*** What Are You Reading in March?

I've just finished and reviewed Jennifer Haigh's wonderful new story collection, News from Heaven, which takes the reader back to the Pennsylvania coal mining town of Bakerton.

I've just started The Flame Trees of Thika. I've read several memoirs of Africa and they all seem to reference this one, so I figured it was time that I read it. It is about a young girl and her parents who start a farm in Kenya prior to WWI.

Starting Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making race Around the World

I loved The Flame Trees of Thika--and its sequel, The Mottled Lizard

>#3 I was unaware of The Mottled Lizard. Thanks!

I'm reading Barbara Pym's Jane and Prudence and very good it is too.

I am reading Illuminations and it is keeping my interest thus far. Should have started it last week during the blizzard, but unfortunately I was staring at the weather warnings as if that could help!

I recently finished The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, and it was quite an eye opener. The elite or (as they're known now) the 1% are determined to keep the lower classes fighting with each other so that we won't open our eyes to the true cause of our economic problems. To do this it's essential to keep poor Whites from uniting in their common goals with poor Blacks, so one method after another is found to protect the racial hierarchy. The most recent method is the War on Drugs which, since it is mainly pursued in poor Black communities has resulted in a huge number of African Americans not only being incarcerated but also losing access to public financial support, public housing, employment and voting rights. Reagan knew what he was doing, and now I'm hoping the rest of America is figuring it out.

Reading Ruth Ozeki's newest A Tale for the Time Being.

#8 Let us know what you think. I just heard about that one and it sounds interesting.

Starting Stand Facing the Stove, a bio of Irma Rombauer and Marion Becker, of The Joy of Cooking fame.

I so loved The Joy of Cooking. let us know how the book is.

I've just read Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym for this month's Virago group read. I loved it; the characters and their world are so well-drawn, and their behaviour is chronicled with humour and affection.

I'm currently reading the YA fantasy Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and enjoying it immensely. The heroine is strong and clever with a gift for music, and has to work hard and keep her head down in a world simmering with tension. She makes a nice change from kick-ass types like Katsa in Graceling, and I find her more sympathetic and interesting.

I've also just started Guard your daughters, which was highly recommended by various folk in the Virago group.

> 12 Glad to hear that I might not be the only one who wasn't thrilled with Katsa.

I started reading the web comic My So-Called Secret Identity (only one issue available so far). I'm intrigued to see where it will go next. It's specifically written to be not your typical superhero comic book, as the about page describes:

"My So-Called Secret Identity is what happened when internationally-acclaimed Batman scholar and popular culture expert, Dr Will Brooker, decided to stop criticising mainstream comics for their representation of women, and show how it could be done differently; how it could be done better. Working with professional illustrator Susan Shore and PhD in superhero art, Dr Sarah Zaidan, Brooker assembled a team to build a new universe, close enough to the familiar capes-and-cowls mythos to offer critical comment, but distinct enough to strike out in a whole new direction and offer a story unlike any other superhero title."

http://www.mysocalledsecretidentity.com/

I'm also reading Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies, which, while written by a man, concerns itself with five specific spies - two of whom were women. I'm guessing that many people would be surprised to know that fact.

>#14. Just read the first issue of My So-called Secret Identity. Seems promising! Thanks.

#7 - OtherJoyce - I've heard comments about that book and it sounds fascinating. Not sure it's something I should read, seeing that I don't live in the US and so can't change anything and would just get incredibly frustrated. I already read too much about US society as it is . . . but it does sound so very interesting.

I just finished the delightful The Book of Small, by Emily Carr, and now I'm reading Isabel Colegate's The Shooting Party, which indirectly was the spark for Julian Fellowes to write Downton Abbey.

Hm, I do love Downton Abbey. Maybe I should consider The Shooting Party.
OtherJoyce, I understand why you don't want to read things that incense you without giving you opportunity to effect change. I'm pretty incensed by The New Jim Crow even though I can vote here. It seems at last with the downturn in the economy people here are beginning to rethink the war on drugs. Hallelujah. If the right solution comes for the wrong reason, I'll still be happy. The problem, besides those promoting racial hierarchy, is that the prison industrial complex is big finance with big lobbies, and it's fueled almost completely by Regan's war.
I'm about 1/4 of the way through So Much For That. I wonder why Lionel Shriver feels such strong need to write such unappealing characters. Of course, even malicious, sadistic, self centered people deserve good health care. I guess she wants us to come to that realization without any sappy emotional input. This is for my real life book club on Friday, and I've already been told that everyone is going to hate it, so I'll be prepared for books being thrown at my head since I'm the one who recommended it.

1959 by Thulani Davis is next in my queue. It was given to me by a friend. Has anyone here read it?