The AWF Reads Program, Current Book's

After getting kicked out of his American military academy, Harrison spends his formative years in Mexico in the 1930s in the household of Diego Rivera; his wife, Frida Kahlo; and their houseguest, Leon Trotsky, who is hiding from Soviet assassins.  After Trotsky is assassinated, Harrison returns to the U.S., settling down in Asheville, N.C., where he becomes an author of historical potboilers and is later investigated as a possible subversive.  Narrated in the form of letters, diary entries and newspaper clippings, the novel reaches its emotional peak when Harrison wittily and eloquently defends himself before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story “filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man” (Sue Monk Kidd).  With “pitch-perfect writing” (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War.  His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs.

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling:  to cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most.  Kidder’s magnificent account takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that “the only real nation is humanity.”  At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”–as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

Deo arrives in the United States from Burundi in search of a new life.  Having survived a civil war and genocide, he lands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts.  He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores.  Then Deo begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing.  Kidder breaks new ground in telling this unforgettable story as he travels with Deo back over a turbulent life and shows us what it means to be fully human.

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.  It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard.  So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.  The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini.  Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.

Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive.  Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs.  Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs.  With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.

In eight beautifully crafted, interconnected stories, Mueenuddin explores the cutthroat feudal society in which a rich Lahore landowner is entrenched.  A complicated network of patronage undergirds the micro-society of servants, families and opportunists surrounding wealthy patron K.K. Harouni.  In "Nawabdin Electrician," Harouni's indispensable electrician, Nawab, excels at his work and at home, raising 12 daughters and one son by virtue of his cunning and ingenuity.  Women are especially vulnerable without the protection of family and marriage ties, as Saleema learns, a maid in the Harouni mansion who cultivates a love affair with an older servant.

Carol Bayley is a member of the Board of Directors for the Aspen Writers’ Foundation, Aspen Community Theatre, and the Kessler Condominium Association.  She is currently the producer for AWF Reads, the chairperson for the Rocky Mountain Book Club, a member/moderator for Sharing Shakespeare and Great Books at the Aspen Institute and the editor for the book club website www.aspenwriters.org.  Since retiring to Aspen in 1991, Carol has taught computer courses at CMC, worked at Explore Booksellers and Pitkin County Library and provided pro bono computer services for a number of non-profits in the Roaring Valley.  Prior to her retirement she was a Vice President with profit and loss responsibility for a large computer company.

Book lovers tune in! Bestsellers, debut novels, book club favorites, and award winners are the discussion du jour on AWF Reads, the Aspen Writers’ Foundation’s community book club on Grassroots TV.  Join our panels of local literary enthusiasts as they read between the lines of new and notable books during the rotating series of half-hour shows.

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