A busybody sees her chance to make her mark when a prank in the library galvanizes her small Georgia town. When she sets up a little free library in her front yard, Lula Dean sets in motion events that will change many lives, including her own.
The events in Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books, by Kirsten Miller, begin when some teens leave a book about how to make and decorate pornographic cakes in the town library. Lula Dean is one of those who cannot understand why anyone should be able to obtain a book like that in a library. Going after the books in the high school library is next. She and her committee want some books removed, and take them off the shelves.
Instead of burning them, as some request, they are stored at the house of school board president Beverly Wainwright Underwood.
In another prank, some of those books are put in Lula Dean's little free library, with the book covers of the tomes she considered more suitable -- books like Josh Hawley's one about manliness, a Chicken Soup volume and G-rated historical romances. None of that Anne Frank or Is That You, God? It's Me, Margaret propaganda.
Townsfolk gradually discover the books behind the covers. They all find exactly the book they need. Some are highly entertaining, as an elderly attorney finds a way to surprise her greedy children awaiting their inheritance. Some are entertaining with a serious undertone, like the beaten-down housewife who stands up to her Nazi-loving husband.
Some are poignant, as a younger brother finds a romance between two young men that he remembers his gay brother reading. The family love in their story is moving and an outcome every child deserves.
While the cake book's discovery is the catalyst, events from decades ago have a great deal to do with Lula Dean's feelings about all this. Thanks to Beverly, her high school popularity was destroyed and a girl living in a trailer began her life as a dream come true.
How the past is prelude to this town's present is foundational to the strong story that this novel brings to life. The Wainwright in Beverly's name is for the Confederate general who was a huge trafficker of enslaved humans, and whose statue stands in the town square. She would gladly see it come down.
As people begin to change their lives based on the books they discover, the town begins to change. People filled with hate don't react well. People who have been hurt sometimes find ways to heal, and sometimes only find ways to lash out.
Miller combines both historical grievances and personal hurts as the narrative grows in power. The novel doesn't lose its droll but empathetic look at characters even as events grow larger and more serious. For example, when one family is reunited, the younger generation is welcomed back home with the prospect of homemade pie. But because the baker is not a good one, the younger generation says they are glad to return but no pie; they've been punished enough.
Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books is a stirring look at how books and knowledge can open up new worlds to people, and how those people then can open up their lives.
-------------------------
The Booker Prize longlist was unveiled early this morning. At least one of the titles in this mostly American list hasn’t been published yet. And there are several books named by authors whose earlier works I’ve admired but haven’t yet read.
But I already know my favorite. Congratulations to Percival Everett for James being on the list.
It’s also good to see Tommy Orange, Rachel Kushner, Claire Messud, Richard Powers and Sarah Perry on the list.
-------------------------
The summer new releases continue to roll out, including fresh fiction. Links are to The Literate Lizard, online bookstore of Readers and Book Lovers nonfiction expert Debtorsprison, while blurbs are from the publishers.
The Goodbye Process: Stories by Mary Jones
What happens when you are forced to let go of the things you love the most? What are you left with?
In her stunning debut short story collection, The Goodbye Process, Mary Jones uses her distinctive voice to examine the painful and sometimes surreal ways we say goodbye.
Pearl by Siân Hughes
Long-listed for the Booker Prize. Heartbreaking and redeeming, Pearl is the story of a young woman in a small English village who is struggling with the disappearance of her mother, what feels like a lifetime ago.
We Burn Daylight by Bret Anthony Johnston
An epic novel of star-crossed lovers set in a doomsday cult on the Texas prairie that asks: what would you sacrifice for the person you love?
Waco, Texas 1993. People from all walks of life have arrived to follow the Lamb’s gospel—signing over savings and pensions, selling their homes and shedding marriages. They’ve come here to worship at the feet of a former landscaper turned prophet who is preparing for the End Times with a staggering cache of weapons. Jaye’s mother is one of his newest and most devout followers, though Jaye herself has suspicions about the Lamb’s methods—and his motives.
They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar
When Bonnie and Mansour meet in New York in 1968—his piercing gaze in a downtown jazz club threatening to carry her away—their connection is undeniable. Both from fractured homes, with childhoods spent crossing the Atlantic, they quickly find peace with each other. And as Mansour’s soaring Senegalese melodies continue to break new ground, keeping time with the sound of revolution and taking him and Bonnie from Paris to Rio and Switzerland, it seems as though happiness might finally be around the corner for them both.
Then Mansour goes missing.
Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu
The son of Ethiopian immigrants seeks to understand a hidden family history and uncovers a past colored by unexpected loss, addiction, and the enduring emotional pull toward home.
The Horse by Willy Vlautin
Al Ward lives on an isolated mining claim in the high desert of central Nevada fifty miles from the nearest town. A grizzled man in his sixties, he survives on canned soup, instant coffee, and memories of his ex-wife, friends and family he’s lost, and his life as a touring musician. Hampered by insomnia, bouts of anxiety, and a chronic lethargy that keeps him from moving back to town, Al finds himself teetering on the edge of madness and running out of reasons to go on—until a horse arrives on his doorstep: nameless, blind, and utterly helpless.
Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
A captivating debut following a cross country road trip that will make you believe in the goodness of people, Off the Books sheds light on the power in humanity during the most troubled of times.
Recent Dartmouth dropout Mei, in search of a new direction in life, drives a limo to make ends meet. Her grandfather convinces her to allow her customers to pay under the table, and before she knows it, she is working as a routine chauffeur for sex workers. Mei does her best to mind her own business, but her knack for discretion soon leads her on a life-changing trip from San Francisco to Syracuse with a new client.
READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE
