Book Report
Grade: 6
The Barbizon by Paulina Bren – In the 1920s, a women-only hotel was created in NYC catering to white women who were heading to the Big Apple to work as writers, models, and the like. It had tiny rooms (you could lie in bed and close the door and reach your dresser), bathrooms down the hall for most floors, a strict policy of no men beyond the lobby. It was considered THE place to stay for the young and the up-and-coming white woman, though several women “failed” to marry or move on and lived there for decades. I love that someone researched and wrote a book about this. Some of the chapters get a bit boring, but I liked the section on the outcasts which included the Barbizon’s first Black resident. Today, the Barbizon has been turned into million dollar condos but the original dwellers were and are legally guaranteed the right to live there at the rate established when they first arrived in the 50s and 60s. There are 5 of the originals left, and they’ve all been upgraded to 1 bedroom condos; their legal rights include the same daily maid service as per their terms back when the first moved in. (During one of my NYC trips to see Alaska, my friend Eric and I stayed at another hotel where we were told a few of the units had original residents who’d been there for decades and who were allowed to remain there for low rents. Our room was like a small studio apartment: it had a kitchenette and a bathroom and two beds – but we couldn’t control the heat, and it was too hot in December!) Grade: 6
We Are The Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer – It’s hard to read books about climate change. The author doesn’t hold anything back either, laying out what the future will probably look like, and it sucks. But he’s not without hope. He provides the facts and the info to show that having two out of three meals a day without animal products will make a huge dent in the problem since animal agriculture is the biggest contributor to climate change. I had to grab onto the hopefulness while admitting that the reality of the next few decades….is scary. Grade: 8
(Addendum to the above review. The author points out that the 4 biggest things an individual can do about climate change are eat plant-based, avoid air travel, live car-free and have fewer children. He goes on to point out that many people don’t have a realistic ability to live car-free, most of us are not in the process of deciding whether or not to have children, and that some air travel is likely unavoidable. He also adds that of those 4, only plant-based eating addresses methane and nitrous oxide, the two most urgent greenhouse gasses. He gives other info but that’s in a nutshell how he arrives at his recommendation to avoid animal products in two of three meals each day).
Unthinkable by Jamie Raskin – The author is a Congressman from Maryland who suffered two horrible blows within a week: his son died by suicide and then January 6, 2020 happened. This is his memoir. Full disclosure: I did not read every word of this. There was too much. Too much about January 6, too much about the (second) impeachment vote and trial, and the fact that most Republicans continue to just do the wrong thing over and over and over again no matter what the evidence or logic or empathy would say. Yet the parts I could read were well-written and tragic and somehow readable. I loved hearing about his son’s life – his son was passionate, committed, brilliant. He’d worked as a staff member of Mercy for Animals. It’s such a tragedy that he’s gone. At one point, Raskin is going through thousands of condolence letters while preparing evidence and arguments for impeachment. How Raskin managed to weather all of this ….man, some people are a lot more resilient than I am! Grade: 7
Into The Forest by Rebecca Frankel – Reading a book about the Holocaust while reading the above book was not a good idea; you know, too much fascism. But putting emotions aside, this was an intriguing read. It’s the real life story of a Jewish family who hid in the Polish forest during Hitler’s reign. And there is a shocking reunion later on. Like any memoir about this subject, it’s heartbreaking and terrifying. Grade: 8