Nevermore: How to Hide an Empire, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, Memory Quilt

 

Nevermore: How to Hide an Empire, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, Memory Quilt

Reported by Rita

How to Hide an  Empire by Daniel Immerwahr

It tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. Immerwahr notes that in the years after World War II, the United States moved away from colonialism. Instead, it used innovations in electronics, transportation, and culture, devising a new sort of influence that did not require the control of colonies.

  It's a good read, full of fascinating history.      – DC       5 stars

 

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

When Lula Dean, trying to rid public libraries of "pornographic" books, starts her own lending library in front of her home, Lindsay, the daughter of Lula's arch nemesis, sneaks in nightly. She secretly fills it with banned books wrapped in "wholesome" dust jackets, changing the lives of those who borrow them in unexpected ways.

  This book is funny and clever. It’s definitely worth reading!      - MH      4 stars

 

The Memory Quilt by T. D. Jakes

In the first Christmas story from the best-selling author of Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, a grandmother learns 10 life lessons from the story of Jesus's birth in the Bible, inspiring her to create quilts for children at a local shelter.

It is an excellent light read.     – AH       4 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

The Best American Travel Writing 2016 by Bill Bryson

Campbell's Rambles by Patty L. Fletcher

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin

Within These Walls of Sorrow by Amanda Barratt

You Are Here by David Nichols

Eyes of Prey by John Sandford

New Books

Merlin's Tour of the Universe by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Patriot by Alexei  Navalny

Citizen by Bill Clinton

Rock Painting for Beginners by Christine Rechl

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

 

           

Reviewed by Christy

Lula Dean is out to cleanse her small Georgia town of “filth” and protect young, impressionable minds while doing so. She has ignited a campaign against questionable material in the school and public libraries, and if she gets a little much deserved attention while doing so - well, what’s wrong with that? Lula sets up her own little free library in her front yard, filled only with wholesome, Lula-approved books. But a prankster has switched out the book jackets. Instead of the Nancy Drew series or The Art of Crochet, readers are really getting Gender Queer or Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. Chaos ensues.

            I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book before that was simultaneously fun and enraging. There are some seriously heavy topics discussed in this book as well as general small-town wackiness. Kirsten Miller balances them well. It’s also a book with an “ensemble cast”, so to speak. You get to know a little bit about all the townspeople, and I love books like that. A woman finds out her husband is cheating so she leaves him and becomes a witch? Love it. Discovering Lula’s desperate need for attention and acclaim ramped up after she failed to make the high school cheerleading team? Love it. The local florist blackmailing the bank manager into giving her a loan simply by sending his mistress a bouquet of flowers? Love it. Ok, I’m realizing maybe I just love small-town gossip. But it’s so fun!

While I really enjoyed this book, it does have an After School Special quality to it. The Good Guys have long, righteous rants that are scathing but still eloquent. The Bad Guys get their comeuppance (or even more surprising - see the error of their ways). It’s all tied up very neatly with a bow at the end. And you know what? I love that, too. I get the sense that Miller was not trying to write a totally realistic depiction of these matters. Instead, she was more interested in the idealistic version – a version of life where (most) people react with love and understanding instead of hatred and fear. Sometimes that's just the kind of story you want to read.