Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones

ORDINARY TIME by Annie B. Jones is subtitled “Lessons Learned While Staying Put.” Reading this collection of story essays made me feel as though Annie Sue Butterworth Jones was a dear friend sharing her wise observations on life. Readers will learn that she is a talented writer and the owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. One of my book group members also says she “meets with her weekly” since Jones hosts From the Front Porch, a regular podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. In ORDINARY TIME, she writes about family, her dreams, marriage, best friends and so much else (the only section which seems to be oversharing is about religion and her crisis of faith). She offers numerous self-reflective insights: “playing was silencing the perfectionist inside me” or “I am a finisher. But life requires a lot of opening. And I am not so good with the opening, the starting of something new.” Jones herself describes ORDINARY TIME as “a collection of stories about a life rooted in place, the blooming of possibility that can happen there, but also the hardship, the loneliness, the longing for more.” I especially liked her comments on childhood, “our childhood obsessions like basketball or The Baby-Sitters Club can save us. They can remind us of who we were before anything mattered, … before everything felt heavy and hard. When life is overwhelming and challenging and our joy is stolen or hard to find, I think the things we once loved can bring us back, center us, make us whole.”

Her sections on books and reading are well worth re-reading and I wanted to note a couple of other quotes: “I wonder if this is why I love books. I can dip my toe into other lives without entirely changing my own.” and “I read books because, at their best, they make me better, more empathetic, more socially aware, more in tune to the stranger beside me. They help me imagine a better future, provide answers to my insatiable questions, take me to places I'll never get to go. I read books because they are an easy point of entry to relationship.” and “A love of books is the through line of my life, a hobby I can trace back to my earliest childhood memories and immediately weave through my middle school and high school selves ...” 

They Came for the Schools by Mike Hixenbaugh

It seems fitting to honor the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision Brown v Board of Education (May 17, 1954) with a review of THEY CAME FOR THE SCHOOLS by Mike Hixenbaugh in which he writes about “One Town's Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America's Classrooms.” Hixenbaugh’s credentials are impressive: senior investigative reporter for NBC News, named a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and won a Peabody Award for his reporting on the battle over race, gender, and sexuality in American classrooms. His debut is extremely well-written, if disturbing, as he skillfully details a history of school composition and curriculum restrictions in the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas, a Dallas suburb. By requiring large lots for housing, Southlake had essentially screened for wealth and race so that “three decades after Brown, America’s schools had effectively resegregated, perhaps not explicitly based on race, but according to wealth, geography, and social status.” Moving forward in time, Hixenbaugh recounts how a 2018 viral video with a racial slur prompted district officials to take action to establish a diversity program and the resulting backlash. Much of this has been presented in Hixenbaugh’s podcast: Southlake, critiqued here in Texas Monthly. His book also describes situations in Virginia, Florida and other states; plus, he chronicles the impact of national politics (and neighborhood PACs) on local school board elections and actions. There is a section on book bans: “without fail, parents leading this new phase of school board activism reported that they were merely fighting to shield their children from graphic sexual content that violated their family’s values. But many parents and activists were conflating references to gender identity and sexual orientation with sex and pornography.” Hixenbaugh is unflinching in presenting tough situations and the blow to quality teaching and to student well-being. His research is evident (roughly fifteen percent of the text is devoted to notes and bibliographic references) and this book deserves a wide readership.

Other commentary on THEY CAME FOR THE SCHOOLS:  The Washington Post review says, “This razor-sharp book is the masterful culmination of years of reportage.” And Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, remarking, “an extraordinarily detailed analysis of current conservative thought and political activity.” But the most succinct is from Booklist, “This is a frightening but all too real piece of reporting, and belongs in every library.”

