Everything in Color

 Everything in Color: A Love Story by Stephanie Stalvey (2026) 528 pages

I am loving the works publisher 23rd St, under the umbrella of First Second Books, is putting out in the world. This shares some themes with Craig Thompson's Blankets that I reviewed earlier this year. This story of a church kid growing up in purity culture and later deconstructing their Christian beliefs through falling in love with a man (a seminary student) and becoming a mother is so honest. The art (both black & white and color) is stunning. I especially love her use of the wolf imagery. Stephanie Stalvey has the revelation that the message of love, sold by many churches, is in reality primarily concerned with obedience and a punitive system for sin. The narrative of this graphic memoir is clear and strong.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston  219 pp.

This was the last of the "Summer of Hurston" books and a re-read for me although it had been so long I had forgotten most of it. I listened to the audio book version read/performed by Ruby Dee and it was excellent. From the opening, the feeling for me is that not only were the characters "watching God", they were busy watching each other and passing judgement of them. The main character, Janie, goes through a life with three totally different husbands. The first, Logan, was the safe provider chosen by Janie's grandmother to keep her out of trouble. The second, Joe Starks, is a go-getter, determined to turn the all black communtiy of Eatonville, Florida into a prosperous town with himself running it. The third, Tea Cake, is the love match with a younger man, a gambler and grifter who sweeps her off her feet and makes her feel real love for the first time. Janie is on the receiving end of treatment by the first two that confines her to "her place" and keeps her from living as she would like. Tea Cake provides her with a freedom to be herself. The ending mixes tragedy with Janie's triumph over bowing to the opinions of others. I enjoyed this book and the discussions that went with it.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, 219 pages

Our third and final Hurston book this summer, Their Eyes follows Janie Starks as she attempts to navigate her way through marriage and self-fulfillment. This is a powerful book, and Hurston's writing is positively lyrical throughout the tale of Janie's three marriages: first to Logan Killicks, an older, well-established man; then to Joe Starks, a man with a plan to bring a renaissance to Eatonville (an all-black community in Florida); and finally to Tea Cake, a charming grifter 15 years her junior. Throughout it all, Janie comes into herself, culminating in a shocking (but by all means definitive) conclusion. I loved reading this book. It was excellent.

Their eyes were watching God

Their eyes were watching God / Zora Neale Hurston 219 pgs.

The final book in our summer of Zora, this is a "personal" story of Janie, a woman looking for love and trying to find herself.  She grows up with her grandmother and is told to get married so she will have someone to take care of her.  Her first husband isn't a romantic match and she leaves him for Jody, a fast talking guy with a good future.  Jody is a better match but still has many expectations and regulations.  He does do well for himself and leaves Janie fairly well off when he passes away.  Tea Cake comes into her life and is a younger man who seems to worship her.  She is told by everyone to watch out because Tea Cake is only after her for her money and can't even make it on his own much less support a woman.  But with Tea Cake she finds love and maybe herself until he meets a tragic end.

Parts of this novel are semi-autobiographical.  Hurston herself was involved with a much younger man with whom she broke off with immediately before writing this book.

Middlemarch

Middlemarch by George Eliot, 827 pages

For those of you not already reading Middlemarch in our adult summer reading program, Middlemarch is a fictional town set in the English countryside in the early-ish 1800s and focuses on some of the more well to do families that live there. We first meet Dorothea Brooke, a young woman with the lofty goal of learning and making life better for those around her, but decides to do that by marrying Mr. Casaubon, a man almost three times her age. Then there is Fred Vincy, at the crossroads of his life: in love with his childhood friend, Mary Garth, but bent towards self-destruction through gambling and idleness. And then there is Tertius Lydgate, a doctor who moves to Middlemarch with the plan of bringing a new practice of medicine to the masses, and with the equally lofty goal of making some new scientific breakthrough. Of course, there are many characters I'm leaving out (Will Ladislaw, Rosamond Vincy, Nicholas Bulstrode, Peter Featherstone, Camden Farebrother...), but most of the action revolves around these three. We've spent a lot of time discussing how this book is considered a staggering work of genius, and while I'm not sure I can speak to that, I can recognize why it's considered a classic. Eliot manages to juggle all of these characters and their pains and dreams and suffering without dropping the ball with any of them. With a narrator's eye view of each of these characters, she manages to inspire pity and sympathy for some of the more awful ones (see our summer reading blog for more on that). And though her writing tends toward the analytical, I still managed to find myself sucked into what would happen - if Dorothea would ever realize that she loved Will, if Lydgate would ever manage to out connive his wife, if Fred would ever pull his life together to make it with Mary. Many in our discussions on the book have mentioned that they feel the need to reread this book, and I agree (though I definitely want to read it in print and not as an ebook). If you're a fan of Victorian novels, but haven't read this one yet, go for it! And join us in August for our last discussion and tell us what you think.

To rise again at a decent hour

To rise again at a decent hour / Joshua Ferris 337 pgs.

When I read Ferris' first book, I thought "genius" but when his second came out, I could not relate to it unlike many of my co-workers.  This book, however, solidifies his "genius" standing with me.  I can't praise it enough.  Paul O'Rourke is a dentist in New York and a dedicated Red Sox fan.  What else is he?  Well, an atheist and perhaps a bit to intense in his love affairs.  It isn't just his devotion to the woman he is with, it is his desire to become a family member that make this border on a little creepy.  We meet Dr. O'Rourke as a single man wondering where he fits in.  There is some information that leads us to understand his infatuation with close families.  His dad committed suicide, his mother now dead, he really has no family to speak of.  He is a well respected dentist but he doesn't really "belong."  This book has so many comic elements but is also wonderful with the serious parts.

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You are a badass

You are a badass: how to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life / Jen Sincero 254 pgs.

It is great to start off a new year with a nice self help book that will put you on your way to resolution success.  This book is great.  Jen Sincero really has me believing that I'm a badass or that I could be if I could get motivated to get off my couch. No seriously, she makes a lot of good points and is very motivational telling us how to create goals and reach them.  You can DO IT!

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About Average

About Average by Andrew Clements  120 pp.

Sixth grader Jordan Johnson is average is just about every way. She's a C student and just "okay" in sports, music, and art. She's nice looking but not a beauty. Her mother is worried that she isn't a better student, etc. but her father thinks she's doing fine the way she is. Jordan herself has taken stock of her talents and realizes the only things she's good at is babysitting, gardening, horseback riding, and making lists. But when disaster strikes her school in the form of a tornado she suddenly discovers her true talent. This is one of the books I considered for the Treehouse Book Club.

The Chaperone

The Chaperone/ Laura Moriarty 371 pgs.

Cora is an orphan who has made a pretty good life for herself after being adopted from one of the "orphan trains" that left New York and traveled to the middle of the country dropping of "lucky" kids in many farming communities when they were adopted by families who needed an extra set of hands.  Cora's adoptive parents actually wanted a daughter and were very good to her.  Unfortunately, they died in an accident when Cora was just 17.  The lawyer who settled their estate took a shine to her and they ended up marrying.  Twin sons follow not much later.  But as life tends to go, some of the things she thought he knew turn out not to be true.  The story really gets going when at age 36, Cora finds herself with the opportunity to be a chaperone for a young girl from her Kansas town who is going to New York City.  Cora is very interested in NYC because that is where she was born and she is hoping she can find out something about her biological parents.  Oh yea, the young girl that she accompanies is Louise Brooks who ends up being a huge star.  This book is a wonderful story of the intersecting lives of Louise and Cora but is more about Cora discovering her past, who she is and who she wants to be. I listened to the audio book and it was wonderful as read by Elizabeth McGovern.

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