Nevermore: Home in a Lunchbox, Meet the Neighbors, Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances

 

Nevermore 5-26-26        Reported by Rita

 

Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo

Cherry Mo's stunning debut is about a young girl who immigrates to America and finds home in an unexpected place. When Jun moves from Hong Kong to America, the only words she knows are hello, thank you , I don’t know , and toilet . Her new school feels foreign and terrifying. But when she opens her lunchbox to find her favorite meals—like bao, dumplings, and bok choy—she realizes home isn’t so far away after all. Through lush art and spare dialogue, Cherry Mo’s breathtakingly beautiful debut picture book reminds readers that friendship and belonging can be found in every bite.

Filled with beautiful illustrations, this book is emotional and powerful.     -HM     5 stars

 

Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World by Brandon Keim

What does the science of animal intelligence mean for how we understand and live with the wild creatures around us? Honeybees deliberate democratically. Rats reflect on the past. Snakes have friends. In recent decades, our understanding of animal cognition has exploded, making it indisputably clear that the cities and landscapes around us are filled with thinking, feeling individuals besides ourselves. But the way we relate to wild animals has yet to catch up. In Meet the Neighbors, acclaimed science journalist Brandon Keim asks: what would it mean to take the minds of other animals seriously? In this wide-ranging, wonder-filled exploration of animals’ inner lives, Keim takes us into courtrooms and wildlife hospitals, under backyard decks and into deserts, to meet anew the wild creatures who populate our communities and the philosophers, rogue pest controllers, ecologists, wildlife doctors, and others who are reimagining our relationships to them. If bats trade favors and groups of swans vote to take off by honking, should we then see them as fellow persons—even members of society? When we come to understand the depths of their pleasures and pains, the richness of their family lives and their histories, what do we owe so-called pests and predators, or animals who are sick or injured? Can thinking of nonhumans as our neighbors help chart a course to a kinder, gentler planet? As Keim suggests, the answers to these questions are central to how we understand not only the rest of the living world, but ourselves. A beguiling invitation to discover an expanded sense of community and kinship beyond our own species, Meet the Neighbors opens our eyes to the world of vibrant intelligence just outside our doors.

Not an easy read - very scientific, but very interesting.      -KM      5 stars

 

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

In a self-running, smart house, a young and sentient Roomba listens as her owner, Harold, reads aloud to his dying wife, Edie. Mesmerized by To Kill a Mockingbird and craving the human connection she witnesses in Harold’s stories, the little vacuum renames herself Scout and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. But when Edie passes away, Scout and her fellow sentient appliances discover that there are sinister forces in their midst. The omnipresent Grid, which monitors every household in the City, seeks to remove Harold from his home, a place he’s lived in for fifty years. With the help of Adrian, a neighborhood boy who grows close to Scout and Harold, as well as Kate, Harold and Edie’s formerly estranged daughter, the humans and the appliances must come together to outwit the all-controlling Grid lest they risk losing everything they hold dear.

 

This book is great - totally unexpected. The story is very layered and well-written. It's cute, fun, curious, well-paced, and profound.    -PP       5 stars

 

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Better Than Fiction by Don George

The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith

Bertie Plays the Blues by Alexander McCall Smith

The Calamity Club by Katherine Stockett

I Could Pee on This: and Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano

I Could Pee on This Too: And More Poems by More Cats by Francesco Marciuliano

Passing by Nella Larsen

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

The Creek, the Crone, and the Crow by Leah Weis

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankal

 

New Books

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankal

Liberty Island by Virginia Hume

Body Electric by Manough Zomorodi

John of John by Douglas Stuart

A Founding Mother by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie

Ghost by Tom Perrotta

A Terrible Intimacy by Melvin Patrick Ely