Welcome to the first meeting of the Literary Minds Online Book Club. I’m so glad you could make it. I couldn’t fit you all in my living room, so make yourselves comfortable in my virtual home. Enjoy my virtual coffee and wine and desserts. Don’t worry about spilling anything on the carpets, they’re virtually indestructible. And imagine my house is virtually spotless and there are virtually chairs for everyone and we all stay up way past our bedtimes because the conversations are so interesting.
The location may be virtual, but the rest of the book club is a reality. Just like a real book club, we’ll read books throughout the month, then talk about them. Each Monday I’ll start the conversation with a short article about the featured book (I’ll name them in a second). You can jump in and share your thoughts in the comments section. I’ll reply, and you can reply, just as if we were sitting on the same couch, hanging out, talking about books.
The Literary Minds Online Book Club was the brainchild of the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency. A News Café has partnered with Health and Human Services to host the Literary Minds Online Book Club in honor of Mental Health Month in May.
The fact is that every one of us, on some level, can relate to mental health issues, either personally, or because of a loved one.
It’s also a fact that more than 1 in 5 people struggle with mental health challenges. These are our friends, family and neighbors, and too often, stigma and discrimination discourage them from seeking the help they need. This online book club is one of several community events designed to break down barriers and build understanding about the complexity of our mental health.
I’m so proud that the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency trusted A News Cafe with this very special book club. Only A News Cafe readers – because you have such literary minds – could manage this.
About the books: They were chosen for this book club because of the way they honestly and compassionately depict mental illness. We hope they will entertain, educate and inspire you to stand behind those who struggle with mental illnesses.
Participation in the online book club is easy. First, you can find any of the four selected books locally at the Redding Library (check our special display upstairs) or at Barnes and Noble. They’re also available through online bookstores, and a few are even made for your Kindle. Then, every Monday between May 9 and May 30, I’ll write an article about one of the books to start the dialogue, and you can use the comments section below the story to continue the discussion.
Here’s our schedule:
May 9: Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and their Journey Through Schizophrenia. This is a dual memoir of identical twins, one who is struggling with schizophrenia, and the other who becomes a psychiatrist. Told in the alternating voices of the sisters, the book is a heartbreaking but uplifting account of the far reaches of mental illness as well as the depths of conflict and love between the twins.
May 16: Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street. Lee Stringer, a homeless man, was digging through rubbish, looking for something to clean his crack pipe when he discovered a pencil. In the following days, he started to write with the pencil and “pretty soon I forget all about hustling. . . I’m scribbling like a maniac, heart pumping, hands trembling.” The book is the tale of Stringer’s twin addictions – crack and writing – and has been lauded for its compassionate but tough and unflinching look at life on the streets.
May 23: Breaking the Silence. Known for her role on Gunsmoke and a series of Polaroid commercials with James Garner, Emmy-winning TV star Mariette Hartley’s celebrity helped hide a dark and painful personal life. Her father committed suicide, she struggled with alcoholism, and she married a man who beat her. Yet through therapy, she eventually reached a place of peace, and through her cheerful and humorous voice she shares her journey in this memoir.
May 30: The Caveman’s Valentine. Romulus Ledetter was once a gifted jazz pianist and a doting father and husband. But at some point, he was overcome by paranoid schizophrenia, and his family life dissolved to a new life in a cave in a New York City park. One day, he finds the corpse of a handsome young homeless man who was a model for a famous art photographer. The police have few leads, and Ledbetter resolves to solve the case forcing him to rein in the voices in his mind in order to ensure justice prevails.
I’ve already got my books, and have started reading. I invite you to join me in this exclusive, month-long Literary Minds Online Book Club. Who knows. Maybe we’ll start something and this will be the first of many book club meetings.
But in the meantime, I must go. I have four books to read this month. The first one up is Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and their Journey Through Schizophrenia. (I’d be interested in this book even if I weren’t an identical twin.)
I look forward to hearing what you think about that book, and the others, too.
See you online, for a virtually interesting and enlightened book club.
Independent online journalist Doni Greenberg founded what’s now known as anewscafe.com in 2007 with her son, Joe Domke of the Czech Republic. Prior to 2007 Greenberg was an award-winning newspaper opinion columnist, feature and food writer recognized by the Associated Press, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and E.W. Scripps. She lives in Redding, CA.
A News Cafe, founded in Shasta County by Redding, CA journalist Doni Greenberg, is the place for people craving local Northern California news, commentary, food, arts and entertainment. Views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of anewscafe.com.
