Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks

 Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks, 367 pages

This one seemed confusing at first.  Separate story lines that didn't seem to ever be able to converge.  But leave it to Nicholas Sparks.  He wrapped it all up very neatly in the end.  I enjoyed it very much.

March: Book One (March, #1) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

 March: Book One (March, #1) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell-121 pages

This is the first of three graphic autobiography books by John Lewis about his childhood and his participation in the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis went to college in Nashville, Tennessee and joined in on peaceful sit-ins at lunch counters in downtown Nashville. He was inspired by and met Martin Luther King, Jr while attending college. The humiliation and physical (and emotional) abuse Lewis and his compatriots endured is heartbreaking. He and others involved in the sit-ins were arrested and jailed for their involvement for "disturbing the peace," even though they were beaten and humiliated. He was a believer and follower of the non-violence movement. John Lewis was a very inspirational man. It was cool that he got to see some of the fruits of his labor in the Civil Rights movement, especially Barack Obama becoming the first African-American president. I really liked this book and I want to read Books Two and Three at some point. 

Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan M. Metzl

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl --- 342 Pages including Acknowledgments, End Notes and Index.

Metzl uses three case studies to investigate why so many poor and working class white Americans support government policies that undermine their own health and well being when politicians promise such policies will preserve white privilege and control. Even when the actual effect of these policies only deepens the divide between the wealthy elite and everybody else (regardless of race), working class whites cling to their illusion of privilege in the face of their own diminished lives. 

Metzl asks how did the politics of racial resentment become so powerful that it has overwhelmed even the basic instinct of self-preservation? To find out, he spent eight years talking to voters in Missouri, Tennessee and Kansas,  asking them to explain political actions they supported: repealing gun laws in Missouri; refusing to participate in the ACA and Medicaid expansion in Tennessee; slashing taxes and funding for infrastructure, education, and health programs in Kansas.   The answers he got are sobering and a testament to the damage still being inflicted on our nation by the legacy of racial animosity.

Dr. Metzl is a professor of sociology and psychiatry and director of the Center for Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt University. A nationally recognized expert on gun violence and mental illness, Dr Metzl grew up in Kansas City, and has family ties in Missouri and Kansas. He lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee.

Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Review.

Click HERE to read the review from Vox.com.

Click HERE to watch an interview with the author on PBS.

Click HERE to read a review from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  

Softly and Tenderly by Sara Evans

Softly and Tenderly by Sara Evans
(Songbird #2)
304 pages / 8 hrs, 42 mins

"Happily married and owner of two successful boutiques, Jade longs to begin a family with her husband, Max. But when she discovers that Max has an illegitimate son--who he wants her to help raise--Jade's life is turned upside down.

She flees to her childhood home, a rambling Iowa farmhouse, with enough room to breathe. There-- while her mother's health grows fragile, and the tug of her first love grows stronger--Jade begins to question everything she thought she knew about family, love, and motherhood. In the wide-open landscape, Jade begins to see a future that doesn't rest on the power of her past, but in the goodness of God's tender mercies."
--from the publisher

Full confession - I didn't read the first in the series before this one.  Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I was already invested in the characters?  Anyway, the book was pretty good.  I will probably check out the third in the series to see how it all ends.