Books for Bummer Summer 2020*

If you didn't get a vacation this summer, here are some books that will make you feel you did:

Africa:

    

I love this book, set in colonial Kenya, 

about the fearless Beryl Markham.

   

I can't wait to read this book about three sisters 

 from Ghana who take different paths in life.

Spain:

                                                      

                                         

  I read this years ago but cannot forget this 

 mysterious quest that takes place in Barcelona.

Islands:

   This book follows a family through Cuba's 

                                     revolution.

   

A witty family drama that takes place in Mallorca.

                                                                                                                A rich history of the island and its use as                     a leper colony.

India:

   This is on my list because of the current issues it confronts through the story of two friends separated by circumstance.

   A little older but I still remember this driver's view of the darker sides of India

Australia:

   This is a fun book with a quirky cast of characters and snappy dialogue. 

                                                                      

Five female colleagues in the wilderness for a corporate retreat--what could go wrong?

France:

   

A shocking portrait of France during the 

occupation.

                                                                                   

A sweeping history of the city and its people as the iconic tower is built.

Italy:

 Let's call this a marital thriller, set on the coast of Sicily

   I adored this novel set in 50's Siena: intrigue, history, culture, romance and marital drama.

The American South:

 

   This is a novel in verse about a girl coming                                    to awareness during the Civil Rights Era.

   A smart, sassy, back-to-the-hometown, chick-lit novel of the south.

Out West:

                                                   

A literary suspense that tells the story between 

the past and present day Mormon community.   

   This is an emotional story about immigration, motherhood and redemption-a great book club book!

Camping:

This is a true story that haunts me.

                                                                                                      

A family on vacation and the teen daughter goes missing-yikes!

Time travel:

   A good book to read when you're not sure you're living in the right time period!

                      Time travel and the 14th century--at                                                the top of my list!

   

Have you read any good books that have taken you away?

*borrowed from the Holderness family who continue to help me cope with their parodies and hilarious vlogs that reflect what we are all thinking and feeling.

George Washington's Step Grandson-in-Law

I recently finished reading You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe, a biography of George Washington. It was pretty good; I gave it 3 ½ out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com (follow me to share book recommendations and reviews). I learned a few new things, but what peaked my interest most, and caused me to look up further info, was this sentence here:

Betsy, their eldest granddaughter, had “Suprize[d]” them with an engagement...he (Washington) hoped that Thomas Law, a British citizen who had arrived from India with two of his three children, who were half-Indian, would be “fixed in America.”

Elizabeth Parke Custis (I wouldn’t want to run into her in a hemp field.)

George Washington’s granddaughter married a man who had three half-Indian children! It’s been suggested that Washington-maybe even Elizabeth- did not know that Law would be accompanied by his children (Wikipedia referencing (2)) but I could not find mention of that.  

How did Thomas Law get from India to the U.S.? How did he and Elizabeth Parke Custis hook up? What were the implications of him having biracial kids? What did others think of this? Did it affect his social standing? How and why did he end up bringing them across the world? Where was their mother? Who was their mother? What happened to Thomas and his boys?

With the small amount of research (Googling) I’ve done so far, it looks like Thomas Law was a man I would admire. He was handsome, worldly, enterprising, compassionate, and a humanitarian.

He rose through the ranks of the East India Company and was a reformer of British policy in India, formulating the basis for land tenure and taxation policy for natives during British rule. (1)

Law formed a long-term relationship with an Indian woman and they had three sons together. Due to his health and wanting more opportunities for his sons, Law left India for England. England proved to be problematic as well, and to escape the prejudice of “complexion,” (2) Law left with his two older sons for the U.S. colonies. 

I can’t find anything on how Eliza and Thomas met (he was twice her age), but being the headstrong girl she was, at 19, she engaged herself to him. She seems to have cared for his boys as her own, even after they had their own daughter together. (2) 

Thomas and Eliza seem to have never actually lived together. Eliza was certainly petulant and spoiled as a child (4), which presumably carried over as ill-tempered or peevish as an adult. Perhaps both she and Thomas were “prickly” sorts and just could not get along together. Law was definitely busy with his business ventures, as well as his philanthropic pet projects. The couple separated after eight years of marriage, divorcing six years later (an unusual occurrence for  the time). 

