Ursina's Shelf - Back to School
Issue 6
Dear Readers,
I hope you are all well. September marks the beginning of a new school year, and while ‘back to school’ is not back to normal this year, I would like to share a couple of my favorite high school reads.
School’s in Session
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (1995)
My Description: In this memoir, the author tells the story of his mother, “the daughter of an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, [who] married a black man in 1942”, while exploring his own childhood as one of 12 siblings growing up in Brooklyn, confused about his race and finding his identity.
My Take: This is hands down my favorite from high school and I cannot wait to reread it. I loved the intensity of the love and family life that McBride shares with us, as well as the confusions of growing up with multiple cultures and the remarkable and fiercely strong character his mom is. This book is truly inspirational and flipping through the pages of my copy, I am not surprised to find so many sentences underlined.
Bonus Tip: McBride recently released a fun and worthwhile new book Deacon King Kong about a church deacon from Brooklyn who shoots his project's drug dealer. All the bystanders have an opinion as we learn about their entertaining and intertwined lives.
Night by Elie Wiesel (1956 in Yiddish, first translated into English in 1960)
My Description: Elie Wiesel recounts his experience starting with the deportation from his Orthodox Jewish community in Transylvania to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he and his dad are separated from their female relatives, through the semi-autobiographical character “Eliezer”.
My Take: This is a heart-breaking tale of the holocaust and of loss of family and faith. What happened to the main character and author is devastating. Yet the writing helped me both learn the depth of this horror and also understand the impact it had on survivors.
Bonus Tip: There are two English translations (both significantly shorter than the original Un di Velt Hot Geshvign in Yiddish). The one by Wiesel’s wife Marion is considered truer to the original.
There are many more books I loved in high school, including To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride & Prejudice, several Shakespeare plays and many more. I look forward to featuring some of these in future newsletters.
A Little Help From My Friends
I was lucky to share my interest in reading with my high school friends and so I asked them for their favorites too.
Jessica picked The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which she rereads every year. I wonder if it runs in the family, since her brother Matthew is a tremendous Fitzgerald and 1920s New York fan.
Rebecca picked one of her "weird favorites", American Journalist Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. A book that I have not read yet, and have so far been slightly intimidated by.
Anna, a fellow cross-country runner, recommends her middle school favorite Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, which she describes as "an exciting story of adventure but also courageous leadership during an unimaginably difficult time". I have already purchased this book a while back and now want to start it soon.
And last but not least, a big shout-out to my friend Deanna, who encouraged me to read early on, sat with me during study hall reading together, and recommended many books to me, including getting me hooked on Lord of the Rings. Congratulations on your beautiful wedding to Brian last weekend!
Currently reading: How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Thank you for reading! As always please share your feedback and bookish thoughts with me at ursinab@gmail.com and if you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter, don’t hesitate to forward it. Have a lovely weekend!