Shelf Life

Tag: Women & Children First

  • Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg

    Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg

                It’s a dark world at times and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg feels compelled to make it just a little nicer through her novels. In her latest, Night of Miracles (Random House 2018; $26) she takes us back toMason, Missouri, an imaginary town where kindness reigns and there are happy endings.

    Author Elizabeth Berg

                “I just needed to create a perfect place in my books since I couldn’t find one on planet Earth or at least a place where,though people have issues, they are nice to each other and treat each other with kindness,” says Berg whose voice on the phone when I call sounds as cheery as her popular books.  Night of Miracles is both a stand-alone novel as well as a sequel to her previous novel The Story of Arthur Truluv.

                “When I finished that book, I liked being in Mason so much that I felt the need to go back there,” says Berg, who is driven by her imagination to write stories and whose plots often derive from just one brief vision or illusory thought. The character of Arthur developed because  of an image she had of an old man sitting on a lawn chair in a cemetery eating lunch by the grave of his wife.

                “I wanted to know who this man was and what his life was like,” says Berg. “I felt he had something to teach me and I was right.”

                Then it was Lucille’s turn to inspire. A cantankerous character who played a prominent role in The Story of Arthur Truluv, she returns again in Night of Miracles  following a glimpse Berg had showing Lucille washing dishes while looking out her kitchen window and seeing stars.Interestingly, Lucille is a stellar baker and while Berg says she doesn’t live up to that standard she does make a mean pie using a crust recipe she garnered a long time ago listening to “The Phil Donahue Show.” As for Mason, she’s returned to it once more, she’s just finishing her third book in the series,  The Confession Club.  Berg thinks of her writing as inspirational.

                “One of the things that I hope formy reader is that if your definition of what a miracle is can expand into ordinary life, you’ll see miracles everywhere,” she says. “When I see a cardinal, I gasp in wonder. It’s not that I want people to turn away from the problems of the world as we have a lot of work to do, but I want them to see a good side of life as well.”

                Pausing, she then continues with a slight laugh, saying “call me the schmaltz queen, but these times, for me, call for something like that.”

    Ifyougo:

    What: Elizabeth Berg will be doing several reading and signings in the Chicago area:

    Thursday, November 29th at 12:00 noon, University Club luncheon, 76 E. Monroe,Chicago, IL . Cost is $25. Call The Book Stall to make a reservation. 847-446-8880.

    Thursday, November 29th at 6:30 p.m.,  Book Stall, 811 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL. 847-446-8880.

    Monday, December 3rd at 7 p.m.,  Frankfort Public Library, 21119 S. Pfeiffer Rd., Frankfort, IL. 815-534-6173.

    Wednesday, December 5 at 7 p.m., Women And Children First, 5233 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL. 773-769-9299

  • Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo

    The spark for his second novel stems from what it means to be an adopted child from a land very far away says Boris Fishman, author of
    (Harper/HarperCollins 2016 $26.99) which was just named as one of the 100 best books of 2016 by the New York Times,

    Fishman, who was born in Minsk, Belarus and immigrated to the United States at age nine in 1988, knows the intense feelings of searching for where he belongs both emotionally and psychologically.  It’s the theme he explores in his humorous and touching story about Maya Shulman, a Ukrainian exchange student who marries Alex Rubin, a somewhat spoiled son of Russian immigrants.

    The two adopted Max whose biological mother’s parting words were the “Don’t let my baby do rodeo” and up until age eight, Max has not been a problem. But then suddenly his behaviors become somewhat bizarre and indecipherable to the couple. Max begins acting somewhat feral-like. He consumes grass, sits face down in the river and hangs around wild animals.

    Their own lives have also reached a point where they need to redefine things and in that very American way, Alex and Maya decide to take Max and hit the road to find his parents who live in Montana.

    It’s a physical and spiritual quest told from Maya’s point of view. But for Fishman it also represents what many immigrants go through, including his own family.

    The patriarchal roles for both men and women that many immigrants brought with them from their homeland change particularly for the next generation.

    “I’m of their blood but not of their psychology,” says Fishman who graduated with a degree in Russian literature from Princeton University and a MFA in fiction from New York University.

    Indeed, Fishman says that half way through writing his novel, he realized he was like Max.

    “I was really feeling it,” he says about the catharsis of writing about Max. “You basically realize that neither of the places—the U.S. or Russia are home. And so you have to find a third place”

    Ifyougo:

    What: Boris Fishman has several Chicago events.

    When & Where:

    7:30pm, Friday, March 24
    Women & Children First Bookstore, 5233 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL. (773) 769-9299.

    7pm, Saturday, March 25, KAM Isaiah Israel Synagogue, 1100 E Hyde Park Blvd.,
    Chicago, IL. (773) 924-1234.

    6pm, Sunday, March 26.
    Soho House, 113 N. Green St., Chicago, IL. (312) 521-8000.