The auto-biography moves chronologically from Washington's earliest memories and experiences on the Burroughs farm as an enslaved child and his family's relocation to West Virginia upon receipt of their freedom. Washington's first-person account of life for an enslaved and, then, formerly enslaved child seeking to gain an education while working long, hard, scary hours in the coal mine is itself a fascinating window into the past.
Read MoreBookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance is a story about the preservation and attainment of knowledge, seeking modern meaning through ancient philosophy, and the craft of book-making, all told through the story of Florence's Vespasiano da Bisticci (1421-1498).
Read MoreIn some ways, the AT is a blank slate; it is of nowhere and somewhere very particular all at the same time. During most segments of the hike, would a hiker know that he or she is in the wilds of Pennsylvania or could it just as easily be Massachusetts? In either case, the AT is definitely the realization of the balance that has long challenged the residents of the United States: How to enjoy the splendor of the vast land while also living in the more cultivated environment, if in fact such a balance is even possible or beneficial.
Read MoreDear Paris swept me off of my home-bound feet (in this, the era of COVID). It delivered me - no postage required - to my first and only trip to Paris, circa April 2019. I fell in love all over again - with Paris, with the intrinsic beauty of a hand-written letter, and with MacLeod's artful rendering of her experiences, which feel both universal and authentically personal.
Read MoreDreams of El Dorado steps up to the plate to tackle an immense topic: The Westward Expansion of America. The American west is full of legends, of larger-than-life personalities, of excitement and drama, and underscoring it all is the hope that anyone headed westward can make it big, can find his or her own El Dorado.
Read MoreFlip through the annals of history (or, heck, today’s newspaper), and you’ll be confronted with atrocities of varying degrees. There are the known names of history that are at the tip of the tongue (e.g., Hitler) and there are the unknowns dotting the multi-planed timeline of history. Most of us imagine ourselves on the side of the just and fair, standing up for others even at personal risk. Most of us are fooling ourselves, which is of course the only logical explanation for how said atrocities occur and repeat again.
Read MoreThe prologue of the novel, which is about nine pages in length, hits the reader from the very start with a different history of the start of the now-United States, the evolution of the native experience, and the unique modern day urban Indians, who struggle to self-identify in a world that often does not see them.
Read MoreAt the age of 22, main character Arnljótur Thórir, finds himself confronted by several unexpected accidents: the death of his mother after an auto accident on a slick Icelandic road and parenthood after a chance entanglement in his and his mother’s beloved greenhouse. Lobbi (one of Arnljótur’s various nicknames bestowed by his father) has a lifelong love of cultivating plants - no easy task in the harsh Icelandic climate.
Read MoreAt its core, this novel explores the experiences and lives of twelve female characters, most of whom are Black and British. The varied voices bring to life women across the chronology of womanhood - from teens to the elderly - who are often contending with intergenerational ideas and experiences.
Read MoreIceland in the 1960s was not exactly like my home country of America in the 1960s. A better comparison of Iceland in the ‘60s would be America in the ‘50s: a place where the role each person played was tantamount; women were to be wives falling in step behind their husband’s successes, and to be gay was to struggle to find a place in an unfriendly world, best managed through a loveless marriage to the opposite sex. Miss Iceland’s main character, Hekla, and her best friend, Jon John, each represent one half of those populations.
Read MoreHotel Silence takes place in Iceland for the novel's beginning and ending and sandwiched in the middle it takes place in an unnamed country that is emerging from a recent war. While it isn't possible to pinpoint a country for the largest segment of the book, in some ways it can represent anywhere that finds itself seeking to recover post-conflict. A place name is meaningless in a place struggling to redefine itself. What attracted me to this and other books by Ólafsdóttir is that is she an Icelandic writer.
Read MoreThe Nickel Boys primarily takes place in Florida with portions set in New York City. As with any book that sheds light on iniquities or abuse of the powerless by the powerful, it doesn't really whet the appetite for a visit. For a place called The Sunshine State, this novel shines a blinding light on a dark part of Florida's past.
Read MoreSPQR: A History of Ancient Rome is one of three books we picked up to provide an overview of Roman history in advance of our week-long trip to the city. As I write this, we should have just returned home from that trip; alas, we had to postpone it to an unknown future date as a result of the current pandemic.
Read MoreTraveling to Scotland or simply interested in learning more about the world beneath your feet? Check out our review of Set in Stone: The Geology and Landscapes of Scotland and other books by Alan McKirdy.
Read MoreEver since coming across a review of Normal People back in January, I had been interested in reading this second novel by Irish writer Sally Rooney. Longlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize and winner of the ‘Best Novel’ at the 2018 Costa Book Awards, clearly 28 year old Rooney is immensely talented. When I found myself book-less before an 8-hour flight back from Scotland, I was happy to come across it in an airport bookstore and tore through it in a single sitting.
Read MoreIceland and Scandinavian countries make up the most literate countries in the world, so it is a bit ironic that this is one trip that I probably least prepared for from a reading list perspective. Having visited, I have an interest in reading more books about or set in Iceland, so I will update my Iceland reading list here as I go.
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