Saym's Proposed Books for 2015

The Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown

Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.

The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention of Wings, a powerful and sweeping historical novel by Sue Monk Kidd, begins, fittingly, with an image of flight: Hetty “Handful”, who has grown up as a slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, recalls the night her mother told her that her ancestors in Africa could fly over trees and clouds. That day, Handful’s mother, Charlotte, gave her daughter the gift of hope— the possibility that someday she might regain her wings and fly to freedom.  Throughout Kidd’s exquisitely written story, Handful struggles, sometimes with quiet dissidence, sometimes with open rebellion, to cultivate a belief in the invincibility of her spirit and in the sacred truth that one does not need actual wings in order to rise.

( Sue Monk Kidd also wrote The Secret Life of Bees)

Caleb’s Crossing – Geraldine Brooks

This is the story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University. It is told in the form of a bildungsroman (or a coming-of-age story) through the perspective of Bethia Mayfield, a minister’s daughter. Bethia is the daughter of two English settlers in what is now Martha’s Vineyard. They have come from England along with other Puritans to escape religious persecution. Bethia, somewhat disobedient of the rigidly constrained gender roles of her settlement, roams alone in the nearby reaches of the island. There she encounters Caleb, although his name is still Cheeshahteaumuck. They exchange knowledge, and even give one another names: she calls him Caleb, one of the followers of Moses; and he calls her Storm Eyes, for the light in her eyes.

(Geraldine Brooks also wrote The Year of Wonders & The People of the Book)

All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.