Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey

 

This heartbreaking memoir of a daughter coming to terms with the brutal murder of her mother (at the hands of her stepfather) is told in exquisite language (it is her poetic background of course).  It is a profound experience, quite visceral, and very wrenching.  The pain, loss, and grief comes washing over you and the setting of the deep South at a time of deep segregation just add to the elegiac feelings.  The way she confronted life and death and the aftermath of such a horrible crime is truly amazing.  It is a compelling look at loss and the ripple effects of racism and domestic abuse.  

Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry by Julian Peters

 Seeing these 24 classic poems in Graphic Novel format is a true delight.  The themes of empathy, identity, creativity, time, mortality, and nature are perfect compliments to the artwork itself and can really change the way we see ourselves and others--hence the title.  I absolutely adore poetry, and if this book will unlock that world for a new generation who were raised on visual communication, then it  will have served a noble purpose.

An African Prayer Book by Desmond Tutu

Prayer is a conversation with God and words that others give us can be a wonderful devotional aid towards these conversations.  This collection is divided into Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, Supplication, and Daily Life.  It is spiritually quite rich and there is something for everybody.  I highly recommend it.

Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey

 

I absolutely loved the poem between the Foreward and Introduction of this book.  "Let Us Be Women Who Love" was written by Idelette McVicker, who is founder and Editor of She Loves magazine.  I also love the passionate yet never strident approach Bessey takes in promoting her viewpoint.  Her narrative is very insightful and empowering and came at a really appropriate time in my life.  This is a fearless book to help each of us find freedom and move beyond all those man made restrictions that tend to hold us back.  I recommend it highly for the searching soul.  

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

This is a horror novel with humor, intelligence, and sharp social commentary.  The images of contemporary native life are juxtaposed with old traditions.  Flawed characters and an engaging plot, it is a novel about identity, grief, pain, desperation, and guilt.  Jones is a Blackfeet writer that has written more than 20 books.  He has also spent a lifetime interpreting Native American culture and mythology for contemporary readers.  The novel follows four American Indian men from the Blackfeet Nation who were childhood friends, as they find themselves in a desperate struggle for their lives, against an entity that wants to exact revenge upon them for what they did during an elk hunt 10 years earlier by killing them, their families, and friends.  If you are looking for a book of smart horror and one that will open you up to cultures both human and animal...this is one you should try.

 

The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton

 

This was a book club selection, that I did like, even though it is probably not something I would have picked out on my own.  Family is always complicated, and I loved how this was dealt with in a southern setting.  The author was born and raised in Mobile, AL and lives outside Birmingham.  She also writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. 

After her last remaining family member dies, Sara Jenkins goes home to The Hideaway, her grandmother Mags’s ramshackle B&B in Sweet Bay, Alabama. She intends to quickly tie up loose ends then return to her busy life and thriving antique shop in New Orleans. Instead, she learns Mags has willed The Hideaway to her and charged her with renovating it — no small task considering her grandmother’s best friends, a motley crew of senior citizens, still live there.

Rather than hurrying back to New Orleans, Sara stays in Sweet Bay and begins the biggest house-rehabbing project of her career. Amid drywall dust, old memories, and a charming contractor, she discovers that slipping back into life at The Hideaway is easier than she expected.

Then she discovers a box Mags left in the attic with clues to a life Sara never imagined for her grandmother. With help from Mags’s friends, Sara begins to piece together the mysterious life of bravery, passion, and choices that changed her grandmother’s destiny in both marvelous and devastating ways.

When an opportunistic land developer threatens to seize The Hideaway, Sara is forced to make a choice — stay in Sweet Bay and fight for the house and the people she’s grown to love or leave again and return to her successful but solitary life in New Orleans.

The author does a good job of creating the world that is The Hideaway, and the setting is truly my favorite part of the book.  The characters are interesting and she does a good job in weaving together the two story lines between past and present.  

It was not a deep reading experience, but enjoyable nonetheless.