Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Seven Days in May (book review)

I’ve just enjoyed a fresh new slice of historical fiction, one I highly recommend you snag and enjoy for yourself. It is Seven Days in May by Jennifer Luitweiler, the same author who penned Run With Me which I reviewed about a year and a half ago.

Seven Days in May by Jennifer Luitweiler
Seven Days in May by Jennifer Luitweiler

Once again, Dinner Club With a Reading Problem was dazzled and blessed to receive Jen as our guest of honor. Last Friday night she endured our girlish antics, warmed the room with her smile, and shed wonderful insight to this newly released book, her most recent labor of love.

Jen Luitweiler and me. (Look! DCWRP is so fancy we have t-shirts!)
Jen Luitweiler and me. (Look! DCWRP is so fancy we have t-shirts!)

Seven Days in May is a quick (237 pages) but absorbing read about the 1921 race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma, including ramp-up action before that. It was an interesting and tumultuous time right between Emancipation and World War II, a time when race inequality, violence, and the oil boom in this part of the country both revealed and tested social norms.

Tulsa was the Magic City that erupted from the soil just like the oil that could make anyone, regardless of color or creed, a millionaire. With rapid prosperity come major growing pains. With so many people spilling into this boom town, we may guess that the riot was inevitable. It is against this setting that our story begins.

This novel tells the stories of several people, two families in particular, living the ground-level realities of this churning social atmosphere. Luitweiler does a wonderful job tethering the historical facts to completely relatable human nature. She illustrates cold, hard headlines with colorful personalities, family drama, and character background that, if they don’t make you sympathetic to the villains, at least make you step back to see them as part of a whole. Her storytelling makes it impossible to read about race division with a cold heart. The emotional landscape of the book is not only believable; it’s palpable. Absolutely engaging.

The two main characters are coming-of-age girls named Mercy and Grace. These names, by the way, are just perfect for their respective characters. One is white, one is black, and their families are intertwined in both common and fascinatingly uncommon ways. One of the elements of this book I most enjoyed was the author’s skill at so fully plumbing the feminine depth. The way these girls and their mothers relate to each other, especially their non verbal communication, was a long, soft poem to the reader.

In our conversations with Jen we learned that the feminine angle was a strong motivator for writing the book in the first place. Where were the women of this time? Who were the wives and daughters of the men in the newspapers? She did an incredible job conjuring up the feminine energies.

Is Seven Days in May suitable for all young readers? Maybe not. The story keeps its head well above graphic sensationalism, but still it contains violence and even one rape scene. It almost has to, as this chapter of history was not pretty. One thing I want to mention here is the author’s deliberate choice to not write with racially specific dialect. She explained to our book club that since it was not in her natural comfort zone to write it accurately, she did not want to risk using it inappropriately. I respect that. She handled so much delicate material with great care, this included.

Hydrangeas and coconut-lime cake for our guest of honor. xoxo
Hydrangeas and coconut-lime cake for our guest of honor. xoxo

Once again, I am pressed to say that this level of historical fiction is what will get the younger generation to learn from the past. It may also be exactly what gets the older generation to discuss it. (As Oklahomans we were all a bit stunned to realize how little we have been taught on this chapter of our own history.) Happily, we understand that several schools in Tulsa, where the author and her husband are raising their beautiful flock, are circulating the book as an annex to textbook curriculum. They are also accepting Jen as a guest speaker. How wonderful! What an incredible opportunity those classrooms have been given. Let’s all hope together that the material sparks important passions in the students there. Let’s also hope together that this generation learns something important from the hard truths of our communal past.

If you have time for one more hope, let it be that Jen’s work is picked up by the Oprah network. The same week that her book was released, the powers that be descended on Tulsa to collect interviews and do research on the 1921 race riots for a full-blown television special. We are all pulling for her that Seven Days gets exposure, of course, but also that the wide audience Oprah enjoys will benefit from Jen’s hard and loving endeavor.

Anger is the strangest thing. Anger is visiting a horrifying fun house, without the fun.
It is like wearing glasses in the wrong prescription or walking through life upside down.
It is an ugly mask, a veneer of venom that covers the open sore of hurt, disappointment,
betrayal, or misunderstanding.
Anger is alive and destructive like no war ever was.
~Jen Luitweiler in Seven Days in May
XOXOXOXO

How perfect that Mama Kat invited us to share a book review this week.
Click over to her cool site to see lots of other great posts.
Not the least of which is her own story about easy, comfortable friendship. I loved it.

