Nevermore: Haywood Smith, Neil Gaiman, & Paulo C

As we’ve said before, the folks of Nevermore read widely.  Here are some of the fiction books they’ve discussed recently:

Haywood Smith is back with another laugh out loud book about the problems of folks of a certain age. In Out of Warranty, recent widow Cassie is struggling with the sudden loss of both her husband and her health insurance.  She’s been told her illness is psychosomatic, but when a diagnosis is finally made she has no way of paying for treatment and the bills are mounting rapidly.  Cassie decides she needs to find a new husband with insurance, but where does one meet such a man these days?  While waiting at the doctor’s office for the umpteenth time, she meets Jack, a curmudgeonly recluse who agrees to help her set up an online dating account.  The book takes on real life problems with humor and the main character, Cassie, is one most people can relate to.  Our reader enjoyed it.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman was a bit of a challenge for our Nevermore reviewer.  The premise is that the Old Gods—the Norse gods, the Celtic, etc.—traveled to the New World from the Old World, brought over by the immigrants.  The problem is that they’re weakening as their believers dwindle so they decide the only way they can regain their power is to take on the gods of the New World in epic battle. Who are these new gods?  Well, they’re sort of the soul of America, from outlandish roadside attractions to the latest and greatest in personal technology or finance. Our reviewer said he found it unbelievable but compelling.  He wasn’t quite sure where the author was going because the story seemed to go all over the place and yet at the end he could see it had all been well planned and executed.  He says he’s glad he read it so I’ll take that as a recommendation.

Several Nevermore readers are fans of Paulo Coelho and were looking forward to his latest, Manuscript Found in Accra.  Our reader was disappointed.  While Coelho’s writing was as lovely as ever and the ideas /philosophies beautifully expressed, this book doesn’t have much in the way of a narrative structure.  The premise has a group of people under siege who go to a wise man for answers.  They ask a series of questions and he replies.  The result, while interesting, didn’t carry the power of some of Coelho’s other works, such as The Alchemist.

The Nevermore Book Club meets every Tuesday at 11:00 am in the Frances E. Kegley Conference Room. Enjoy coffee and doughnuts courtesy of Blackbird Bakery while hearing about some good books!