Waking Up White: and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving (2014)

Debby Irving grew up in a suburb of Boston, as WASPy as you can get and was totally clueless about race. As she began work on racial equity, she quickly found out she had much to learn. In her own words: 

"Not so long ago, if someone had called me a racist, I would have kicked and screamed in protest. "But I'm a good person!" I would have insisted. "I don't see color! I don't have a racist bone in my body!" … I thought being a racist meant not liking people of color or being a name-calling bigot."

"It turns out, stumbling block number 1 was that I didn't think I had a race, so I never thought to look within myself for answers. The way I understood it, race was for other people, brown and black-skinned people."

"Waking up white has been an unexpected journey that's required me to dig back into childhood memories to recall when, how and why I developed such distorted ideas about race, racism and the dominant culture in which I soaked."

Debby Irving is now a racial justice educator. Her hope is that by sharing her own sometimes cringe-worthy struggles, she can offer a fresh perspective on bias, stereotypes, and tolerance. It's a fascinating book and well worth reading for anyone who is interested in exploring issues of race, racism and white privilege.

The Prince of Los Cocuyos by Richard Blanco (2014)

Richard Blanco is best known as a poet. He was the fifth inaugural poet in the US, and the youngest, first Latino, immigrant and gay person to be chosen as an inaugural poet. His memoir is about growing up in a vibrant, Cuban-American extended family and community in Miami. 

Much of his youth was spent divided between two almost imaginary worlds: The Cuba that his family left behind and idealize and the equally idealized America he saw on television shows like the Brady Bunch. He struggled between the two, not really belonging fully to either, despite his best efforts to teach his family American ways.

Here's a telling bit from a family road trip to Disneyland:

“Mama stepped inside slowly and cautiously scanned the crowd like a dumbfounded senorita Dorothy in the land of los americanos. No one looked Cuban, much less felt Cuban; none of the men smelled like cigars, none of the women had their hair up in rollers, and no one was kissing anyone on the cheek or yelling to each other across the room. There wasn’t a single word of Spanish in the air and all the signs were in English only. Mama and Papa were at our mercy.”

Blanco writes of his childhood with humor and affection, and yet quite clear-eyed realism, particularly as he learns about himself and his sexuality.

Fire Shut in My Bones by Charles Blow (2014)

“I looked over at the rusting pistol on the passenger seat. It was a .22 with a long black barrel and a wooden grip. It was the gun my mother had insisted I take with me to college “just in case.” I had grabbed it from beneath my seat when I jumped into the car. I cast glances at it as I drove. I had to convince myself that I was indeed about to use it.”

This memoir, by a columnist for the New York Times, is about growing up poor, African-American and sexually conflicted in a small, segregated town in Louisiana.

Blow shares his rich family history, the vibrant characters and vignettes from his childhood, which felt so out of time I had to keep reminding myself we were born the same year. This mesmerizing, gripping memoir follows him into college and interning for the New York Times, which brings us to the beginning of the book. 

So does he use the gun? Read the book and find out.

When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare (2015)

Upon reading this book, I immediately decided that I LOVED Tessa Dare and must read all of her novels at once.

Third in the Castles Ever After series (all about women inheriting castles--how awesome is that?), this historical romance is about a shy woman who makes up a dashing imaginary Scottish soldier boyfriend and sends him letters (which gets her family off her back.) All goes well (and she inherits a castle) until the imaginary Scot shows up at her front door as real as it gets.

This novel has everything I love in a romance: rich, endearing characters, marvelous chemistry and romantic, uncontrived build-up. I love their joke about "remember when" when the thing is happening right now, and I love her calling him Captain MacGrumpy or whatever variation on his name she feels like. Trust me, it's far cuter than I'm making it sound. Just loooovely.

The CEO Buys in by Nancy Herkness (2015)

When I look at the title and cover of this book, I think: really? I liked this?  But I did.

This is a rather delicious romance novel about self-made, disillusioned billionaire Nathan Trainor, who makes a bet with two other billionaires that he can find a woman who loves him for him, not for his money. Enter temp Chloe Russell who is quickly promoted to his assistant after a flu outbreak, and when Trainor falls ill, finds herself spending time with him at his palatial penthouse.

