Required Reading: Texts for Change Mon, Nov 10 | 7 – 8:30 pm online Reading: Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World by Scott Shigeoka For adults. Registration required. This quarterly book club of the HCLS Equity Resource Center & Collection is designed for people who are curious and committed to equity. The club explores three nonfiction books each year plus a summer fiction title. Together, we’ll engage with texts that challenge assumptions, introduce new frameworks, and spark deeper reflection about equity. This isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about reading with intention, sitting with complexity, and learning together in community.
On a road trip across the United States, Scott Shigeoka spent a year traveling to small towns, political rallies, and churches. He encountered people whose beliefs and backgrounds differed greatly from his own. He did so to practice curiosity.
Rather than leading with assumptions or judgment, he asked questions, listened to stories, and shared his own experiences. In a space where he seemed (at first) to have little in common with those around him, he discovered points of connection. That is the nature of curiosity: it has the power to bring people together, turn differences into bridges of understanding, and create moments of meaningful connection. An internationally recognized curiosity expert, Scott joins us for an evening dedicated to discovering how curiosity can transform the way we relate to each other—and ourselves. Speaking about his book Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World, he shares stories from his travels, introduces practical, research-based strategies for deepening curiosity, and guides participants through exercises.
Scott Shigeoka is a Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. His work blends science, storytelling, and lived experience to help people strengthen relationships, foster understanding, and build well-being. His popular TED Talk received a standing ovation, and he has been featured on the Today Show, PBS, the Harvard Business Review, and The New York Times.
Our next chapter starts soon when the blog moves to the newly redesigned hclibrary.org. All the same great reviews and news, plus more library information!
Sun, Nov 9 | 2 – 3:30 pm HCLS Miller Branch For adults. Register here.
“Lucid and expansive, Richard Bell’s book presents vivid characters who reveal the global stage and stakes of a revolution that was American and much more.”—Alan Taylor, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Revolutions: A Continental History
Dr. Richard Bell discusses his new book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, a fascinating and unfamiliar recasting of America’s war of independence as a transformative international event. The American Revolution was not only the colonies’ triumphant liberation from the rule of an overbearing England; it was also a cataclysm that pulled in participants from around the globe and threw the entire world order into chaos.
Repositioning the Revolution at the center of an international web, this narrative history ranges far afield. As our lens widens, the “War of Independence” manifests itself as a sprawling struggle that upended the lives of millions of people on every continent and fundamentally transformed the way the world works.
The American Revolution and the Fate of the World conveys the impact of these developments at home and abroad by grounding its narrative in the gripping stories of individuals. The result is an unforgettable new perspective on America’s founding fight that shifts everything we thought we knew about our creation story.
Dr. Richard Bell received a BA from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D from Harvard University. He holds tenure as a full professor in the Department of History at the University of Maryland. He has published four books and more than a dozen articles and book chapters. His major research fellowships include Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress. Dr. Bell is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award and the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
Caretaking for elderly adults with limited mobility demands physical strength, mental flexibility, and proper education, as I have learned from personal experience. A caretaker is not there only as a nurse but also as financial and emotional support. When my octogenarian loved one was diagnosed with an incurable illness, her amazing medical team showed up for her in the hospital but left me on my own to figure out how to tend to her needs once she was discharged.
I received numerous messages from the close circle of my kindhearted friends who kept reminding me to make sure I was taking care of myself, too. As one put it: caregiving for an elderly adult is the hardest job in the world. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Those were the words of wisdom I wish I had taken to heart before caregiving started taking its toll on me. I experienced setbacks numerous times. One day I would be more hopeful for her, but the next day would push me back to the verge of despair.
While still at the hospital, her case manager found a rehab facility to keep my patient as long as she needed – but after visiting and seeing the sad reality of how the rehab center functioned, I realized that I would not be able to forgive myself if I made that choice. I told myself: lets see how much I can expend from myself in terms of taking some time off from work to manage my patient’s house as well as her medical needs to ultimately try to make her life as comfortable as possible.
For nutrition, I took from my experience of cooking from different recipes around the world. At Howard County Library System, a large selection of cookbooks for special diets with medical conditions not only made my personal daily goals more enjoyable, they helped me share the idea behind each meal with my patient, who could see these efforts help her feel better despite having a very small appetite. One I can recommend is The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson. A considerable number of self-help books about caretaking and related topics gave me a broader view of how to react in different situations (see list below).
