spring releases

 

Spring has sprung, time change and all, pollen abounds, and the Spring Break holiday is here.  Challenge yourself with these recommendations from popular magazines and morning shows.

Authors Isaac Fitzgerald and Jasmine Guillory joined the TODAY show to share highly anticipated spring releases:

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

After Grace Porter finishes her PhD in Astronomy, she heads to Las Vegas to celebrate. Once there, she does something wildly out of character: drunkenly marries a woman she’s just met. This massive deviation allows her to take stock of her life and stop considering what she’s supposed to do and start considering what she wants to do.

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

Engel’s new novel tells the story of a family of five split between the United States and Colombia because of a deportation. The novel, which is structured around the family’s youngest member’s race to make it from a correctional facility in the mountains to Bogotá in time for her flight to the United States, gives voice to each member. Engel’s book coalesces into a beautiful story of determination and love.

Once Upon a Quinceanera by Monica Gomez-Hira

Guillory calls “Once Upon A Quinceanera” by Monica Gomez-Hira “a funny, absorbing, joyful, emotional powerhouse of a book. In this Young Adult novel, Carmen Aguilar struggles through an unpaid summer internship and some unpleasant familial obligations which are standing in the way of her finding her happily-ever-after.

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

In “No One Is Talking About This” by Patricia Lockwood, a woman who becomes famous for her viral tweets allows the internet to become more and more a part of her life until she is jolted back offline by a family emergency. Lockwoood’s debut novel is hilarious, incisive, and moving.

Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir by Rebecca Carroll

Rebecca Carroll grew up as the only black person in her town, her artistic adoptive parents unprepared to support her as she needed. When she eventually met her birth mother, a white woman, her sense of identity was rocked further. In her new memoir, she shares these stories and how she ultimately created a chosen black family and found a way to heal.

Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America by Kate Washington

In this heartbreaking memoir, Kate Washington shares the story of her time acting as caregiver for her extremely ill husband. Through her experience, she exposes the sacrifices that many loved ones have to make to bolster the United States healthcare system.

Elle Magazine offers the longlisted titles vying for the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year:

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

This Booker prize 2020 shortlisted debut novel chronicles Tara, an old woman who years before fled an arranged marriage and lived a very different life to the one planned for her. Now old, and with a daughter caring for her with whom she has a complex and fraught relationship, their truths unravel together.

Consent by Annabel Lyon

The book tells the story of two pairs of sisters; In each pairing, one sister is determined and extrovert, Saskia and Jennie and Sara and Mattie. But when both sisters have a life-altering experience, 'Sara and Saskia learn that both their sisters’ lives, and indeed their own, have been altered by the devastating actions of one man'.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Peter's debut novel is spoken through the lens of both trans and cis women, and speaks to relationships, family dynamics, motherhood, identity and more.

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

The Sunday Times bestseller's debut novel follows 22-year-old Ava on her gap year and all the tales and tribulations that ensue.

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

'The story of three marriages, and of a beautiful island paradise where, beyond the white sand beaches and the wealthy tourists, lies poverty, menacing violence and the story of the sacrifices some women make to survive,' the Women's Prize for Fiction bio reads.

Luster by Raven Leilani

Bronx-born writer Raven Leilani brings to life Edie, who is unfulfilled in a dead-end job in an all-white office and soon becomes embroiled with Eric, a white, middle aged married man in a 'sort-of' open relationship.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

'Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides which thunder up staircases, the clouds which move in slow procession through the upper halls,'

Summer by Ali Smith

‘This is a story about people on the brink of change. They’re family, but they think they’re strangers. So: where does family begin? And what do people who think they’ve got nothing in common have in common?'

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

One of the most hyped reads of the past year, the bestselling story of identical twins who run away from their small, southern Black community aged 16. The book picks up with them 10 years later when they live vastly different lives; one in the same community she tried to escape and one who secretly passes as white with her white husband knowing nothing of their past.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Written by Ghanian born, Alabama raised Yaa Gyasi, the book centers around a family who travelled the same route. But when the main character loses her brother and father, she seeks answers for why life was so cruel for them as immigrants in the American south.

Bloomberg Businessweek magazine recommends adding these titles to your reading list this spring:

Tomorrow They Won’t Dare to Murder Us by Joseph Andras

In 1956, National Liberation Front member Fernand Iveton planted a bomb near Algiers. The hoped-for explosion was intended only to be a piece of symbolism, and as such, he put it in an unused shed. But its location was academic: He was arrested before it could go off and then mercilessly tortured, brought to trial, and swiftly guillotined. Andras’s fictionalized retelling of Iveton’s saga was published in French in 2016 to immediate acclaim, winning the prestigious Prix Goncourt.

Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel Brown

The author of The Boys in the Boat—a bestselling chronicle of rowers competing in the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany—is back, with the story of Japanese-Americans who, after Pearl Harbor, volunteered for service. While they were fighting for their country (and their lives) in Europe, their families faced xenophobia and internment camps back home.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

The author of now-classic titles such as The Remains of the Day, When We Were Orphans, and Never Let Me Go is a master at constructing narratives in which the plot is something very different from what the characters believe they understand. In Ishiguro’s hands, gaps in a character’s memory often are the plot. His latest takes those blind spots to their logical conclusion in the form of a robot named Klara, a so-called Artificial Friend designed to be a child’s companion. 

