This year, Lit Youngstown's monthly book discussion will focus on the idea of the writer: biographies, memoirs, fictional works with a writer protagonist. All are welcome. Haven't read the book yet? No worries. We will meet at 6:00 at the Michael Kusalaba Library, 2815 Mahoning Ave. All titles will be available at the Michael Kusalaba Library and at the YSU Barnes & Noble.
March 10 we will discuss World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
"As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted—no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape—she was able to turn to our world’s fierce and funny creatures for guidance.
'What the peacock can do,' she tells us, 'is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life.' The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world’s gifts.
Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy." https://milkweed.org/book/world-of-wonders
Also in this series:
April 14 The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea May 12 The Planter of Modern Life: Louis Bromfield and the Seeds of a Food Revolution by Stephen Heyman