I love a nice, substantial, competent heroine and Chloe Russell definitely fits the bill. Great character work all around and some lovely love scenes add up to a delightful romance novel.

Also, if you've ever watched the fabulously gorgeous Miss Fisher Mysteries and eyed Detective-Inspector Jack Robinson with interest, you'll love this book. The hero is a dead ringer for DI Robinson, just transferred to the present. Nothing wrong with that.

The Uninvited by Cat Winters (2015)

This historical novel is set during WWI and the influenza epidemic. Ivy recently recovered from a bout of the flu, and is finding the world has changed radically since she took to her bed. Not only is she dealing with the loss of family members, she still has her lifelong ability to see ghosts.

She struggles with the overzealous American Protection League and her feelings for a German living in her town while taking on the job of driving a Red Cross ambulance. And did I mention she see ghosts? So very lovely and romantic.

See also the romantic ghost stories of Simone St. James.

So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson (2015)

An interesting look at the relatively recent phenomenon of public shaming via the internet. Ronson explores several recent stories in the news, including his own experiences, that of discredited journalist Jonah Lehrer, and people such as Justine Sacco and Lindsey Strong. 

Although the topic really intrigued me--particularly the element of anonymity that seems to fuel this shaming--I was uneasy about how he dismissed the idea of a difference between shaming of women and men. The fact is that with public shaming of women there is often a sexually aggressive and violent aspect that is horrifying. His perspective felt a bit male privilegey to me. (Note to self: Find a good feminine perspective on this issue.) 

It's a very quick read and interesting enough as a cultural study of modern shaming (despite a rather irrelevant digression into pornography). Ronson is most successful when he compares internet shamings to old-school, colonial ignominy (think stocks and pillories). An awfully scary analogy, if you ask me.

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious (1956)

Absolutely fascinating reading.

 First published in 1956 and still shocking, this book has it all: incest, murder, thinly veiled homosexuality, overbearing mothers, illegal abortions, people getting their arms ripped off in a funhouse. (Yeah, you heard me.)

The writing is actually much better than I expected and dang if she doesn't get small towns and the gossip so right. I love how the narrative just goes from door to door, from character to character. 

The book is also pretty fascinating as a piece of racial history. There's a lot of the casual use of the n-word, and there's a very strange scene where the doctor, a curmudgeon but still sort of a hero, tells a pretty foul racist joke, and it made me wonder--what would it be like if that section was excised altogether? What is more important, the integrity of the original narrative, or making a novel palatable to modern sensibilities?

I think this would be a fabulous book for book clubs to discuss--particularly as it's coming up on its 60th anniversary.

Thank You, Goodnight: A Novel by Andy Abramowitz (2015)

Teddy Tremble was the singer of a band that had a one-hit wonder in the 1990s. Almost forty, he's settling into life as a lawyer when he gets a call from old friend, which brings him to a small town in Switzerland. And guess what? His band is HUGE among a quirky group of young people in this town, which rekindles his love for creating music. 

I love the way Abramowitz writes about making music--it's so wonderfully evocative. His voice is also tremendously funny and has a great turn of phrase. It's one of those novels that you want to read aloud to anyone who will listen. Unexpected and lovely fun.

The Perfect Fit by Louise Kean (2007)

Subtitled "Fat-Free Dreams Just Don't Taste the Same", I picked this up at my favorite junk shop (Practical Collectables and Antiques) in Two Harbors. 

We meet Sunny Weston after she has shed a good amount of weight and is taking up with her longtime work crush who finally notices her. But guess what? Things are not everything she thought they would be when she was thin. Then, she meets a mysterious man (while saving a child from kidnapping). 

The story is not the point here, nor is the romantic relationship or the characters. What's fascinating about this book is Sunny's own relationship with her body and her weight loss. This is some of the best writing I've ever read on a woman's relationship with her body and her weight. Fascinating. It's unsurprising that the author used her own weight loss as inspiration for this novel--her story is so incredibly well-told and authentic.