During many sleepless nights while watching my patient, I found an opportunity to work on my delayed handmade projects. While working quietly on my crafts, e-audiobooks from Libby, cloud library, and Hoopla became my late-night companions. The handmade world was like a sweet scent of cinnamon and cardamom sprinkling over the world, as opposed to the unpleasant smell of medications, pain, sadness, and uncertainty. I learned that I had to fill my own cup first; you can’t pour from an empty cup. For me, I needed to work on my art and being creative, doing exercise, writing, singing – essentially any hobby that can keep the hands and mind occupied.
Hoopla with its various fitness channels also helped me to do my daily workout without being interrupted by unrelated advertisements on social media. I had limited time for myself every day and I had to keep my spirit and physical health in a better condition in order to help my patient. Technology became a useful tool to bring some discipline to my loved one’s daily recovery routine. I found workout videos online from the different universities for the public view to help a loved one practice healthy movement at home.
During this journey, I also learned about the Howard County Office on Aging and Independence, who offer classes and group conversations for caregivers dealing with elderly adults with dementia, cancer, and other conditions. These events are free of charge and encourage caregivers to participate and take benefit from the services of this department. During my conversations with them, I learned how to reach a representative once I face questions that my patient’s medical team may not be available to answer.
I share my experiences for those who may be going through similar experiences. You are not alone. You have so many good resources through HCLS, along with other resources that life provides for you. We all gain a lot of experiences in life by trying different things for ourselves and for our families. We lose and we gain over and over – because it’s all about the patient that we spending our time with. It’s something that doesn’t happen to everyone but happens to many. I call it becoming more.
October is Mental Health Awareness Month, and here are some of many resources available at the library that helped me in my mental health journey while caregiving:
Author Works: The Dark Maestro by Brendan Slocumb For adults. Register at bit.ly/Author-Slocumb Tue Sep 16 5:30 – 6:30 pm Book Signing 6:30 – 7:30 pm Author Event East Columbia 50+ Center 6610 Cradlerock Way, Columbia (adjacent to library)
His cello made him famous. His father made him a target.
Curtis Wilson is a cello prodigy, growing up in the Southeast DC projects with a drug dealer for a father. But through determination and talent, and the loving support of his father’s girlfriend, Larissa, Curtis claws his way out of his challenging circumstances and rises to unimagined heights in the classical music world — even soloing with the New York Philharmonic.
And then, suddenly, his life disintegrates. His father, Zippy, turns state evidence, implicating his old bosses to the FBI. Now the family, Curtis included, must enter the witness protection program if they want to survive. This means Curtis must give up the very thing he loves most: sharing his extraordinary musical talents with the world. When Zippy’s bosses prove too elusive for law enforcement to convict them, Curtis, Zippy, and Larissa realize that their only chance of survival is to take on the cartel themselves. They must create new identities and draw on their unique talents, including Curtis’s musical ability, to go after the people who want them dead. But will it be enough to keep Curtis and his family alive?
A propulsive and moving story about sacrifice, loyalty, and the indomitable human spirit, The Dark Maestro is Slocumb at the height of his powers.
Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was raised in Fayetteville, NC, and holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin and viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more than twenty years he has been a public and private school music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. He is currently based in DC.
Author Works: The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel For adults. Register at bit.ly/Author-Finkel Wed Sep 17 7 – 8 pm online: register to receive a link
Stéphane Bréitwieser is the most prolific art thief of all time. He pulled off more than 200 heists, often in crowded museums in broad daylight. His girlfriend served as his accomplice, and his collection was worth an estimated $2 billion… but he never sold a piece, and instead displayed his stolen art in his attic bedroom.
He felt like a king. Until everything came to a shocking end.
The Art Thief, a spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, Michael Finkel gives us one of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of our times, a riveting story of art, theft, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
Bauder Adult Battle of the Books is a new Friends & Foundation of HCLS fundraiser event launching as part of the Library’s 85th birthday celebration. It’s an adults-only reading competition where teams of 3–5 people read six preselected books and compete in a trivia challenge held at local restaurants. Proceeds will support some of your favorite Friends’ sponsored initiatives, such as author events, summer reading, Project Literacy graduation, and the youth Battle of the Books.
