Arboretum Library: Reading the Western Landscape Community Book Discussion 2021

“Like most of the people she interviewed for [the book, the author] first visited Tonopah, Nevada, by chance, just passing through on her way to somewhere else…[The book] is a long piece of investigative journalism and a short, intimate work of nonfiction. Day’s writing is observant and respectful, rooted in her personal experience. She moves, sometimes uncomfortably, in the proximity of strangers, revealing her thoughts in the moment and her reflections afterward. She shares doubts about her professionalism, analyzes her prejudices, confesses her fears. She never denies her assumptions, but she also doesn’t trust them. Her book is propelled by curiosity — about herself as much as others." — Olivia Durif, Los Angeles Review of Books

Photography by Hannah Klein. Maximum Sunlight is a timely and incisive portrait of the people, communities, anxieties, and contradictions that make up what many think of--now, more than ever, after the 2016 election--as rural white America. Told through a series of candid interviews and sharp observations of town life in tiny Tonopah, Nevada, journalist Meagan Day and photographer Hannah Klein create a book that is both traditional reportage and searching portrait of this eccentric and yet archetypal desert town. Day, a journalist and editor, writes with Didion's penetrating keenness for detail and Stegner's sense of the beauty and spareness of life in the west--illustrated throughout by Klein's striking color photo-spreads of desolate vistas, dilapidated houses, and cluttered shelves of clown figurines and neo-Nazi paraphernalia. The unexpected brightness and shocking depth of color in the photographs juxtapose the harshness and expanse of Tonopah's exteriors with the sharpness and peculiarity of its interiors. Tonopah is a town of former skinheads, drunks, pawnshop owners, drifters, lifers, day laborers, military contractors, and 4H moms. It is a town of casino bars, a highly classified military base, UFO sightings, ghosts of dead miners, and a massive solar energy plant. It's most notable attraction is a clown-themed motel next to a 19th century miners' graveyard. Written in the years leading up to the 2016 election, the book emerges as a vital and nuanced portrait of white identity and experience in an era in which rural isolationism and white nationalism have been thrust into the national spotlight.

Here are the questions discussed on Wednesday, January 27, 2021:
• Icebreaker: Name a town/city/landscape that you have passed through or briefly visited that you wanted to revisit and why? Did you revisit and did it change your impression and why?
• What do you think of the author’s style/approach to the story and why?
• What is your favorite place in the town and why?
• Who is your favorite character in the book and why?
• What do the photographs do for the story/book and why?
• How did the interview with the other journalist affect the book/story?
• What is the great strength of the book? Flaw? Why?
• What do you think about the “story” of Jeff and its arc through the book? Why?
• If you could change one aspect about this book as a pretend editor what would it be?
• Any ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“.The editors of [the book] see deeper truths. Greater El Monte, it turns out, is the setting for a story as rich and tangled as the flora that still covers the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, a patch of parkland that lies, relatively unspoiled, in the watershed the El Montes call home. East of East is a crowd-sourced history of the community, with essays by 31 contributors, many of whom draw from the archive of oral histories, photographs, and documents assembled by the activists of the South El Monte Arts Posse.” — Héctor Tobar, Los Angeles Review of Books

East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte, is an edited collection of thirty-one essays that trace the experience of a California community over three centuries, from eighteenth-century Spanish colonization to twenty-first century globalization. Employing traditional historical scholarship, oral history, creative nonfiction and original art, the book provides a radical new history of El Monte and South El Monte, showing how interdisciplinary and community-engaged scholarship can break new ground in public history. East of East tells stories that have been excluded from dominant historical narratives--stories that long survived only in the popular memory of residents, as well as narratives that have been almost completely buried and all but forgotten. Its cast of characters includes white vigilantes, Mexican anarchists, Japanese farmers, labor organizers, civil rights pioneers, and punk rockers, as well as the ordinary and unnamed youth who generated a vibrant local culture at dances and dive bars.     

