Ten women joined together on Zoom July 14 to talk about India in the 1950s, henna painting, and the role of women. The Book Club discussed “The Henna Artist,” by author Alka Joshi, which traces Lakshmi, born of the Brahmin clas , who runs away from her arranged marriage and earns her way as an artist doing henna designs on women’s hands.
Anyone is welcome to join the group. The next meeting is Monday, August 11 at 7 p.m.. The book is “Stories from the Tenants Downstairs” by Sidik Fofana. The book won the Gotham Book Prize and was a finalist Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award, and the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. NPR and the Chicago Review of Books named it a best book of the year.
Amazon’s review reads in part, “In eight interconnected stories, Sidik Fofana conjures a residential community under pressure. There is Swan, in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend’s release from prison jeopardizes the life he’s been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe’s and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, in apartment 21J, is a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can’t seem to escape the building’s gravitational pull.”
If you’re looking for a good book, there’s years of suggestions from what the Book Club has read. see this link for a list.