Bird Club

 Tonight I went to my first meeting of the Winona bird club. Our speaker was a woman who is an expert on Prairie Island. She told us where to find which birds. She has seen 67 species of warblers. She told us about the nature trail. Now I want to go down there and walk that trail. There is a lake called Hunter Lake.  There, in the spring, the lake thaws before the river and you can find a large variety of green winged teal, canvas backs, and ruddy ducks. She told us which birds nest on the island. The city of Winona has partnered with the Minnesota Land Trust and will develop a plan to restore the island and remove the invasive species. I look forward to the next meeting. This is a fun group.

The Book Of Lost Sould

 In this delightful historical fiction story we switch the story between 1875 and 1988. Lisa Wingate is the author of The Book of Lost Souls. In 1875 little Hannie watched from the plantation in Mississippi as her mother and siblings are sold away. Lavinia Gossett is the daughter of the plantation owner. Juneau Jane is the plantation owner's daughter with a Creole woman in New Orleans. Together the three girls take off looking for the plantation owner in Texas. While recovering from illness they hide out in a church for a week. On the walls of the church are newspaper articles of former slaves looking for their relatives. Juneau Jane knows how to read and write so she starts collecting information from other people missing relatives and writes the book of lost soles. Juneau Jane teaches Hannie how to read and write. On the other end of the timeline first year teacher Benny Silva comes to Livingston, Alabama. She needs to work off her student loans. The school is shockingly empty of books and teaching materials. She finds a huge library of books in an empty farmhouse behind the one she is renting. She gets permission from the owner to bring the books to school. With her students they begin to do research on the people who lived in this area. Eventually they come to find out that this is where Hannie, Lavinia, and Juneau Jane once lived.

The Female Persuasion

Meg Wolitzer is the author of The Female Persuasion. This novel follows the life of Greer and Cody. Greer met Cody when she was 8 years old. He moved to her neighborhood and now they are in the same grade in school. Both Greer and Cody are the smartest kids in their class. After graduation they were meant to go to Yale together. Greer's parents are not the best. They don't seem to care about her. They both smoke weed in the basement. Greer's father said he would fill out the financial questions on her application for scholarships but he didn't. Now Greer is angry because she has to go to Ryland college. Cody will go to Princeton. In college a friend named Zee convinces Greer to hear Faith Frank, a famous feminist, speak. Greer is so impressed by Faith that they follow her into the bathroom. Faith gives Greer her card and asks her to keep in touch. After graduating from Ryland Greer gets a job with Faith's company. Cody ends up working in the Philippines. He gets a call one day that rocks his world. His mother was backing out the car and accidentally runs over his little brother, Alby, who was lying in the driveway studying his turtle. Cody goes home. After the funeral his father returns to his native Portugal, never to return. Cody's mother is rightfully depressed. Cody stays home to care for her. This delightful book is about wanting to be seen.  

Kayaking

 

I had a hard time getting my kayak out of storage but now it is out.

The lovely lotus blossoms are abundant on Lake Winona. The only other places I have seen them are at Como Park and on the Mississippi in Cottage Grove.

Today was a fine day to be out on the water. I saw Canadian geese, bald eagles, tree swallows, a great blue heron, a muskrat, two turtles (one was a rather large softshell turtle), many fish. As I kayaked along I could see people walking or biking on the path.

The boat sticker says 2023 so I had better get that updated pronto.

The Burgess Boys

I am a big fan of the writing by Elizabeth Strout. I was very happy to find a book by her at the library that I hadn't read before. This one is called The Burgess Boys. The Burgess boys, James and Bob, along with their sister Susan, grew up in Shadow Falls Maine. Now the brothers live in New York City and work as lawyers. Their sister lives in their family home in Maine. One day she calls her brothers and asks them to come home because her son, Zach, is in a world of trouble. He impulsively took a pig head and rolled it in the door of a building. He didn't know that this building was a mosque. He didn't know his behavior was culturally widely inappropriate. Some people in Shadow Falls are disappointed that so many Somali people are moving to Shadow Falls. This wonderful story is about family bonds and immigration. 

First Ladies

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray are the co-authors of First Ladies. The story revolves around the unlikely friendship of a black activist by the name of Mary McCloud Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Eleanor and her mother-in-law invited Mary McCloud Bethune to a luncheon at their home in New York City. She is the only black person in the room. Eleanor was unaware that other white women at this luncheon would refuse to dine with a black woman. Bethune knew how it was going to go down but she went anyway thinking racism is their problem, not hers. When Franklin gets elected to be the President, Eleanor and Bethune start working on civil rights together. Eventually Bethune gets hired to work at the White House. Eventually the two women start sharing family secrets and are there to support each other through thick and thin. This is a very good book. 

Isaac's Song

 Isaac's Song is an historical fiction coming of age novel set in Missouri and Chicago. Isaac's father does not approve of his inclinations. His father wants him to enjoy manly things like sports and woodworking. Isaac isn't like that. Isaac's mother has a drinking problem that gets so bad his father moves out. Isaac and his father did get along when they took a road trip to his father's boyhood farm. He learned much information about his father on that trip. After graduating from high school Isaac moves to Chicago for university. There he finds himself. He still holds huge amounts of anger for his father. A therapist suggests he go back to his boyhood home in Missouri. When he does he finds ten or so letters from his father who wrote them as he was dying. After processing the letters the anger abates. His therapist recommends he start writing about his memories and this proves to be a useful method. This was a very good book to read about gender norms and racism.