Reported by Meygan
This week’s Nevermore began with a discussion of Kim
Barnes’ A Country Called Home. The
book was recommended because the author is good at setting up coincidences and
the effect of those coincidences. The story takes place in the 1960’s in a
rural town in Idaho. Thomas and his wife Helen seek opportunities in their new
hometown, while Helen hopes to get away from what she knows in Connecticut. The
book’s ending is realistic. As our reader said, “Not everyone gets a
happy ending.” The four main characters are immersed in life and you will be
intrigued by their situations. This book will be available at the library soon.
I
Always Loved You by Robin Olivei interested another
Nevermore reader. It’s a fictional account of Mary Cassatt. American Mary moves
to Paris after the Civil War in hopes of becoming an artist. When her artwork
is rejected, her father begs her to move home and find a husband before it is
too late. She is later introduced to Edgar Degas and from moment her life is
never the same. The book makes readers question, What would have happened to her if she had never met him? and makes
readers think of art as something other than a commodity.
The
Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini is a new novel
that one of our Nevermore readers recently finished. The setting is in
Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War. The reader states that she learned new
facts about the Civil War such as there were approximately 16,400 prisoners in
Richmond during the war. The book is about a Southerner who is for the union
and if that isn’t interesting enough, her sister-in-law is for the Confederacy.
One of our other readers suggested that if she enjoyed The Spymistress then she should read Mary Chestnut’s Diary.
Last week, Charles Frazier’s Nightwoods was mentioned in Nevermore and inspired another
reader to check out the book. Although she is not finished, she is captivated
by what she has read so far.
Our most discussed book was Jo Nesbo’s The Son, a novel about a teenager in
prison who is blamed for crimes that he doesn’t commit just so the Wardens do
not have to investigate. The book is realistic fiction and can be compared to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series
and the Wallander series. The reader
said the plot was good right to the very end and is one of the better “Nordic
crime” books she has read. A Nevermore member stated that she believes most of
Nesbo’s plots are convoluted, but she reader of The Son said she didn’t think she would feel the same way about
this novel because the plot was so good.
Last week’s recommended memoir The World According to Bob by James Bowen was picked up by another
reader. One of our members read it and gave her opinion. We learn that although
Bowen isn’t a saint in the book, we can tell how much he has overcome.
Relocating from Australia to London for his aspirations to become a singer,
Bowen finds himself homeless after his music gig has failed him. He becomes
addicted to drugs, including heroin. The reviewer stated this book is a quick
read and provides an insightful dimension to street life.
The next book was Homer’s Odyssey about a blind kitten that was adopted by Gwen
Cooper. The reader liked this book but felt that the book focused more on the
author than the cats. A Nevermore member stated that she felt the same way
about Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat
Who Touched the World.
Another member is still reading The Trigger by Tim Butcher which tells the story of Garvilo
Princip, the young man who shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, sparking
the First World War. The reader is finding the book difficult to get through
because she wants to get to the facts. (Apparently the author is longwinded.) She
did say that she was interested in the background of the story, so she would
continue to read it until she got her answers. It’s a timely book because this
year marks the 100th anniversary of WWI.
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