A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin

A PARTICULAR KIND OF BLACK MAN by Tope Folarin is a distinctive reading experience.  Although it is possible to read this debut work in a few hours, Folarin raises life issues and creates characters who will haunt his readers for much longer. The story is told by Tunde Akinola, born in 1981 to parents who had immigrated from Nigeria due to a college scholarship for his father. The family (including a two years younger brother, Tayo)  live in Utah for several years, but, despite optimism and effort, his father never capitalizes on the opportunity. The reader must ponder to what extent that is due to some basic character flaw and/or the challenging circumstance of being one of the few black men in the area. It is all too much for Tunde’s mother who returns to Nigeria, leaving Tunde with deep-seated feelings of abandonment.  The many vignettes presented here range from 1987 to 2004, paralleling Tunde’s time at middle school, high school, and college; they are interspersed with transatlantic telephones calls to his grandmother in Nigeria.  The writing feels so immediate and intimate that the reader cannot help but appreciate and relate to Tunde’s struggle for a sense of identity and belonging. Tope Folarin, a Rhodes Scholar and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, is most definitely a writer to watch. 

A PARTICULAR KIND OF BLACK MAN received a starred review from Booklist and is on Time magazine’s list of “32 Books You Need to Read this Summer.”

LibraryReads Selection Ideas

It is almost Thanksgiving and that long break from school and work may provide a nice window to sit down and relax with a longer read.  There is certainly plenty of choice – with recent National Book Awards announcement, The New York Times’ list of Notable Books being released this week, and voting ongoing for Goodreads Choice Awards.  Here, I am going to note several LibraryReads selections – some of the 10 books chosen each month by librarians to recommend to their patrons:

I look forward to and definitely recommend titles by Kate Morton, international bestselling author of The House at Riverton, since she offers a kind of Gothic mystery that both challenges and entertains. There’s suspense and a bit of romantic tension in each, including her latest, THE CLOCKMAKER'S DAUGHTER which was a LibraryReads selection in October. In this novel, which bridges 150 years, Morton introduces Edward Radcliffe and his artistic associates who are spending the summer of 1862 at Birchwood Manor on the upper Thames. Intending to escape and focus on creative endeavors, they instead experience a murder, a disappearance, and a jewelry theft. Once again, Morton features a house that bears witness through generations as a modern day archivist, Elodie Winslow, discovers a photo and drawing which prompts her hunt for family connections. Pick up this novel if you are looking for historical fiction dealing with art and secrets; THE CLOCKMAKER'S DAUGHTER received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.  

 

A LibraryReads selection in September, TRANSCRIPTION by Kate Atkinson is another suspenseful work of historical fiction set during the Second World War and 1950s London. The main character is Juliet who at 18 is first employed to rather naively transcribe wartime conversations for the British intelligence service, MI5, and who increasingly becomes involved in espionage activities, and later works as a BBC producer on children’s programming.  Once again, Atkinson describes how events and choices reverberate across time, causing the reader to reflect on the meaning of patriotism, on guilt, and on fate’s tragic repercussions.  TRANSCRIPTION received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, and Library Journal.

VIRGIL WANDER by Leif Enger (Peace Like a River) was an October LibraryReads selection and could easily work as a Junior Theme choice given the publisher’s description as a “timeless all-American story that follows the inhabitants of a small Midwestern town in their quest to revive its flagging heart.” Virgil’s car runs off the road into Lake Superior near Greenstone, Minnesota and he suffers memory loss as a result.  Virgil’s subsequent and sometimes humorous interactions with residents (including a romantic interest, a best friend and newspaper editor, and a pet raccoon called Genghis) and also visitors (like Rune, a fan of kite flying who is looking for his long lost son) charmingly chronicles attempts at recovery for both Virgil and the town. VIRGIL WANDER received starred reviews from Library Journal (“surprises and delights throughout”) and Booklist (“Virgil's narration is a joy: he lost his adjectives in the crash, making for their gleeful insertion each time he remembers one.”).

 

THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean is actually a narrative non-fiction work that tells the story of the Los Angeles Public Library fire which occurred in 1986. This text, too, includes a bit of a mystery given that the cause of the fire was suspicious and Orlean deftly explores the story of suspect Harry Peak.  She also comments on her own relationship with books and reading, especially reflecting on childhood visits to the library with her mother. Overall, this is a fascinating look at library operations. Please see the video below for more visual detail from a PBS NewsHour interview with author Susan Orlean:

A LibraryReads selection in October and recipient of starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal, THE LIBRARY BOOK will be appreciated by bibliophiles and fans of libraries everywhere.

Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Khong

I was honestly surprised by how much I liked GOODBYE, VITAMIN by Rachel Khong.  In this debut, Khong shares the story of Ruth, who at 30 years old has just experienced a broken engagement and moves home to help her parents cope with her father’s Alzheimer’s disease. Instead of being overly sad, this book is sweet and gentle, filled with many poignant moments.  Ruth’s Dad, a history professor, is no longer employed by the university, but past students arrange for a clandestine class, giving him purpose and focus.  There is also quite a bit of humor interspersed and some charming anecdotes from Ruth’s childhood, complete with the wonder of a child’s questions (What flavor are germs? Have you ever watched a moth eat clothes?), recorded years ago in notebooks by her Dad.

Much like the self-reflections in the recently published Chemistry by Weike Wang, readers are given insight to Ruth’s musings about her personal life and about her Dad: “You mentioned that there were some things on your mind, but lately you were having trouble getting to them – accessing them.  You had the feeling that all the thoughts were in a box covered in tape, and the trouble was there was too much tape, and the trouble was you didn’t have the proper tools to access them – no scissors and no knife – and it was a lot of trouble – everyday it was new trouble – trying to find the end of the tape.” To me, the combination of Ruth’s life healing and expanding while her father’s life shrinks makes dealing with Alzheimer’s feel more real, in some ways similar to the family relationships and patient care presented by Eric Rill in An Absent Mind.  GOODBYE, VITAMIN is a relatively short read (208 pages) and received a starred review from Booklist. as well as being named an amazon Best Book of July 2017.