We’re getting even closer to the start of school. If you enjoyed our last compilation, there’s still a little bit of time left to read and we’re still full of suggestions! Whether you’re looking for a narrative to take with you for Labor Day weekend or a thoughtful novel to share with your book club this autumn, our staff continues to share their recent summer reading recommendations. And remember, readers’ advisory is one of our favorite ways to make connections with readers in the community – so if none of these suit your tastes or your reading goals, please stop by any branch and ask the instructors and research specialists for more reading ideas!
Space horror is my new favorite genre mash-up, and SA Barnes has cemented herself as the queen of this space. Her newest, Cold Eternity,is a creepy story about a woman on the run who takes a job on ghost ship filled with dozens of cryogenically frozen passengers.
Rachel Gillig is back with another decadent and enthralling romantasy after wrapping up her debut duology that began with One Dark Window. In The Knight and the Moth, a priestess must team up with a heretical knight when her fellow priestesses start disappearing.
~ Alex H., Teen Instructor and Research Specialist, Glenwood Branch
During the summer of 1996, awkward teens Frankie and Zeke create a mysterious poster and plaster it all around their town, leading to chaos and mass hysteria. The teens go their separate ways after that fateful summer, now known as The Coalfield Panic of 1996, and their secret exists only between them until a journalist begins poking around 20+ years later. The characters feel fully-realized as does the setting. This is the first book I’ve read by Kevin Wilson and I can’t wait to read more!
A sudden zombie outbreak sends sheltered teen Sophie on an action-packed road trip across the Midwest in search of her twin brother, who was sent away to a conversion camp by their ultra-religious parents. A coming-of-age story filled with horror, heartbreak, and gore — think The Last of Us with a dash of religious trauma.
~ Emily B., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Central Branch
Love a good puzzle do you? Well, what if your entire life… was a puzzle?
Meet Clayton Stumper—found as a baby with nothing but a cryptic note and raised by a secret British society of puzzle geniuses. When Clayton turns 25, his mysterious past decides it’s time to be solved. This debut is a heartwarming, brain-tickling mystery packed with eccentric characters, emotional twists, and riddles. It’s reads as if The Da Vinci Code put the kettle on, got all warm and cozy, and joined a Sudoku club in the Cotswolds. If you like your fiction with clues, codes, and a dash of emotional catharsis—add this one to your TBR pile!
What happens when a picture-perfect, ‘nice neighborhood’ life gets a little… kidnapped? Meet the Fletchers: wealthy, neurotic, self destructive, greatly traumatized — and that’s before the father is abducted from their own driveway! In Long Island Compromise, the American Dream gets duct-taped, stuffed in a van, and ransomed back to you — but somehow, the cost is even more than before. It’s equal parts hilarious, devastating, and deeply Jewish, yet somehow makes existential despair and generational trauma feel kind of warm and fuzzy.
~ Wendy C., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Central Branch
Wives and mothers of a certain age can completely relate to Anne Tyler’s heroine, Delia Grinstead, who suddenly flips a switch while on family vacation at the beach. Delia, frustrated and feeling isolated, just walks away, finding a new life in a small rural town; as she says to her mother-in-law, “because I just like the thought of beginning again from scratch” (139).
But is Delia just re-enacting her suburban life and hoping for a different outcome? When her daughter, Susie, invites her home for Susie’s wedding, we’re all waiting to discover the answer – and, I have to say, I had no idea what would happen, even just a few pages from the end. With her delightful sprinkles of local color and her deep, deep understanding of human nature, Ladder of Years truly is near-perfection.
This is narrative nonfiction that reads in many places like the screenplay for an action/adventure movie, in only the best sense. Author Macintyre puts us right in the thick of the action in North Africa during World War II, as the newly-minted Special Air Service trains in the desert and embarks on daring behind-the-lines raids to destroy German supplies and equipment, particularly planes in their airfields.
Despite some resistance from the upper brass, the men who led and trained the group, David Stirling and Paddy Mayne, end up making a huge difference in the fate of the fight against Rommel, and they inspire feats of bravery and moments of true courage among their ruffian-like band of recruits. The author makes clear that the SAS were innovative game-changers who did things others couldn’t or wouldn’t even attempt. A really great story, told well.