Questions discussed on Wednesday, February 24, 2021:
• Icebreaker: Tell a brief story about a place you are from or currently live that can give us a little flavor of the place.
• What does the editors’ approach do for this history of this place?
o Do you think this technique is applicable to other towns or is El Monte so different it wouldn’t work elsewhere? Why? Why not?
• What is your favorite place in greater El Monte and why?
• Who is/are your favorite character/s in the book and why?
• What is the greatest strength of the book? Flaw? Why?
• Does this book change how you think about history? Why? Why not?
• Does this book change how you think about the El Monte area? Why? Why not?
• If you could change one aspect about this book as a pretend editor what would it be?
• Any ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“In a straightforward and engaging manner...Wallis retells the traditional Athabascan legend of a nomadic tribe, caught in a brutally harsh winter, that can no longer care for a pair of old women who have become somewhat of a burden to them. Faced with imminent starvation, the tribe decides to leave the women,...behind. Once the old women have recovered from the initial shock of being abandoned, they begin an unexpectedly spirited battle against the cruelest of elements...Rediscovering the skills they learned in their youth, the women defy their death sentence...The conclusion affirms the importance of community, respect, and mutual contribution.” Vanessa Holford , VCU Scholar Compass

An Athabascan Indian of Alaska's Yukon flats, author Velma Wallis retells a classic legend wherein two old women are abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine and must survive on their own or die trying. A wise and simple story now in paperback. Winner of a 1993 Western State Book Award.

Questions discussed on Wednesday, March 31, 2021:
• Icebreaker: Tell about a time you overcame a challenge that you didn’t originally think you could.
• What surprised you about this book? Why?
• What did you think about the relationship between the two women?
• Who is the audience for this book? Why?
• What is the greatest strength of the book? Flaw? Why?
• What did you think about the portrayal of the chief?
• Does this book change how you think about history? Why? Why not?
• Does this book change how you think storytelling? Why? Why not?
• What was the point of this story?
• Any ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“Harington dips into allegory, and almost dispenses with any human characters, by describing the run-down later days of his town. The animals who inherit its ruins, and worship Man, tell the present-day tale... Their foibles and personal epiphanies bring to the reader a sense of the timeless nature of love, longing, and passion. This sensitive and unconventional story was dedicated to Harington's grown daughters and stepson, and became a bedtime tale that he never told — nor that anyone would expect. And yet, like the best children's tales, it can disturb the sensibilities of adults much more. Doom, for the roaches, is rung out in a deep bell that's almost beyond their power of hearing — as other bells of truth, about the transience of love, may be for human readers..”— Steve Reed, Monadnock Review

"Harington turns to the insect world of his Ozark town of Stay More. The cockroach community perambulate on gitalongs and apprehend their environment through sniffwhips. Maidens dance to the scents and sounds of the bewitching Purple Symphony of early evening. The faithful attend prayer meetings - the exalted Lord is Man, of the Holy House, (so called because when He's drunk He shoots holes in the walls with His guns). Meet our hero Squire Sam Ingledew, an intrepid fighter, philosopher, and leader, afflicted by deafness - and by acute bashfulness in the presence of females. Meet the lovely Letitia Dingletoon, who lives with her Maw, Paw, and forty-two siblings in an old log, and is in a fair way of losing her virginity. The cast of characters is rounded out with a few mammals, and mythological critters too. There is cliff-hanging action, there is merrymaking. So come visit, and stay more in this fanciful irreverent underworld."--BOOK JACKET.

Questions discusses, Wednesday, April 28, 2021.

