Book Notes

Book notes | Invisible Man

Event Date: September 24, 2021, at 2:00 PM

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.

Book notes | Marcel’s Letters

Event Date: September 17, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Marcel’s Letters, by Minnesota author and graphic designer Carolyn Porter, is a fascinating journey from a small river town to war-torn Europe.

Book notes | House on Endless Waters

Event Date: August 20, 2021, at 2:00 PM

When Yoel Blum travels from his home in Israel to Amsterdam, where he was born, he begins a journey of finding out the many things his mother kept from him, which leads to a new understanding of who he is.

Book notes | Just Mercy

Event Date: July 16, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Although at times emotionally difficult, Just Mercy is an important book about the problems of our legal system and the amazing work of the Equal Justice Initiative.

Book notes | Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Event Date: August 27, 2021, at 2:00 PM

More than a century after the timeframe of this tale of harrowing illness and intertwined heartbreak, the parallels with today’s COVID-19 pandemic and current wars struck Book Club II participants as eerie.

Book notes | The Last Tycoon

Event Date: June 25, 2021, at 2:00 PM

The Last Tycoon is a beautifully rendered story about the tension of a culture aspiring to creativity but dominated by cynicism, greed, and commercial imperatives.

Book notes | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Event Date: June 23, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Of all the books by John Le Carré, this novel about secrets, lies, and shifting identities is regarded as the most entertaining.

Book notes | The Big Burn

Event Date: June 18, 2021, at 2:00 PM

The Big Burn is an educational, breathtaking story about the largest wildfire in U.S. history, the men whose heroic actions worked to save people and land, and President Teddy Roosevelt’s embattled efforts to “save America.”

Book notes | The Black Tulip

Event Date: May 28, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Although not as well-known as the author’s earlier novels The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas père is a beautifully crafted novel, rich in its telling with themes of love, courage, honesty, politics, and the destructive capacity of jealousy.

Book notes | Caste

Event Date: May 21, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Author Isabel Wilkerson weaves her experiences and those of others with fact and history to help the reader grasp the extensive impact the caste system has had, and continues to have, in India and the United States.

Book notes | Red Pill

Event Date: April 23, 2021, at 2:00 PM

There is plenty to deal with for the unnamed narrator of this contemporary novel, from ghosts and mystical rhetoric to politics.

Book notes | The Color of Water

Event Date: April 16, 2021, at 2:00 PM

The Color of Water is James McBride’s tribute to his remarkable mother. He skillfully alternates chapters relating his life story growing up in New York City projects with chapters conveying his mother’s life, told in her voice.

Recommended reading

Participants in Ted Bowman’s provocative “Resilient coping” workshop requested suggestions for books to help address the changes and challenges we’re all facing, from retirement to social upheaval.

Book notes: Stories of adversity and perseverance

Event Date: January 17, 2020, at 2:00 PM

In her latest book, Leadership: In turbulent times, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin tells how four presidents persevered through early life adversities with strong determination to succeed.

Book notes: Sinclair Lewis classic is still interesting, but a slow read

Event Date: November 15, 2019, at 2:00 PM

Common themes expressed in Sinclair Lewis’s satirical portrait of small-town America continue to be relevant today: women’s roles, anti-immigration attitudes, hints of labor unrest, and socialism.