Some Summertime Reading

Schools and libraries have ingrained in the American psyche a connection between summertime and catching up on reading. That tradition seems to be alive and well despite fears that a wide spectrum of media choices might cause “books” to become extinct. Interestingly, the Ocean City library is promoting a new wrinkle on their summer reading program – OC (Our Community) Reads. They have chosen one book, Shadow Divers, as “a great opportunity for everyone in Ocean City [students to seniors] to read the same book and have a shared dialogue.”
Except for such pitied characters as Clara and the blind grandmother in the classic story, Heidi, and Tiny Tim in Dickens’, A Christmas Carol, I don’t remember any other references to people with disabilities in my early fiction reading. So it is encouraging to see that more contemporary fiction writers are creating plots and characters that address the subject of disability in an educational and entertaining way. I lead off my suggested reading list with a sampling of these fictional titles and end with the more traditional biographical and autobiographical offerings.
• Me Before You, a novel by JoJo Moyes, has elements of romance, suspense, and the reality of class differences. It also raises moral questions around the decision to end one’s life. But what really set it apart for me was its very matter-of-fact (not sentimental or pitying) description of the everyday struggle of living with a serious physical disability.
• Still Alice was on the N.Y. Times bestseller list for 40 weeks. Its author, Lisa Genova, has a degree in Biopsychology from Bates College and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard. This science background lends credibility to the book’s subject, early-onset Alzheimer’s, but Genova’s writing style is what makes this novel so compelling and powerful.
• Left Neglected, also from the pen of Lisa Genova, describes the plight of a person whose traumatic brain injury has completely erased the left side of her world. At first the reader is intrigued by imagining what it would be like to have this one-sided perspective. Eventually, though, it is the very human story that makes this book so absorbing.
• My Body Politic: A Memoir by Simi Linton is both a personal account and an historical overview of what has changed and how far we still have to go in including people with disabilities in the life of our communities. The author describes her challenges as a person with a disability and her activism in the 1970s, 80s and 90s to educate and raise consciousness on the subject.
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the autobiography of Jean Dominique Bauby, a former editor of Elle magazine, who wrote his autobiography after a sudden paralysis left him only able to blink his eyes. This book is gritty reading and definitely not of the “feel good” genre. But Bauby captures with great honesty the frustration and isolation his condition causes him.
• No Turning Back is a personal memoir by Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War veteran who in 2005 became that war’s fourth triple amputee from a roadside explosive. As his co-author David Mack commented, “It was a tragedy that could break many, but Bryan transformed it into something positive, something that propelled him forward.” Anderson’s book is an inspiring read and a non-pitying look at limb loss.
• Imperfect: An Improbable Life retraces the remarkable journey of Jim Abbott, born without a right hand, yet determined to be a great athlete. Sports lovers in particular will enjoy this honest and insightful memoir of Abbott’s career in baseball, crowned by one of the most dramatic no-hitters in major-league history.
DID YOU KNOW?
• The monthly meeting of the South Jersey Shore Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America will be held July 17 at 5:30 p.m. in the Maruchi Room of Cape Regional Medical Center.
• Talking prescription containers are being offered at all Walgreens and Duane Reade stores in the U.S., and through Walgreens mail order. If you are a Walgreens pharmacy customer who is blind, ask for your medications with the talking label (called the Talking Pill Reminder). The pharmacy staff will record your prescription information on the label and let you listen to the recording onsite to make sure it is clear and understandable. At home, you’ll be able to listen to the prescription information by pressing a button on the device attached to the container. For more information, contact Walgreens Customer Service at 925-4733 Ext. 4.
• “Emergency Preparedness: What You Should Know,” an interactive training workshop for people with disabilities, their caregivers, families and friends, is being held July 28 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the County Public Safety Training Center on Crest Haven Road in Court House. Attendees will receive a free backpack disaster kit valued at $50. To register, call Paulann Pierson at 609-886-2784. This event is sponsored by the N.J. Division of Disability Services and co-hosted by the County Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Aging and Disability Services, with the support of the County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Pierson writes from the Cape May County Department of Aging and Disability Services