Each year in March, during the University of Arizona spring break, a huge volunteer organization takes over the campus and hosts the Tucson Festival of Books (TFoB). This year 135,000 book lovers and around 350 authors immersed themselves in the world of books.
Volunteering at TFoB changed my life from a retired businessperson into a specialist in author platform (social media, website, public relations, etc.) beginning a new career. Each year, I’ve been invited back to moderate a panel of authors. This year’s was especially rewarding.
Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor’s Unlikely Adventure by Mimi Zieman, MD (Falcon, 2024)
Read for the Tucson Festival of Books panel, “Forces to be Reckoned With.”
For adventure lovers, this memoir is a must. Mimi serves as medical support on a trek up the east side of Everest with three men who were attempting the summit with no oxygen and no sherpa support. One of the men made it, at great physical sacrifice. The two others returned to base camp.
As medical support, Mimi remained at the last base camp prior to the summit. It’s here to relieve frustration and anger that she pulls her tap shoes from her backpack and dances. When I interviewed her, I asked how she allowed herself to pack the shoes when every ounce matters in your load in such low oxygen air. “That’s how much dancing means to me,” Mimi replied with a big smile.
¡Viva Latina!: Wisdom from Remarkable Women to Inspire and Empower by Sandra Velasquez (Rock Point, 2024)
Read for the Tucson Festival of Books panel, “Forces to be Reckoned With.”
Physically, this is one of the most beautiful books I’ve had the pleasure of handling and reading. Each page is a fest of color, pattern, and imagination. Rock Point is an unusual publisher of books, manuals, and calendars that “inspire and delight, offering readers the tools they need to cultivate joy and meaning in their lives.”
Sandra is a successful entrepreneur who founded Nopalera beauty and lifestyle brand for Latinas. Along her path she encountered brave, successful Latinas whose wisdom she shares in ¡Viva Latina! If you have a Latina in your life between ages 16 and 26, this is a stunning gift for them.
A More Perfect Party: The Night Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll Reshaped Politics by Juanita Tolliver (Hachette, 2024)
Read for the Tucson Festival of Books panel, “Forces to be Reckoned With.”
Unfortunately, Juanita could not appear as scheduled at TFoB. But I did read her book in prep for the panel. I remember Shirley Chisholm as a larger-than-life Black NY Representative who challenged the status quo by running for president in any state where she could get on the ballot in 1972. That included California, where NYC resident Chisholm was a relative unknown.
Carroll threw a huge Hollywood soiree to introduce her candidate to movers and shakers who could provide money and influence. Tolliver focuses on aspects of Chisholm’s campaign by profiling attendees’ spheres of influence: Chip Wilson the money man, David Frost the communicator, Goldie Hawn the networked woman, Huey P. Newton the young iconoclast – people were invited for the support they would provide to the campaign.
The real hero of the book is Shirley Chisholm. She was a fearless pioneer for progressive political action. An interesting book about political history.
The Woman Who Knew Everyone by Meryl Gordon (Grand Central 2025)
Read for the Tucson Festival of Books panel, “Forces to be Reckoned With.”
Meryl Gordon writes about women in the 20th century who had money, position, and influence – and a story to tell. Perle Mesta is such a woman, and I’m old enough to remember her. My aunties took me to see Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam, the Broadway musical about Mesta’s political and diplomatic success, when I was eight. I still remember Merman whipping her ballgown train around when it impeded her progress across the stage.
To read Perle Mesta’s story is to gain insight into the social foundation of political Washington D.C. during the presidencies of Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Kennedy. Here social means the parties, luncheons, tête à têtes, and fund raisers where Perle brought together enemies, friends, unknowns, and political chiefs – usually to the benefit of all concerned. She could maneuver men (it was totally a man’s world then) to meet and greet at social occasions people they would never talk with in the halls of Congress.
Perle worked tirelessly in support of women’s rights throughout her life. She was instrumental in getting the Equal Rights Amendment included in the Democrat platform in 1944, even though it had no strong support at the time.
Meryl Gordon does a great job of presenting Mesta’s stories, yet none is salacious. When I asked Gordon about this, she said that Perle’s private life remains private. Her sister, with whom she was very close, destroyed all their correspondence. Was there something there? We’ll never know.
Imperium: A Fiction of the South Seas by Christian Kracht, Picador, 2015
Imperium is a 2012 satiric novel that recounts the story of August Engelhardt, a German who in the early 20th century founded a religious order in German New Guinea based on nudism and a diet consisting solely of coconuts.
If that grabs your attention, continue reading because this is a fun and informative book about cranks, crooks, and community – or lack thereof. I didn’t even know there was a German New Guinea! Enjoyable reading, based on a true story.
The Magnificent Medills by Megan McKinney (Harper Collins 2011)
This is a deep dive into the world of United States wealth – those who earned it and those who spent it. The Medill family is Chicago-based, hence my interest. But their obsession with newspapers took them to New York and Los Angeles. There isn’t a newspaper or magazine in the book that you won’t recognize, even though most don’t exist today.
What struck me was how the political slant of the newspapers completely reflected the publisher. Colonel McCormick and his family owned the Chicago Tribune, the Republican voice. There was no effort to be unbiased. We see that returning today with the New York Times expected to be the liberal voice, and the Fox News the conservative voice. Publications that strive to be unbiased are usually pilloried by either side.
But the real story here is how Medill and all the heirs spent their money. Chicago and suburbs are littered with their estates, some now museums and public gardens. This is a long yet interesting read if you want to learn more about journalism and wealth.
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (Liveright Publishing 2024)
Translated from German by Daniel Bowles.
Another small but powerful book by Kracht. (See comments on Imperium.) Here we have the fictionalized memoir of “Christian” and his 80-year-old mother, as they take a road trip through Switzerland.
Christian’s family is on “the wrong side of history.” Their money comes from munitions manufacturing and publishing, with close ties to the Nazis. Mother and son decide to distribute their wealth (held in a plastic grocery bag) to just about anyone who will take it along their journey. The result is funny, tender, and engaging. Recommended.
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett (Back Bay Books, 2016)
This is a tough book to read. The plot centers around a family with mental illness – first the father, then the son. It’s also a book written with a shifting POV (Point of View): the mother, the father, one daughter, and two sons. I found that a compelling way to drive the plot and never lost interest in a bleak story. It is well written.
If you read and learned from Hidden Valley Road, you will want to read Imagine Me Gone.
The Plotters by Un-Su Kim (Anchor Books, 2019)
Originally published in Korean in 2010.
I read this book because I wanted to dip a bit more into Korean literature. And what I dipped into was confusing. This is not a book that will educate you about Korea. Its dystopian setting shows Korea controlled by authoritarian political rulers who manipulate a subculture of contract killers.
The Plotters, who determine how killings will take place, control the brokers, who control the killers. Our protagonist is a killer. Reminded me in tone of Bladerunner, but there isn’t a movie of this book. If you like dystopian action books, this is an interesting read.
For more book recommendations and reviews, please visit our Books column.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
So, what have you read in the past couple of months? Would you recommend any title to the community?