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson

Isaacson’s previous biographies have focused on such men as Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci. Here he tells the story of Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist who won a Nobel Prize for the gene-editing technology known as Crispr. The book is an excellent primer on the complex subject, its benefits (fighting disease), and its ethical hurdles (designer babies).

Letters to Camondo by Edmund de Waal

There are very few commercially successful ceramic artists working today, and even fewer ceramic artists with a side gig as a critically acclaimed author. Best-known for his large-scale installations of exquisitely crafted porcelain and his bestseller The Hare with Amber Eyes, de Waal’s latest piece of fiction combines the two sides of his professional life. This book consists of imaginary letters to the real-life Moïse de Camondo, a fabulously rich Jewish banker who ran one of the most successful institutions in the Ottoman Empire and was also an art patron. His collection, now in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, is one of the jewels of Paris’s museums.

Painting Time by Maylis de Kerangal

As anyone who’s loved a book and hated a movie will tell you, it’s very hard to translate the essence of one artistic medium into another. But de Kerangal manages the trick here, following the career of a painter and rendering her search for mastery of a craft in such a way that it reveals the author in full control of her own. Like her earlier novels—The Heart, which gave an in-depth look at organ donation, and The Cook, which does the same for the restaurant industry—Painting Time doesn’t just use paintings to further a story, or as a pretext for enlivening a bit of history. It’s a novel about the creative process itself.

Antiquities by Cynthia Ozick

Most people have experienced some form of Covid isolation. Ozick, 92, who’s been shortlisted for the Pulitzer and Man Booker International prizes, has created a protagonist who’s similarly afflicted, though it’s old age, rather than a pandemic, that finds him holed up indoors. As he embarks on his memoirs, he is drawn, mothlike, to memories of his cousin, a famous archaeologist, and to a mysterious schoolmate.

Second Place by Rachel Cusk

Beloved and reviled in equal measure, Cusk’s startlingly creative autobiographical fiction—most recently in Outline and Transit—has pivoted back to a form bearing an uncanny resemblance to a traditional novel. Her main character, a woman named M who narrates the plot, invites an artist she admires to stay in her guesthouse. The resulting tensions among the home’s inhabitants are rendered in Cusk’s clear, conversational prose.

The Trojan Women: A Comic by Rosanna Bruno and Anne Carson

The Athenian playwright Euripides wrote a tragedy 2,500 years ago that followed the women of Troy after the city’s fall. Their husbands killed and their families enslaved, they spend quite a bit of time mourning what they had, and dreading what’s to come. Through millennia the play has remained an enduring testament to so-called collateral damage. Now Carson, a classicist who’s translated Sappho and other ancient poets, partners with Bruno, a visual artist, to create a contemporary update of the story.

Entertainment Weekly polled your favorite Young Adult fiction authors, including Jenny Han, Victoria Aveyard, Kendare Blake, and more, about their spring reading:

Love in Color by Bolu Babalola

"Love in Color is Babalola's debut collection showcases love stories from history and mythology retold with new detail and vivacity. With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres." -Jenny Han

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

"I'm a sucker for world-building, not to mention bloody twists, and Roseanne Brown's A Song of Wraiths and Ruin has both in spades. I felt absolutely swallowed up by this world and story in the best way. I might be late to the party, but at least I don't have to wait long for the sequel, A Psalm of Storms and Silence, which releases this fall." -Victoria Aveyard

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant

"In Elise Bryant's Happily Ever Afters, Tessa Johnson writes romance novels, oftentimes starring herself. Tessa is the most relatable character I've ever read, from her love of romance to her experiences with racism to her performance anxiety and imposter syndrome. Tessa is me." -Joya Goffney

When We Were Infinite by Kelly Loy Gilbert

"In When We Were Infinite, Beth witnesses her friend's father assaulting him. Beth leads her close-knit friend group in a desperate effort to save him, but he steadfastly refuses their help. Kelly Loy Gilbert has a way of holding up her characters like jewels to the light so that you can see their flaws and their exquisite beauty, and this book is no exception." – Misa Sgiura

Love in English by Maria E. Andreu

"As a non-native English speaker, I knew Love in English would resonate with me from the moment I heard about it. It tells the story of Ana, an Argentinian immigrant who has to learn English, explore a new culture, and navigate typical high school drama all at the same time. There are budding friendships, swoon-worthy boys, and mouthwatering Argentinian specialties. Maria E. Andreu also peppered the novel with lovely poems that cleverly portray life in a language not yet mastered." – Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

"I cannot get over how much I loved Crystal Maldonado's Fat Chance, Charlie Vega! I'm a sucker for a good love story, and not only does this have a literal love interest, but it's a love story by Charlie to her body that I couldn't get enough of. The way Charlie comes into her own and claims her space made my heart soar!" – Jason June

Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

"My pick is Yolk, by Mary H. K. Choi, whose contemporary novels are not only beautifully written, but rife always with emotion and honesty. " -Tahereh Mafi

 

art in fiction

 

The next Genre Reading Group Meeting will be Tuesday, March 30th on Zoom at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion is illness and disease. Register your email to receive a link to the meeting on that day: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/4597967

There is a small display at the 2nd floor service desk and all of those books are on the GRG digital shelf under shelf care here: https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations

This week, GRG met to talk about art as portrayed in fiction!

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

Moving, intimate, and beautifully written, The Beekeeper of Aleppo is a book for our times: a novel that at once reminds us that the most peaceful and ordinary lives can be utterly upended in unimaginable ways and brings a journey in faraway lands close to home, never to be forgotten.

