Book Club- They Called Us Enemy

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Our latest book club read was They Called Us Enemy by George Takei.  It’s actually a graphic novel, the first one we’ve read in this book club and I think the first one I’ve ever read.  After this one I am excited to read more and am also glad we opened up to another medium in book club. 

It was exceptional book!  All of the art was in black and white and was quite striking.  For the most part, it is the story of George Take and his family in internment camps during WWII.  I liked the book for many reasons, but one was that I felt like I learned a lot.  The other ladies felt this way too.  We had a whole discussion about how many of them hadn’t even learned about the internment camps until college.  I am the only member originally from the PNW and I was surprised didn’t learn more than a tiny bit in school about them, especially considering many of them were on the west coast. 

I also gained even more appreciation for George Takei while reading this book.  He’s used his celebrity and talent to help others and has educated many on this horrible time in our country’s history.  The book also did a good job of pointing out ways we are in danger of making the mistakes today that we did back then. 

I would highly recommend this book to anyone!  It’s fantastic as a graphic novel, with wonderful art and an interesting and heartfelt story.  It’s also great for anyone who wants a personal perspective on what happened in the internment camps and of course it’s great for anyone who wants to know more about George Takei.  After reading this, I really want to read his autobiography, To The Stars. 

Since we met virtually on Skype, I don’t have a menu to share.  I thought it would be fun to show you how it looked, though.  We all sent each other a photo of our setups too, so it was fun to see everyone’s surroundings.

 

One of the ladies was drinking Naturdays Strawberry Lemonade light beer that one of the other ladies recommended.  They both said it was quite tasty, so I figured I’d see if I could track it down.  I did and they are tasty.  It’s a light beer with the hint of strawberry lemonade flavor, almost like a light shandy.  Betsy was right when she called it a “porch pounder”.  This would be a great beer for summer at a BBQ (whenever we can all get the hell out again, ugh!).  A 6-pack at the grocery was only about $6, so they certainly won’t break the bank either.

 

Our next book is The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar.  As always, you can check out my Book Club board on Pinterest to see what else we’ve read and see my previous Book Club posts.

Stay safe everyone!