Front Porch Book Club

• The Giver

  It’s December, so we are continuing on with our tradition of doing a kid’s book, but this year, the kids are a little older. This is more like a young adult novel. Our book is THE GIVER written by Lois Lowry. It became an instant classic when it was published in 1993. That year, Lowry won the Newbery Award which is given by the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. She also had previously won a Newberry Award in 1990 for her book NUMBER THE STARS.In THE GIVER is set in a dystopian future. It is a sort of speculative work of fiction in which 12-year-old Jonas is selected to become the apprentice of the Giver. The Giver is the protector of memories that have been suppressed in this tightly-controlled community where there are no wrong choices and no competition or conflict and even no war, no music, few feelings, no color. It doesn’t sound like much of a life but this is what they know. Linny says she thinks a message in this book is that knowledge is power that brings us choices and also consequences. When we take away knowledge, such as is found in books, society is weakened. Linny makes an impassioned case for no book banning. Nancy remarks that THE GIVER is a book that has been banned in US libraries. Ironic, right?Nancy said one of the really wrenching part of the books for her was when Jonas asks his mother and father if they love him, they ask him to be more specific, that the word “love” is meaningless. Linny says this is a coming-of-age book that tracks the developmental changes that children/teens face.Linny and Nancy had different ideas of what happens in THE GIVER's ambiguous ending. Then Nancy shares Lois Lowry's examples of how some of her readers have interpreted the ending over the years. Finally, Nancy provides a thumbnail sketch of the remaining three books in the series and this gives Linny and Nancy an idea of what happens with Jonas and Gabe.Linny said she enjoyed THE GIVER and liked that it was an easy read. She feels it is relevant today. Nancy thinks most teenagers would relate to this book and encourages everyone who has a teenager in their life to purchase this book for them.

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• Holiday Catch-up

  This is a short, catch-up episode of the Front Porch Book Club. Nancy admits that she ran out of time finding a guest for Crazy Rich Asians. Kevin Kwan was unavailable (!) as were a number of the experts Nancy contacted. Instead, we catch-up on what is going on in our lives. Linny tells Nancy all about her latest paid extra gig, a feature film, based on a documentary about a Washington, D.C. man who begins a boxing club for youth in his neighborhood. Nancy’s recent win was a partner who said she was fun to play tennis with and cooking a successful French progressive dinner to benefit her performing arts center, the Lied. Linny and Nancy talk about gratitude, in this time of Thanksgiving. Nancy is grateful for Linny and loves their time on the podcast, as is Linny. She also mentions family, friends, faith, country, and the Hallmark Channel! Linny saw Nuremberg the afternoon of our recording. She highly recommends it. She thought the extras did a very good job 10/10 stars. Russel Crowe gets a 9/10. Linny muses that the Academy Awards should have a category for the best extras. Linny’s son will not be home for Christmas, so she is deciding she will be grateful for Christmas but she is looking for ideas that will create a happy Christmas without her child. If you have ideas, let us know!!

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• Crazy Rich Asians

  This month we’re talking about CRAZY RICH ASIANS by Kevin Kwan. This book was published in 2013. This is basically a romantic comedy. In fact, a movie of the same name was released in 2018 based on this book. CRAZY RICH ASIANS is the first book in a trilogy, with the other books being CHINA RICH GIRLFRIEND and RICH PEOPLE PROBLEMS.Rachel is an economics prof and her boyfriend Nick is a history prof at NYU. When Nick invites Rachel to accompany him on a trip back to Singapore where he’ll be best man at his friend’s wedding, Rachel finds out Nick is not just wealthy, but crazy rich. So rich, other rich people haven’t heard about him. Rachel is faced with culture shock, jealousy, prejudice, suspicion, and betrayal as she tries to figure out whether Nick is still the man of her dreams.Linda says this is definitely a beach read type of book. We get love but we also get a lot of glitz and glamour about how the one-percenters live. In the opening chapter, Nick’s mom impulsively buys a hotel when the staff don’t welcome them.Nancy asks Linny, since she loves a good romance, whether this is the kind of book she might typically pick up. Linny says, no, because she typically reads boys meets girl and the conclusion is that they get together. In CRAZY RICH ASIANS, Rachel and Nick are already a serious couple when we meet them. Linny said it was an enjoyable book for her to read, especially given we were in the middle of the Biafran War last month!Linny also tells Nancy about her latest acting gig outside Washington, DC and why she understands the motivation behind arranged marriages.

