A New Sense of Place Awaits in November Novels from Dakota County Library

Travel as far as you mind desires with these novels recommended by staff member Marsha Redman:

Tiny Sunbird, Far Away by Christine Watson

Twelve year-old Blessing narrates the tale of when she, her mother and her brother Ezekiel are forced to move from their comfortable home in Lagos, to an entirely different lifestyle in her mother’s ancestral town of Warri, Nigeria. After her father’s infidelity is uncovered, her mother confronts him only to find he prefers to stay with the other woman. When her mother is unable to eke out a living as an unmarried woman, the three are forced to return to the mother’s family. It is in Warri that young Blessing discovers a world of poverty, unrest and unhappiness. The children she meets are unwashed and uneducated. Her grandfather is considering a conversion to the Muslim faith and also of taking on an additional new wife. Her 14-year-old brother finds a new network of friendship with a gang of “freedom fighters.”  Set against a lush Nigerian Delta landscape, this coming-of-age tale of loss and discovery demonstrates Blessing's strength of heart as she learns to triumph over difficulty.

Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons in an Italian Life by Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes’ poetic writing style is apparent in her latest book on the good life she has discovered in Italy. Of course, the lyrical lifestyle of Tuscany lends itself perfectly to her verbal observations on art, architecture, food, and Italian friends who manage to “keep the jouissance they were born with.” Everyday items such as recipes of Italian cuisine become part of the texture of the sublime as Mayes expresses how to live life to the fullest and “invent each new day.”

The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq by Rory Stewart

In 2003 British diplomat Rory Stewart traveled to Iraq in search of work and soon landed a job as a “provincial governor” of Maysan, an undeveloped province of 850,000 situated along the Iranian border in Iraq’s Shia south. During his year in Maysan, most of his time was spent “navigating through a byzantine and thoroughly unfamiliar political landscape of tribal leaders, Islamist militias, Communist dissidents and Iranian intelligence agents.”  After successfully accomplishing his year’s goal of keeping anarchy at bay, he is rewarded with an appointment to Dhi Qar, “a much more dangerous province with less military support.” This is an informative account, giving first-hand knowledge of this tumultuous area, told with a sense of keen observation and dark humor.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

In the mid-nineteenth century, Henry David Thoreau embarked on his famous experiment to live for a period of time in Walden woods, near his home in Concord, MA. His objective was not necessarily to become a hermit, but rather to understand society better by isolating himself from it. He lived a spartan existence growing and selling beans from a small garden, and doing odd jobs for Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Much of his time was devoted to his journals, and much of his writing was influenced by the transcendentalist movement of the era. Transcendentalism was a reaction against the “intellectualism” of the Harvard Divinity School. Transcendentalists believed that spirituality “transcends” the physical and empirical, and is known primarily through individual intuition rather than dogma. To this day Walden woods and pond are renowned places on the American landscape thanks to Thoreau and his writings.

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

After she married her “blue-blooded” but penniless cousin, Karen Blixen left her home in Denmark. Her husband had used her money to purchase a dairy farm in Kenya. Later the farm became a coffee plantation where she lived from 1914 to 1937. Blixen (who took the pen name Isak Dinesen), wrote a memoir describing her years in Africa. From the seaside at Mombasa, up to Nairobi, and from Mount Kenya to Kilimanjaro, she provides a lyrical portrayal of this untamed colonial country. She also describes her relationships with her unfaithful husband (whom she divorced), as well as her ever-elusive lover, Denys, who remained as “untamed as the land itself.”

Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet by David LaRochelle and Joe Rossi

Minnesotans of all ages will enjoy finding the letters of the alphabet hidden in our natural environment. Photographer Joe Rossi traveled throughout the state from Granite Falls to Chippewa National Forest and from Bemidji to St. Paul, taking photos of the “natural” alphabet. For instance, see if you can find the letter “A” in a tree root, or the letter “J” made by a white pelican. Author David LaRochelle also provides fascinating facts for young readers on this adventurous photo-odyssey around our state.