whittling down my TBR piles. For the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge, October was Old or New, and I read both: Macbeth was a classic and The Adults was a new release. I also added Macbeth for the Back to the Classics Challenge under Crime Story, and added two for the 2018 Badass Books Challenge: Macbeth again for a book I should have read in school, and The Adults  for a book set at Christmas (I got a lot of mileage out of those two!). I traveled to the UK, France, Canada, Scotland, and Norway for my Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge (though only Norway was a new one for this year). For my 2018 Literary Escapes Challenge, I added just one new state, Virginia. And I finished off my RIP Challenge with another seven books for a total of 14 - what a nice, dark fall! I also reviewed 3 TV shows and 3 movies for the RIP Challenge.
 
Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 22 squares in October - a very good Bingo month for me!



Spaces filled in:
Never Bet Against Occam - read a physical book, doctor
The Killing Woods - not in a series, All Hollows Eve 
The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo - costume/disguise, candy/sweets, pranks
The Woman in Cabin 10 - shelf love
The Lost Ones - heroine, in a series, road trip, kidnapped
America's First Daughter - orange on the cover, library book, love triangle, coffee or tea drinker
Macbeth - audio book, darkness vs. good
The Adults - contemporary, free book
The Unsinkable Walker Bean - child's POV

What was your favorite book read in October?  

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Fiction Review: America's First Daughter

I missed our previous book group meeting and groaned to myself when I saw which book the group had selected for our next read - a 600-page historical novel about Thomas Jefferson's daughter. I was prepared to hate it. In fact, I planned on not reading the whole thing. I started my library copy just one week ahead of our meeting and figured I'd see how far I got for the discussion and then set it aside. Boy, was I wrong. I absolutely loved America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, read the entire book in record time, and then read every single page at the end - author's notes, historical notes, acknowledgements, and more. I never wanted it to end. This historically accurate novel written from the perspective of Jefferson's oldest daughter was fascinating and compelling.

The novel opens in the days after Jefferson's death, when his eldest daughter, Patsy, is going through his letters and personal papers. That frames the rest of the novel, in which each chapter begins with a real excerpt from a letter to or from Jefferson, and Patsy's story of their lives together. Her telling begins when she was just eight years old in 1781, and her family was chased out of their home at Monticello in the middle of the night, by the news that the British were coming and planning to burn their home down. They survived that crisis, but Patsy's mother died not long after, and Jefferson was sunk into a severe depression. Patsy had vowed to her mother on her deathbed to take care of her father, and she took that vow very seriously throughout her entire life, becoming his constant companion, seeing him through that depression and much, much more. She followed her father to Paris, where he was assigned as Ambassador to France and they witnessed the start of the French Revolution, just a few short years after surviving the American one. They returned to Monticello and together experienced a lifetime of trials, triumphs, and losses as Patsy married and went on to have 13 (!) children, filling Monticello with grandchildren beloved to Jefferson, while his career continued, almost to the end of his life at age 83.

I could fill this review with the fascinating story of Patsy's life with her father, but I don't want to spoil all the twists and turns this true story makes along the way. The title of the novel comes from the fact that Jefferson pledged to his cherished wife on her deathbed that he would never take another wife, so when he became President, Patsy took on the role of First Lady (Daughter), hosting parties in the President's Mansion and helping her father politically. Patsy's own life is covered in detail here, too, as the story is told entirely from her perspective - including her coming-of-age in Paris, the love of her life, her abusive husband, and all those children (and grandchildren), as well as her support of her father's political career. The novel also delved into two topics I found especially interesting: Jefferson's very complicated feelings about slavery, as the author of the line, "All men are created equal" (he was morally against it but financially dependent on it) and his complex relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings, whom he seemed to truly love and fathered several children with (she was actually his wife's half-sister and looked like her!).

Patsy's story was interesting and engaging in its own right, but I was also fascinated by the historical information in this heavily researched novel that was based partly on Jefferson's own letters and co-written by a history professor. I hated history class when I was in school (why didn't they ever make it this interesting?), so I was captivated by so many of the facts included here that I kept interrupting my husband's reading to say, "Did you know...?" For instance, did you know that Jefferson and John Adams BOTH died on the Fourth of July in 1826, within hours of each other? Or that Jefferson was a redhead? This novel was a fascinating, gripping view into history, as well as an engaging look at one of the women behind the scenes of history whom we seldom hear about and an absorbing peek into daily life in the 18th and 19th centuries. I loved every page of it and was left wanting more.

580 pages, William Morrow


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I read this book in print, but the audio production sounds captivating. Listen to a sample here.

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