The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

This is a book read in one of my book clubs.  I did enjoy it and learned a lot from it.  However, it was not a book that was particularly "discussable."  One of my friends in the club said that it is considered Historical Anthropology, which is interesting, but I am not sure a real categorization in literature.  But that is not important.

Here is a good synopsis of the theme:  Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little-known region of China and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

There is lots to learn about tea, too!  The story is somewhat predictable however, which bothered me at the end.  But I am not sorry that I read it.  I just didn't feel like there was much to discuss.  In a book club book, I like to have conversations about the book, more than this lent itself to.

It.Goes.So.Fast by Mary Louise Kelly

I have been listening to this NPR reporter for years and she's always been one of my favorites.  Currently, she is one of the hosts of All Things Considered.  I heard that she had written this book, and I heard her interviewed about it, and I knew I had to read it.  I am so glad that I did.  One of the best books so far this year.

By the way, I listened to the book, in her own voice, which made it even better. I do recommend using that format.

In this memoir, Ms. Kelly describes how she has been juggling her life for the past 17 years as a mother and a professional with an extremely demanding but amazing job.  She realizes during her older son's senior year of high school that she has missed the majority of his soccer games, and soccer is his LIFE!

There are very interesting stories from "the front" covering the news,  accounts of her life as a mom and wife and yes, daughter.  I could not stop listening to this audiobook.  Get it and listen. 

Kunstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Schine

 

I loved this book! I have read many of Schine's other books, most recently the Grammarians and this new one did not disappoint!

Here is what the New Yorker says, 

Julian, a directionless young New Yorker, ventures west, to Venice Beach, to help care for his zesty ninety-three-year-old grandmother. When the pandemic descends, he finds himself sequestered indefinitely with her, as she recounts memories of her Anschluss-ruptured Vienna childhood and her family’s subsequent immigration to Hollywood, where she came to know legends including Arthur Schoenberg and Greta Garbo. The novel emphasizes echoes across history but explores intergenerational gaps, too, and—despite handling such weighty subject matter as survivor’s guilt, sexual repression, and the ongoing traumas of racial and religious persecution—maintains a remarkable lightness of tone and of characterization.

I was so pleased that I was reading this on my iPad because I was constantly looking things up and I learned so much about German intellectuals living in LA in that time period.  I was not aware that so many moved there to escape Nazism in Vienna (and other locales.) This was particularly relevant for me, having just seen the play, Leopoldstadt on Broadway.  

This book was a much more delightful way to acknowledge that time period.  

Highly recommend.  Loved the poignant ending, too.