~ Julie F., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Miller Branch
Music has been an integral part of my life, and I consider it almost like a second language full of nuance and strange etymology. From cello and bass lessons in middle and high school, exploring other strings and voice in college, to finding a new prog band, music has always been a mainstay for me. Making a habit of falling down musical “rabbit holes” exposes me to all kinds of new musical vocab, including some really inventive genre bends and blends. Fun stuff like modern metal mixed with Japanese instrumentation , or EDM with classical samples. Much like how books can transport you to another place and time and travel abroad can expose you to more of humanity, I think that a widely cast net of musical experiences can benefit the listener in similar ways.
The universal nature of music is one of the many facets that we will explore in Musical Mondays, HCLS’ new music-centric book club. If you’ve ever had a song give you goosebumps, wondered how music affects the brain, or thought about expanding your own musical vocabulary, then come to Musical Mondays! Whether you are a professional musician, avid car singer, or just enraptured by music like so many of us are, I can’t wait to hear your experiences. Bring song recommendations as well!
Musical Mondays meets the second Monday of each month, from 6-7 pm at HCLS Miller Branch. We will read both nonfiction and fiction titles, the first of which is How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy. Tweedy is best known as the lead singer/songwriter of Wilco and has written several books about music and the creative process. You can pick up copies of the book at the branch.
Sep 8: How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy, lead singer and songwriter of hit band Wilco Oct 13: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb Nov 10: Anatomy of a Song by Marc Myers
Tony is an Instructor and Research Specialist at HCLS Miller Branch. He has a degree in history, started playing cello in third grade, and enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy.
The fourth of July may seem like a distant memory and school is revving up again soon – perhaps too soon for some! – but summer reading at Howard County Library System is still in full swing. If you’re a teen or an adult in search of a book full of fun, fantasy, or escape, summer reading is for you, too! Check out this list of recommendations from our instructors and complete your summer reading adventure, now through August 31.
Lisa Cheese is a unicorn girl who finds herself drawn into a battle between an evil burger corporation and a mom-and-pop restaurant. This quirky graphic novel is perfect for fans of vintage comics, 90s pop rock and grunge, and anyone looking for a delightfully zany story that’ll keep them guessing until the last page.
Stiefvater’s adult debut blends history with a touch of magic to bring you a glamorous hotel in the mountains of West Virginia that is forced to house dozens of Axis diplomats during World War II. Plus, there are dachshunds! -Alex H., Teen Instructor and Research Specialist, Glenwood Branch
The deliciously dark tale of a deranged, psychopathic governess named Winifred. She’s just arrived at Ensor House to tutor Drusilla and Andrew, but how long will she be able to keep her violent impulses at bay? This snarky and dark gothic tale is a fabulous entry in the historical horror subgenre.
GUP aka Gay Uncle Patrick takes in his niece and nephew for a summer in Palm Springs after their mother, and his college best friend, Sara, passes away from cancer. Though it deals with heavy topics like grief, addiction, and the loss of a parent, Rowley balances the heaviness with humor. Packed with fun pop culture references, this one is sweet with substance! -Emily B., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Central Branch
Ever wonder how the one-percenters live? Where toddlers have gluten-free meal plans, and certain celebs skip the school pickup line? Stephanie Kiser serves up a hilariously sharp—and deeply human memoir, about life behind the velvet stroller ropes. Think The Nanny Diaries meets The Devil Wears Pull-Ups!
With wit, grit, and just the right dose of heartbreak, Kiser lifts the curtain on what it means to chase the American Dream. It’s a tale of diaper duty meets social disparity—of love for children in a world that treats its caregivers like invisible help. Take a peek into a world of privilege, parenting, and personal revelations. Bittersweet and brutally honest.
Imagine you’re juggling grief, secrets, and enough emotional baggage to fill Heathrow airport and still manage to look fabulous! That’s the vibe in this Nigerian-English, very loose retelling of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, but with teeth and a much bigger bite. It’s scandals, secrets, ambition, and betrayal—woven into a tapestry of identity and belonging. Jane Austen’s decorum meets generational trauma, and the result? An emotional and messy exploration of what happens when home isn’t where the heart is, but where the hurt was.
