Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Still wandering....

Oh dear, I seem to have meandered further still from my brief. The one I really can't justify Orange-wise is Liza Mundy's Michelle Obama. Having read Dreams From my Father earlier in the year I couldn't resist the Barnes and Noble display of Michelle-inspired books. Well, I could resist Michelle Obama, Mom-in-chief and Michelle Obama, First Lady of Fashion and Style but I did want to know a little more about her, and chose Mundy's book. She had interviewed Michelle extensively in the past, though not for the purposes of this book - clearly the First Lady's team was more cautious about letting her loose these days. It wasn't a great read, but it was informative, especially about her childhood and background. From this side of the Atlantic some of America's social problems can seem insoluble - millions without healthcare, murder rates of incomprehensible size - and yet a bright girl from the South Side of Chicago ("bright" hardly seems to cover it) becomes First Lady. I have thought of an Orange link too - as a student, Michelle Obama attended a meeting which was addressed by the last surviving Scottsboro Boy......
The other deviation can be justified in Orange terms, I think. I was so taken by The Flying Troutmans and sorry not to have come across Miriam Toews before. I added A Complicated Kindness to my pile and raised B and N's profits a little more. And since the avowed aim of OPF is to bring fine writing by women to all readers, it matters not a jot that this book goes back to 2005. What a treat! Nomi, a 16 year old rebel growing up in a strict Canadian Mennonite community sees through all the adult hypocrisy around her. This coming-of-age story is told in Nomi's own voice, dead-pan, over-casual at times, and brutally honest. The humour may be of a rather black sort, but there's joy too. Toews herself was brought up in just such a community - now there's an author I'd love to hear!

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