• Icebreaker: Tell us about another book you have read that you thought was funny and why.
• Did you think the book was funny? Why/Why not?
• What surprised you about this book? Why?
• What is the author trying to achieve with this book? What was/were the point(s) of this story?
• How did the author do with his world building? Did the parts reasonably fit together? Why/Why not?
• How did the words represent the chiming in the clock? I got the school bell ones, but not the clock ones? Anyone have an explanation?
• What did you think of the ending? Who wrote the poem? How did the cockroach get pinned?
• What is the greatest strength of the book? Flaw? Why?
• What did you learn about the place? Did it give you a feeling for a landscape? Why?/Why not? Plausible?
• Any other ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“Drummond’s book is about the recent rebirth of ... a newspaper written, edited, and published by inmates at San Quentin prison. This newspaper delivered something the world has for too long suppressed: humanizing stories of prisoners, told by prisoners...News has great influence over public opinion; who creates the news affects where that influence takes us as a society. ...For anyone concerned with the prison reform movement, it is critical to engage with the media portrayals of inmates. And for that, Prison Truth is an essential book.”— Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, Los Angeles Review of Books

San Quentin State Prison, California's oldest prison and the nation's largest, is notorious for once holding America's most dangerous prisoners. But in 2008, the Bastille-by-the-Bay became a beacon for rehabilitation through the prisoner-run newspaper the San Quentin News. Prison Truth tells the story of how prisoners, many serving life terms, transformed the prison climate from what Johnny Cash called a living hell to an environment that fostered positive change in inmates' lives. Award-winning journalist William J. Drummond takes us behind bars, introducing us to Arnulfo García, the visionary prisoner who led the revival of the newspaper. Drummond describes how the San Quentin News, after a twenty-year shutdown, was recalled to life under an enlightened warden and the small group of local retired newspaper veterans serving as advisers, which Drummond joined in 2012. Sharing how officials cautiously and often unwittingly allowed the newspaper to tell the stories of the incarcerated, Prison Truth illustrates the power of prison media to humanize the experiences of people inside penitentiary walls and to forge alliances with social justice networks seeking reform.

Here are the questions discussed, Wednesday, May 26, 2021:
• Icebreaker: Tell about an incident when journalism changed your life, even in the smallest way.
• Did you get to know the main players in the San Quentin News office? Why/Why not?
• What did you think about the writing style? What were its benefits? Its weaknesses?
• What surprised you about this book? Why?
• What is a fact you learned in this story? What did you learn about prison?
• What is the author trying to achieve with this book? Was it achieved for you? What was/were the point(s) of this story?
• What single image from the book stays with you the most?
• Would this book encourage you to listen to "EarHustle" and/or read the San Quentin News? Why/Why not? Do you think it will change the way you vote about incarceration? Why/ Why not? How do you think it achieved whichever your conclusion was?
• What is the greatest strength of the book? Flaw? Why?
• Any other ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“...She was: attentive to the present, dominated by the conscience of her deeds and of the course that history takes, incapable of refusing the claims of those who suffer from hunger or thirst for justice and love... It would almost be impossible to distinguish between art and life or to say if there is more authentic poetry in her verses than in her acts. Everything she did, said, and wrote was in some way saturated with that poetic air, revealing the marvelous, if somewhat delicate balance between the ‘is’ and the ‘should be.'” — Margot Arce de Vazquez, Gabriela Mistral: The Poet and Her Work

"The work of the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in literature is translated with fine sensitivity. Each poem reflects the contained and tragically luminous spirit of this unique Chilean woman."-- Publishers Weekly

On June 23, 2021, on Zoom, and June 30, 2021, in person, we read our favorite poems to each other.