 

Hemingway Saturday

Early this morning while cream was heating for that first miraculous cup of coffee, I walked to our sun-dappled front room to grab a book of poetry. (It was a bit too early for Stephen King.) A moment later, book and perfect coffee in hand, I found my way to the secret garden to wake myself up with swirls of words and sips of sweet, hot caffeine.

Then I realized I’d grabbed the wrong book. Instead of poetry I sat there holding A Moveable Feastby Ernest Hemingway. Specifically, a restored edition with foreword and introduction written by his son and grandson. I cracked it open and was transfixed. I’ve always wanted to love Hemingway but have so far felt it stiff and stale. This, though? Already mouthwatering.

Just the title transported me, or perhaps the discussion of the title, pointing us to Paris and Hemingway’s love for the city.

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

I’ve never been to Paris, but it’s no secret how much I love New Orleans. How impactful that city (the French Quarter, really, just the village there) has been to my heart and mind, my imagination and best intentions. Does everyone have a place sacred like this? I hope so. This has been such a surprise to me… On one hand it makes me want to travel more widely, to see what other treasures are available for discovery. On the other hand, I’m so partial to the Quarter already.

So I’m reading A Moveable Feast today and thoroughly enjoying it. After that, the tail end of that thick King novel then some brand new historical fiction by Jen Luitweiler. What are you reading? How are you spending your Saturday?

XOXOXO

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Saturday With Cervantes

   Every passionate reader has his or her own favorite way to get lost with a good book. Most of us are happy to do so under almost any circumstances, really, but we all have that certain place to sit, those special conditions and that exact mood, that make reading a true escape. Sensory transportation into the papery world offered.

   Knowing this personality detail about my friends is cool. I like to find out how they read best. Some of them prefer reading on dark, story days with the fireplace blazing. Others like to read curled up on the couch, blanketed by adoring felines. Some people read en route to work, by necessity, like on a train or even using audio books (something I have yet to try). Some people read in the bathtub with a deep glass of wine.

   Well, today, quite by surprise, I enjoyed the year’s first taste of my own favorite way to read. 
   The sun was not just golden but toasty. Hot, even. The clouds were lightweight and shed a few drops of easy moisture now and then. True sun-showers. I was free to lounge outside and luxuriate with sweet iced tea, apples and cheese, and a soft green yard full of clucking, puttering geese and chickens. 
   Weren’t we huddled against a final winter blow just three days ago? Not today. Today we enjoyed a preview of summer.
   
   No television, no cell phone unless I wanted it, and no hurry. Chanta, our big paint horse, was roaming free and kept sneaking up on me to nibble my toes or snuffle my bare back. Mia, my ever faithful gander, kept vigil of course. He honked and whined and smacked his muddy beak at the pages of my current haunt. Jealous of the attention being lavished to Miguel de Cervantes, I’m sure.
   Reading like this always puts me on the brink of a deep sleep, but if the book is good enough then my grip on reality is traded for full immersion to the story’s setting. Today was that good, that magical.

“Tranquility, a peaceful place, the pleasant countryside, serene skies, murmuring fountains, a calm spirit, are a great motivation for the most barren muses to prove themselves fertile and produce offspring that fill the world with wonder and joy.” ~Cervantes

   Here’s wishing you a few hours of your favorite reading conditions, friends! Soak up the best of whatever is offered you, and get lost in some paper.
“So many books, 
  so little time.”
~Frank Zappa
xoxoxoxo

Turning the Page to Springtime

   Ah, early March…Right now I am resting in a pleasant reading lull following the big book club project Bonhoeffer. This is good timing, too, because the seasons are changing and I have more and more gardening tasks to consume my negotiable hours. Hallelujah!!!

    For a couple of weeks I’ll be indulging my paper-thirsty soul in three books. First is Typee, a tantalizing Herman Melville novel set in the South Pacific, which transports me to heat, sand, eroticism, and cannibalism. Next is Barbara Kingsolver’s fantastic one-year memoir Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’m actually exploring this for the second time. Don Quixote is the next book club selection, and while I won’t dive into the text until later this month, it has lots of pre-reading worth doing. Sometimes this just helps revv up your engine, which is often helpful we reading an old, old, old book like this. The pre-reading for a classic is like a well planned appetizer; it primes your mind and your soul for the literary feast that is coming. This translation in particular has tons of yummy things to offer, and I’m grooving it.