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

THE LIGHT PIRATE by Lily Brooks-Dalton is one of my favorite books of the year. The story begins by centering on a family in Florida and is told in four parts: power, water, light, and time. Kirby, the Dad, is an electrical lineman with two sons, Flip (8) and Lucas (12), and a pregnant second wife named Frida. They are busy preparing for a hurricane and become separated; Frida goes into premature labor and Wanda, named for the hurricane storm, is born. As she grows up, Wanda becomes closer to a survivalist neighbor and college teacher named Phyllis who “had spent her entire career seeking knowledge in one form or another, but the pursuit itself taught her infinitely more about the absence of knowledge than its presence. What is magic but science that is not yet understood? What is science but magic with an explanation?” And THE LIGHT PIRATE is indeed magical – readers will be enthralled by the plausibility of environmental changes and also totally engrossed in the personal relationships and adjustments of the endearing characters. THE LIGHT PIRATE is a LibraryReads selection for December and received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus (“… complex and engaging characters make climate disaster a vividly individual experience rather than an abstract subject of debate"). Brook-Dalton's excellent novel had me thinking about the many environmentally related books reviewed here, especially David Pogue's How to Prepare for Climate Change.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST by best-selling author Allison Pataki begins in the late 1800s and spans roughly three-fourths of the twentieth century. Along the way, Pataki alludes to or describes much American history, including the founding and growth of the company that became General Foods. She portrays the lives of wealthy elites and their philanthropic gestures during two world wars in a story which centers on Marjorie Merriweather Post, a businesswoman and socialite. The beginning of this novel felt a bit slow, but it established young Marjorie’s strong affinity with her father which seemed to influence her relationship with the other men in her life. Post was married four times – including to the financier founder of E. F. Hutton and later, to the US Ambassador to Russia in the 1930s. Thus, Post’s “lives,” her homes (she built Mar-a-Lago and other estates), and her legacy in promoting easy to make foods mirror some of the social changes that were underway. Book clubs will enjoy reading and discussing THE MAGNIFICENT LIVES OF MARJORIE POST. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Pataki several years ago just after her own story, Beauty in the Broken Places, was published. I highly recommend both titles.

Christmas Themed mysteries

These Christmas themed mysteries offer a light, quiet diversion and chance to send part of the holidays with favorite characters. 

CHRISTMAS SWEETS by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, Leslie Meier is another collection of three novellas by prolific mystery writers: The twelve desserts of Christmas; Nightmare on Elf Street and The Christmas thief, respectively.   Fluke’s story takes place at a boarding school where a few students are spending the holidays with two romantically inclined teachers. Hannah Swenson, of course, makes an appearance along with several holiday recipes. Levine’s nightmare story involves a murdered Santa with one of his elves as a key suspect.  And, Meier transports Lucy Stone from Tinker’s Cove, Maine to Florida where her own daughter is embroiled in a puzzling theft. Familiar characters and the holiday theme (plus some great recipes!) make this a fun read – cozy up by the fire and enjoy! 3.5 stars

CHRISTMAS CARD MURDER by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, Peggy Ehrhart was just recently published and contains a collection of three stories by these authors: Christmas Card Murder; Death of a Christmas Carol; and Death of a Christmas Card Crafter. As I often do (guilty pleasure), I enjoyed escaping reality for a bit with the Lucy Stone story which involved a threatening message on an old Christmas card found during a house renovation. Frankly, though, I gave up in the midst of Death of a Christmas Carol after a human character “barked” for about the tenth time; who says that?  Ratings on amazon and GoodReads are more positive for this set of stories so maybe I missed a clever play on words instead of the editor missing a chance to improve the writing? 2.5 stars

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET by Karen White is a blend of mystery, history, and romance with a dash of paranormal spirits.  Technically part of a series set in Charleston and featuring Melanie Trenholm, this title can be read alone. Disturbed by some construction, the spirits are related to a long ago spy ring. Melanie deals with their attempts at messaging as well as current day rivals, business concerns, and holiday entertaining obligations. A light and undemanding, entertaining read.  3.0 stars

 

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

HITTING A STRAIGHT LICK WITH A CROOKED STICK by Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God) is a newly published collection of short stories from the Harlem Renaissance. Originally published between 1921 and 1934, they are arranged chronologically and illustrate Zora Neale Hurston’s evolution as a writer. These 21 stories involve explorations of racism, sexism, class differences, regionalism, coming of age themes and human conflict. Many are set in Hurston’s home town of Eatonville, Florida while others take place in Harlem. Writing in The Washington Post, Naomi Jackson (The Star Side of Bird Hill), notes that “Hurston's work has been a guiding light for my own writing, especially its radical insistence on the value of singular attention to black communities, the black vernacular and black oral traditions of speech and storytelling.” 

HITTING A STRAIGHT LICK WITH A CROOKED STICK received a starred review from Booklist.