The All Souls series by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches
Shadows of Night
The Book of Life
Time’s Convert

Deborah Harkness's sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Look for the hit TV series “A Discovery of Witches,” streaming on AMC Plus, Sundance Now, and Shudder.

Mr. Mac and Me by Esther Freud

In this story of an unlikely friendship, Esther Freud paints a vivid portrait of the home front during World War I, and of a man who was one of the most brilliant and misunderstood artists of his generation.

The Amber Room by Steve Berry

Atlanta judge Rachel Cutler loves her job and her kids, but her life takes a dark turn when her father dies under strange circumstances, leaving behind clues to a secret about one of the greatest treasures ever made by man. Forged of the exquisite gem, the Amber Room inexplicably disappeared sometime during World War II. Determined to solve its mysteries, Rachel takes off for Germany with her ex-husband, Paul, close behind. Before long, they’re in over their heads. Locked into a treacherous game with professional killers, Rachel and Paul find themselves on a collision course with the forces of greed, power, and history itself.

The Swan Thieves by Elisabeth Kostova

Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. The Swan Thieves is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland

With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists' lives.  As she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland focuses on a single painting, Auguste Renoir's instantly recognizable masterpiece, which depicts a gathering of Renoir's real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, Vreeland paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs so vividly that "the painting literally comes alive" (The Boston Globe).

Richard Temple by Patrick O’Brian

Richard Temple escapes from a blighted childhood and his widowed, alcoholic mother thanks to an artistic gift, which is the one thing of value he has to his name. His life as a painter in London of the 1930s is cruelly deprived. In order to eat, he squanders his one asset by becoming a forger of art, specializing in minor works by Utrillo. He is rescued by the love of a beautiful and wealthy woman, and it is the failure of this relationship, coupled with the outbreak of war, that propels him into the world of espionage.

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

Absolutely nothing is sacred to Christopher Moore. The phenomenally popular, New York Times bestselling satirist whom the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls, “Stephen King with a whoopee cushion and a double-espresso imagination” has already lampooned Shakespeare, San Francisco vampires, marine biologists, Death…even Jesus Christ and Santa Claus! Now, in his latest masterpiece, Sacré Bleu, the immortal Moore takes on the Great French Masters. A magnificent “Comedy d’Art” from the author of Lamb, Fool, and Bite Me, Moore’s Sacré Bleu is part mystery, part history (sort of), part love story, and wholly hilarious as it follows a young baker-painter as he joins the dapper  Henri Toulouse-Lautrec on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the supposed “suicide” of Vincent van Gogh.

The Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon is spy AND an Italian art restorer and he adventures along through 21 books and counting!  The first in the series is The Kill Artist.

Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him by Danielle Ganek

As The Devil Wears Prada demystified the world of high fashion, this funny and insightful debut novel dishes the crazy and captivating Manhattan art scene. When painter Jeffrey Finelli is run over by a cab, the art world clamors for the instantly in-demand work by the late “emerging artist”—especially an enormous painting called Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him.

The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham

First published in 1919, W. Somerset Maugham’s “The Moon and Sixpence” is an episodic first person narrative based on the life of Paul Gaugin. At the center of the novel is the story of Charles Strickland, an English banker who walks away from a life of privilege, abruptly abandoning his wife and children, in order to pursue his passion to become an artist. Strickland leaves London for Paris and ultimately Tahiti, mirroring the life of Gaugin who would also split with his wife to pursue a life of painting eventually immigrating to Tahiti. “The Moon and Sixpence” is the story of the demands that can be placed on a tortured artistic soul and consequently the lives that it touches. 

The God of Spring by Arabella Edge

A tale inspired by the life of early nineteenth-century Romantic painter Théodore Géricault traces the creation of one of his most controversial and sensational works, Raft of the Medusa, a process during which he makes the two survivors of an infamous French frigate his muses. 

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Hitler’s Holy Relics: A True Story of Nazi Plunder and the Race to Recover the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire by Sidney Kirkpatrick

Drawing on unpublished interrogation and  intelligence reports, as well as on diaries, letters,  journals, and interviews in the United States and Germany, Kirkpatrick tells this riveting and disturbing story with cinematic detail and reveals— for the first time—how a failed Vienna art student, obsessed with the occult and dreams of his own grandeur, nearly succeeded in creating a Holy Reich rooted in a twisted reinvention of medieval and Church history.

Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay

Discover the tantalizing true stories behind your favorite colors. For example: Cleopatra used saffron—a source of the color yellow—for seduction. Extracted from an Afghan mine, the blue “ultramarine” paint used by Michelangelo was so expensive he couldn’t afford to buy it himself. Since ancient times, carmine red—still found in lipsticks and Cherry Coke today—has come from the blood of insects.

Jewels: A Secret History by Victoria Finlay

Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history, across cultures, deep into the earth’s mantle, and up to the glittering heights of fame, power, and wealth. From the fabled curse of the Hope Diamond, to the disturbing truths about how pearls are cultured, to the peasants who were once executed for carrying amber to the centuries-old quest by magicians and scientists to make a perfect diamond, Jewels tells dazzling stories with a wonderment and brilliance truly worthy of its subjects.

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, The Painted Veil is the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love. The Painted Veil is a beautifully written affirmation of the human capacity to grow, to change, and to forgive.

Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice

"Like Interview with the Vampire, Memnoch has a half-maddened, fever-pitch intensity. . . . Narrated by Rice's most cherished character, the vampire Lestat, Memnoch tells a tale as old as Scripture's legends and as modern as today's religious strife."
--Rolling Stone

The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe

Our protagonist takes refuge in an abandoned castle and discovers a room with a series of paintings accompanied by a small book describing them. His attention is attracted by an oval portrait depicting a young woman of rare beauty. The book tells of the artist falling in love with the gir and marrying her. It was not soon after that the girl realised her husband was already married to his art. One day the painter decides to paint his wife and in doing so with such fervor, he didn’t notice that as the days passed she became more and more saddened. When the portrait was finished he was shocked to discover that the painting of his wife was much, much more than life-like.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Dorian Gray, a handsome young man, receives a beautiful painting of himself from his good friend Basil Hallward. In the same moment, a new acquaintance, Lord Henry, introduces Dorian to the ideals of youthfulness and hedonism, of which Gray becomes immediately obsessed. Meanwhile, the painting in Dorian's possession serves as a constant reminder of his passing beauty and youth, driving his obsession.

in the mood for love

 

BookBub, a free online book discovery website, asked it’s readers:  what’s the most romantic book you’ve ever read?  Here’s what they said!

 

Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Casey says: “I read Red, White & Royal Blue lately and found it lovely! The characters just felt really authentic and the relationship really genuine. I felt like I’d been wrapped up in a warm hug!”

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Kathi says: “The love that develops between Jamie and Claire is truly pure. There was attraction from the start, but the wedding night? Pure love! 💕”

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Hannah says: “This book doesn’t start with romance. It starts with cold and winter and fear. But then an unfeeling god warms, a struggling soul frees itself, and together, they find love over the three books. Stellar.”

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Heidi says: “They are each (relatively) normal people who don’t really believe they are worthy of being loved but have an emotional connection, which draws them together. They are facing dire circumstances that heighten the angst, which helps to up the romance factor.”

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Beth says: “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford is one of the most heartbreakingly romantic books. Henry and Keiko are torn apart during WWII [and] as Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps. Henry saves Keiko’s family photo albums and, though he marries and has children of his own, still holds out love for her. It’s a beautiful depiction of how circumstances and time don’t always change love.”

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

Margaret says: “This book is rich with the culture of Iran, the immigrant experience in America, and the sorrow of love lost, then found. Beyond that, for me it explored the reality that love and romance are not neat and tidy. That unforeseen trauma, grief, and just the struggle of life may crush our hopes and dreams of a future together, but do not diminish love.”

Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

Amber says: “This was a story of love that resonated so personally to me. It tells of a love that went beyond the romance of a husband and wife, but explored the love between siblings, as well as between parents and children. Whenever I’m asked [for] my recommendation, this story is at the top of my list, with a side order of tissues.”

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Lana says: “It was a beautiful love story about redemption and grace.”

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Hannah says: “They’re in a fight to the death, but they’d rather sacrifice themselves than the other. So beautiful and heartbreaking!”

Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield

Trevor says: “Great love and sacrifice set in a science fiction background.”

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Jane says: “Showing the love through the years. In good and bad times, in sickness and in health.”

Don’t Die, My Love by Lurlene McDaniel

Marnie Elizabeth says: “It’s a book from my teen years, but I reread it every few years. Pure high school love can be so powerful.”

Saving Grace by Julie Garwood

Cydni says: “You laugh and you cry. All of her historical romance books are incredible.”

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Carole says: “My heart. This is the sweetest coming of age story. We get to watch Felix, this talented, sensitive, smart Black kid as he navigates all different aspects of his identity, including his gender, his relationship with his father, and the agony and hope of first love. One of the most special parts of this book is how it it defies expectations. It kept me surprising me to the very end. Loved it.”

Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman

Mary says: “Years ago, I loved Mrs. Mike. It was a fun escape read about a Canadian Mountie.”

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Kaitlyn says: “I really enjoyed the relationship between the main characters, Ahmad and Chava, in The Golem and the Jinni. They’re not a traditional romance by any means, but they’re definitely each other’s ‘person’ and bring out the better parts of one another. I’m interested to see how their relationship develops in the sequel!’

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Lindsay says: “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was a very sweet and healthy slow burn that felt very realistic and relatable. It’s so nice to read a well-done LGBT book that ends on a positive and hopeful note.”

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Marcia says: “Their emotions were so real, and she never let Mellors think he was beneath her class.”

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Maria says: “I loved, loved, loved this book. It was sexy and steamy, heartwarming and beautiful. I devoured the book in less than 24 hours.

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

Rihaneh says: “Ms. Cole delivered an extraordinary story that will stay with me for a long time... Both characters’ personal journey and their understanding of their world grow with each challenge they faced... [It] is about the love story of two people not allowed to be free to love each other by either race, territory, or time. ”

The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans

Dana says: “I really enjoyed The Horse Whisperer. When the plot *has* romance, but the romance isn’t THE thing, I am so much more interested in it.”

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Seabrooke says: “This is a graphic novel, but it’s a perfect feel-good romance. I love how sweet the relationship is and that the characters aren’t afraid to be themselves.”

