Neshama’s Choices for September 2

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Ferris by Kate DiCamillo

After a string of disappointing books or ones too complicated for my current state of mind, I turned to a delightful children’s author for comfort—and got it! Our protagonist got her nickname because she was born right below a Ferris wheel where her beloved grandma Charisse caught her. Ferris is in the 5th grade.  There’s a ghost, a crazy task, some family dysfunction, and even a death.  All these elements come together with a bit of a fairy tale ending, but I just rested on the fresh, direct language and the great character development. Also, imagine my surprise when a favorite piece of music I’d always thought of as obscure showed up: Mysterious Barricades by Francoise Couperin. It's a very satisfying read, whatever your age.

The Swans of Harlem by Karen Valby

Misty Copeland was considered the first ballerina of color to break into the rigid ranks of classical dance, but there were 5 determined women before her who deserved the spotlight. Valby tells their stories which are full of struggle and heartbreak.  David Mitchell, who envisioned the Dance Theater of Harlem, created a place where they could follow their dreams. Still, his fierce demands could be even more daunting than the dancers’ economic privation and constant physical challenges. The contrast of dedication to art versus racism in the ballet culture is starkly drawn. I appreciated the opportunity to get to know these courageous dancers and the way they pioneered fostering diversity in dance today. Very well-researched and told with heart and soul.

Choice by Neil Mukherjee

I was gobsmacked by the opening scene in which Ayush shows his 6-year-old twins a video of a slaughterhouse.  It was horrifying and brutal but he’s a man of high ideals and hopes to try to reverse greed and its consequences however he can.  The traumatized kids won’t touch meat anymore, but his economist husband always reminds him of the power of market forces. Ayush is a publisher, and two of his authors’ stories cast more light on this ever-present moral dilemma. In one, a car accident bonds unlikely people; in another, a poor family in India gets a cow to “improve their lot,” but the clueless donors have no idea what impact this has vis-a-vis the reality of their actual lives. Hard truths here, sometimes painful to read, but brilliantly written.

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

Stella, disciplined and joyless, keeps a low profile as a copy editor in New York City. When her narcissistic mother Clara dies, her will contains a mandate: go to Paris.  There Stella might find out the identity of the father she never knew. Stella falls into all sorts of magical setups. The proprietor of the famed bookstore Shakespeare and Company invites her to become one of the “tumbleweeds” who hang out and live there. A prosperous art collector takes her under his wing and helps her on her quest to track down paintings by the obscure woman who was also the model for Manet’s Olympia. Stella turns out to have a refined palate and goes on many gastronomic adventures. Lots of lush food writing here, as befits the author who edited Gourmet. Art, literature, and food provide quite a feast. I had to suspend disbelief periodically but let judgment go to enjoy the fairytale ending.