If you like tons of family drama, fierce women, and a plot that hits you harder than your auntie’s side-eye at the dinner table, this one’s for you! -Wendy C., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Central Branch
The Hebridean island setting of Eilean Eadar is atmospheric and gloomy, foreboding in its isolation. Mysterious disappearances from the local lighthouse took place a century ago and the current residents are a curious mix of standoffish yet welcoming. The islanders don’t want the presumed suicide of a young man to be investigated by Glasgow detectives Georgina “George” Lennox and Richie Stewart. The author carefully juggles characters and subplots to keep the reader guessing what happened to him (and also to the missing lighthouse keepers from 1919). Fans of folk-horror will be intrigued and unable to put it down!
When the decaying flats at Shelley House are scheduled for demolition, the secrets of the residents start to unravel, and one of them is the victim of a crime. Prickly, 25-year-old Kat, a loner and a bit of a stray waif, and 77-year-old Dorothy, a meddling, nosy woman who has lived there longer than anyone, become unlikely allies as they try to figure out what happened to kind, gentle Joseph, a dog owner who has sublet a room in his flat to Kat. A delightful mix of cozy mystery and found-family story, with just a hint of romance. You will root for the characters despite their quirks, and as their stories are revealed, they become closer to one another and form a true community. -Julie F., Adult Instructor and Research Specialist, Miller Branch
Booker reads Owls by Gail Gibbons in celebration of National Book Lovers Day.
by Brandon B.
Summer reading pairs perfectly with National Book Lovers Day – like flip-flops and a beach towel! On August 9, you have an opportunity to celebrate literature, national best-selling books, and your favorite reads at any HCLS branch.
Cream, sugar, and fruit make for perfect ice cream — what ingredients make a terrific book for you? You may be looking for old-fashioned sass and wry truth in a children’s book by Judy Blume. Maybe you have a taste for a modern, poetic, and fun teen book by Jason Reynolds, one that even adults can enjoy. Some readers may prefer a spicy romantic thriller by Freida McFadden, or an impactful, savory nonfiction book by Tony Robbins. Whatever your taste in books, the library has something for you, free of charge and free of any sort of judgment.
Any of these books count toward completing HCLS’ summer reading challenge. If you haven’t already, pick up an Adult Reading Challenge booklet at any of our branches. The 14 challenges guide you through a year’s worth of reading, with summer being a great time to get started with your first three titles. Once you complete three challenges, come back to the library for a small gift (while supplies last) and entry into a bigger prize drawing.
For National Book Lovers Day, it seems appropriate to take a look at the the adult summer reading booklet. One challenge called “Reading is Magic.” After all, it’s what the day celebrates! Books may have their own special magic, but the challenge is more literal, asking you to choose a title with supernatural or magical elements (see the Chapter Chats review for one of the suggested titles, Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs).
No matter how you love to read – on the page, on the screen, or by listening to an audiobook – National Book Lovers Day is for you! Stop by the library in person or via the catalog to find a new or favorite title, and keep reading all year with your booklet of reading adventures.
Brandon is a Customer Service Specialist at HCLS Central Branch who loves reading, football, and taking nice long walks around his neighborhood.
Tue, Jul 29 | 7 – 8:30 pm HCLS Miller Branch For adults. Register at bit.ly/Author-Tidwell
Tidwell’s new book is a riveting and elegant story of climate change on one city street, full of surprises and true stories of human struggle and dying local trees. It’s set against the national backdrop of 2023’s record heat domes and raging wildfires and, simultaneously, rising hopes for clean energy. In 2023, author and activist Mike Tidwell decided to keep a record for a full year of the growing impacts of climate change on his one urban block right on the border with Washington, DC. A love letter to the magnificent oaks and other trees dying from record heat waves and bizarre rain, Tidwell’s story depicts the neighborhood’s battle to save the trees and combat climate change: The midwife who builds a geothermal energy system on the block, the Congressman who battles cancer and climate change at the same time, and the Chinese-American climate scientist who wants to bury billions of the world’s dying trees to store their carbon and help stabilize the atmosphere.
