Spirits Will Haunt You

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
New York : Atria Paperback, 2015.
481 p. ; 21 cm.     

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to read The House of the Spirits.  I've been aware of it for years and have seen Isabel Allende interviewed on TV, but it's just one of those books that it took me far too long to get around to, but I'm glad I finally read it.

It was odd to me that I found it took me a long time to lose myself in this book, but once I did it really was a rewarding experience.  In some ways for me the book really builds to a crescendo when the candidate becomes President of Chile.  The candidate is, of course, the fictional version of the real hero of Chile, Salvador Allende - who was brutally overthrown by the United States and Chilean military, ushering in a period of savage repression under the fascist dictatorship of General Pinochet.

But the novel is not so much about the coup, though that is the tragic climax of the novel.  Instead it is very much about the forces of love, greed, pride, ambition, politics, & art - all framed within a world of sensuous and magical forces.

Allende has a lot to say about the potential loveliness of the human spirit, but also its potential for smallness, sadness, and depravity.

When I finished the novel, I was surprised to see that it was first published back in 1982, just 9 years after the horrendous events of the coup of 1973 and while Chile was still in the grip of the dictatorship.  The novel holds up well and feels as timely as ever.

The Sculptor is Like The Sculptor

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
New York : First Second, 2015.
487 p. : chiefly ill. ; 23 cm.

It's hard not to like this book.  McCloud has obviously poured his heart into the work - it is a passionate work about art, fame, despair, love, and death.  He says it "took five years to write and draw and I used every minute to make it the best reading experience I could."  

The book captures the desperate hopes, passions, and frustrations of a young artist, but I wish it were not so overwrought at times.  I felt like the strongest parts were the lovely portrayals of NYC as in this page from the novel:

The narrative is a bit choppy at times and a little confusing, but criticisms aside, there is a lot to think about, and a lot to like about this graphic novel by Scott McCloud. 

An Inside the Park Home Run

One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard
New York : Hyperion, [2012]
viii, 255 p. : ill., map ; 25 cm.

I added this book to our high school library last April after seeing that it was a 2016 Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee, and that it won a 2013 Alex Award (given to books for adults that have great young adult appeal).

After reading it, I wish it had won the Lincoln Award; it's that good!  It's a great book with so much to recommend it: a great baseball tale, an underdog story with heart, an homage to the counterculture of the 60s & 70s, a nostalgic coming-of-age saga, and a local setting!

I won't spoil the ending, but the book, with the subtitle A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season, recounts the unlikely successes of a very small town high school baseball team during the 1970 and 1971 seasons.  I was surprised to find out that in the 70s, Illinois high schools (at least in baseball) competed for state playoffs against schools large and small.  There were no classes and divisions, so a little school of 300 students might play a Chicago, powerhouse school of 5000 students.  This uneven competition is part of what makes the story so compelling.  Also, at the heart of the narrative is an iconoclast teacher/coach who - because of his big heart and unconventional notions - brings out the best in students and players.

I will highly recommend this book to students and teachers.  Some of the events of the story take place right here in Champaign-Urbana, and just 70 miles away in Macon, Illinois.  Also, the sports writing is crisp and interesting, but what really makes this book wonderful is the great passion and love that shines in the retelling of the Macon Ironmen "Mod Squad."  It is a lovely tale of some of the best aspects of teaching, coaching, and playing sports for the love of the game.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
New York : New Press, 2010.
xi, 290 p. ; 24 cm.

This is a book I've been wanting to read since it first came out in 2010.  It received a lot of praise, and time has proven that the praise was not misplaced.

In the last couple of years - especially following the killings of Treyvon Martin and Michael Brown and the subsequent emergence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement - the national debate on the injustices of law enforcement and the criminal justice system toward black people in the US has taken on a vibrant and expansive life.  Reading The New Jim Crow during the summer of 2016, I couldn't help but wonder how amazed Michelle Alexander must feel about events that have occurred in the ten years since she published the book.

Her book is a thorough, well researched, and toughly argued case against the US criminal justice system - especially the mass incarceration of African Americans since the ramping up of the War on Drugs.

