Reported
by Ambrea
Nevermore
decided to explore Dinner with
Churchill: Policy Making at the Dinner
Table by Cita Stelzer. Insightful
and interesting, Dinner with Churchill
offered a fascinating—and rather entertaining—glimpse of Churchill as both a
leader and an unexpectedly brilliant conversationalist. Churchill, a connoisseur of fine dining and
fine cigars, often used the dinner table as a platform for his policies and a
means of meeting lawmakers, diplomats, and more. Our reader said she enjoyed reading Stelzer’s
book, noting it offered a different viewpoint of one of Britain’s more notable
Prime Ministers. “I always enjoy hearing
about history from another source,” she told her fellow readers. And she liked that Stelzer was thorough in
her research, pointing out that the author even included dinner menus from
notable dinner parties.
Next,
Nevermore plunged into the debut novel Idaho
by Emily Ruskovich. Ann and Wade live in
northern Idaho, carving out a home for themselves in the rugged landscape;
however, with Wade’s memory slowly fading, Ann makes one last attempt to put
together her husband’s distant past—and discover what happened to his first
wife. Our reader said she was intrigued
by Idaho. As a native of the state, she was curious to
see how the author handled a complex psychological story set and how Ruskovich
would depict the setting. When asked if
she liked it, our reader responded that she “absolutely liked it.” Although time feels a bit jumbled, hopping
back and forth from past to present, she noted it was very well written. “I was very happy to be introduced to this
[new] author,” she said.
Nevermore
also revisited Kate Atkinson’s A God in
Ruins, which tells the story of Teddy Todd as he endures World War II and
ultimately survives to see a future he didn’t expect to see. A perennial favorite among previous readers, A God in Ruins once more received high
marks for its intricacy and intensity.
Both touching and unexpectedly heart-wrenching, A God in Ruins was a powerful introduction for our reader who
hadn’t yet had the chance to read Atkinson.
She noted Atkinson’s novel was full of great descriptions and possessed
of an incredible story, containing scenes that were “seared into my soul.”
Dipping
back into historical fiction, Nevermore shared another new book: The
Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve.
During the fall of 1947, the coast of Maine is plagued by fires. Soon, properties and homes from Bar Harbor to
Kittery are burning as the fires rage out of control—and Grace Holland’s home
is caught the flames. Five months
pregnant and desperate to protect her two children, Grace and her best friend
Rosie, along with her children, are forced from their homes and spend the night
sheltering in a frigid ocean to survive.
Suddenly penniless and homeless, Grace is faced with an uncertain future
in a town that no longer exists—and an unexpected sense of freedom. After finishing Shreve’s novel, our reader
gave The Stars Are Fire a solid “B
rating.” Although she found the story
haunting and the characters interesting, she noted that it seemed a bit
unreal. She labeled it as “not bad, but
not great,” recommending it to her fellow readers who enjoy historical fiction
with a personal narrative.
Last,
Nevermore took a look at The Longest
Walk: An Odyssey of the Human Spirit
by George Meegan. Written during the
1970s, The Longest Walk tells the
story of George Meegan, who set off across the Americas—from the southernmost
tip of South America to the Arctic Ocean at the continents’ northern
reaches—for a walk that lasted for seven years and more than 19,000 miles. Our reader, who enjoys reading of others’
traveling and hiking experiences, said she found Meegan’s memoir absolutely
fascinating. She loved reading about his
travels across two continents and she loved hearing about both the exotic and
the familiar locales he visited. She was
especially intrigued by the chapters that brought him to North Carolina, noting
it was interesting to see his experiences in the states with which she was
familiar.
No comments:
Post a Comment