Nevermore: Tami Hoag, Pat Conroy, Sharyn McCrumb and more!

Nevermore opened with praise for Tami Hoag’s novel The 9th Girl, a thriller about a serial killer whose victims are adolescents.   Detectives Nikki Liska and Sam Kovac are faced with trying to identify his latest victim, a girl whose body was found on New Year’s Eve.  Hoag balances the characters’ home lives with the case, and shows a shrewd understanding of high school culture and the role social media plays in the lives of young people—not to mention that this is an extremely well done thriller.  Our reviewer praised the strong characterization and commented that while Hoag isn’t an author that’s usually at the top of the list, this book was very good indeed.  Other reviewers have said that this is one of Hoag’s best.

The next book up was The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy.  Most of Conroy’s fiction is thinly disguised autobiography, but this nonfiction book is very open about its sources: Conroy’s real family.  The book concentrates on the last few years of Conroy’s father, the model for the father of The Great Santini.  Our reviewer said that some sequences bordered on the fantastical, but felt Conroy was trying to tell the story as honestly as he could. He pulls no punches in the telling, either.  All his siblings were strongly influenced by their father, but the reactions to his domineering ways were varied.  The verdict was that this wasn’t a book that she enjoyed as much as some, but it was worth reading.

Innocence by Dean Koontz had been picked up by another reader who felt that parts of it were excellent.  He read a thought-provoking selection but then added that for him the ending fell flat, which was sad in a book that had so much promise.

Two series were recommended without a great deal of in-depth comment.  Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs was praised as a World War I era detective novel series, one that might surprise you with a woman as the private investigator.  The other series applauded was by Oliver Pötzsch, set in Germany in the 1600’s about a man who carries on the familial tradition of being an executioner.  In that time, executioners performed a necessary duty but were shunned by society.  The series contains four books, beginning with The Hangman’s Daughter.

Finally, King’s Mountain by Sharyn McCrumb was brought to the table once again.  With a nod to the local history of the North Carolina/Tennessee area, McCrumb writes novels that are a great blend of fiction and history.  Set during the American Revolution, this is a story of the Carolina Overmountain Men and their commander John Sevier.

Nevermore: John Green, Dave Eggers, Michael Connelly, R.B. Chesterton, Upton Sinclair, & even more!

Nevermore June 10, 2014

Reported by Kristin

The Nevermore table was full today but there is always room for more; newcomers are welcome!

With the newly released movie The Fault in our Stars (based on the book by John Green,) Jud brought up an interview that he had read about Green.  One of Green’s first jobs was at Booklist, and they recently had an article interviewing some of his former co-workers and supervisors.  Evidently Green was a bit scattered as an employee.  Nevertheless, his unique way of marketing his books and interacting with his fans has drawn quite a bit of attention.  In 2007, brothers John and Hank Green, tired of text communication, launched a project where they communicated with each other by video blog every week.  Now known as the VlogBrothers, their fans are known as Nerdfighters.  Collectively, Nerdfighteria embraces the concept of being different, and promotes doing positive things in the world.  Along with their 2,137,240 youtube subscribers, Jud is enthralled by the Green phenomenon.  (In the couple of minutes it took me to watch the latest VlogBrothers video, the numbers of subscribers to their youtube channel went up to 2,137,280.)

The first book up for discussion was Upton Sinclair by Lauren Coodley.  Perhaps most famous for writing The Jungle in 1906 about the meat-packing industry, Sinclair wrote about social issues that came to his attention.  Prohibition, labor, and quality food for a healthy life were but a few of the issues for which Sinclair cared about passionately.  Additionally, this is the first biography on Sinclair written by a woman, providing a different perspective on the author and activist so concerned with fairness and equality.  Sinclair may have fallen out of style in the United States, but is very well respected as an American author in other countries.

Next up was Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas by Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker.  This entire book is made of essays on different topics which are related to maps of New Orleans.  Some examples:  Map of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.  Important places in the banana industry.  Importance of bass instruments in New Orleans.  Hurricane Katrina—what stayed up and what fell down.  This book sparked a huge discussion on the good and bad in New Orleans, including tourism, crime, water, and how they manage burial of bodies.  This book was praised as very compelling.  A similar publication exists for San Francisco: Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, also by Rebecca Solnit.