The two did not have an amicable post-marital relationship, but Eliza continued to keep in touch with her stepsons, and Thomas had custody of their daughter and paid an allowance to Eliza for the rest of her life. (1-4:)

Thomas survived his ex-wife and all of his children. He was involved in the arts as well as the political, social and economic life of D.C. He supported the abolition of slavery, as well as the colonization of free blacks outside the U.S. He wrote poetry and moral philosophy and eventually became an agriculturalist. I find Thomas Law’s life no less interesting a story than that of Alexander Hamilton: maybe Lin-Manuel Miranda can make a musical about him! 

Resources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Parke_Custis_Law

2. India in the American Imaginary, 1780s-1880s edited by Anupama Arora, Rajender Kaur

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Law_(1756%E2%80%931834)

4. http://www.brightpathtours.com/WordPress/2017/05/martha-washingtons-grandchildren-part-i/

Shameless Erratic-a

It’s been a while... {Updated}

I didn't know what to write, even though there’s been a lot on my mind.

I read a book on the justice system and how it works against the poor and blacks (not to mention immigrants).

I read a book of sci-fi short stories and wondered a lot about quantum physics and why I just can’t seem to get some of the concepts, even when it’s allegorized for me. Am I missing that part of my brain?

I read an early draft of an adult fantasy novel for a fellow writer and am in awe of her determination to finish it and then follow through. 

There’s a lot to worry about right now... 

And I’m worrying about all of it. 

Americans seem to have a deathwish: healthcare, guns, our lunatic president, and now, showing indifference to or forgetting it’s Covid-19 time. Did you know there are actual Covid parties, where people gather with someone infected??  

My writer’s brain worries that this is the beginning of the end. Not an end to the world, but an end to the most. My writer’s brain wonders: will the virus kill off the older, making way for the younger, the ones who can change the world for the better, at a time when many troubling issues are coming to a head? will state borders close, civil war ensue between states that live strictly but more safely, and those that value freedom over all else (not to mention the underlying political and social reasons that have divided certain states’ sentiments all along). My writer’s brain marvels that it will not be a quick ending, like in the movies, but a long, drawn-out one. 

My mama brain worries about everything it always did, but it now has to worry about the kids getting sick or carrying, about them having enough social contact, and physical distance from those contacts. And of course, going back to school; there’s no good solution to that. 

We were recently self-isolating…

Someone we had contact with tested positive. We had to make calls to people we were hoping to see and worse, people we had seen. Even when two more tests revealed the person was actually negative, we were practically ostracized for the full two-week period. I can’t blame people (I'm freaked out about it too), but it’s a sucky feeling, especially happening to your kids.   

On the other hand, friends were very sweet and generous, offering to grocery shop for us, dropping goodies off and checking in with us.

But this is what life is going to look like from here on out for the foreseeable future. Be prepared to self-isolate. We are all going to come in contact with someone who either feels like they have it, or someone who tests positive, and you’re going to get that phone call too. You'll have to decide if you are going to do the right thing and tell people, or do the easy thing and hide it.

To bring some joy and distraction (complication) into all this…

We finally said yes to getting a dog. Which turns out to be a puppy, because in all the surrounding states, I could not find a “hypoallergenic” rescue. She has certainly been a distraction (and okay, some joy too), but I imagine it’s kind of like deciding to have a baby during wartime; there is an element of hope in the act, but too late, you wonder why you are bringing another life into this mad, mad, world.

What to Read Next!

Libraries are open for curbside pickup!
Here are some books to reserve: 
(I added a mix of older and new because it's hard to wait on the reserve list for too long.)