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• Taiwo Bello

  Today we interview Dr. Taiwo Bello about the historical and contemporary contexts of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's HALF OF A YELLOW SUN. Nancy loves this interview because neither she nor Linda knew anything about the Biafran War. Linny likes that we then talk about lessons we can learn so we don’t repeat those mistakes.Taiwo Bello is an Assistant Professor of African History and an affiliate faculty member of the Africana Studies Centre at Oklahoma State University. His research and teaching interests encompass gender and women's history, war and society, violence and conflict studies, the history of crime, law, and punishment, Black and diaspora studies, genocide, human rights, and humanitarian histories, as well as global and transnational history. He serves on the Editorial Review Boards of the AFRICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION journal, HISTORY IN AFRICA, published by Cambridge University Press; and the CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN STUDIES journal, the CANADIAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES, published by Taylor & Francis. He is a founding editor of SCHOLAR’S CORNER, a subsidiary blog of the journal, GENOCIDE STUDIES INTERNATIONAL, published by University of Toronto Press. He is revising his second book entitled SOLDIERS ON RAMPAGE: GENDER, BLOCKADE, VIOLENCE AND RESISTANCE IN BIAFRA DURING THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR, 1967-1970. The book examines the impact of the wartime violence between the Nigerian and Biafran soldiers on Biafran women and their families, and the women's responses to wartime atrocities. The book demonstrates how food was central to the constant violence unleashed on women in the heartland of Biafra. His forthcoming book, INVENTING ORDER: CRIME, LAW, AND PUNISHMENT IN NIGERIA AND THE DIASPORA, adopts a multidisciplinary approach to examine the evolution of crimes (armed robbery, immigration fraud, financial fraud, drug trafficking) in Nigeria and their local and global implications.

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• Half of a Yellow Sun

  This month we’re reading HALF OF A YELLOW SUN by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Listeners might remember Episode 88 when our guest to discuss Chinua Achebe’s THINGS FALL ABOUT, Dr. Thomas Jay Lynn, mentioned one of his favorite books about Africa was HALF OF A YELLOW SUN. We made a note of that, and here we are! Chinua Achebe’s THINGS FALL apart was one of Linny’s favorite books we’ve read. So, she was interested to read this book that takes place 80 years later. Nigeria is breaking apart and the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria declare themselves a separate country called Biafra. This novel is set in the late 1960s immediately before and during the Biafran war and we meet a lot of characters, but for Nancy, it is really the story about the private lives of 20-something twin sisters, Olanna and Kainene and the choice they make turning this turbulent time. They come from an affluent and wealthy family and they’ve been educated in England. Olanna is the “beauty” and she is a people pleaser, and lacks confidence. Kainene is not beautiful and is blunt and is successfully assuming leadership of her father’s businesses. Neither Linny nor Nancy knew much about Biafra before reading this book. Linny said she knows there has always been lots of political unrest in Africa. Nancy talks about why she thinks that is a result of colonialization.The war has a huge impact on the arc of all the characters. Olanna, because Odenigbo disintegrates, must step up and help her family survive and also becomes stronger and more confident. Kainene is confident and competent and becomes more so, eventually operating a refugee camp, becoming more a humanitarian.Nancy thinks Ugwu’s journey from innocence to moral disintegration is a commentary on war. What does war do to people? We kill each other and perpetrate other inhumanities. Linny says by the end of the war, the characters have to figure out how to pick up the pieces of who they are and try to move on.

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