“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” Haruki Murakami
I fell in love with this quote the first time I read it. It fits perfectly with events currently happening in many communities in the United States and communities around the world.
It also fits with the theme of this issue, spring renewal. The path to personal growth can be as simple as opening our minds to new ideas. Sometimes, we find these ideas in books. I don’t mean self-help books. I mean works of fiction or memoirs about the human condition.
It's easy to think of social or personal issues as right or wrong – black or white. We ignore the shades of gray because they are inconvenient. Stealing is wrong, but if your child or your parents were starving and you had no other choice, would you steal food to feed them? These ten books feature characters facing dilemmas without perfect answers. What would you do in their places?
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa – After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro inherits the family bookstore , he plans to sell it. When a talking tabby cat named Tiger shows up, it whisks Rintaro away on a mission to rescue imprisoned books. Tiger’s list of imprisoned books includes books shoved on a shelf and forgotten and books mistreated by their owners. This fanciful story reinforces the importance of books and the need to treat them and all possessions with reverence. Rintaro grows as a person after Tiger includes him on this important and selfless quest.
You Could Make this Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith – In this memoir, Smith who is a writer and poet, details her emotional struggle to navigate through a painful divorce and begin life as a single mom. Like many marriages, hers could not survive her husband’s infidelity and his failure to support her career. Instead of feeling sorry for herself and playing the victim, Smith outlines her journey to understanding that some relationships aren’t meant to last forever, and it’s okay to allow yourself to grow and change.
The New Life by Tom Crewe – Crewe takes us to London in 1894 where homosexuality is a crime. Two fictional characters, intellectuals who have never met, are writing a book in defense of homosexuality. Shortly before the book is published, Oscar Wilde is arrested and imprisoned (a real event) for having a sexual relationship with a man. John and Henry, like Wilde, are married to women and enjoy social standing in their communities, while living closeted lives. Their dilemma becomes whether to publish and risk the threat of social ostracism and prison or remain silent and let others continue to suffer for who they love. Crewe explores the damages done to the men and women forced into marriages for the sake of “being normal and the struggle for gay rights long before the gay rights movement.
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan – What if your memories could be uploaded on a virtual platform and shared where anyone could access them? Each chapter in this book shares the memories of a different person from a different time period. What privacy rights can we expect in a world of constantly advancing technology? Whose memories can we trust? Should some memories be taken to the grave and never shared?
The It Girl by Ruth Ware – This psychological thriller questions the importance of unraveling the truth even if it can’t change the past. When “it girl” April Coutts-Cliveden befriends Hannah Jones, Hannah becomes one of April’s chosen friends, and life is good. Ten years after April’s untimely death during the second semester of their freshman year at university Hannah is married to Will another member of April’s chosen group. When the man convicted of murdering April dies in prison, certain realities about the group come to light including Hannah’s true relationship with April. Should the truth stay buried because it has the power to destroy lives?
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall – This is a controversial choice, but we are not choosing sides in this important debate. I selected this book because it was inspired by true stories about women struggling for the right to make decisions about their own bodies.
Old Flame by Molly Prentiss – Emily who has always dreamed of being a published author has settled for life writing for women’s catalogs to pay the bills. She has a handsome boyfriend, but always wonders when he’ll grow tired of her and leave. When her best work friend, Megan, is laid off, Emily has no one to turn to for support. After Emily learns she’s pregnant, she’ll have to decide what stays and what must go to make room for her new life.
In a Book Club Far Away – By Tif Marcelo – Three Army wives become inseparable friends in a book club until one of them betrays the others’ trust. Eight years later, Adelaide is facing emergency surgery while her husband is deployed. She must reach out to the only women she can trust to care for her daughter, Regina, and Sophie. After the three friends reunite, can they work through their old problems and salvage their relationships? How do we forgive and how to we nurture those important female friendships?
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan – Flora never achieved the fantastic career her Chinese immigrant parents sacrificed so much to make possible and her husband, Gust, refuses to give up his young fitness obsessed mistress. Flora has one person in her life her daughter who makes it bearable, her precious daughter, Harriet. Flora resigns herself to being the perfect mom, but a momentary lapse of judgement puts that into jeopardy. The state is always watching for moms who slip up, and they are now investigating Flora to determine if she must attend a Big Brother-like institution to be retrained to be a responsible mother. It’s a scary look at the standards women are held to as mothers, and how unforgiving society can be to women in general.
Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave – Sunshine Mackenzie has the perfect life, a wonderful career as the star of a culinary show, devoted fans, and a loving husband until she gets hacked. When her secrets are revealed, she loses everything. How will she recover from her fall from grace and what will she learn from this experience?