This week’s Nevermore opened with Uncommon Type,
a collection of short stories by Tom Hanks.
Our reader quite enjoyed the book, noting that it was nice to know Hanks
as more than an actor. He found the
stories to be a mixture of humorous and poignant. He was also impressed by the
array of typewriters owned by the author, photos of which headed each chapter.
Jaycee Dugard was only eleven years old when she was
kidnapped. She was held captive for
eighteen years, during which time she gave birth to two daughters. In her
memoir, A Stolen Life, Dugard described how she was able to cope with
her captivity and abuse, and of the challenges that awaited her after she
finally found freedom. Our reader said
that while the writing wasn’t polished, it was very touching.
The Bedlam Stacks
by Natasha Pulley begins in 1859 England, when a man is challenged to go to
Peru to collect cuttings of plants to bring back for the manufacture of
quinine. Merrick Treymane was an employee of the East India Company before an
injury compelled his early retirement, and he’s not anxious to go where so many
expeditions have failed before. On the other hand, he’s finding the situation
at home to be almost unendurable, so against his better judgment he sets
out. Our reader was quite taken with
this historical fantasy, especially the ending which she found to be moving.
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness
the Dalai Lama may practice different religions but they found a great deal of
common ground in their views on suffering, faith, compassion, and
happiness. In 2015, the two spent
several days together discussing these topics, resulting in The Book of Joy. There are no revolutionary ideas here,
according to our reviewer, but they do describe techniques for developing joy in
your own life.
In The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth, a
seemingly idyllic neighborhood is disturbed when the mysterious Isabelle moves
in. The residents are intrigued by this
lone single woman amid all the families. The reader soon learns that the families have
dark secrets of their own, and that the young woman’s choice to move there was
no whim. Alternating viewpoints,
suspense, and well developed characters made this book a page turner.
Finally, Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour
tells the story of three generations of an Irish American family. Annie is pregnant with her first child when
she becomes a widow. She and the child
are taken in by the Little Sisters of the Sick Poor. From there, the story focuses on
Annie, her daughter Sally, and several of the nuns. Our reader was impressed at how the nuns
remained such strong individual presences in an institution which encourages
conformity, and praised the beautiful writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment