Tag Archives: reader

Book Club: Hunger by Roxane Gay Pt. 3

October 21, 2019Books, Brainpoweressays, extended reading, made me think, memoir, reader, Roxane Gay, sexual assault, women's stories, writerBeth Berger

As a preteen, Roxane Gay experienced horrific sexual trauma perpetrated by a group of neighborhood boys. Hunger is a memoir about how her body was used and exploited and what has happened to her body since. Her writing is candid and open about the reasons she’s gained weight as a result of her trauma. She also shares what it’s like to navigate a world that cares little for folks they deem overweight.

This book has so much to say about sexual assault, trauma, how society treats larger bodies, and believing women’s stories. Here is some expanded material on these themes…

Be Bigger, Fight Harder: Roxane Gay on a Lifetime of Hunger

Roxane Gay’s Hunger Complicates Narratives About Being Fat

Smile Sweetly, Don’t Shout

14 Women Open Up About Size Prejudice

Believing Women Means Believing Their Pain

The Sickening Consequence of Doubting and Dismissing Women and Girls

Finally, one of my favorite things about Roxane Gay is that she’s a prolific reader! So, if you want even MORE extended reading after Hunger, there’s no better person to turn to than the woman herself…

HERE she breaks down her 2018 in Reading and Writing. So there’s a TON of material to pore through to find your next great read. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for Part 4!

Books to Read This Fall

September 29, 2016Books, Brainpowerbook recommendations, bookworm, embedded journalism, Fall reading list, historical fiction, Jennifer Cody Epstein, Jhumpa Lahiri, Katherine Boo, memoir, mystery, non-fiction, novel, read it, reader, Tatiana de Rosnay, Tina FeyBeth Berger

Mourning those Summer months? Me either! I’m too excited about wrapping up, burrito-style, in a fluffy blanket with a good book and something pumpkin spice close at hand.

But for real, what better reason than a temperature turn-down to share a few favorite books I think would be perfect for your Fall reading list.

So, in the midst of all your other autumnal activities (Think: swapping out all your flip flops for riding boots and Snapchatting from the pumpkin patch.) — here are 5 books to read this Fall…

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Tina Fey’s book is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on SNL, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation.

There’s always something to be learned from the life experiences of fascinating (and funny!) people. This book provides a peek into the worlds of improv, SNL, and 30 Rock–all with Fey’s famous humor.

The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein

Down the muddy waters of the Yangtze River, through the raucous glamour of prewar Shanghai and the bohemian splendor of 1920s Paris, and back to a China teetering on the brink of revolution: this is the epic story of Pan Yuliang, one of the most talented—and provocative—Chinese artists of the twentieth century.

Historical fiction so researched and rich in details that you will find yourself completely immersed in another time and place.

A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay

Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island , where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories.

A French family, a fascinating story, and an unraveling secret at the heart of it all that will keep you reading well past your bedtime. Beware: you may finish de Rosnay’s mystery novel in one go!

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. Son, Gogol Ganguli, knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs.’

Rather than follow a plot, this book follows a life. The resulting prose is breathtaking in it’s beauty.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

In this book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in a makeshift settlement near the Mumbai airport. Based on years of uncompromising reporting, it carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget.

True to the style of “embedded journalism,” Boo embedded herself in a slum so readers could see, hear, and understand the residents and their challenges.

What are YOU reading this Fall? Share below!

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Books to read if you’re in search of a history lesson…

August 2, 2016Books, BrainpowerAmerica's stories, Ann Fessler, Bill Bryson, book recommendations, bookworm, Erik Larson, history, Isabel Wilkerson, read it, reader, Rebecca SklootBeth Berger

In the final few weeks of wedding planning, my normally voracious appetite for reading books came to a squeaking halt. I packed The Devil in the White City with every good intention of diving in. Needless to say, it sat untouched in my backpack until Chet and I landed safely back in Miami. But once the post-wedding exhaustion wore off, and routines re-appeared, I couldn’t put this bad boy down. If you’re in search of a fascinating history lesson (along with a tale of a devious serial killer), I couldn’t recommend this book enough. And here are 4 other books that serve up a dose of history as well…

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

Erik Larson intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

A real peak into what life was like in America broadly, and the infamous “White City” specifically, as the 19th century drew to a fitful close.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. This phenomenal bestseller tells the story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine.

Maps the grandiose history of modern science as well as the intimate history of an unknowing contribution.

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler

In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade.

Examines the shame of getting pregnant in post-WW II USA, the lack of options and education women faced, and the agencies who profited from the results.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
The Appalachian Trail trail covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. Bill Bryson introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the hardy folks he meets along the way–and a couple of bears.

Hiking provides the backdrop to a sincere discourse on the social condition of America, local history, and environmental science.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.

Compiling over 10 years of research in more than 600 pages, this book takes on the biggest under-reported story of the twentieth century utilizing 1,200 interviews conducted personally by Wilkerson.

What books would YOU recommend for us history-lovin’ folk? Share below!

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