Tag: connection

Online Reading Challenge – January Wrap-Up

- Ann Leave a comment

Hello Challenge Readers!

How did the first Book Flight reading challenge work for you? Did you read the main title or one of the alternates? Or did you find something else that might fit into this month’s theme of belonging, connection and found family?

I read the main title, The Orphan Train by Christina Kline and enjoyed a look into this unique time in our history when children that had been orphaned or abandoned were sent west by train where they would (hopefully) be taken in by foster families. The intention was good – saving children from a grim existence in crowded conditions in the cities to the clean, open air of the country – but the results were not always positive. Many children were seen as free labor to work in the fields or as servants in the house, and were mistreated and abused. Many were separated from siblings and friends, and forced to enter a new, unknown life alone.

The Orphan Train is the story of one of these orphans, Vivian Daly. She has recently immigrated from Ireland with her parents and sister, but her parents have died and her sister is lost after a fire in their tenement. At 10 years old, she is placed on an “orphan train”, leaving New York City for Minnesota and an uncertain future. There she suffers hardships, but also eventually finds her place in the world.

I was struck by Vivian’s courage as she is forced to leave everything she knows at such a young age. Watching her struggle with and overcome horrible situations can be heartbreaking. Vivian’s reaction is to carefully build walls around her heart. Eventually she is able to carve out a happy life, although it may not have been the life she once wished for.

In comparing this title to the others in this month’s Book Flight (Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman), all of the main characters are alone and struggling to find their way, and in each, in one way or another, they find people and reasons to live. If you’ve read any of the books, how did you feel about the main character’s coping mechanism? Did they isolate and protect themselves, or did they reach out – however reluctantly – to others? How did their experiences influence how they treated others? How did they move beyond past traumas, or did those memories haunt them? In The Orphan Train, Vivian calls them “ghosts”. Did the characters use past memories as comfort, or as motivation to move on? In each of these titles, there is a strong theme of reaching out to others and connection, but there is also a common thread of being forced to leave something beloved behind. This letting go can be wrenching – how did the characters cope – or not cope – with these losses?

Be sure to leave any thoughts you have about this month’s reading in the comments!

 

Announcing: the Online Reading Challenge 2022!

- Ann Leave a comment

Welcome to the 2022 Online Reading Challenge!

Get ready for another year (our 7th!) of reading recommendations with our super-casual, low-stress reading club!

Our theme for 2022 is Book Flights! A Book Flight, similar to a wine or beer flight, is a series of books with similar themes. Sometimes the themes are obvious, sometimes they’re a little deeper. I’ve chosen a critically acclaimed titles plus 3-4 complementary books for each month. I’ll briefly describe each book and pick one to read myself. You can choose to read the main book or one of the accompanying titles or even something else completely! At the end of the month I’ll write about what I read and pose some questions about the themes from that month’s books and invite you to comment with your observations.

Of course, as always, you may do as you please – there are no Library Police! So if you wish to skip a month, or read more than one book in that month or read a book from a different month – go for it! No one will drag you off to Library Jail if you choose your own path!

Ok, let’s get started!

The theme for January is belonging, connection and found family and our main title is The Orphan Train by Christina Kline.

Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to ‘aging out’ out of the foster care system. A community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance. Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life–answers that will ultimately free them both. Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.

You can find more information about this book and the author as well as sample discussion questions in our Book Club Lib Guide.

Books that round out January’s Book Flight are:

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano.

One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor. Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a part of himself has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

For years, rumors of the ‘Marsh Girl’ have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. She’s barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark. But Kya is not what they say. Abandoned at age ten, she has survived on her own in the marsh that she calls home. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life lessons from the land, learning from the false signals of fireflies the real way of this world. But while she could have lived in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world – until the unthinkable happens.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

A curmudgeon hides a terrible personal loss beneath a cranky and short-tempered exterior while clashing with new neighbors, a boisterous family whose chattiness and habits lead to unexpected friendship.

I’ll be reading this month’s main title, The Orphan Train. I’ve read the other three titles in the book flight in the past; they are all excellent and I highly recommend all of them.

Be sure to check back at the end of the month when we’ll open up a discussion!