Nevermore: Death Becomes Them, People of the Abyss, And the Mountains Echoed, The Outsider

 

Reported by Garry

 

Death Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous, and the Notorious by Alix Strauss is an in-depth look at the deaths of several well-known figures. Subjects in this book include Kurt Cobain, Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, Dorothy Dandridge, and many more. Our reader thought the book was a fun look at a terrible subject, and recommends it for anyone looking for more information about how and why these people took their own lives—and their deaths—into their own hands.

 

The People of the Abyss by Jack London is the American author’s personal account of his experiences in the East End of London. London (the author,that is) went undercover for several weeks in 1902—sleeping on the street, in workhouses, and boarding with a poor family to research the deplorable conditions of the London slums. For generations, the East End had been notorious for deep poverty, overcrowding, and associated social problems. Pointing out that half of the children born in the East End at the turn of the century died before their 5^th birthday, our reviewer said that this book was at once the best book of social commentary that she had read, and also the worst, in that it was the most depressing. This book is now considered a classic piece of investigative journalism, and is highly recommended by our reader.

 

And The Mountains Echoed, first published in 2013, is the third novel by the bestselling author of the Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. Nine interwoven stories revolve around the relationship between Afghani brother and sister Abdullah and Pari, and the lives of those around them. Spanning three continents and stretching from the early 1950s into the 2010s, this deeply personal story explores the interconnectedness of family and what we do for and to those we love. Our reader very highly recommends this multi-award winning, bestselling book.

 

Our next Nevermore member says that The Outsider by Stephen King is guaranteed to make your skin crawl. In Flint City, Ohio, an eleven-year-old boy has been sexually assaulted and brutally murdered. Eyewitness testimony, fingerprints, and DNA all shockingly point to Terry Maitland, one of the town’s most outstanding citizens. However, Maitland also has an iron-clad alibi placing him at a distant location at the time of the murder. How could both those things be true? Who actually committed the murder? Our reader liked the way that this book personifies evil as a real, tangible person, not simply “a thing that goes bump in the night,” finding this book to be an excellent and extremely creepy read.

 

Also Mentioned:

 

Lost on a Mountain in Maine by Donn Fendler as told to Joseph B. Egan

Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns

The Oxford Book of American Short Stories 2^nd Edition edited by Joyce Carol Oates

Falling by T.J. Newman

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Secret Sisters by Joy Callaway

That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay

Fatal Intent by Tammy Euliano

Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth by Tony Hiss

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

1984 (Graphic Novel Version) by George Orwell

The Best Of Me by David Sedaris

Martita, I Remember You by Sandra Cisneros

I Couldn’t Love You More by Esther Freud

Hot August Books!

Summer always brings out a slew of highly anticipated books. Here’s a list of the most requested titles at Main & Avoca:

17. Zero Hour:  A Novel from the Numa Files by Clive Cussler has Austin and the team on the trail of a scientist who has invented a machine to tap into “zero point energy”—un unlimited energy supply.  There’s just one small problem:  it also causes massive earthquakes.

16. W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton is the newest entry in the Kinsey Milhorn series.

15. Unseen by Karin Slaughter follows Will Trent as he goes undercover to infiltrate a drug and prostitution ring, while girlfriend Sara Linton deals with the shooting of her stepson.

14. Tell Me is the latest romantic suspense novel by Lisa Jackson. True crime author Nikki Gilette finds a story close to home when the woman convicted of killing Nikki’s childhood friend is freed from prison after a witness recants his story.  Eager to know the truth, Nikki starts asking questions but soon finds that someone is keeping her from finding answers.

13. Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky tells the story of two former childhood friends who reunite to write a cookbook, but secrets from the past may come between them. Delinsky is known for her stories of romance, friendship, and vivid New England settings.

12. Second Watch by J.A. Jance is the newest entry in her J.P. Beaumont series. Beaumont is having knee replacement surgery and begins dreaming of a cold case and his time in Vietnam.

11.The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first book for adults in several years, even though I’d argue that Gaiman’s “children’s books” are books anyone can enjoy.  A middle-aged man returns to the place where he grew up, triggering a memory of an event that nearly destroyed his world.  The reviews are glowing!

10. Never Go Back is the title of the new Lee Child novel, and from the plot description it sounds as if it’s advice Jack Reacher should have taken.  Instead, he’s back at the HQ of his old unit where he finds his contact in the brig and Reacher is accused of a crime committed 16 years earlier.

 9. James Patterson and David Ellis have re-teamed for Mistress, a standalone novel about a man who becomes obsessed with finding the person who murdered a woman outside her apartment.

8. Hunting Eve, the second in Iris Johansen’s new trilogy, is on the August hot list.  The final book, Silencing Eve, is scheduled for October and will probably be on that month’s hot list as well!

7. The Highway, a thriller by C.J. Box, is described as both harrowing and riveting.  When two sisters go missing in a remote section of Montana, former policeman Cody Hoyt sets out to see if he can find them—and maybe find some redemption for himself.

6. Duck Dynasty fans are lining up to read Happy, Happy, Happy:  My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander by Phil Robertson.

5. First Sight by Danielle Steel has glamorous locales, high fashion, and romance, so no wonder it’s doing quite well on the list.

4. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith jumped onto our lists after “Robert” was revealed to be J.K. Rowling.  Private investigator Cormoran Strike is asked to investigate the apparent suicide of a supermodel.

3. Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs has forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan investigating deaths in Afghanistan and in North Carolina.

2. Bone Tree by Greg Iles

And the most requested book is: 

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini, which is another stunning novel by the author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.This story is set in Afghanistan, where a father has to make a heartbreaking decision about one of his children.  The decision and its consequences plays out over the years, retold in a series of stories.