All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry

Sarah says: “At its core is the story of Judith’s yearning for the boy she once hoped might love her and now fears she has lost forever. Berry’s writing is wonderful; she does not shy away from the harsh realities of Judith’s plight, and Judith is a character who I fell in love with instantly and wanted good things for. It’s a wonderful read. Much recommended.”

rediscovered 20th century classics

In February, the Lost & Found Book Group will read Nobelist Par Lagerkvist's vitriolic and masterful "The Dwarf", set during the Italian Renaissance. 

The novel, published in 1944, is presented as a diary penned by Piccoline, the misanthropic dwarf of the title. 

Register for the February Zoom program here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/4800237

Reserve your copy of the book here (link shortened): https://bit.ly/3tDJYir

It features characters based on Leonardo da Vinci and the late 15th century Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, as well as Cesare Borgia, the prince in whose court Piccoline serves. (He was also the inspiration for Machiavelli's "The Prince".) The novel's setting is ambiguous but it is obviously a synthesis of Milan and Florence, as Bernardo (the da Vinci stand-in) is working on paintings at the Duke's court that evoke the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper respectively. 

What distinguishes this short parable from the usual historical novel is the voice of the dwarf. He personifies evil and is a master of hyper-articulate invective. In lyrical and deadly prose, with undertones of macabre humor, he abhors nearly every man and woman in the court (except, for the most part, the prince) and he delights in telling us why. This audacious narrator reserves his admiration for very few things but they include sick brutality, war on a grand scale, tradition, however outmoded it may be, and immutable positions; change he cannot abide. 

For all that he is deplorable, though, he is a thoroughly compelling character whom Lagerkvist employs to represent man's basest impulses. This is a swift, shocking little book with an an almost perfect denouement; there is much to talk about here so please join us for our Zoom meeting on February 25, 2021! Feel free to enjoy an adult beverage during the discussion. We look forward to seeing you!

Early check out

 

Still in the grips of this time of contagion, the idea of a hotel feels exotic, luxurious, and so very decadent.  Over time, hotels have also functioned not just as room and board, but meeting places for social groups, romantic getaways for couples both established and covert, and have played host to armies, political movements, ghosts, artists, actors, and more.  Explore this list for the best in hotel reading, both real and imagined!

Fiction

The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis

The bright lights of the theater district, the glamour and danger of 1950s New York, and the wild scene at the iconic Chelsea Hotel come together in a dazzling new novel about a twenty-year friendship that will irrevocably change two women's lives.

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

Enter the lush world of 1950s New York City, where a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors live side by side in the glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women while attempting to claw their way to fairy-tale success.

The Hotel Neversink by Adam O’Fallon

Told by an unforgettable chorus of Sikorsky family members―a matriarch, a hotel maid, a traveling comedian, the hotel detective, and many others―The Hotel Neversink is the gripping portrait of a Jewish family in the Catskills over the course of a century. With an unerring eye and with prose both comic and tragic, Adam O’Fallon-Price details one man’s struggle for greatness, no matter the cost, and a long-held family secret that threatens to undo it all.

The Lady Matador’s Hotel by Cristina Garcia

National Book Award finalist Cristina García delivers a powerful and gorgeous novel about the intertwining lives of the denizens of a luxurious hotel in an unnamed Central American capital in the midst of political turmoil. 

Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin

A captivating novel based on the story of the extraordinary real-life American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II—while playing hostess to the invading Germans at the iconic Hôtel Ritz in Paris.

All the Ways We Said Goodbye: A Novel of the Ritz Paris by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

A glorious historical adventure that moves from the dark days of two World Wars to the turbulent years of the 1960s, in which three women with bruised hearts find refuge at Paris’ legendary Ritz hotel.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

The Shining by Stephen King

Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

The Girl from the Savoy by Hazel Gaynor

Dolly Lane is a dreamer; a downtrodden maid who longs to dance on the London stage, but her life has been fractured by the Great War. Memories of the soldier she loved, of secret shame and profound loss, by turns pull her back and spur her on to make a better life. When she finds employment as a chambermaid at London’s grandest hotel, The Savoy, Dolly takes a step closer to the glittering lives of the Bright Young Things who thrive on champagne, jazz and rebellion. Now, at the precipice of the life she has and the one she longs for, the girl from The Savoy must make difficult choices: between two men; between two classes, between everything she knows and everything she dreams of.

The Last Hotel for Women by Vicki Covington

In her fourth novel Covington threads the turbulent racial unrest
of Civil Rights-era Birmingham into the already complicated fabric of one
white family's life. Firmly grounded in Alabama's physical, social, and cultural landscape, The Last Hotel for Women revisits a painful moment in the South's past and allows Covington to redeem its collective history with a story of grace and hope.

Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan

Tilly was a bright, outgoing little girl who loved fizzy drinks, naughty words, and liked playing with ghosts and matches. When her beloved father suddenly disappeared, she and her fragile, difficult mother moved into Queenie Malone’s magnificent Paradise Hotel in Brighton, with its endearing and loving family of misfits—including the exuberant and compassionate Queenie herself. But then Tilly was dealt another shattering blow when her mother sent her off to boarding school with little explanation and no warning, and she lost her beloved chosen family. Now an adult, Tilda has grown into an independent woman still damaged by her mother’s unaccountable cruelty. Wary of people, her only true friend is her dog, Eli. When her estranged mother dies, Tilda returns to Brighton and the home she loved best.

