Aug/Sept 2022: 'Parable of the Sower' by Octavia Butler

Amy has picked "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler for our August 2022 book. * Note - We moved this to September and just did a social in August.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler “pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid’s Tale” (John Green, New York Times)

Now with a new foreword by N. K. JEMISIN

When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to others’ emotions.

Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER was a renowned African American author who received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. Born in Pasadena in 1947, she was raised by her mother and her grandmother.  She was the author of several award-winning novels including PARABLE OF THE SOWER (1993), which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and PARABLE OF THE TALENTS (1995) winner of the Nebula Award for the best science fiction novel published that year. She was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future.

Photo: courtesy of”: The Octavia E. Butler Estate

Though the MacArthur Grant made life easier in later years, she struggled for decades when her dystopian novels exploring themes of Black injustice, global warming, women’s rights and political disparity were, to say the least, not in commercial demand. 

During these years of obscurity Butler, always an early riser, woke at 2 a.m. every day to write, and then went to work as a telemarketer, potato chip inspector, and dishwasher, among other things. 

She passed away on February 24, 2006. At the time of her death, interest in her books was beginning to rise, and in recent years, sales of her books have increased enormously as the issues she addressed in her Afro-Futuristic, feminist novels and short fiction have only become more relevant.

Her work is now taught in over 200 colleges and universities nationwide. The #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel adaptation of her book KINDRED, created by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, received the Eisner Award for best adaptation. 

In media, her novel DAWN is being developed for television by Ava DuVernay (“Selma”; “A Wrinkle In Time”). An opera by Toshi Reagon based on Butler’s novel PARABLE OF THE SOWER was part of The Public Theatre “Under the Radar” festival and toured worldwide in 2018. Amazon Studios and JuVee Productions (Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s production company) are developing a drama series from Butler’s PATTERNIST series, beginning with WILD SEED, and the series is being co-written by Nnedi Okorafor and Wanuri Kahiu, who will also direct.

July 2022: 'Lift Your Voice' by Angela Harrelson

I picked "Lift Your Voice: How My Nephew George Floyd's Murder Changed The World" by Angela Harrelson with Michael Levin for our July 2022 book pick. We recently featured the book in the Southwest Connector and Longfellow Nokomis Messenger (https://www.swconnector.com/stories/a-voice-for-justice,5577?), and I'd like to support this local author.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Angela Harrelson, George Floyd’s aunt and closest relative in Minnesota, tells the behind-the-scenes story of George’s family—how he lived and why he died—and how the world can find a solution to racism through his death.

Angela Harrelson grew up poor, one of thirteen brothers and sisters raised in a shack in the North Carolina woods. She was first in her family to go to college, first to be commissioned in the military, and first to have a career as a professional nurse. Along the way, she and her family were exposed to the harshest forms of racism—from her childhood riding the school bus with white children who made the Black kids stand, to racist commanding officers in the Air Force who told her they wanted her to fail.

Nothing stopped Angela, and nothing removed the hope in her heart that America could learn to stop hating people based on the color of their skin. This is the story of George Floyd’s aunt, Angela Harrelson, and how, after being suddenly thrust into the spotlight, she went on a quest to make sure her nephew did not die in vain.

Lift Your Voice is a memoir of faith, hope, and bravery, of what we all—Black and white—need to do to eradicate racism from our society. It’s a story of tragic loss and a worldwide uprising to ensure Perry’s death ushers society into a time where people are no longer judged, hated, or killed because of the color of their skin.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Angela Harrelson is a registered nurse living and working in Minneapolis. She is George Floyd’s aunt and his closest relative in Minnesota.

June 2022: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

 Kevira's book book for June 2022 is "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann. *Note we moved this from May to June.

 

ABOUT THE BOOK
 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   -  NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST  -  AMAZON EDITORS' PICK FOR THE BEST BOOK OF 2017 

"Disturbing and riveting...It will sear your soul." —Dave Eggers, New York Times Book Review

Shelf Awareness’s Best Book of 2017

Named a best book of the year by Wall Street Journal, GQ, Time, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, NPR's Maureen Corrigan, NPR's "On Point", Vogue.com, Smithsonian, Cosmopolitan, Seattle Times, Bloomberg, Library Journal, Paste, Book Browse

From New Yorker staff writer David Grann, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history
       
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
      Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
      In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the “Phantom Terror,” roamed—many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection.  Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. 
      In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly compelling, but also emotionally devastating.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 DAVID GRANN is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. He is the author of "The Lost City of Z" and a National Book Award finalist for "Killers of the Flower Moon," both of which were chosen as one of the best books of their respective years by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications. He is also the author of "The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession" and "Old Man and the Gun: And other Tales of True Crime." Several of his stories, including "The Lost City of Z" and "Old Man and the Gun," have been adapted into major motion pictures. And his work has garnered several honors for outstanding nonfiction, including a George Polk Award, an Edgar Award, and a Spur Award.

March 2022: The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger

 Julie has picked "The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger" by Suzanne Fortin for use to read in March. She found it on the Goodreads Kindle version for $1.99.

ABOUT THE BOOK

'This story has great depths of emotion, highs and lows, and I found it utterly gripping!' Christina Courtenay

'A deeply moving story of love in all its forms – I adored it' Mandy Baggot

The secrets of the past won't remain hidden forever...

Arthur Pettinger's memory isn't what it used to be. He can't always remember the names of his grandchildren, where he lives or which way round his slippers go. He does remember Maryse though, a woman he hasn't seen for decades, but whose face he will never forget.

When Arthur's granddaughter, Maddy, moves in along with her daughter Esther, it's her first step towards pulling her life back together. But when Esther makes a video with Arthur, the hunt for the mysterious Maryse goes viral.

There's only one person who can help Maddy track down this woman – the one that got away, Joe. Their quest takes them to France, and into the heart of the French Resistance.

When the only way to move forwards is to look back, will this family finally be able to?

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

https://suefortin.com/about/

Suzanne writes historical fiction, predominently dual timeline and set in France. Her books feature courageous women in extraordinary circumstances with love and family at the heart of all the stories.

​Suzanne was a bookworm as a child and this naturally progressed to wanting to write her own stories. It wasn’t until she was on maternity leave with his fourth child, that she thought it was now or never and finally managed to write a complete novel. Having joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association under their New Writers’ Scheme, writing then as Sue Fortin, she sent her manuscript off for a critique.

After another year of working on the novel, Suzanne self-published United States of Love – a contemporary romance. This was then picked up by a traditional publisher, HarperCollins and under their imprint HarperImpulse (now One More Chapter) this book was republished. Writing as Sue Fortin, another seven books in the romantic suspense genre were published with HarperCollins.

More recently, Sue has moved to writing historical fiction and publishes under the name of Suzanne Fortin, with her debut in this genre, The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger released in early 2021 with Head of Zeus imprint, Aria Fiction.

​A self-confessed Francophile, Suzanne has a home in the Morbihan region of France and visits as often as she can with her husband and family. The region has been a huge inspiration for Suzanne’s books and is often the backdrop to her writing.

​Suzanne was born in Hertfordshire but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with her family, before eventually settling in West Sussex.

​Married with four children and two grandchildren – when not behind the keyboard, Suzanne likes to spend her time with them, enjoying both the coast and the South Downs, between which they are nestled.

​A keen amateur photographer, Suzanne’s favourite place to hang out on social media is Instagram.