Dear Great Book Guru, I am planning on joining friends next weekend for the Women’s March on Washington. We will be leaving Sea Cliff Saturday at 5:30am and returning late that night. While there will be much talking and some sleeping, I would like to take something along to read.  Any suggestions?

 Marching in Washington

Dear Marching in Washington,  I have a wonderful, thought-provoking, very short book  (160 pages) about two women who also undertake a long journey. It’s ELEVEN HOURS by Pamela Erens.  Lore, a speech therapist, arrives alone in the emergency room of an uptown New York City hospital about to give birth. Franckline is a midwife labor room nurse on call that night.   As the evening and labor progress the two women share with us their life stories.  Lore tells of a painful childhood and a devastating breakup with her longtime lover. Franckline recounts her early fascination and skill as a midwife in Haiti with perceptive insights into her courtship and marriage. At first, the women warily assess one another, but soon a bold intimacy develops.   Their alternating stories create a rhythm that mimics the stages of labor so when  birth comes, we feel as if we have been part of a violent, heroic struggle.  Not a tale for the fainthearted but certainly recommended for most readers!

Another book I read this week that I found fascinating and definitely worthwhile: