In September the library is encouraging reading groups and all readers across Louisville to explore books with roots in different countries and cultures with its Read Your Way Around the World program. Check out the library's Read Your Way Around the World Book List ! Titles from this list will be chosen for the Mayor's Book Club. Join us for the first meeting, Wednesday September 21 from 12-1 at the Main Library. We will be reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.
I was one of many library employees that offered input as the reading list was developed. As I found books to suggest it was fun to go back and remember how such books have contributed to my understanding of many different cultures. Several of the most interesting books I have ever read are on the list:
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang is a particular favorite. Chang’s multi generational history, tells us the story of her grandmother, who as a young girl lived in a society that was still binding the feet of its young girls; her mother and father who were Maoist revolutionaries and their subsequent experiences during the Cultural Revolution; and her own story as a young girl who briefly joined The Red Guard, before leaving it due to its extreme violence. Her stories introduced me in a very real way to Twentieth Century China and the effects of its policies on its people.
Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat is a memoir that gave not only insight into life in the author’s birth country of Haiti, but also insight into the life of those who leave in search of a better life in the United States. Danticat tells the story of her father who, along with her mother, immigrates to New York when Danticat is four years old. Unable to bring her with them, she remained in Haiti, until the age of 12, living with her father’s brother Joseph, a pastor in Port au Prince. I learned much about the upheaval in the late 20th Century in Haiti while reading an engrossing story of family love.
I hope you will use the list to expand your knowledge of the world and its people. Talking to others at the library about their recommendations has increased by at least a dozen my list of books I want to read.
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