 

Nonfiction

Gone at Midnight: The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam by Jake Anderson

The case that captivated a nation and inspired the forthcoming (Feb 10) Netflix series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. A Los Angeles hotel with a haunting history. A missing young woman. A disturbing viral video followed by a shocking discovery. A cold-case mystery that has become an internet phenomenon—and for one determined journalist, a life-changing quest toward uncomfortable truths. Perfect for Murderinos looking for their next fix…

The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont by Shawn Levy

Since 1929, Hollywood’s brightest stars have flocked to the Chateau Marmont as if it were a second home. An apartment building-turned-hotel, the Chateau has been the backdrop for generations of gossip and folklore: where director Nicholas Ray slept with his sixteen-year-old Rebel Without a Cause star Natalie Wood; Jim Morrison swung from the balconies; John Belushi suffered a fatal overdose; and Lindsay Lohan got the boot after racking up nearly $50,000 in charges in less than two months. But despite its mythic reputation, much of what has happened inside the Chateau’s walls has eluded the public eye—until now.

Life at the Marmont: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Legendary Hotel of the Stars, Chateau Marmont by Raymond Sarlot

Raymond Sarlot bought the Chateau Marmont in 1975, but what was originally a business purchase became a love affair as he delved into the hotel's incredible history. From its perch overlooking the Sunset Strip, the glamorous Marmont reigned for decades as the spot for artists, writers, musicians, and actors of every stripe and remains a home-away-from-home for A-listers like Scarlett Johansson and Johnny Depp. Here, Sarlot and co-author Fred E. Basten share a wealth of scandalous and intriguing tales about them all, from the stars of Hollywood's Golden Era like Jean Harlow and Grace Kelly to idols of the sixties and seventies like Jim Morrison and John Belushi (who tragically died there in 1982). Whether your obsession is Hollywood history or celebrity gossip, Life at the Marmont has plenty of gripping, juicy stories to fascinate.

The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris by Tilar J. Mazzeo

Set against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation of World War II, The Hôtel on Place Vendôme is the captivating history of Paris’s world-famous Hôtel Ritz—a breathtaking tale of glamour, opulence, and celebrity; dangerous liaisons, espionage, and resistance.

Ritz & Escoffier: The Hotelier, the Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class by Luke Barr

In a tale replete with scandal and opulence, readers are transported to turn-of-the-century London and Paris to discover how celebrated hotelier César Ritz and famed chef Auguste Escoffier joined forces at the Savoy Hotel to spawn the modern luxury hotel and restaurant, where women and American Jews mingled with British high society, signaling a new social order and the rise of the middle class.

Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York’s Legendary Chelsea Hotel by Sherill Tippins

Since its founding by a utopian-minded French architect in 1884, New York’s Chelsea Hotel has been a hotbed of artistic invention and inspiration. Cultural luminaries from Bob Dylan to Sid Vicious, Thomas Wolfe to Andy Warhol, Dylan Thomas to Dee Dee Ramone — all made the Chelsea the largest and longest-lived artists’ community in the world. Inside the Dream Palace tells the hotel’s story, from its earliest days as a cooperative community, through its pop art, rock-and-roll, and punk periods, to its present transformation under new ownership. 

The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel by Julie Satow

Journalist Julie Satow's thrilling, unforgettable history of how one illustrious hotel has defined our understanding of money and glamour, from the Gilded Age to the Go-Go Eighties to today's Billionaire Row.

The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free by Paulina Bren

Built in 1927 at the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Barbizon Hotel was intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts. It became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. Sylvia Plath fictionalized her time there in The Bell Jar, and, over the years, its almost 700 tiny rooms with matching floral curtains and bedspreads housed Titanic survivor Molly Brown; actresses Grace Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Ali MacGraw, Jaclyn Smith, Phylicia Rashad, and Cybill Shepherd; writers Joan Didion, Diane Johnson, Gael Greene, and Meg Wolitzer; and many more. Mademoiselle magazine boarded its summer interns there, as did Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School its students and the Ford Modeling Agency its young models. Before the hotel’s residents were household names, they were young women arriving at the Barbizon with a suitcase and a dream.

When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age by Justin Kaplan

Endowed with the largest private fortunes of their day, cousins John Jacob Astor IV and William Waldorf Astor vied for primacy in New York society, producing the grandest hotels ever seen in a marriage of ostentation and efficiency that transformed American social behavior. Kaplan exposes it all in exquisite detail, taking readers from the 1890s to the Roaring Twenties in a combination of biography, history, architectural appreciation, and pure reading pleasure.

Hotel: An American History by A.K. Sandoval-Strausz

When George Washington embarked on his presidential tours of 1789–91, the rudimentary inns and taverns of the day suddenly seemed dismally inadequate. But within a decade, Americans had built the first hotels—large and elegant structures that boasted private bedchambers and grand public ballrooms. This book recounts the enthralling history of the hotel in America—a saga in which politicians and prostitutes, tourists and tramps, conventioneers and confidence men, celebrities and salesmen all rub elbows.

 

 

Harlem Renaissance

 

The next meeting of the Genre Reading Group will be Tuesday, February 23rd at 6:30pm on Zoom and the topic up for discussion is “Art in Fiction.” 

Register here: https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/4597966

This week, GRG met to talk about the Harlem Renaissance, one of most preeminent cultural movements in US history, which took place from the mid-1910s through the mid-1930s. 

