Reported by Meygan
One of our Nevermore members is an avid e-book
reader. She discussed several books that she has been reading. First was 44 Horrible Dates by Eddie Campbell, an
outlook of a homosexual man’s dating world and his horrible, horrible dates.
Our Nevermore reader said regardless of one’s sexual orientation, everybody
will recognize these 44 types of people. She found the book to be very funny and
enjoyable. Next was Ghost Boy by
Martin Pistorius, the true story of Martin and the coma he tragically endured
when he was only twelve years old. (He developed locked-in syndrome after an
illness.) Martin tells how he was never expected to move or talk again and his
experience of being abused by his caretakers. She also discussed Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why
It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals by Hal Herzog, a professor at
Western Carolina University, who goes into the study of animal and human
relationships and why we view some animals as OK to eat and not to eat. The
last book mentioned was The Wright
Brothers by David McCullough. She was fascinated by the compilation of letters
and diary entries within this book. This book tells the tale of the Wright
brothers and their determination to fly.
Up next was The
Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen, a man who did the unthinkable and left
his life savings (though only thirty dollars) in a phone booth to whomever
wanted it. He was tired of living off money and he yearned for financial
freedom. This is the fascinating true story of how Sundeen lives without money
or government assistance.
Death
on the D-List by Nancy Grace was also mentioned. This
is the second book to the Hailey Dean series. Hailey, a former violent crimes
prosecutor, steps back into the crime-fighting spotlight and starts focusing on
D-List celebrity murders. The Nevermore member appeared to be pleased with
Nancy Grace’s novel.
Also discussed was Karin Fossum’s The Water’s Edge. Husband and wife
Reinhardt and Kristine Ris come across a boy’s body after their Sunday stroll.
Kristine is horrified, but especially by her husband’s actions of taking
pictures of the dead boy on his cell phone. Kristine cannot believe that her
husband would take pictures of a young child who appears to have been murdered.
Another boy disappears and the whole town becomes questioned by two inspectors,
Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre. Who is doing this to these boys? And why is
Reinhardt becoming obsessed with the events? The Nevermore member said the
author did a job well done on writing this mystery without repeating the same
material she has written about in the past. Another member commented that he,
too, has read a few of Fossum’s books and how her plots are not redundant.
Last but not least was Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every County on Earth by
Albert Podell. Podell was a business man for a company that provided him the
opportunity to travel. Someone commented to Podell that before he died, he
would probably travel to every country, which is exactly what Podell sought out
to do. Our Nevermore member said he went into this book with great hope and
zeal but the book was not like that at all. Instead of focusing on the fun
parts of his trips, Podell instead focuses on the hazardous journey to places
where the people would rather string him up and kill him than to let him in.
The Nevermore reader said there was no mentioning of England or Paris, which
disappointed him, and overall he would rate this book a C minus. Also, there
was no index which many Nevermore members were surprised to hear.
