Nevermore kicked off with a flurry of non-fiction—beginning
with How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan
Ellenberg. The author writes about how
the threads of mathematics are woven through everything we do, and how learning
to think differently can help us understand the world around us. From wartime airplane design to the 2000
United States Presidential election, mathematical thinking can help us navigate
through our everyday lives.
Next up was Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire by Paul
Sorrentino. Crane died from tuberculosis
at the young age of 28 having already written five novels. He was a very controversial individual. When he intervened in the arrest of a
prostitute, the subsequent investigation exposed information about his own life
and ruined his personal reputation.
The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to
War by Tim Butcher was touted as an excellent book that
helps make complex Balkan history much more understandable. The author sets out to follow the life path
of 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and thus
set in motion World War I. Our readers
shared their observations of how national identities and religious affiliations
have long been mixed up in this area of the world.
Back on the home front, Gettysburg: The Last Invasion by
Allen C. Guelzo was promoted as an interesting point of view on a familiar
subject. Illuminating what was happening
in the surrounding area of Pennsylvania at the time of the famous Civil War
battle, this volume debates various aspects of well-known military history.
Another reader mentioned Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo. She says this is the most complicated murder
mystery she has read in years. The
second in the Inspector Harry Hole series, when the Norwegian ambassador to
Thailand is murdered, our hero has his hands full investigating the many hidden
layers of the case. This Nordic noir
novel takes Harry through the red-light district of Bangkok.
The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier was promoted as an
Elizabeth Peters-like tale of archeological discovery. Diana Morgan is an Oxford lecturer who
believes the Amazons really did exist, although she doesn’t dare share that
with her colleagues. When a strange man
offers her a chance to find the truth about the Amazons’ role in Greek
mythology, (not to mention what happened to her grandmother,) Diana knows that
she must accept.
Finally in fiction, First Meetings by Orson Scott Card was
very briefly enjoyed by a reader, as the collection of short stories is, well,
rather brief. Set in the Enderverse,
first encounters with various characters are recounted in this collection.
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