A Word About Awards

THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO by Christy Lefteri   Award: Aspen Words Winner 2020   Nominations: BookTube Finalist 2020, Dayton Literary Peace Finalist 2020   Date Read: November 12, 2023   Nuri and his wife Afra have lost everything in their flight from war-torn Syria – their son Sami, their home and even their connection to each other. Navigating a treacherous journey that is about as harrowing as the place they are fleeing from, the Ibrahims relentlessly pursue the reconnection with their dearest friend in England.   Only during this arduous journey does it become clear that Nuri is suffering from PTSD. He has invented a child to save, Mohammed, as a psychological replacement for the loss of his son. Nuri is depressed, constantly vigilant and wading through darkness, hoping to find the light.   The Beekeeper of Aleppo shows just how difficult the immigrant journey is. All these refugees want is honest work, a sense of home and connection to family. As Sami ima...

EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid   Awards: Aspen Words Winner 2018, LA Times Winner 2017   Nominations: Booker Finalist 2017, Carnegie Longlist 2018, Dayton Literary Peace Finalist 2018, Dublin Finalist 2019, Kirkus Finalist 2017, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2017, NY Times Finalist 2017, Rathbones Folio Finalist 2018   Date Read: November 19, 2021   Exit West is an interesting take on immigration and a relationship expedited by the pressures of war. In Hamid’s version of earth, literal doors allow people to migrate to different countries, bypassing paperwork, visas and passports, to simply arrive unannounced in a new country.   This is what happens for Saeed and Nadia, a couple in Syria who had just started dating and were finding the delights in each other’s company. The collapse of their city and Nadia’s vulnerability as a single woman living alone causes Saeed to invite her to come live with his father and him. Saeed’s mother had just recently been killed....

THE NIGHT WATCHMAN by Louise Erdrich   Awards: Aspen Words Winner 2021, Pulitzer Winner 2021   Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2021, Dayton Literary Peace Finalist 2021   Date Read: August 12, 2021   This richly textured, highly detailed and slow novel from Erdrich chronicles the attempt by the U.S. government to terminate the tribal lands of the Chippewa tribe. Largely based on her grandfather’s life, Patrick Gourneau, was a resident of the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota in the 1950s when the termination was first proposed.   Knowing that this actually happened in reality is infuriating, realizing that the attacks on Native people and their land is simply ghastly. Had this legislation passed, it would have violated long-standing treaties between Native tribes and the U.S. government. Gourneau was head of the Turtle Mountain Reservation at the time and lead the resistance to the termination.   Erdrich follows numerous peoples that form a web of ...

AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones Award: Aspen Words Prize Winner 2019, Women's Prize Winner 2019   Nominations: BookTube Longlist 2019, Carnegie Longlist 2019, Dublin Finalist 2020, Goodreads Finalist 2018, LA Times Finalist 2018, National Book Longlist 2018, Oprah Book Club 2018   Date Read: February 26, 2021   This entire novel has beauty and sorrow, wisdom and ignorance and brief but profound glimpses of the American black experience. Roy and Celestial have only been married for a year and a half before Roy is incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. As Celestial says, before their marriage could really take route.   During the entire time of Roy’s imprisonment, he holds the thought of reclaiming the one thing that he still can: his marriage. His career and family, specifically his mother, are irretrievably lost, but he knows Celestial is still waiting. For him, time is standing still.   But for Celestial, time is definitely marching forward until Roy h...