Martha Freeman is an author of books for children of all ages, including The Orphan and the Mouse, the First Kids and Chickadee Court mysteries, and The Secret Cookie Club: Campfire Cookies.Her latest novel is Strudel's Forever Home.
Recently I asked Freeman about what she was reading. Her reply:
About a year ago I joined a take-no-prisoners book group, by which I mean we read only serious stuff, and we are crazy opinionated. We keep scaring new members away. This year we’ve read Swann’s Way and The Magic Mountain, along with a book of essays on botany, Cabaret of Plants. Currently, we are reading Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, a book I hadn’t readVisit Martha Freeman's website.since high school. I am happy to report that a) it stands up well, and b) I am smarter than I was in high school.
Invisible Man, National Book Award winner in 1953, is the story of a never-named black man who is increasingly disillusioned after being expelled from college in the south and moving to New York City. Almost everyone he meets seems to want to use him for their own ends – if they see him at all. The book is as upsetting as it is beautifully written – Ellison said he was going for jazz rhythms and I’d say he succeeded. It’s also a fascinating period piece. Here we are sixty years later, and some of the problems detailed in it are worse instead of better.
My Book, The Movie: Strudel's Forever Home.
--Marshal Zeringue
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