What makes her book especially powerful - in addition to its research data and passion for justice - is that it shows how the new mass incarceration of black people is simply a continuation of the historic pattern of racism in the US adapting to new social changes and traditions in order to reestablish the oppression of African Americans: first slavery, then after the Civil War and reconstruction comes Jim Crow, and after the Civil Rights movement and legal gains, comes the War on Drugs and the lopsided application of it against people of color.

It's a powerful book and still very timely.  I'd recommend it to any student wanting to research or understand mass incarceration and institutional race

Are You a Citizen?

Citizen by Claudia Rankine
Minneapolis, Minn. : Graywolf Press, [2014]
169 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 21 cm.

I heard Claudia Rankine read some of her essay/poems on a Poetry Magazine podcast [and you can listen to these stunning works here ] , and knew I had to read her book.  Her book also made national and local (Central Illinois) headlines when a woman wisely chose to read the book instead continuing to listen to the offensive talk of Donald Trump at a rally in Springfield, IL. 

The book is a wonderful mix of poetic essays and meditations on the experience of being Black in the United States and being "other" in the world.  There are vignettes from her personal and professional life, explorations of the career of Serena Williams, and the experience of the French soccer star Zidane.  Some of the works in the book are described as scripts for "Situations" videos and can be viewed on her website.  

I love that the poems and essays are thoughtful, provocative and complex - but also very accessible.  They invite the reader in instead of pushing her away.

I'll keep this book in mind for any student curious about African American poetry or essays, particularly in this time of racial awareness and organizing as evidenced in the Black Lives Matter movement. And I'll definitely recommend it.

Exciting Colonial History, Really

Igniting the American Revolution: 1773 - 1775 by Derek W. Beck
Naperville, Ill. : Sourcebooks, [2015]
xi, 467 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

I ended up reading this book when I found it searching our UHS eBook account on my phone (and remembered that I had purchased the book for our library during the year.)  I am pretty ignorant on early US History and woefully uninformed about the US Revolution, and so I thought this would be a good place to start.  It was a good choice.  Beck clearly loves his material and brings the real grit and details of the years 1773-1775 to life.

I learned several things right off that I had not really gathered from the history I was taught in school.  The battles of Lexington and Concord were terrible and grueling affairs for both the British forces and the American rebel militias.  I just never realized how long the battle went on and how far the British had to march under withering and mobile gunfire as they tried to get from Concord back to Boston.  Also I had always learned that the British fought traditionally (in silly lines and formations) while the Americans used a more lethal guerrilla style of attack - well, sort of, but not really.  During the French Indian-War (or the Seven Years War) the British learned how to fight guerrilla war.  During the march to and from Concord the British deployed light infantry roving attack groups to flush out, counter and destroy American ambushes on their main column, BUT they ran out of ammunition and were simply outnumbered and exhausted.

The thing I most enjoyed is that you could really appreciate the appalling risks that the rebels were taking and knew they were taking in violently breaking British law.  I also like that though Beck acknowledges that he considers himself a patriot and partial to the American cause, he is able to be very even-handed and shows the rashness and brutality of the burgeoning US radical movement - in addition to the block-headed policies and decisions being made by Parliament and the the Crown back in England.

I'll recommend this to any student wanting to read a good book about the lead up to the American Revolution. 

Amazing Amazing

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
New York : Picador, c2000.
639 p. ; 21 cm.

Michael Chabon's novel won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize and I challenge a reader to not enjoy this  wonderful tale.  It's a gloriously written tale of the starting in the late 1930s and continuing into the 1950s and centers on the golden age of comic books in New York City, but also embraces the Holocaust, Harry Houdini, The Golem of Prague, Brooklyn, gay life, and of course love, friendship and family.

Though we have this book in the UHS library collection, I read it on my cell phone - accessing it through our library's eBook collection.  It's not the first book that I've read on my phone, but it was great to be able to carry it around in my pocket while traveling during the summer.

Fortunately, The Amazing Adventures seems to be doing quite well.  I looked for a copy at my local public libraries and all 6 copies were checked out.  It's a great book and I will definitely recommend it to any student looking for a rewarding literary fiction read from a contemporary author - especially a reader who has an interest in world of comic book writing and publishing back when vast majorities of young Americans regularly read comic books.