This
week, our Nevermore readers started out with a favorite book series by
Alexander McCall Smith: The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café. Continuing the adventures of the No. 1
Ladies’ Detective Agency, Grace Makutsi opens the Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café
in Gaborone, Botswana—and just shortly after she becomes a full partner in the
agency. But creating a business plan is
a far cry from dealing with the daily pressures of restaurant ownership, and
Grace will need all the help she can get.
Our reader was thrilled with her selection. As an ardent fan of McCall Smith’s series,
she was tickled with the continuation of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and
she absolutely loved listening to the audiobook. Her only complaint is that the story seemed
to end too soon, like the characters had so much more to say.
Next,
our readers traveled to Haines, Alaska, in If
You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name by Heather Lende. Lende, a commentator for NPR and journalist,
has spent many years writing the obituaries and social column for her local
newspaper. With her first-hand accounts
of small-town life in rural Alaska, Heather Lende offers keen insight into a
community comprised of aging hippies, quirky neighbors, fishermen and native
Tlingit Indians—among the plethora of wildlife that share their borders. If You
Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name is a sweet story that’s part memoir and part
biography of the author’s tiny hometown—and, according to our reader,
altogether enjoyable and enlightening.
As a traveler, our reader was fascinated by the way Lende was able to
evoke the surrounding landscape of her native Alaska and provide insight into
the way one tiny town managed to survive in an inhospitable, but undeniably
beautiful, wilderness.
Speaking
of wilderness, our Nevermore readers also ventured into the depths of the
American frontier of 1823 in The Revenant
by Michael Punke, which chronicles the life and legacy of Hugh Glass. An experienced frontiersman and trapper for
the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, Glass was often hired as an expert tracker—and
then, one day, he was unexpectedly attacked by a grizzly bear and left for
dead. Abandoned by the other men in his
company, Glass is left alone to survive in a terrifyingly hostile
wilderness. Only one thought keeps him
going: revenge. Based on the remarkable true story of Hugh
Glass, The Revenant is an exciting
tale of survival and desperation that has captivated readers—including our
own—and inspired an Oscar-nominated film.
Our reader was especially excited to pick up Punke’s novel. She thought it was fascinating to how people,
like Hugh Glass, managed to face so much adversity and survive a harsh,
unforgiving landscape. She plans on
seeing the film featuring Leonardo DiCaprio now that she’s finished the book,
and she highly recommends reading the novel before seeing The Revenant in theaters.
Next,
our readers looked at a science fiction classic, Robert A. Heinlen’s Orphans of the Sky. Hugh Hoyland has spent his entire life on the
Ship and, like most, he believes all of creation is contained within the
ship—feed the sacred Converter, fulfill the Creator’s Plan. But Hugh is about to have his entire world
turned upside down when he learns—from the muties (mutated humans who live in
the weaker gravity at the center of their world), no less—that the Ship is in
fact a spaceship, and Hugh must be the one to actually fly it. Our Nevermore reader was intrigued by Heinlein’s
novel, saying he enjoyed Orphans of the
Sky, and he found the entire theology that Hugh and his people have built
around the Ship thoroughly fascinating.
However, he noted that it “plays fast and loose with the details,”
providing only the barest minimum and allowing readers to fill in the gaps for
themselves. It didn’t detract from the
novel, he said, but it sometimes made the story difficult to follow.
Like
Robert A. Heinlein, Margaret Atwood provided an interesting future for our
Nevermore readers to contemplate. In The Heart Goes Last, Stan and Charmaine
are caught up in the middle of a terrifying economic and social collapse. Threatened by gangs and living out of the
trunk of their car, they’re desperate to get back on their feet and find a safe
haven in the midst of chaos. Enter the
Positron Project. Set up in the city of
Consilience, the Positron Project ensures that everyone has a job and everyone
has a comfortable home. There’s just one
catch: six months out of the year,
residents have to spend time in the Positron prison system before they can
return to their civilian homes. Although
Stan and Charmaine are willing to exchange their freedom for safety, they begin
to learn that the Positron Project is more dangerous than they ever
believed. Our reader said Margaret Atwood’s
novel was intensely interesting, but she pointed out that it isn’t exactly a
“happy story.” Although a bit strange
and riddled with an unusual sense of humor, it offers a fascinating—if
terrifying—look at a possible future and it’s definitely worth checking out.
Last,
our Nevermore readers looked at Trailersteading: How to Find, Buy, Retrofit, and Live Large in
a Mobile Home by Anna Hess. A
relative of one our members, Anna Hess provides an insightful look into
homesteading with a twist—reusing a mobile home. The author provides information on affordable
homesteading, tips and tricks to take advantage of low-cost and free housing,
full descriptions of home and outdoor projects, and much more. She profiles thirteen different families,
revealing how they manage to rebuild a home and how they become
self-sufficient. Our reader said the
book was really enjoyable. It’s full of
interesting information and, more importantly, offers projects and
recommendations for the industrious homesteader. She especially liked how the author managed
to look at the stigma that often comes with owning a trailer and turns it on
its head, highlighting the positive aspects (less debt, smaller energy bills,
smaller ecological footprint, etc.) that trailersteading can bring to one’s
life.
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