The three books I read in May 2017 were so troubling
that I stopped posting about books altogether.
I will leave out May for now. Here are the first lines of the books I
finished in June 2017.
Book 1
The genius of apartheid was convincing people
who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other. Apart hate, is what it was. You separate
people into groups and make them hate one another so you can run them all.
Book 2
Prologue
Elanor Bull’s Public House
Deptford, England
May 30, 1593
The smell of roasted meat and the noisy clank
of kitchen pots filled the room. A young
potboy whistled as he gathered dishes from a table and shuffled them off to the
back of the house.
Christopher
Marlowe gazed out the window at the rapidly fading sunlight. He took a long draw from his tankard of ale,
closed his eyes, and savored the brief moment of peace. It had been, to say the least, a bad year.
Book 3
I have written these lessons on freedom and
meditations on change for the generations who will take us into the future, for
the dreamers young and ever young who should never get lost in a sea of
despair, but are faithfully readying themselves for the next push for
change. It is for the parents who want
to inspire their sons and daughters to build a more just society. And, it’s for the sons and daughters who hear
the call of a new age.
Book 4
Daniel Mercier went up the stairs at Gare
Saint-Lazare as the crowd surged down. Men and women hurried distractedly past
him, most clutching briefcases but some with suitcases. In the crush, they
could easily have knocked into him but they didn’t. On the contrary, it seemed
as though they parted to let him through.
Book 5
This is the story of Danny and of Danny’s
friends and of Danny’s house. It is a story of how these three became one
thing, so that in Tortilla Flat if you speak of Danny’s house you do not mean a
structure of wood flaked with old whitewash, overgrown with an ancient
untrimmed rose of Castile. No, when you
speak of Danny’s house you are understood to mean a unit of which the parts
oare men, from which came sweetness and joy, philanthropy and, in the end, a
mystic sorrow. For Danny’s house was not
unlike the Round Table, and Danny’s friends were not unlike the knights of it.
Titles and authors
Book 1
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah.
A fascinating, haunting look at the 20th
Century apartheid system in Noah’s boyhood South Africa. An enjoyable read.
Book 2
Tower of the Five Orders, by Deron
R. Hicks.
YA mystery. Second in a series about a young teen girl in a 21st
century publishing family who solves mysteries that relate to Shakespeare’s
time.
Book 3
Across that Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change, by John Lewis, U.S. Congressman, with Brenda Jones.
My mother gave me this book, because she
admires John Lewis, and felt his perspective to be encouraging. Lewis explores the characteristics underlying
his life-long struggle for civil rights.
Faith, patience, truth, peace, love, and reconciliation are what carries
him forward.
On patience:
“Change requires patient, persistent action. To most of us, patience seems almost too
simple. In order to feel effective and
in command, we require control that brings immediate results. … Today, as a U.S. congressman, I can offer a
few insights on how you may encourage the government to take action. …
Persistent demonstrations prove there is a demand among the people for
change. … But a one-day protest or a perfunctory march is not the kind of
resounding proof that is needed to clearly define a mobilized
constituency. Persistent, dedicated,
determined action does. It provides unequivocal
leverage for members of Congress who are inclined to vote with you, and it
educates and informs members who are on the fence, offering room within the
legislative process for persuasive negotiations that lead to more favorable
votes on particular issues.” (p. 53)
Lewis writes about the creation of the
National Museum of African American History and Culture. The effort first began
in 1915. The bill authorizing the museum
was finally signed into law in 2003. The
National Museum of African American History and Culture is now complete, a full
100 years after the idea was first conceived.
Now that is patience and
perseverance.
Book 4
The President’s Hat by Antoine
Laurain (translated from the French by
Gallic Books). A charming book which seems a light read but also gives the
reader much to think about. The
President of France, Francois Mitterand, forgets his Homburg hat in a Parisian
restaurant, starting the hat on an odyssey that changes the lives of those who
encounter the hat. The story takes place
in the 1980s. I truly enjoyed this book.
Book 5
Tortilla Flat, by John
Steinbeck.
For book club. Hilarious at points, poignant and even tragic
at other points.
