The Week in Review: 02.14.2020

Between the Covers

Finished last week:

TIGHTROPE: AMERICANS REACHING FOR HOPE by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn is the story of working class Americans.  Americans who work hard yet can barely pay their bills, struggle to find health care, don’t have access to a good education, and whose families have been ravaged by drug abuse.  They’re people who the political system ignore so they feel powerless.  This book focuses on those living in rural areas and acknowledges that many people in inner cities face the same plight.

Kristof and Wudunn make the issues come alive by telling the stories of individuals and their families.  These are people with the same hopes and dreams as everyone else – hopes and dreams that are almost impossible to realize given their circumstances.  I was aware of most of the issues before I read the book and appreciated the respectful way Kristof and Wudunn told these people’s stories.

The authors take things one step farther, though, by presenting solutions to the problems we face.  They have researched solutions that have worked in other places, like decriminalizing drug use in Portugal – and explain how they could work here as well.  They also name steps we as individuals can take.  The audio version is narrated by Jennifer Garner and she does a terrific job.  I thought this book was extremely well done and highly recommend it to everyone interested in social issues.  (Review copy provided by Penguin Random House.)

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I had high hopes for HIDDEN AMERICA: FROM COAL MINERS TO COWBOYS, AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPLORATION OF THE UNSEEN PEOPLE WHO MAKE THIS COUNTRY WORK by Jeanne Marie Laskas and the book started out pretty strong for me with the chapters on coal miners and migrant farm workers.  I scratched my head at the inclusion of the Cincinnati Bengals cheerleaders and felt like later chapters were more about the author’s experience with them than about the workers themselves.  So, while I liked the idea of this book very much, I thought it was poorly executed.  If anyone knows of something along these lines that’s well written, I’d love to know about it.  (Review copy provided by Putnam.)

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WE LOVE BABIES! by Jill Esbaum is a sweet picture book for the preschool set.  It features gorgeous full-color photos of lots of babies animals with rhyming text about them.  The animals are big and small, alone and in groups, and always adorable!  Several times throughout the book, cartoon animals proclaim, “We love babies! Yes we do! We love babies! How about you?”  There are two pages in the back of the book that identify all of the animals and the special names of the babies, if there is one.  Early readers will delight in the photos and the fun text and ask for this book over and over again.  (Review copy provided by Media Masters Publicity.)

Currently reading:

• AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones
• THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE by Erik Larson

On the Screen

JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson was one of my favorite reads of 2018 so I was a little bit nervous about seeing the movie.   But I worried for nothing.  Rather than tell all the stories included in the book, the movie focuses on the case of Walter McMillian a man sentenced to death for a murder he didn’t commit.  It shows the hard work Stevenson and his colleagues put in and the frustrations they faced while working on McMillian’s case.  I thought the movie did a good job of capturing the spirit of the book and hope seeing it will encourage more people to read it.  I was disappointed that there were only four people in the theater but I have a feeling this movie will be shown in schools for years to come.  Bring tissues with you when you watch this important movie and be sure to watch the credits to see pictures and updates of those portrayed in the movie.

Off the blog

• It snowed for several hours on Saturday but the little bit that stuck to the grass melted quickly.  One family in our neighborhood managed to put together a small snowman.  I hope we’re done with snow for the winter.  By Tuesday, our temperatures were back in the 70s.
• I walked at least three miles every day and averaged just over 17,600 Fitbit steps a day.

What’s going on in your corner of the world?