The bookmark was a thank you gift for volunteering in a local school. It’s metal, substantial, and adds gravitas to the current read. I thought I’d lost it once, then remembered it was in a book from our condo community library. It had been reshelved with the bookmark still in place, and I was grateful to retrieve it.
Recently I’ve chosen books recommended from online lists, but find they weren’t my style. After a lifetime of finishing any book I started, just because I “should”, I quit. Now if the style, the genre, or the topic don’t suit me, I snap the cover closed and move on.
Then I heard an author interview on PBS Newshour of the other americans, by laila lalami. (And yes, the title is uncapitalized.) It’s written from the viewpoints of characters both central, and seemingly tangential, to a hit and run auto accident. Even the deceased has a voice.
Although the main characters are first and second-generation immigrants, the dynamics between family members are familiar. The emotions are universal. Google filled in the gaps between my background knowledge and people and places mentioned in the text. In one instance a singer was mentioned and I listened to her on youtube, which added depth.
The writing is evocative:
“Then a woman pushed her cart past us, and in her wake I caught the
scent of rosewater. Instantly, I was back in Casablanca with my sisters,
putting our hair in rollers and trying on different colors of lipstick
...where a picture of Shadia was tucked into the frame, her hair in
an elaborate bouffant we were trying to replicate.”
I’ve never been to Casablanca, but I could relate to the scent of rosewater, and childhood friends exploring hairstyles and makeup.
After weeks of poor choices, I latched onto this book like I was malnourished. And I had been, the previous five choices that lacked beauty and nuance. The first night reading the other americans I reluctantly placed the book mark because I wanted to keep reading. And I thought, this is a silver-apple worthy book. And it was.
If you will, nominate a book you think would be worthy of my bookmark.
