Nevermore: Sinclair Lewis, Trinity, Fatal, Lafayette, Lessons for Living, and The Brain

Reported by Ambrea

Nevermore started our meeting off with a review of It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis.  Written during the Great Depression, It Can’t Happen Here is a political satire about, as the cover states, “a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press.”  Shocking and unexpectedly timely, It Can’t Happen Here proved to be a hit for Nevermore.  Our reader enjoyed Lewis’ novel immensely.  She noted it was incredibly well written with such an amazing story, but she said she also found it surprisingly predictive.  Despite its age, she thought It Can Never Happen Here could happen at any place at any time.

Next, Nevermore took a look at Trinity:  A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm.  An interesting and gripping debut, Trinity recounts the history of the atomic bomb from its inception in a laboratory to its eventual detonation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.  Our reader said he found Trinity incredibly interesting.  “You get the whole process [of the construction of the bomb],” he told his fellow members.  Most notably, Fetter-Vorm’s debut documents both the history and the science of the atomic bomb.  It doesn’t just focus on its implications in WWII; rather, it looks at the wider reaching effects on the rest of the world and delves in deep to the tiniest details, like how silver from Fort Knox was used to help build the original bomb and how scientists eventually picked Los Alamos for their original experiment.

Nevermore also shared Fatal by John Lescroart, a thrilling and terrifying story of an innocent crush turning into a dangerous obsession.  Kate and her husband, Ron, have a perfect life:  a wonderful marriage, lovely children, and a beautiful home in San Francisco.  But when Kate meets Peter, her perfect world starts to fray at the edges—and one mistake has graver consequences than she ever anticipated.  Our reader said Fatal was a dark, ambiguous story that he couldn’t put down.  He described the story as a bit like “chasing rainbows,” in that it always left him guessing and striving to catch the thread of the narrative.  “And the ending is quite surprising,” he said.

Switching gears back to nonfiction, Nevermore explored The Brain That Changes Itself:  Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge.  Not so very long ago, The Brain’s Way of Healing:  Remarkable Discoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity made the rounds at Nevermore; this month, Doidge made a triumphant return with his first book.  In The Brain That Changes Itself, Doidge discusses the ability of the brain to change as the title suggests.  Each chapter is dedicated to a specific scientist or researcher in neuroscience, offering interesting insight into neuroplasticity and human nature.  Our reader said she was fascinated by Doidge’s book.  She noted it was not an easy read, admitting it’s “rather dense,” but she said it was a fascinating look at science and human kind’s ability to recover, adapt, and change.

Next, Nevermore dived into history with a look at Sarah Vowell’s Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.  Vowell’s book chronicles the career of General Lafayette as he spent years helping Washington build up, supply, and protect his Revolutionary army, as well as offers an amusing glimpse into the relationships and experiences of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Cornwallis, and Benjamin Franklin.  Incredibly funny, irreverent, and witty, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States was an immediate hit.  As a fan of Vowell’s other work—Assassination Vacation and The Partly Cloudy Patriot—our reader had high praise for her latest book.  She highly recommended Lafayette in the Somewhat United States; in fact, our reader said, “I recommend [Vowell] any time, [because she’s] always historical and hysterical.”

Last, but certainly not least, Nevermore checked out 30 Lessons for Living:  Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans by Karl Pillemer.  After meeting an extraordinary ninety-year-old woman, Pillemer began a quest to uncover what it is that older people know about life that, well, most of us don’t.  Pillemer interviewed more than a thousand Americans over sixty-five, collecting some of the most interesting, funniest, and poignant quotes about life and love and age.  Our reader really enjoyed 30 Lessons for Living, saying it was such an uplifting book.  It contained a multitude of wise quotes, offering an overwhelmingly optimistic look at life.  She highly recommended it, noting she wished she’d had such advice 20 years ago.

Nevermore: JFK, Beloved Poison, Donner Party, Fatal, Watcher, Silva

 Reported by Kristin

Our first Nevermore reader was moved by the story of peace-seeking President Kennedy in To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace by Jeffrey D. Sachs.  In communications with Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev, JFK sought to reduce the threat of catastrophic war.  The two world leaders wrote letter back and forth about how to achieve the goal of peace, and those letters were revealed decades later.  JFK had served in the military during World War II, and did not trust that military forces would not lose control if there was an escalation of the Cold War.  Our reader found this a detailed history of cooler heads prevailing, however briefly, in a potentially dangerous time.

A different although rather dangerous time to be alive was described in Beloved Poison by E. S. Thomson.  Following her father into the family business, Jem Flockhart dresses as a man in order to serve as an apothecary in a dismal 1850’s London hospital.  Although a murder mystery, the main force moving the storyline forward is the richly described setting.  Our reader said that the descriptions of the filth in the town and the medical treatments were just horrifying.

Continuing in fiction, our next reader enjoyed some lighter fare with The Messenger by Daniel Silva.  Israeli art restorer and spymaster Gabriel Allon is in the thick of things again.  In this installment, jihadists make an attempt on the Pope Paul VII’s life.  Allon attempts to plant art expert Sarah Bancroft into a Saudi organization in order to have someone on the inside.  Serious as the fictional events may be, our reader enjoyed the story as “mind bubblegum,” that is, not mentally taxing.

The Watcher by Ross Armstrong features Lily, a young woman who seemingly is watching birds, but actually does much more neighbor watching instead.  When an elderly neighbor is found dead, Lily cannot resist becoming involved, perhaps to her own detriment.  Our reader didn’t necessarily like the book, as it was difficult to know what Lily was actually observing and what may have been happening only in her own mind.

Turning back to non-fiction, our next reader read The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny by Michael Wallis.  A thorough history of the ill-fated pioneers, this volume lists every name and tells who they were and what happened to them.  With a lot of detail and emphasis on the idea that God had brought them to that land and it was their destiny to go west, this was a book that our reader appreciated for its historic detail.

Finally, Fatal by John Lescroart is a tale of San Francisco Bay area attorneys who seem to have it all—beautiful homes, wine tastings in Napa, perfect spouses—except that after a one night stand, someone ends up dead.  Our reader found this to be a compelling book that could be read in a day.  Also, although this is a standalone novel, our reader believed that it was very open ended, perhaps leaving room for a sequel.