Also, when the house is otherwise quiet, Pacino likes for me to read 
the introductions and author notes and such aloud to him.
His is a very bossy and snobby bird who fancies himself an intellectual.
But he’s really not. He just likes to hear people talk. Especially Momma.

Don’t even get me started on Romulus.
Something tells me this llama expects me 
to read him Don Quixote en Espanol.
No va a suceder, hombre. 

   Anyway, were you here at the digital Lazy W last spring? Do you remember the rantings and ravings I issued forth about Animal, Vegetable, Miracle? I basically could not shut up about it:

   Well, this time around I am pretty much just reading what I marked from last February (which is only every other sentence), because the Kingsolver family’s locavorism story has already been imprinted on my heart. Now I can afford to just reread the tenets, the quotes, and the light bulb paragraphs. What last year suddenly became my gardening manifesto is this spring proving its staying power. I feel a February reading tradition growing here, you guys.

   My early mornings lately have been perfumed with sentences like this…

“Respecting the dignity of a spectacular food means enjoying it at its best.” ~Barbara Kingsolver

and…

“That’s the sublime paradox of a food culture: restraint equals indulgence.” ~Barbara Kingsolver

   These only inspire me further towards a more loving, deliberate approach to our food growing efforts here at the W. Then a few days ago I saw this quote floating around cyberspace as the rain was falling hard and cold on our thirsty fields…

“I said to the almond tree ‘Speak to me of God’ and the almond tree bloomed.” ~Niko Kazantzakis*

   Isn’t that true and beautiful?? I cannot think of any sphere of life where God proves His creative, redemptive power more consistently or with more poetry than in nature.

   In Oklahoma we are starting oregano seeds indoors and scattering poppy and cilantro seeds outdoors, where the chickens can’t see. Obviously. We are scooping up natural fertilizers and digging new beds. We are counting the weeks, the days, and the hours till the first fresh little verdant harvest bowl. Springtime is arriving with lots of much needed moisture, proving the almanac right once more. Ladybugs are swarming, honey bees are foraging, and the wide blue skies are thawing. One prayer after another is being answered gently, too. We are excited.

   I feel so thankful to have a comfortable place in my life for reading. I am really enjoying these books so far, and I also really really love this rich inspiration for the new gardening season. Last year was good, but this year is going to be amazing…. Can’t you feel it??

   What are you reading right now? Have you started anything in your garden yet? Have you noticed any prayers being answered?

“They must often change,
who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.”
~Confucius
xoxoxoxo

*Twentieth century Greek philosopher and writer

A Yummy Book Combination

   I realized something last night that sort of bears mentioning: At present I am reading two books, each a personal memoir and each thoroughly engrossing and completely worth the time to read. Together they form the most unusual and delicious reading combination in recent memory. Like a swirl margarita, if you’re into that. Together they are revealing insight into all kinds of life experiences I will probably never have, and they display two completely unique writing styles, yet they seem to be aiming at incredibly similar themes.It’s almost like the two books were written separately but as part of a grand design. They are:

…and…
Do you know Jenny yet? Get addicted over at  http://thebloggess.com/.

   This is kinda fun. I am accustomed to reading two wildly different books at once, to keep all of my muscles dancing and warm. I’ll often be reading, say, something instructional or maybe a bit of spiritual writing against a piece of purely indulgent adventure fiction. But this? This is a unique pairing. These two books are actually more alike than you might think, even if the two authors may appear to be apples and oranges. I can’t wait to finish them both and write proper reviews.

   In addition to the fact that they are both recently written memoirs, I discovered last night that the life stories of both our forty third President and the wildly popular Bloggess intersect in the town of Midland, Texas. Two richly textured personalities, two lives that have affected untold others in the last two decades, both sprung up from the hard, dry, earth of Midland, that oil crust that apparently breeds fascinating people.
   I really am having a hard time every day deciding which one to pick up first, they are both so good in their own ways. And I am accumulating a bevvy of notes comparing and contrasting George W with Jenny Lawson, a mental exercise that probably seems pointless to you. But you try to read these side by side and not see the parallels!
   Okay, gotta go. I am off to either be inspired by the bloom of a political career or laugh my tummy flat at the way Lawson tells her sad stories. I promise to write completely useless reviews of both books soon. 
People Are People So Why Should It Be…
You and I Should Get Along So Awfully?
xoxoxo