Margaret Mead: Coming of Age in Samoa

This book is a classic. Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was one of the most influential women of our time. In this book she puts forth the idea that adolescence does not have to be a stormy time of rebellion against authority. She describes how the culture of Samoa at that time (around 1928) allowed the young women to experiment socially, how they therefore took a more casual attitude toward sex, and how they were not neurotic. It sounds like paradise! 

Some people in later generations have insisted that Samoans were never that permissive, but this book is probably describing a transitional state of affairs that did not last long in Samoan history. Margaret Mead happened to go there at the right time to make some remarkable discoveries about culture and psychology.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tart

In this work of fiction, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is bombed by 'cultural terrorists.' A young boy stumbles out of the wreckage with a masterpiece concealed in a plain bag. I should have known this book was going to be both dark and sad. The book is 771 pages long. I gave up on page 288.

Julie Otsuka: The Buddha in the Attic

This novel is about Japanese 'picture brides' transported to this country by boat in the early 1900s. In these arranged marriages, the husbands sent photographs of themselves beforehand. But often the men misrepresented themselves in many ways. For example, a man might state that he was prosperous when he was just a poor agricultural worker. The brides usually complied with the wishes of their families and went through with the marriages, joining their husbands in lives of poverty. 

Then in the early 1940s, the U.S. government took the Japanese from their homes and interned them in large camps in the desert. This novel certainly is about the suffering of the Japanese immigrant women, or maybe it is about how to bear up under adversity, a sharing of the values that sustain people through hardship. 

The writing is masterful, a continuous joy. This book has won many awards, and I recommend it to you most highly.

T.C. Boyle: A Friend of the Earth

Even though this novel was first published in 2000, it is even more relevant today, as the disastrous effects of climate change have become more apparent. The plot goes back and forth between ecological activism in 1989 and a time after the collapse of the biosphere in 2025, leading to the conclusion that no efforts at social change were successful in averting the catastrophes prophesied by the environmentalists.

Boyle's prose is vigorous, even dazzling. His message may be dire, but he does not dump on his readers. In fact, if you decide to read this book, prepare to be thoroughly entertained. Against all odds, the ending is positively hopeful.

Too Young to Retire: 101 Ways to Start the Rest of Your Life by Marika and Howard Stone

I guess it is no secret that it is hard to live on Social Security and pensions when we reach retirement age. Many people are looking for ways to supplement their incomes. I found the list of 101 'Opportunities for the Open-Minded' to be very interesting. The authors are guiding us to ditch the notion of retirement in favor of enthusiastically creating a new work life. Many of their ideas were quite exciting. 

French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guilano

This book is so utterly delightful that I felt sad parting from it at the end. It is written in a personal way, like a memoir, and the format is creative, not like the usual diet book. It is very clear about how French women take pleasure from food differently from Americans, and how we would all be healthier and slimmer if we were more like French women. The book includes many helpful tips on diet and exercise and how to live a more balanced life, whatever your age.

Factory Girls by Leslie Chang

This book is a comprehensive look at the lives of factory girls in China. The book describes how two young women in particular jumped from farms into city life and from one job to another -- to another -- all on a quest for a better life.

Factory conditions are harsh but perhaps not any more so than life back home on the farm. Working for a living means that the girls can send money home to their cash-poor families, enabling them to buy refrigerators and furniture, for example.

The girls seem to have adjusted to the factory way of life, a capitalist system with few restraints or amenities. They work long hours with few days off a year for a wage that is low by U.S. standards but that really makes a difference in the Chinese economy. Little is said about later, when the girls get older. Their safety net and future security appears to be the family farm and traditional life back home.

I looked inside my sneakers and the label inside said they were made in China -- probably at the very factory described by Leslie Chang. This is a New York Times Notable Book.