Reading to Soothe the Political Pain
Since the terrible defeat of Hillary Clinton a few weeks and the pending disaster that will be Trump’s presidency, I have tried to zone out and concentrate my mind on other things.
I have been watching a lot less cable news and most TV in general since the elections. As a matter of fact, I am seriously considering cutting the cord altogether in the very near future.
But for right now, I have been reading books a little more than I usually do. I have read (and reread) five books since the elections. Four of them were about women’s lives. Since we won’t have a lady president for at least another four years, I thought I would read books with strong female protagonists.
Here Comes The Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
A fascinating study of women’s lives in Jamaica. When most people think about this Caribbean island, they think of the beaches, jerk chicken, and reggae music. However, Jamaica’s extreme poverty and colonial legacy don’t likely come up in discussions. The author creates rich characters of a mother and her two daughters to discuss current issues facing Jamaica women, such as sex tourism, class, skin tone divisions, especially about skin bleaching, homosexuality, and abuse.
The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe
This historical novel is about real-life trailblazer Anita Hemmings, the first black woman to graduate from Vassar College. The catch here is that the school didn’t know Hemmings was black until a few days before her graduation. It was 1897 and most colleges at the time either didn’t allow or permitted a small number of black students. Hemmings was able to get into the school because she was fair-skinned enough to pass for white. This book is also another study of class and race intertwining at the turn of the last century.
Radio Girls by Sarah Jane Stratford
This book takes place in London during the nascent years of the BBC. Maisie Musgrave is a newly-minted Beeb secretary. Based on the real-life BBC radio pioneer Hilda Matheson, Radio Girls gives insights into the struggles of women working in broadcasting at the time.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Cora is a slave in Georgia who goes along with fellow slave Caesar to escape their misery by following the Underground Railroad. All kinds of drama ensue. This book just won the National Book Award – a must read.
I also reread The Middle Passage by V.S. Naipaul, which also to a lesser degree looks at women’s lives in the Caribbean.
I plan to write more in-depth reviews of these great books in the very near future. In the meantime, if you have any other books that you want to recommend to me, please let me know.
It’s going to be a LONG four years, and I want all the reading I can get my hands on to get through it!