Mike Tidwell is a journalist, author, and climate activist living in Takoma Park, MD. As a past contributing writer for The Washington Post, he won four Lowell Thomas Awards, the highest prize in American travel journalism. He is a former National Endowment for the Arts fellow whose work has been published in Audubon, National Geographic Traveler, Orion, Washingtonian, and elsewhere.
The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue by Mike Tidwell is available in print, e-book, and e-audiobook.
Though we do not wholly believe it yet, the interior life is a real life, and the intangible dreams of people have a tangible effect on the world.
James Baldwin
Ta-Nehisi Coates opens The Message with the above quote, and it’s a great frame for his book. Coates, the esteemed public intellectual from Baltimore and author of many excellent works such as Between the World and Me and We Were Eight Years in Power, explores three places in The Message: Senegal, South Carolina, and Palestine. Returning to the Baldwin quote for context enriched and expanded my understanding of the book.
Coates first takes us to Senegal, “I had indeed come home, and ghosts had come back with me.” He processes his own history, constantly referencing his parents, and the history of slavery and the slave trade. Coates intermingles the unbearably heavy and the humorous in the same way those things blur together in real life. He visits the “Door of No Return” and eats a delicious meal by the ocean. He stays at a luxurious hotel and thinks about, “blood in the bricks and ghosts in the attic.” He regrets the fancy hotel. The juxtaposition of heavy and humorous stretches back to his childhood and the “inheritance of the mass rape that shadows all those DNA jokes” he and his friends would make. Though we come from different backgrounds, I find Coates constantly relatable.
After Senegal, he moves us to South Carolina. He’s flying to South Carolina to support Mary Wood. Wood, a high school English teacher, assigned Between the World and Me to her class but was ordered to stop teaching the book. What is censorship and the uproar about Critical Race Theory other than an attempt to control the intangible inner life of people to keep it from having a tangible effect on the world? Coates writes, “the arts tell us what is possible and what is not, because, among other things, they tell us who is human and who is not.” As a librarian, this chapter dealing with representation in the arts, censorship, and education felt written for me.
After South Carolina, he visits East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Coates opens in Yad Vashem with the Book of Names. The Book of Names is a project to collect the names of all the Jews murdered in the Holocaust and display them. It’s overwhelming. Coates considers genocides and how the efforts to remember them, memorialize them, or recognize the horror of them can result in a second tragedy where the murdered men, women, and children are “reduced to a gruel of misery.” Coates is devastated by the holocaust memorial and crushed by the suffering of Palestinians.
Coates sees Palestinians living, at best, in a Jim Crow state. He can’t unsee this connection to his own country, life, and history. In the Jim Crow South, there was a privileged group with full rights and a disadvantaged group with partial rights. In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, he sees a privileged group with full rights and a disadvantaged group with partial rights. He drives on roads with his Israeli guides that he can’t drive on with his Palestinian guides. As he travels with Palestinians, he feels the “glare of racism,” and he sees soldiers with the “sun glinting off their shades like Georgia sheriffs.” His narrative is compelling; his argument is strong. I think his assessment of the situation is accurate.
What ties Coates’s journeys together? What connects Senegal and South Carolina and the West Bank? Let’s return to Baldwin’s quote and assume that Coates included it for a reason. All three situations reflect the tangible effect of the interior life of people. The interior lives of his mother and father had a tangible effect on him as a child and he expands on this in Senegal, constantly wondering what his father was thinking or how he thought about things. The high school in South Carolina wanted to ban his book for fear of the tangible effects that would result from the change in interior lives. The heartbreaking suffering and misery in Gaza is the horrendous tangible effect of generations of interior lives.
I appreciate Coates’ approach. He’s not a sophist. This isn’t an empty academic argument or intellectual exercise. He calls his books his children. He puts his whole self into his writing. His whole being is in his work. If you’ve seen his interviews or headlines about his book, but haven’t had time to read it, I think it’s worth the time.
Ben loves his job at HCLS Project Literacy. When he’s not at work, you might find him walking around Lake Kittamaqundi (on his break), playing pretend with his daughter Annika, reading, peeling garlic, weeding his tiny lawn (Canada Thistle, leave me be!), eating chocolate, or listening to baseball games on the radio.
CHAPTER CHATS 