Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

On Monday, March 4th, the Booked for the Day Book Group met to discuss, Nomadland by Jessica Bruder.  Here are a few things we discussed during the meeting:

• Most of the group, even though it is a sad story, were glad they read Nomadland. We discovered an entire world we knew nothing about.
• In reading this we also discovered that our amusement parks, produce, campsites, and our packages from Amazon depend greatly on seniors who were hit hard during the 2008 financial crisis. This new, low-cost labor pool are picking beets, cleaning toilets in campgrounds, and working 12-hour shifts at Amazon’s warehouses.
• We talked about that life style being tough on people in their sixties. Even more so for people in their seventies and eighties. The shocking part, a few candidly declared that when they could no longer work, they would commit suicide somewhere out in the desert.
• One of our members pointed out that Bob Wells of Cheap RV Living who promotes Van living, “Welcome to the Best Times of Your Life” has on his blog promotions for Amazon, “I recommend RENOGY SOLAR COMPLETE KITS from Amazon.”
• The main subject in the book, Linda May, her dream is to build an Earthship on the land she bought and live out her final days there. And then another character in the book, who wanted to remain nameless, is offered a full time job at Amazon and quickly grabs it so he could find a home to rent and get his teeth fixed. These stories seems to contradict the idea that van life is the Best Times of Your Life.

Brian also sent an email:  A summary of a upcoming Denver Ballot item that my cousin shared. 

Specifically: "They have a referendum on the May Denver ballot that would allow the homeless to camp and/or park in any Denver owned property, including parks of course, for however long they want. It's just not feasible and really not fair to everyone else. We definitely need more affordable housing here in Denver but then again not every homeless person wants to live in a shelter/home...a sad problem indeed..."

These are just a few things mentioned during the discussion. Please feel free to add any of your thoughts in the comment section.