Nevermore: Same Sun Here, Ghost Cat, Outside

 

Nevermore 10-15-24 Reported by Rita

Same Sun Here by Silas House

Bonding over commonalities in spite of disparate backgrounds, Meena, an Indian immigrant living in New York City's Chinatown, and River, the son of a Kentucky coal miner, become pen pals and overcome cultural misconceptions while sharing respective hardships.

This book is so good. Very enlightening.   – DC     5 stars

 

The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard

Follows a cat through his nine lives in Edinburgh, moving through the ever-changing city and its inhabitants over centuries.

Not a real literary feat, but fun and cute.    – VC     2 stars

 

Outside by Ragnar Jonasson

Stranded by a snowstorm in the Icelandic highlands, four friends seek shelter in an abandoned hunting lodge where they discover they are not alone, and must come to terms with their past to survive to see their future.

Very similar to Agatha Christie. Really good with a surprise ending.     – NH    5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Southernmost: a Novel by Silas  House

 Restless Spirits by Linda Dunning

Spirit Tailings by Ellen Baumler

The Lightness of Water & Other Stories by Rhonda Browning White

A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: a Mostly Serious Guide to Surviving Our Wild Times by Athena Aktipis

Roctogenarians by Mo Rocca

Blue-Eyed Butterfly by Sharon  Suskin

Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Story Collector by Evie Woods

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Ishida Syou

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams

 

New Books

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam

Guilty Creatures by Mikita Brottman

Nevermore: Jonasson, Center, Patchett, Larson, Gordon, Hoffman, Honeyman

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore began our weekly Zoom meeting with The Island by Ragnar Jonasson, the second in the Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir series after The Darkness. Jonasson did not disappoint, as a group of four friends go to a remote Icelandic island for a weekend, but only three of them come back. Our reader was especially impressed by the stellar descriptions of the countryside, and found the writing thrilling and atmospheric.

Katherine Center’s novel What You Wish For features Samantha, a school librarian who has a history with the new school principal. Duncan used to be an easygoing administrator, but now he has turned into a tough guy. Our reader said that it was a very easy, light read, which was rather mindless but very fun.

Our next reader says that every time she finishes a book she likes to ask herself what she learned. In the case of The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, for this particular reader, the answer was “absolutely nothing.” Although it was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize and a New York Times bestseller, this epic story set over five decades simply did not speak to her. About the Conroy family who built a real estate empire after World War II, the characters go from poverty to wealth and back again over the generations. Our reader felt that the people were shallow and selfish, and she moved on to her next book.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson tells the story of William Dodd, American ambassador to Germany in the early 1930s. Dodd brings his wife and children along to his post, and his daughter Martha is all too enthralled with the charming young men of the Nazi party. Hitler kept taking more and more liberties in his reach for power, and over time established a precedent that this was acceptable. Our reader highly recommended this as a snapshot of history, and as a cautionary tale in today’s politics.

Several book club members have been reading the Cole Trilogy by Noah Gordon, starting with the first book, The Physician. Set in the 11^th century, an orphan boy is sold as a slave, but ends up apprenticed to a barber-surgeon. The boy wants to be a healer, and eventually makes his way into a Persian medical school. Our reader said that she is loving Gordon’s incredible writing voice, and that she can see, smell, touch, and viscerally sense everything that is happening in the series.

Another reader picked up Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman, a beautiful novel that follows the families who live in a farmhouse on Cape Cod over two centuries. Full of relationships, the stories told are somehow mystical, with symbolic white blackbirds appearing throughout the book. Our reader enjoyed it very much, and recommended it to others.

Finally, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman came back to the virtual table. As our reader commented, obviously, she is not fine. Eleanor is a young woman working in an office, and from her lack of social skills and self-isolation, it soon becomes very apparent that her mother’s cruel treatment stunted her emotionally. An arc of events forces Eleanor to interact more with her community, although she goes kicking and screaming (metaphorically) all the way. Our reader called this a lovely book, and said that Eleanor puts such care into making such bad decisions and she (the reader) relates to that.

Nevermore: Mist, Late Migrations, No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled, Lost German Slave Girl, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Claiming Ground

Reported by Laura

          Nevermore has been meeting through Zoom and it is a great pleasure to see these lovely lady’s faces each week during this difficult time in our country. 

          Our first book came highly recommended -- as a matter of fact, I immediately put a hold on it so I could read it, too!  The Mist by Ragnar Jonasson is set in Iceland during one of the coldest days of the year. It’s Christmas Eve and a couple are busily preparing for their traditional celebration. Living in the middle of nowhere with snow up to the roof, a knock on the door is highly unexpected. As the husband opens the door, a man falls into the room. The husband helps him up and welcomes him in, but the wife gets a bad feeling. The man has already passed her daughter’s house to come to theirs. Neither has phone or electricity at present, but she knows her daughter has candles in the window. Why did he fight the storm to continue to their house? From here the mystery unfolds and it is a very good book. An added plus is that the print is easy to read and the story keeps you interested throughout.

          Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl is a memoir with stories from the life of a NY Times writer. The reviewer found it sweet and touching and enjoyed it so much that she had to buy it. That’s about the highest recommendation anyone can give! The book contains numerous stories, including her early family life, that are sometimes humorous and highly recommended.

          The next book, unfortunately, did not come recommended. There’s No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled is a collection of funny travel stories edited by Doug Lansky. The reviewer got about ¾’s of the way through before giving up and only reading the stories by the authors she recognized. She did enjoy those, some of which included Dave Barry and Bill Bryson, among others.

          The Lost German Slave Girl by John Bailey is a phenomenal history of mid-nineteenth century New Orleans and North Carolina. The case the title refers to is a well-documented true story of a German immigrant with olive skin who is forced into slavery. The title is somewhat misleading, as this is not the only case focused on in the book, but it is captivating reading with some incredible quotes from the judges involved. Definitely recommended!

          The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See is a very interesting book about a culture foreign to most of us. The reviewer loves this Chinese American author’s writing which frequently encompasses the differing cultures,  the relationships,  and generational differences of mothers and daughters. This particular book tells the story of Li-yan, a young Chinese girl who rebels against the old ways after becoming pregnant out-of-wedlock by a man deemed unsuitable. Rather than destroy the child, with the help of her midwife mother, she delivers the baby and leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake inserted in its folds, at the door of an orphanage. Following the lives of Li-yan and the baby she gave up for adoption, this novel gives an excellent perspective of the culture. The reviewer recommends not only the book, but the author, as well.

          Our last review was another memoir, Claiming Ground by Laura Bell.  This book tells the story of Ms. Bell’s adventures after graduation from the University of Kentucky. At loose ends, she travels to an archeological dig in Wyoming and never returns to her homeland. The book tells of her exploits as a sheep-herder in the Big Horn Basin, covering her life until the age of 50. The book shares, among other things, her gift of family support as well as her grief at the loss of her daughter. This book is eloquently written and comes recommended. (An interesting side note is that Laura Bell’s mother, Virginia Bell, helped to develop the Best Friends Approach that is used to improve the lives of many of those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and dementia.)