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Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel His Master Distiller Nearest Green and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest

  Thirteen of us met in November to talk about the book  Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distille r Nearest Green and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest  by Fawn Weaver.  According to the book,  “ As an enslaved man during the Civil War, Nearest Green befriended a young Jack Daniel and taught him how to make whiskey. As a free man aft er the war,  Nearest  became Jack Daniels Distillery’s Master Distill er. ”   Alejandra  kicked off the discussion  with, “ Overall ,  I really like the story of Nearest Green. The most compelling part was  when she went into the history of the town. It challenged  her  biases and challenged my biases  a bout what a southern town would have looked like in Tennessee. And I appreciated that  it..yeah  I think  that’s  my overall recollection. I  don’t  particularly like her.  She told me over and over again ...
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Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black

  The author, Dr. Daniel Black, said “ T his book is what most of us in many ways would hope that our parents would do one day. And that is to give us their hearts, share with us their story . This is the story of a man named Jacob Swinton who is on his death bed, and he is writing a series of letters. It’s the epistolary form . The l etters are to his estranged gay son named Isaac. The Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series continued July 13 th , 2024 , where we discussed this amazing book. Before this meeting, the group listened to a YouTub e video of an interview with Dr. Black that had been recorded earlier this year. This video can be found by searching All CT Reads 2024 Dr. Daniel Black on Yo u Tube.   Wendy started us out, saying, “ I listened to it on audiobook, and Dr. Black read it. I really liked that because it brought it to life. The downside was places where I thought he captured something about his own experience or love, and I wish I had it on a ...
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The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

  Thirteen of us met on August 24 th to discuss James McBride’s acclaimed 2023 novel, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store , winner of the 2023 Kirkus Prize for Fiction.    McBride has said that his motivation for writing this book stems from his time working summers at a camp for differently abled children.   He said the nugget for The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store was the story of Dodo and Monkey pants. Bonnie quickly interjected that the theme about the Blacks and the Jews is the one that jumped out at her more. Marian said she agreed with Bonnie here, especially since page one of the novel is about the interview the police had with Malachi about the mezuzah they found with the body at the bottom of the well. There was a lot of discussion about how the mezuzah ended up with the body. Robin offered that Moshe had made it as a gift for Malachi. Malachi refused it and insisted that Moshe give it to his wife Chona. Doc Roberts had snatched it from around Cho...
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