Reported by Jeanne
Although Player Piano came out in 1952, our reader
found this Kurt Vonnegut debut novel to be quite timely. The setting is
sometime in the future, following a third world war, in which engineers have
created a world so mechanized that there is little employment for the lower
classes. The result is a population
without any purpose. They spy on each
other and are generally miserable. The
former working class people are seen as less than human. The novel is a bit slow, but quite relevant
with its message that people need meaningful work to do.
The next up was Queen Victoria, inspired by the PBS
series. One member brought in a copy of Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen by
Helen Rappaport. The book is billed as a
companion to the TV series, including a look at Victoria’s letters and diaries
to portray her personal life. The book
was deemed quite enjoyable and our reader is looking forward to the novel Victoria
by Daisy Goodwin, who wrote the screenplay for the series.
Trials of the Earth
by Mary Hamilton is the memoir of a female pioneer in the Mississippi
Delta. It was originally written in the
1930s but was only published in 2016.
Hamilton writes vividly of the hardships she endured: floods, tornados,
bears, panthers, and fire. Married to an
Englishman who refused to talk about his past, Hamilton moved with her family
from place to place as they tried to eke out a living. There were boarding houses and lumber camps,
births and deaths, all recorded in her diary.
Our reviewer found it both moving and “terribly true.”
Some books really make the rounds in Nevermore,
inspiring much discussion. The
Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom is one such book. According to this week’s reader, the most
important principle is power. Life is determined by a “pecking order,” be it
chickens or humans, meaning that individuals strive for status inside the order. Violence is part of the natural order in both
humans and animals. Our readers have
been divided about the book, but all agree it is thought-provoking.
Another book several readers have recommended is The
Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria.
This isn’t a doom and gloom book about the demise of the United States,
but an acknowledgement that other countries are gaining influence and power in
the world. Overall, it’s an optimistic
view; Zakaria believes the U.S. can survive and even thrive, but only if the
country can recognize that change is coming and respond accordingly.
Finally, The Pope of Physics by Gino Segre is
a biography of Enrico Fermi, one of the creators of the nuclear age. Fermi won
the Nobel Prize in physics in 1938 at the age of 37 but instead of returning
home to Italy after the ceremony in Stockholm, he and his family went to New
York instead, thus escaping Mussolini’s regime.
Fermi’s wife was Jewish and he had already seen Jewish colleagues and
students suffer under the new laws. Even so, the Italian scientist was regarded
with a great deal of skepticism by the FBI who suspected him of fascist
leanings. Our reader said the book was
very good, but it wasn’t a favorite.
I will be curious to hear your reader's thoughts on Daisy Goodwin's "Victoria." I absolutely adored her previous two historicals, "The Fortune Hunter" and "The American Heiress," but found "Victoria" oddly thin. It read like a treatment for a TV show - which I guess it was! But less satisfying as a novel.
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