Our first reader was
quite enthusiastic about How to be Black by Baratunde Thurston because
of the way the book treats serious subjects with humor. Chapters include “How to be the Black
Employee,” “How Black Are You?’ and “Being Black at Harvard.” He also assembled a panel of mostly black
people to answer questions such as “When did you realize you are black?” (There
is one white panelist, by the way.)
She also recommended
Christian Lander’s Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Taste
of Millions. The list included coffee (preferably fair trade, organic, or
both), foreign films, and religions their parents don’t belong to. Our reviewer thought it was laugh out loud
funny.
Switching gears to a
wholly serious topic, the next book was Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death,
and Brain Surgery by Dr. Henry Marsh, an English neurosurgeon. Our reviewer
praised Dr. Marsh for his candor about his mistakes and for remembering he was
human, not a god. She found the British perspective to be very refreshing. It was an easy read overall, but some
sections were very moving. She found the
section about surgery in Ukraine to be very much an eye-opener.
Ghost Army of World War
II
by Rich Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles sheds light on a little known aspect of
World War II: a group of soldiers whose
job it was to convince the German army that there were weapons and encampments
in areas where there were none. They
achieved this with sound effects, inflatable tanks, and a lot of paint. The men were artists, designers, sound
engineers, and generally creative types with the imagination to pull off such
an operation. As might be expected, the
book is heavily illustrated and includes drawings by some of the soldiers—Bill Blass,
Art Kane, Arthur Singers, and others who would later gain fame in some aspect
of the arts. Our readers said it was a fabulous book, both interesting and
involving.
The graphic novel
version of Shirley Jackson’s classic short story “The Lottery” made quite an
impression on our next reviewer. He was
unfamiliar with the story, but found the art was quite mysterious and set the
mood perfectly. Miles Hyman, the artist
and adaptor of the story, is a grandson of Ms. Jackson. Shirley Jackson’s “The
Lottery”: The Authorized Graphic Novel comes highly recommended by
Nevermore.
Finally, The Comfort
of Strangers by Ian McEwan is the story of a young English couple who are
on holiday when they meet an older man who seems to take an interest in
them. He also has some rather odd
stories to tell. . . This is one of McEwan’s earlier efforts—just his second
novel, in fact. Our reviewer described the book as powerful,
intense, and dark. He also noted that
the title is quite ironic.
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