“This slim, potent novel takes place in [the 1950s in Perth,] Australia, in a convalescent home for children with polio. ... Poetic intensity suffuses the novel, ... verandas flanked by peppermint trees; ‘a heat wave so intense it was like a time of war.’... [T]he novel, resisting easy sentimentality, presents polio rehabilitation as a metaphor for postwar recovery. Frank and Elsa’s deepening relationship suggests the possibility of forming a new society & the unsettling consequences of that process.”--Briefly Noted, The New Yorker

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year: During WWII, a Jewish boy copes with a new homeland, a polio diagnosis--and falling in love for the first time. Frank Gold's family, Hungarian Jews, have fled the perils of World War II for the safety of Australia, but not long after their arrival, thirteen-year-old Frank is diagnosed with polio. He is sent to a sprawling children's hospital called the Golden Age, where he meets Elsa, the most beautiful girl he has ever seen, a girl who radiates pure light. Soon, Frank and Elsa fall in love, fueling one another's rehabilitation, facing the perils of illness and adolescence hand in hand--and scandalizing the prudish staff of the Golden Age. Their parents, meanwhile, are coping with their own challenges. Elsa's mother must reconcile her hopes and dreams with the reality of her daughter's sickness. Frank's parents are isolated newcomers in a country they do not love and that does not seem to love them back. Frank's mother, a renowned pianist in Hungary, refuses to allow the western deserts of Australia to become her home. But her husband slowly begins to free himself from the past and integrate into a new society. A winner of multiple literary awards in Australia, The Golden Age is a deeply moving novel about hardship and resilience that "graciously captures young love in a quiet and beautifully sculpted story that is easily devoured in one sitting"-- Library Journal.

"Poetic intensity suffuses the novel. " --The New Yorker

"Beautiful."--The Dallas Morning News

"The Golden Age is pretty much perfect."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Questions discussed Wednesday, July 28, 2021, 7:00 p.m. in person at the Arboretum and Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 12:00 p.m. on Zoom
• Icebreaker: What is a story of WWII that carries through your family?
• What did you think of the ending?
o Did it fit into the rest of the book? Why? Why not?
o Did it change what you thought of the book?
• What did you think of the poetry aspect of the book? Why did we never experience his poems?
• Did anything surprise you about the book? Why?
• What did you think about the way the author organized the novel?
• Did you learn anything new about WWII? What?
• What is the author trying to tell us? Generally what was the book about for you?
• Could you imagine the landscape in Perth? Are there aspects that remind you of Southern California? What?
• What single image from the book stays with you the most?
• Who is your favorite character? Why?
• What is the greatest strength of the book? Flaw? Why?
• Any other ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“[The book] is special because [the authors] infuse the searing brutality of casual racism with humor that’s appropriately deprecating & lighthearted. They have delightful banter & include much-needed asides about their fascinating upbringing as Black middle class nerds in Omaha. [It] feels like true kinship for Black readers. They will feel shaken to the core at the number of stories they have in common, but [they] offer ...the comfort of talking to a friend who also understands our frustrations & feelings."—Bri Little, South Seattle Emerald

*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND INDIE NEXT PICK* Writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin writes with her sister Lacey Lamar with humor and heart to share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism. Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal." But Amber's sister Lacey? She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey. From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think "I can say whatever I want to this woman." And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.

These are the questions discussed:
August 18, 2021, & August 25, 2021.

• Icebreaker: Tell a story as Lacey does when someone was racist to you or you realized what you said was racist and whether/how you have grown from these experiences or any other relevant tale.
• Which of Lacey’s or Amber’s stories resonate the most for you? Why?
• Did anything surprise you about the book? Why?
• Were you also surprised by the time period of the stories in this book? Why? Why not?
• How did the organization and style of the book work for you?
• Did you learn anything new about racism? What?
• What did you think Omaha had to do with this book? Are there similar stories from your neighborhood?
• What single image from the book stays with you the most? Why?
• Who is your favorite character? Why?
• What is the greatest strength of the book? Why?
• Any other ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

A sumptuous new edition of the great American novel. "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway once declared. First published in 1885, the book has delighted millions of readers, while simultaneously riling contemporary sensibilities, and is still banned in many schools and libraries. Now, Michael Patrick Hearn, author of the best-selling The Annotated Wizard of Oz, thoroughly reexamines the 116-year heritage of that archetypal American boy, Huck Finn, and follows his adventures along every bend of the mighty Mississippi River. Hearn's copious annotations draw on primary sources including the original manuscript, Twain's revisions and letters, and period accounts. Reproducing the original E. W. Kemble illustrations from the first edition, as well as countless archival photographs and drawings, some of them previously unpublished, The Annotated Huckleberry Finn is a book no family's library can do without; it may well prove to be the classic edition of the great American novel. 274 illustrations, two-color throughout.

