Yesterday evening I joined Winona Indivisible for a protest march starting at Windom Park. We walked around with signs for 90 minutes. Various commuters either ignored us, waved at us, or beeped their horns in quick succession. My sign read "The blue wave is coming." I liked this home made sign better.
Alexander McCall Smith is the author of The Revolving Door Of Life. This intermittently hilarious book talks about life in Scotland. Various characters interact with each other. One is a father of two sons, Bertie (age 7) and an infant. His wife goes to Saudi Arabia for a 5 day trip but ends up staying longer. He gets in touch with his mother. His mother now lives is Portugal with her new husband but she is glad to come to her son's house while the wife is away to help. The guy's mother cannot tolerate the wife. When the son went to the airport to pick up his mother, Bertie offered to hold the infant because the infant was less cranky with him. Bertie spots his grandmother's red suitcase coming so he sets the infant down. Father and grandmother do not notice the infant going away on the luggage conveyor belt until after he is behind the scene. That was one hilarious incident. Both Bertie and the infant do better under the care of their grandmother. Another woman on the far side of town is trying to prevent her father from falling into the arms of a Slovakian woman who is after her money. She solves the problem by asking an annoying friend of theirs to tempt the Slovakian woman into an affair. In between all these hilarious skits are facts about the legends of Scotland. I highly recommend this book.
I read Renee Ahdieh's debut adult novel called Park Avenue. The story is about Jia. Jia's parents owned a Korean bodega in New York City. Jia wants a better life for herself. When a Korean lady lawyer comes into the bodega to buy tea, Jia admires her Birkin leather bag and decides she will be a lawyer and own a Birkin bag too one day. Now Jia is an adult at a prestigious law firm and she just made junior partner. When a senior partner asks for her help with a wealthy Korean family, this is her ticket to make senior partner. What she learns from the Koren Park family is that money cannot buy happiness. Jia rethinks her life's goals and her work/life balance. This was a superficial yet enchanting read.
I borrowed The Man Of Many Fathers: Life Lessons disguised As A Memoir, written by Roy Wood Jr. from the library. Although I had never heard of the author before he is a well known writer, producer, actor and comic. He hosted the 2023 White House Correspondents' dinner. He writes about his strict, hard working mother and his mostly absent father. His father was a well known radio personality and civil rights leader in Birmingham, Alabama. He didn't get into too much trouble as a kid except that one time when he and his friends adapted their leaf races in the stream behind the house. They added burning piles of pine needles on top of the leaves and started a forest fire. The author had an interesting story to tell.
Ashley Elston is the author of The First Lie Wins. This is a best selling mystery novel about a con woman named Evie Porter (not her real name). She works for a Mister Smith who gives her jobs to do in various cities in the southern states. Evie is extremely smart and clever and manages to be successful on nearly all her assignments. Although mysteries are not my favorite, this book is paced well, full of action, and all the threads get resolved by the end.
The Nickel Boys is the second Pulitzer Prize that Colson Whitehead won. His first is called The Underground Railroad. This book is set in Florida in the 1960's. The story is about a black youth named Elwood. Elwood lives with his grandmother who is very strict. She won't let him listen to music nor the radio. He can listen to speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. Elwood is a good kid and a great student. He is admitted entrance to college classes while still in high school. Just before he is to enter his college classes he hitches a ride to another city in Florida. He and the driver are pulled over by police because they are driving a Plymouth. The officer believes no one with their skin color can afford a Plymouth so it must be stolen. Elwood ends up at the Nickel Academy which is a reform school full of corruption and cruelty. This captivating story is based on a real reform school in Florida.
I listened to F. Scott Fitzgerald's collection of short stories called Flappers And Philosophers. These stories were published individually in magazines before being collected into a book. The first four stories were about flappers. I noticed each flapper had long legs, blond hair and was about 19 years old. In his lifetime, Fitzgerald was known for his short stories in magazines and not for novels. The second story involves a flapper from the deep south. The story is called the Ice Palace. She comes to Saint Paul with her fiancee to meet his family. She has never seen snow and is captivated. She wants to try all the winter sports which her fiancee reluctantly goes along with until she realizes that these sports are for kids, not young ladies. At the end of the story they visit an ice palace with a large group of friends at the end of the day. She becomes separated. Thinking the ice palace is empty, the organizers turn off all the lights. She is trapped in an ice palace thinking she will freeze to death. This is a great story. The rest of the book is about young men at the beginning of their careers full of idealistic ideas that fade away as they mature. I am so glad I found this book.
Yesterday evening I joined Winona Indivisible for a protest march starting at Windom Park. We walked around with signs for 90 minutes. Vario...
