The HPPR Radio Readers Book Club’s 2023 Spring Read – In Touch with the World ends on Sunday, May 7, 2023, with a two-hour, live book discussion. Since January, 27 contributors have posted 51 Radio Readers BookBytes covering 23 books from 14 countries.
Radio Reader Jane Holwerda pointed out that many of the books the season provided heavy reading, depicting lives deformed by war, armed conflict, and violence. “The cellist who plays daily under threat of sniper fire; girls who walk to school knowing they could be beaten or killed for doing so; refugees who walk hundreds of miles seeking safe places; journalists who write stories despite threat of torture and death; everyone who risks life, limb and liberty for food, water and shelter for loved ones. The narrative arc of most all of these stories underscore the profound determination of a few heroic individuals committed to sustain human value and dignity despite unimaginably adverse, demeaning conditions, and threats to life.”
During the discussion, we’ll explore such questions as, for example, in the face of war, oppression, inequality, extreme deprivation and isolation, how do so many maintain their humanity? When confronted by such challenges, what each of us would do to keep the world we want to live in from fading away? How are wounds of prejudice healed? Will the causes of prejudice and hatred ever die? In a world where displacement and removal of peoples from their homelands is commonplace, where does anyone find a sense of belonging, of home?