Questions for chapters 1-22
• Icebreaker: Which version of the book did you read? What story can you tell about other times you read the book? Or why you never read the book until now?
• What is your favorite part of the book so far? Why?
• Did anything surprise you about the book? Why?
• What disappointed you about the book? Why?
• Did you learn anything new about racism at the time the book is set in? What?
• So far, what do you think Mark Twain is trying to tell about racism? Have the annotations helped you figure that out? Why? Why not?
• Is there a particular landscape image that was particularly poignant or evocative?
• Why do you think this book is famous and considered modern?
• How helpful were the annotations? What is an example of what the annotations did for your reading of the book? Did they aid in your understanding of the book? Why? Why not?
• Who is your favorite character? Why?
• Any other ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

This is the first edition of Huckleberry Finn ever to be based on Mark Twain's entire original manuscript--including its first 663 pages, which had been lost for more than a hundred years when they were discovered in 1990 in a Los Angeles attic. The text of the Mark Twain Library edition (first published in 1985) has been re-edited using this manuscript, restoring thousands of details of wording, spelling, and punctuation that had been corrupted by Mark Twain's typist, typesetters, and proofreaders. The revised Mark Twain Library Huckleberry Finn is sure to become the standard edition for all students and readers of Mark Twain. The authoritative new edition of this beloved work includes all of the 174 first-edition illustrations by Edward Windsor Kemble, which the author called "rattling good." It also contains a new gathering of manuscript pages, photographically reproduced, and an appendix of passages from the manuscript, including the long-lost "ghost story," which illustrate how extensively Mark Twain revised his work. The editors have also revised and updated their explanatory notes, the maps of the Mississippi River valley, and the glossary of slang and dialect words. The story of Huck and his companion Jim, a runaway slave, as they travel down the Mississippi to escape from slavery and "sivilization" has been delighting readers around the world since Twain first published it in 1885. Simply put, it is a masterpiece: revolutionary in its narrative method, surpassingly funny, and at the same time deeply perceptive about human nature. No other American novel of the nineteenth century still commands so vast an audience, and certainly no other retains the capacity to stir controversy with its sharp satire on American racism. A Responsible Critical Text To produce this authoritative critical text, the editors studied all aspects of Mark Twain's manuscript, working notes, proof sheets, and letters. To judge the authority of every variant, they created a unique electronic database that made it possible to analyze--by speaker and date of composition--every word in the manuscript and first edition. An Inside View of How Mark Twain Wrote Huckleberry Finn The new appendixes of "Three Passages" and "Manuscript Facsimiles" will give teachers and students as well as the general reader a close-up view of Mark Twain's writing process. They can follow the evolution of three key passages, as the author searched for the right word, the truest dialect, and the most telling description.