 This was one of my favorite books from last year. It takes a tad to get into if you like your dialogue marked with quotations, but it is such an exciting adventure-journey story with some astounding twists. Currently reading this aloud to my 12-year-old.

  This is a thought-provoking story about the sacrifices women must make between career and motherhood and technological innovation that could change that. Reminiscent of the HBO documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.

  This is on my to-read list. It just came out this year. It's historical fiction meets magical realism about the formation of Liberia. Liberia is a country created for the emancipated slaves of America, of which President Monroe was a supporter, and therefore why the capital, Monrovia, is named after him. 

   I'm always intrigued by thrillers, but have yet to read one that hasn't fallen flat for me. I think I'm always expecting a turn to the supernatural and find myself disappointed when it doesn't. I don't mind trying again with this though!

  Remember We Were Liars? I haven't read this one by the author yet and it seems to be a bit of departure from We Were Liars, being a romance of a sort, but I am willing to give her latest novel a go. 

 

 

  Another thriller, this time by an author very popular among middle school to high school readers, though this is an adult title. 

  I loved this retelling of the witch from The Odyssey. Even if you aren't too familiar with the Greek myth, you will love this beautifully written novel about a woman up against the most powerful of forces--the gods of Olympus!

  This was a great read a year ago, and an even more timely one today with the pandemic going on and quarantine just ended. Walker's Age of Miracles from 2012 is still one of my favorite books.

  On my to-read list. A story set in WWI-era Russia. A journey, a romance--sounds perfect!

  A thriller that is much more my style! It takes place back on earth after female astronaut Wells returns alone from a tragic incident in deep space. I love the mix of the family versus career issues and the stunning mystery of what happened with her crew.

Post-Quarantine Journal-June 14th

Did you miss me?

You probably didn't notice there hadn't been a post for a while. That's okay, I understand; it's been nice out, we're allowed to carefully socialize, the pools are open(!) and there's been many more important things in the news to pay attention to. 

I've still been writing. I finished and submitted my short story after much agonizing over revisions. 

I've actually started several posts within the last few weeks. But nothing I wrote seemed to express the restless, uneasy time I was going through.

I wrote one about how I'm not ready for quarantine to end. 

Another on books coming out in May (old news now).

       

Another about quarantine ending before our story has fully played out. 

Where are the lessons learned? Where is the enlightenment we were supposed to reach? Where are the world leaders banding together to enforce the changes we saw were necessary--and possible?

     

And then George Floyd was murdered and protests started and anything I wrote seemed insignificant compared to supporting black people and the systemic racism they live with everyday. I hope the protests continue until something changes or something snaps.   

   

I'm currently reading Just Mercy which I had on reserve since February and had probably been sitting in the library for months before we could finally pick up reserves. Very timely, since it is an account of a lawyer's pursuit of justice, equality and compassion for (the predominantly) black and poor people caught up in the criminal justice system. It's pretty shocking at times and a sad testament to how this country treats its weakest.                                                                                

  

Pandemic Journal May 22: What Part of the Story Are We In?

It's been hard to write lately.
It's hard to concentrate, hard to be creative, hard to keep my butt in the chair and focus.
Before starting a writing project there are questions to keep in mind:
What is the main goal?
How will the characters grow from this?
What is the main crisis of the story?
With our current story, called Covid-19 Pandemic, we don't even know what part of the story we are in.


Are we at the end? The middle? Or, are we still at the beginning?

I think we are still at the beginning of Covid-19 Pandemic, but things are opening.
States are opening for political
and economical reasons. Not for safety reasons. I'm convinced if you were able to get the health director drunk and alone, she would tell you the decision is against her better judgement.
But, the hospitals are waiting and hotels are waiting for patient overflow or recovery.
The wheels of the economy need to start turning again. And we are all getting "quarantine fatigue" (though, we can look back to our ancestors for strength and inspiration--they had to deal with this on a regular basis, and often for a year or two at a stretch!).

If cases rise after opening, we will all be back at home again. It's a faulty plan but one made with consideration of the numbers and not much choice.