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Explore more Harlem Renaissance information at these sources:

Library of Congress: https://guides.loc.gov/harlem-renaissance

Top 5 Songs that Embody the Harlem Renaissance and the Roaring Twenties: https://blackmusicscholar.com/elementor-14713/

Josephine Baker, taking the Harlem Renaissance to Paris in film: Zouzou (in French, no subtitles) https://archive.org/details/ZouzouAkaZouZoudecember211934

New York Public Librarian Regina Anderson was at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance and spent time with many of its superstars: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/harlem-renaissance-librarian-regina-anderson

The Cotton Club of Harlem: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/cotton-club-harlem-1923/

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Books, films, and music that we discussed:

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s “lost” Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives.Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.  In the audiobook version, acclaimed actress Ruby Dee performs a simply transcendent narration.

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

A major literary event: a newly published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a foreword from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, brilliantly illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery as it tells the true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade―abducted from Africa on the last "Black Cargo" ship to arrive in the United States.

Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington by Terry Teachout

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the twentieth century—and an impenetrably enigmatic personality whom no one, not even his closest friends, claimed to understand. The grandson of a slave, he dropped out of high school to become one of the world’s most famous musicians, a showman of incomparable suavity who was as comfortable in Carnegie Hall as in the nightclubs where he honed his style. He wrote some fifteen hundred compositions, many of which, like “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady,” remain beloved standards, and he sought inspiration in an endless string of transient lovers, concealing his inner self behind a smiling mask of flowery language and ironic charm.

Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes

When first published in 1930, Not Without Laughter established Langston Hughes as not only a brilliant poet and leading light of the Harlem Renaissance but also a gifted novelist. In telling the story of Sandy Rogers, a young African American boy in small-town Kansas, and of his family—his mother, Annjee, a housekeeper for a wealthy white family; his irresponsible father, Jimboy, who plays the guitar and travels the country in search of employment; his strong-willed grandmother Hager, who clings to her faith; his Aunt Tempy, who marries a rich man; and his Aunt Harriet, who struggles to make it as a blues singer—Hughes gives the longings and lineaments of black life in the early twentieth century an important place in the history of racially divided America.      

An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden by Mary Schmidt Campbell

By the time of his death in 1988, Romare Bearden was most widely celebrated for his large-scale public murals and collages, which were reproduced in such places as Time and Esquire to symbolize and evoke the black experience in America. As Mary Schmidt Campbell shows us in this definitive, defining, and immersive biography, the relationship between art and race was central to his life and work -- a constant, driving creative tension. Campbell's book offers a full and vibrant account of Bearden's life -- his years in Harlem (his studio was above the Apollo theater), to his travels and commissions, along with illuminating analysis of his work and artistic career. Campbell, who met Bearden in the 1970s, was among the first to compile a catalogue of his works. An American Odyssey goes far beyond that, offering a living portrait of an artist and the impact he made upon the world he sought both to recreate and celebrate.

Passing Fancies by Marlowe Benn

When stylish young bibliophile Julia Kydd returns to 1920s New York, she’s determined to launch her own private press. Julia’s aspirations take her into the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, a literary movement unlike any she’s known—where notions of race, sexuality, and power are slippery, and identities can be deceptively fluid.

At a risqué soiree, Julia befriends singer Eva Pruitt, whose new book is rumored to reveal lurid details about the Harlem nightlife. But Leonard Timson, a local nightclub owner, is furious when he suspects he’s the inspiration for a violent character in the book. By morning, Timson is dead, and both Eva and her manuscript are missing.

Julia finds herself immersed in a case as troubling as Jazz Age race relations. More questions than answers surface about Eva’s mysterious world, and powerful interests conspire to protect dangerous secrets. Still, no man can stand between Julia and the truth: appalled by violent injustice, she must use her wit and guile to find the killer.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: A Play in Two Acts by August Wilson

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Fences and The Piano Lesson comes the extraordinary Ma Rainey's Black Bottom—winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play.

The time is 1927. The place is a run-down recording studio in Chicago. Ma Rainey, the legendary blues singer, is due to arrive with her entourage to cut new sides of old favorites. Waiting for her are her Black musician sidemen, the white owner of the record company, and her white manager. What goes down in the session to come is more than music. It is a riveting portrayal of black rage, of racism, of the self-hate that racism breeds, and of racial exploitation.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (requires a subscription to Netflix)

Tensions and temperatures rise at a Chicago music studio in 1927 when fiery, fearless blues singer Ma Rainey joins her band for a recording session. Starring: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: A Legend Brought To Screen (requires a subscription to Netflix)

Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, George C. Wolfe and more share the heart, soul and history that brought August Wilson’s timeless play to the screen.

T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s (Kanopy, available for Birmingham, Homewood, Hoover, Irondale, Pinson, and Mountain Brook residents only, requires a valid library card)

Cultural historian Brian Keizer puts the early blues scene in its social context, pointing out that these women, alienated from mainstream society by race and cultural practice (the blues being regarded as the devil's music), created a space for themselves that presaged the freedom later claimed by the civil rights movement and, by example, gay liberation. Taking its title from a popular song of the day (written by gay musician Porter Grainger), T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness introduces contemporary audiences to the transgressive practices of the distaff side of the early blues. It wasn't all about cheating men and low times. To quote from the song, _"If I go to church on Sunday/Then shimmy down on Monday/_T'ain't nobody's bizness if I do."

Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey by Sandra Lieb

Briefly portrays the life of the influential blues singer, Ma Rainey, discusses the development of her music, and analyzes the theme of love in her music.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (music CD)

The classic blues belter had been singing for two decades before she ever put her voice on record, and it shows on these recordings from the mid- to late '20s. The archetypal blues shouter, Rainey had a voice whose depth and strength is startling and sometimes alarming, even on these scratchy old recordings--one can only imagine what she must have sounded like in real life. Her backup musicians include such notables as pianist Fletcher Henderson, trombonist Charlie Green, guitarist Tampa Red, and trombonist Kid Ory, all performing fairly straightforward 12-bar blues. It's not the material here that's notable, so much as Rainey's voice, a voice that has informed the work of female blues singers ever since. --Genevieve Williams

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame C.J. Walker (requires a subscription to Netflix)

An African American washerwoman rises from poverty to build a beauty empire and become the first female self-made millionaire. Based on a true story. Starring: Octavia Spencer, Tiffany Haddish, Carmen Ejogo

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GENERAL DISCUSSION:

Duke Ellington: Music is My Mistress by Duke Ellington and Edward Kennedy Ellington

The celebrated musician and entertainer discusses his life and travels and presents profiles of personalities he has come to know as friends.

Zora and Langston: A Story of Friendship and Betrayal by Yuval Taylor

They were best friends. They were collaborators, literary gadflies, and champions of the common people. They were the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston, the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Langston Hughes, the author of “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “Let America Be America Again,” first met in 1925, at a great gathering of black and white literati, and they fascinated each other. They traveled together in Hurston’s dilapidated car through the rural South collecting folklore, worked on the play Mule Bone, and wrote scores of loving letters. They even had the same patron: Charlotte Osgood Mason, a wealthy white woman who insisted on being called “Godmother.”

Paying them lavishly while trying to control their work, Mason may have been the spark for their bitter and passionate falling-out. Was the split inevitable when Hughes decided to be financially independent of his patron? Was Hurston jealous of the young woman employed as their typist? Or was the rupture over the authorship of Mule Bone? Yuval Taylor answers these questions while illuminating Hurston’s and Hughes’s lives, work, competitiveness, and ambition, uncovering little-known details.

The 2019 HBO Watchmen series

Set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, WATCHMEN, from executive producer Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name, while attempting to break new ground of its own. WATCHMEN reunites Lindelof with The Leftovers’ Regina King, leading the cast as Angela Abar, who wears two masks; one as a lead detective in The Tulsa Police Force and another as wife and mother of three. The cast also includes Jeremy Irons as the aging and imperious Lord of a British Manor; Don Johnson as the Tulsa Chief of Police; Jean Smart as FBI Agent Laurie Blake; Tim Blake Nelson as Detective Looking Glass; Louis Gossett Jr. as Will Reeves; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Cal Abar; Tom Mison as Mr. Phillips; Frances Fisher as Jane Crawford, Sara Vickers as Ms. Crookshanks and Hong Chau as the mysterious trillionaire, Lady Trieu.

Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened to the public on April 26, 2018, is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence. 

Books about Josephine Baker for kids/young people

Madame C.J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon by Erica Ball

Madam C. J. Walker—reputed to be America’s first self-made woman millionaire—has long been celebrated for her rags-to-riches story. Born to former slaves in the Louisiana Delta in the aftermath of the Civil War, married at fourteen, and widowed at twenty, Walker spent the first decades of her life as a laundress, laboring in conditions that paralleled the lives of countless poor and working-class African American women. By the time of her death in 1919, however, Walker had refashioned herself into one of the most famous African American figures in the nation: the owner and president of a hair-care empire and a philanthropist wealthy enough to own a country estate near the Rockefellers in the prestigious New York town of Irvington-on-Hudson. In this biography, Erica Ball places this remarkable and largely forgotten life story in the context of Walker’s times. Ball analyzes Walker’s remarkable acts of self-fashioning, and explores the ways that Walker (and the Walker brand) enabled a new generation of African Americans to bridge the gap between a nineteenth-century agrarian past and a twentieth-century future as urban-dwelling consumers.

Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow by Tyrone McKinley Freeman

Tyrone McKinley Freeman's biography highlights how giving shaped Walker's life before and after she became wealthy. Poor and widowed when she arrived in St. Louis in her twenties, Walker found mentorship among black churchgoers and working black women. Her adoption of faith, racial uplift, education, and self-help soon informed her dedication to assisting black women's entrepreneurship, financial independence, and activism. Walker embedded her philanthropy in how she grew her business, forged alliances with groups like the National Association of Colored Women, funded schools and social service agencies led by African American women, and enlisted her company's sales agents in local charity and advocacy work.

Jacob Lawrence exhibit at the Birmingham Museum of Art through February 7, 2021

One of the greatest narrative artists of the twentieth century, Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000) painted his Struggle series to show how women and people of color helped shape the founding of our nation. Originally conceived as a series of sixty paintings, spanning subjects from the American Revolution to World War I, Struggle was intended to depict, in the artist’s words, “the struggles of a people to create a nation and their attempt to build a democracy.”

Ossawa Tanner, Paris

Ma Rainey in newspapers, archived by the Library of Congress

Ma Rainey arrangements featuring Louis Armstrong

Poems about Ma Rainey:

A Dance for Ma Rainey by Al Young

Ma Rainey by Sterling Allen Brown

During her vaudeville and singing career, Ma Rainey visited theater venues in Bessemer and one in downtown Birmingham, the Frolic Theater, which was demolished in the 1950s and is now the parking lot for the Hugo Black Federal Courthouse.