Hello,
Our Book Club has begun discussing Shugri Said Salh's riveting memoir The Last Nomad, about the author's experiences living in the Somali desert as a child, before becoming a refugee in Kenya and Canada, and finally emigrating to the United States. If you've read the book or are in the process of doing so, make sure to drop in and share your thoughts.
In Editor's Choice this week, we review Anthony Marra's Mercury Pictures Presents, a work of historical fiction about the tumultuous effects of World War II and the Hays Code on Hollywood cinema.
We're also highlighting a blog post featuring our favorite recent books by Native authors as well as previews of new releases for September. Plus, a new Wordplay!
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With best wishes,
Davina Morgan-Witts
BookBrowse Publisher
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The Last Nomad
by Shugri Said Salh
From the Jacket:
When Shugri Said Salh was six years old, she was sent to live with her nomadic grandmother in the desert, away from the city of Galkayo.
In time, Shugri would return to live with her siblings in the city. Ultimately, the family was forced to flee as refugees in the face of a civil war - first to Kenya, then to Canada, and finally to the United States. There, Shugri would again find herself a nomad in a strange land, learning to navigate everything from escalators to homeless shelters to, ultimately, marriage, parenthood, and nursing school. And she would approach each step of her journey with resilience and a liveliness that is all her own.
From the Discussion:
"For me, this was a 48-hour book, I couldn’t put it down. What do I know about Somalia? Almost nothing, but now I know more. The author writes with heart, empathy and knowledge, weaving her upbringing into an excellent story. The book was uplifting, and I so wanted to talk to someone about it when I finished it. Now, one of my book clubs will be reading it in September." - janhubbard
"I feel like Shugri Said Salh has lived a million lifetimes! It seemed sad to me that each of those lifetimes was marked by trauma-inducing events. Yet, I don’t recall ever reading a complaint or self-pitying sentence in Sahl’s story. She met each diverging path in her life head-on, with a positive and courageous attitude. I sometimes struggle knowing what metro line I need to take, and the author made walking across the desert, and then crossing several borders look like a walk in the park. Her positive attitude and “do the next thing in front of you” spirit serve as an inspiration." - acstrine
"The book is interesting. I knew next to nothing about Somalia - other than what we see on the news - or about nomads, and Salh is a natural storyteller, so I was intrigued from the beginning." - carolt
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Mercury Pictures Presents
by Anthony Marra
Review and article by Kim Kovacs
Anthony Marra's novel Mercury Pictures Presents opens in the office of Artie Feldman, the co-founder and part owner of the eponymous Hollywood studio. It's the summer of 1941, and Feldman is discussing two looming crises with his second-in-command, Maria Lagana, a 28-year-old Italian émigré. The first problem involves getting their latest picture past the Motion Picture Production Code Administration - the "puritans and spoilsports who upheld the moral standards of the movies" — helmed by Joseph Breen, "a bluenose so distraughtfully Catholic he'd once bowdlerized a Jesus biopic for sticking too close to the source material; apparently, a foreign-born Jew advocating for redistribution smacked of Bolshevism." The second predicament is that Artie has been "invited" to testify before the United States Senate's America First committee about allegations the movie industry is encouraging the country's entry into World War II — something Artie believes will be a "show trial."
Marra's prose is lush and evocative, eliciting a whole host of emotions from his readers; it's by turns laugh-out-loud funny, joyous, poignant and heartbreaking — but always gloriously descriptive ("The pianist lung[ed] through Schoenberg with the violent elegance of a cat stalking a butterfly across the keyboard"). ... continued
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Beyond the Book: The Motion Picture Production Code
Hollywood executives created the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) with Will Hays as its president. The organization's purpose was to enforce a standard of "moral decency," and they set about creating a code that would outline what could and couldn't be shown in movie theaters. The resulting set of values, written by Martin Quigley (an editor and publisher) and Jesuit Reverend Daniel Lord, was the Production Code (also known as the Hays Code), adopted by the MPPDA in 1930. Although adhering to the code wasn't mandatory, non-code pictures were subject to a $25,000 fee (nearly half a million dollars in today's economy). The Production Code was consequently applied to nearly all American-made films from 1934 to the mid-1950s.
- It prohibited the production of any picture that would "lower the moral standards of those who see it," declaring that "the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin."
- It insisted on the presentation of "correct standards of life."
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It stated that "law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation." ... continued
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Recent Books by Native Authors We Recommend |
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While still underrepresented, Native authors — including many emerging writers — have been behind an exciting variety of interesting literature from both major and small publishers as of late. As we at BookBrowse have been working to consciously build up the books featured in our Native and Indigenous category, we would like to take the opportunity to share with you some of our recently reviewed books by Native writers.
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Looking for your next favorite author or book club selection? It can be hard to sort through all of the books that are published each month, so we do the hard work for you.
BookBrowse previews only the best upcoming releases to keep you updated and informed.
Members can see all upcoming releases for next month (currently 70+ books for September). Non-members can see the current and all previous months' previews.
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Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win the book of your choice or a 6-month membership to BookBrowse!
"I I A I Wind T B N G"
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The answer to the last Wordplay: I Wishes W H B W R
"If wishes were horses beggars would ride"
Meaning: It is not enough to wish for something, you have to take action to make it happen.
The oldest existing record of this expression is in Proverbs in Scots, collected and arranged by James Carmichaell: And wishes were horses pure (poor) men wald ryde. At this time, "and" could be used as a conditional, essentially meaning "provided that." The date of the collection is unclear but Carmichaell died in 1628 and it is believed it was published during his lifetime.
Other variations can be found such as "if wishes were thrushes beggars would eat," in Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine published by William Camden. ... continued
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With so many new books published every month, it's difficult to find the standouts, the ones which are really worth your time. This is why hundreds of thousands of readers rely on BookBrowse to do the hard work of sifting though the multitude of titles to find the most promising new books, with a focus on books that entertain, engage and enlighten. |
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BookBrowse Highlights is one of our four free newsletters. We also offer Publishing This Week every Sunday, and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly.
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