Book Notes
Book Notes | This Tender LandEvent Date: This Tender Land is an epic coming-of-age story set in Minnesota during the summer of 1932. It chronicles a mesmerizing journey of four children who escape the horrors of the Lincoln Indian Training School and sneak away in a canoe in search of a home. More... |
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Book Notes | The Personal LibrarianEvent Date: This historical novel tells a compelling story about the archivist and librarian who developed the Pierpont Morgan Library into a world-class collection in the early 20th century and kept secret her African American heritage her whole professional life. More... |
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‘A cornucopia of riches’ brought to life with UMRA grant supportJoanne Eicher’s new book, Global Trade and Cultural Authentication, published with support from UMRA’s grant program, is the capstone of a stellar career launched by serendipity. Published:More... |
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Book Notes | 'Hamnet'Event Date: Most members of the UMRA Book Club liked this historical novel. Set in both the 1500s and the present, it tells the story of William and Agnes Shakespeare and their grief at losing a child. More... |
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Book notes | Eleanor Oliphant is Completely FineEvent Date: Members of UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club enjoyed a lively discussion of author Gail Honeyman’s prize-winning debut novel and what it reveals about the importance of friendship and care to the development of the quirky main character. More... |
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Book notes | Circling the SunEvent Date: This historical novel depicts the life of aviation pioneer Beryl Markham and the early decades of her extraordinary life growing up in Kenya. More... |
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Book notes | Strangers in Their Own LandEvent Date: On June 24, at the end of a week like no other (House Jan. 6 committee hearings, and Supreme Court decisions on gun control in New York and overturning Roe v. Wade), UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club had a deep and passionate discussion on Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild. More... |
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Book notes | Still LifeEvent Date: Several UMRA Book Club I members are avid fans of the Louise Penny books while for a few this was their first introduction to the mysteries set in Three Pines. More... |
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Book notes | The Things They CarriedEvent Date: "The Things They Carried" is an exquisitely written collection of short stories by Minnesota-born author Tim O’Brien about a platoon of American soldiers fighting on the ground in the Vietnam War. More... |
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Book notes | Prairie FiresEvent Date: Caroline Fraser’s Pulitzer prize-winning book Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a meticulously researched biography of the much-loved author of the Little House books. More... |
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Book notes | The Nickel BoysEvent Date: Colson Whitehead, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Underground Railroad, explores the horrors of a reformatory school in Florida in his subsequent novel, "The Nickel Boys." More... |
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Book notes | Have You Seen Luis Velez?Event Date: This inspiring book by the prolific American author Catherine Ryan Hyde conveys a hopeful theme that also underlies her first novel, "Pay It Forward." More... |
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Book notes | A Confederacy of DuncesEvent Date: For those with contemporary 2021 sensibilities, "A Confederacy of Dunces"—acclaimed as a literary masterpiece after it was published posthumously in 1980—is a canonical work of modern literature, best understood as a period piece. More... |
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Book notes | Braiding SweetgrassEvent Date: In Braiding Sweetgrass, author Robin Wall Kimmerer, a trained botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, shows how other living things like plants offer us lessons to live by. The culture of gratitude is a key theme. More... |
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Book notes | Invisible ManEvent Date: First published in 1952, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is not a one-dimensional novel about racial unrest. Members of URMA’s Fourth Friday Book Club found it to be a book rich in ideas. More... |
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