Random Connect Points:
Reba's Stories

 As a lifelong news nerd, I love reading about the machinations of a newsroom – How do news stories actually get to the front page? Who decides if the tone of a news story is right? When do reporters know when they have gathered enough information to accurately report the truth?   My interest in the news gathering process is what prompted me to pick up “Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life” off the shelf at Litchfield Books recently. The title and cover art could lead a bookstore browser to assume this book is an intriguing work of fiction. However, a quick glance at the dust cover describes real-life backroom stories written by Margaret Sullivan who was the first woman to serve as the public editor at the New York Times and was later media columnist at the Washington Post. Most newspapers in markets the size of South Carolina don’t have a public editor. This is a role many large news organizations have on staff to provide an outsider’s perspective

  “ Our Best Intentions ” by Vibhuti Jain revolves around an Indian immigrant family living in a small, well-to-do New York suburb. The father, Barbur Singh, is raising his teen-aged daughter, Angela, alone after his wife abandons the family when Angela is a young child. With a singleness of focus and a remarkable innocence about the ways of the world, Barbur attempts balancing the grueling schedule of his small business with ensuring Angie has what she needs to succeed in her highly competitive high school swimming career. During summer vacation, Angela stumbles upon a fellow high school student who has been stabbed on the school’s football field. This discovery drops Barbur and Angela squarely into an unfamiliar world of the community’s upper crust shattering their innocence about what’s right and wrong. The book has all the elements of a well-told story. The characters are developed with plenty of subtleties that ultimately converge at the end. Jain touches on many aspects of

(Writer's note: I wrote this review in 2019 shortly after the book came out. The eighth anniversary of the shooting this week-end prompted me to pull out the book again. The podcast mentioned below is still online and is as relevant today as it was when the interview was done in 2019. This book is a must-read for anyone who thinks they might have an understanding of this complex story). Rarely does a book appeal to all my “reading” senses – well written, important message, compelling story and human connections. “Grace Will Lead Us Home” about the shootings at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church is one of them. J ennifer Berry Hawes  wrote the book while a reporter for the Post and Courier and witnessed first-hand many of the details surrounding this tragedy. Currently she writes for ProPublica. When I read writing by an author whose work really grabs me, I like to mark up the pages and go back and read those favorite lines over and over. This book is dog-eared with turned-do

My dream has long been to quit life and join the band. While I’ve taken up music lessons in recent years (see photo at the end), this book allowed me to vicariously live out that dream without the messiness, madness and complexities of doing it in real life. My fascination with the behind-the-scenes intrigues of being in a band played out in every chapter of this book. “ Daisy Jones and the Six ” (2018) by Taylor Jenkins Reid chronicles the rise and fall of a successful ‘70s rock band, The Six, and its lead singer, Daisy Jones. Written in a format that could be called an “oral history,” each chapter is narrated in first person from the various characters’ perspectives. The narrative feels more like an interview than traditional prose. Daisy is a strikingly beautiful and hugely talented young singer who makes her way to the stage in a band called “The Six.” The story weaves through the drama, successes, secrets, failures and personal demons of these seven people, their families and