Our next reader praised Michael Connelly’s new book The Gods of Guilt.  A follow up to the earlier novel Lincoln Lawyer, criminal defense lawyer Mickey Haller continues to run his office from the back seat of a limousine.  This outing has Mickey in the middle of a murder case with a prostitute as the victim, one who was his own client years ago.  Our reader says that Michael Connelly is an excellent author.

A few different readers have read or are about to read The Seeker by R. B. Chesterton.  Recently reviewed by Jeanne here, this is a novel that keeps the reader guessing to the very end, and perhaps even beyond.  Aine Cahill is a doctoral student, researching Henry David Thoreau and hoping to discover clues to expand the scholarship around his two years at Walden Pond.  Nevermore readers are appreciating the many layers involved in this complex story of a young woman, her family history, and something that may or may not be lurking in the woods.

Another reader promoted the library gift shop once again.  She recently picked up My Antonia by Willa Cather for 50 cents, and after thoroughly enjoying the classic has re-donated the book to further benefit the library.

Our next reader has enjoyed Innocence by Dean Koontz.  Addison Goodheart avoids people, knowing that his appearance would be frightening.  He can see “ghosts” that other people cannot, called fogs and clears.  This is a very different kind of fantasy book, perhaps a fairy tale, or a murder mystery, or a horror story, or a love story.  Our reader was rather intrigued, although he did point out that the book had a very strange ending.

Last mentioned was What is the What by Dave Eggers.  The novel is based on Valentino Achak Deng who was forced to leave his Sudanese village at age seven.  Separated from his family, he and the thousands of other children, the “Lost Boys”, endured great difficulties as they were marched for hundreds of miles to refugee camps.  Our reader thought that the story was great, but the writing was a little boring.  He said he couldn’t believe the author had taken this incredible story and made it “ho-hum”.

The Nevermore Book Club meets every Tuesday at 11:00 am in the Frances E. Kegley Meeting Room, with doughnuts courtesy of the Blackbird Bakery!

Nevermore: Star of Istanbul, Innocence, Citizen Canine, and Lines of Descent

Our Nevermore members are never shy about voicing opinions.  At this week’s meeting, one member proclaimed The Star of Istanbul by Robert Olen Butler to be the least thrilling thriller she’d ever read.  Set in 1915, the book features war correspondent/spy Christopher Marlowe Cobb who is now on the Lusitania.  His assignment is to keep an eye on a suspicious German, but he finds he also has eyes for actress Selene—who may also be working for the Germans.  The book has been praised for its attention to historical detail while bringing in some derring do.  Our reader thought it was more derring don’t. 

On the other hand, a member had nothing but praise for Dean Koontz’s Innocence. Addison Goodheart’s appearance is deemed so horrific that he has chosen to live hidden away in some large city.  He meets Gwyneth, a teenage girl being stalked by a man who may have murdered her father.  Our reviewer found the book to be beautifully written and poetic.  She highly recommends it.

Another highly recommended book is Citizen Canine by David Grimm, an examination of how the relationship between humans and their companion animals has evolved.  At first mere dogs and cats were too inconsequential to be considered property; that designation was reserved for horses, cows, or other useful creatures.  Now, however, the importance of companion animals is recognized to the point where some consider them family members and court cases are fought over custody.  Grimm discusses the history of humans and their animals in this very readable, fascinating book. Our reviewer said it was a “great book” and that it made her want to “just sit and read.”

The final book discussed was Lines of Descent:  W.E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah.  Appiah examines how Du Bois’ experiences in America and in German helped to shape his thinking. Du Bois attended Harvard University and studied with William James, and then in 1892 he went to Germany where he studied with German intellectuals.  Du Bois rejected the idea that race was a strict biological construct and believed that culture, racism, and social conditions were more dominant factors.  Appiah quotes him as saying, “The black man is a person who must ride ‘Jim Crow’ in Georgia.”  Du Bois struggled to define race, much as we still struggle today, and many of his writings have helped to shape the on-going discussion. Our reviewer said that it was a slim book—only 240 pages—but had much food for thought.  He intended to re-read it.