Part 2, Chapters 23 to the end discussed Wednesday, October 27, 2021.
Icebreaker: What river(s) do you love and why?
• Did the book go off the rails after the poetic raft scene and the arrival of the king and the duke? Why? Why not?
• Did the instantaneous resolution of Jim already being free work for you? Why? Why not?
• What did you think about Tom Sawyer? Why?
• What makes this a boys’ adventure book? Why? What doesn’t? Why?
• Does Mark Twain succeed in getting us to believe the enslaved people should be free and considered human as Mark Twain himself? Why? Why not?
• What do you think of Hearns note on page 421 about Julius Lester’s view of Mark Twain’s portrayal of Jim?
• What landscape image rises to the surface in this part of the book? What did you think of the portrayal of Aunt Sally’s farm?
• Did you need the annotations more or less for this part of the book? Why? Why not?
• What is your favorite part of the book from chapters 23-44? Why?
• Is your favorite character from last month still your favorite character? Why?
• Any other ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“[The book] is a social history of Chinese American women in San Francisco during the first half of the twentieth century. [She]... has combined oral histories, ... autobiographies, analysis of census data, & archival research ... into elegant prose & an impressive collection of photographs… [It] is a vivid & textured portrait of immigrant & American-born women shaping & reshaping their gender roles amid the social changes taking place in Chinatown, the United States, & China. ...Yung maintains a high level of respect for her subjects & celebrates all their achievements ... [&] believes that the experience of women of color must be approached by "integrating race, gender, & class as equally important categories of historical analysis". —Mae M. Ngai, H-Ethnic

The crippling custom of footbinding is the thematic touchstone for Judy Yung's engrossing study of Chinese American women during the first half of the twentieth century. Using this symbol of subjugation to examine social change in the lives of these women, she shows the stages of "unbinding" that occurred in the decades between the turn of the century and the end of World War II. The setting for this captivating history is San Francisco, which had the largest Chinese population in the United States. Yung, a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco, uses an impressive range of sources to tell her story. Oral history interviews, previously unknown autobiographies, both English- and Chinese-language newspapers, government census records, and exceptional photographs from public archives and private collections combine to make this a richly human document as well as an illuminating treatise on race, gender, and class dynamics. While presenting larger social trends Yung highlights the many individual experiences of Chinese American women, and her skill as an oral history interviewer gives this work an immediacy that is poignant and effective. Her analysis of intraethnic class rifts--a major gap in ethnic history--sheds important light on the difficulties that Chinese American women faced in their own communities. Yung provides a more accurate view of their lives than has existed before, revealing the many ways that these women--rather than being passive victims of oppression--were active agents in the making of their own history.

Here are the questions discussed, Wednesday, November 17, 2021 on Zoom.
• Icebreaker: What are your memories of a Chinatown?
• What was the most astonishing thing you learned from this book?
• What do you think the author was trying to emphasize mainly?
• Why do you think she limited her study to San Francisco and then talked about other places?
• What was your favorite part of the book and why?
• How do you think this book would have been different if it was written today?
• What did you think about her writing style? Why?
• Could you imagine the lives and places described? Why? Why not?
• Who is your favorite women in this book? Why?
• Any other ambiguities we need to clear up?
• Any other questions you have for the group?
• Favorite line, image, or passage?

“The Lushootseed language & culture arose from the oral traditions of the... Salish people...For countless generations our ancestors sought guidance from Mother Nature by listening carefully to all the teachings she had to offer, revealing to each person their vocation as well as moral guidance in how we are to conduct ourselves in the world...Give yourself time to think about what unique meaning or lesson a story has for you. And if you feel ambitious, memorize it and share it with others.”—Jill La Pointe, Literary Hub

The stories and legends of the Lushootseed-speaking people of Puget Sound represent an important part of the oral tradition by which one generation hands down beliefs, values, and customs to another. Vi Hilbert grew up when many of the old social patterns survived and everyone spoke the ancestral language. Haboo, Hilbert's collection of thirty-three stories, features tales mostly set in the Myth Age, before the world transformed. Animals, plants, trees, and even rocks had human attributes. Prominent characters like Wolf, Salmon, and Changer and tricksters like Mink, Raven, and Coyote populate humorous, earthy stories that reflect foibles of human nature, convey serious moral instruction, and comically detail the unfortunate, even disastrous consequences of breaking taboos. Beautifully redesigned and with a new foreword by Jill La Pointe, Haboo offers a vivid and invaluable resource for linguists, anthropologists, folklorists, future generations of Lushootseed-speaking people, and others interested in Native languages and cultures.

It was a magical evening where the participants read stories together aloud and pondered.