Nevermore: Paco, Marlo, Stephen & Jane, and More!

Reported by Ambrea

In Nevermore this week, our readers explored a variety of work, beginning with The Narcissist Next Door by Jeffrey Kluger.  Like the Psychopath Next Door (Jon Ronson) and the Sociopath Next Door (Marth Stout), The Narcissist Next Door:  Understanding the Monster in Your Family, in Your Office, in Your Bed—in Your World explores another personality disorder:  narcissism.  Kluger, a writer for Time magazine, takes an intimate look at narcissism and its effects on everyday life.  Including examples of actors, politicians, entertainers, business people, Kluger helps readers understand narcissism and narcissists, as well as how to deal with—and possibly neutralize—the effects of narcissism in one’s life.  Our reader said she enjoyed Kluger’s book.  Not only did it prove to be interesting and accessible, she found she especially enjoyed the examples the author gave of narcissists (such Alec Baldwin, Donald Trump, et cetera) versus non-narcissists (e.g. Tom Hanks).

Next, our readers explored It Ain’t Over…Till it’s Over:  Reinventing Your Life—and Realizing Your Dreams—Anytime, at Any Age by Marlo Thomas.  Thomas, who made some astonishing changes later in her life, has collected the stories of sixty women who reinvented their lives and started living their dreams.  While our reader found this book interesting, she noted that these women are often like the average mother, wife, daughter—most of these women had the emotional support and financial means to make a new start.  Our reader said it was a nice book, inspirational in some ways; however, she thought it was rather one-sided as it didn’t include average professional women.

Our readers also returned to space with Paco:  The Cat Who Meowed in Space by Homer Hickam.  Hickam, who also wrote the memoir Rocket Boys, recounts his first years as a NASA engineer—and his rather magical cat, Paco, who has the ability to make anyone smile.  A story about space, a story about the bond between a man and his pet, Paco was an enjoyable memoir for our Nevermore reader.  As our reader pointed out, Paco is accessible—“It’s not super science!”—because Hickam is an engineer, rather than a physicist, and he works to help his readers understand what’s happening.  It’s an interesting book with a feel-good story that sure to entertain readers who love space, and who love animals.

Our readers followed with Before Liberty by Roy Thompson.  Written in 1976, Before Liberty is one newspaper man’s endeavor to write a column on pre-Revolutionary North Carolina—one column each and every week for an entire year.  Our reader said Thompson’s book was “really interesting, because it is about everyday people,” rather than the most famous historical figures of the region.  Each chapter, which boasts a separate article written by Thompson, deals with different aspects of life in North Carolina before America became embroiled in the Revolutionary War.  For our reader, who holds genealogical links to the region, she was especially thrilled to find out more information on her ancestors—who, in some instances, were mentioned in the book—and how they lived their lives.

Last our readers explored The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and Traveling to Infinity.  The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, written by Wayne Johnston, chronicles the complicated love affair of Sheilagh Fielding and Joey Smallwood as they grow and, finally, make their way out of Newfoundland.  Smallwood, who manages to leave poverty behind and become Newfoundland’s first premier, and Fielding, a gifted writer and satirist who becomes a popular columnist, find their lives irreversibly intertwined and, for over fifty years, they struggle to find themselves and each other.  As a work of historical fiction, Johnston’s novel was quite informative about “the colony of unrequited dreams,” but it simultaneously proved to be entertaining.  However, our reader considered it a difficult novel to read because it often jumped between different points in time, confusing any attempts at chronology, and it sometimes branched into theoretical history, imagining events as they might have happened, which our reader didn’t like.

Traveling to Infinity:  My Life with Stephen by Jane Hawking was a little more popular with our Nevermore readers.  Written by Jane Hawking, Traveling to Infinity was an engrossing memoir about Jane’s life with Stephen Hawking—one of the most famous scientists in the modern world, and author of A Brief History of Time—and her struggle to care for him, as well as their growing family.  Our reader called Jane’s novel “a bit of a downer,” but she said it was still very interesting to read.  Jane Hawking is a very intelligent woman, often breaking down the most complicated science to make it accessible, and she’s very informative.  Her candid story was an eye-opening opportunity to see into the life and family of one of the world’s most renowned scientists.

Nevermore: Black River, Good Girl, Dept. Q, and Much, Much More!

Reported by Jeanne

Black River by S.M. Hulse is one of those books you shouldn’t judge by the cover, according to our Nevermore reader.  It looks like a Western and is set in Montana, but it’s more about family and relationships.  The story revolves around Wes Carver, a corrections officer, who returns to his old home town after twenty years to scatter his wife’s ashes.  They left after Wes was tortured in a hostage situation which left him unable to play his beloved fiddle.  Now the inmate responsible is up for parole, and Wes may testify.  He’s also dealing with his estranged stepson.  Our reader encouraged others to give the book a try.

Mary Kubica won raves for her first book, The Good Girl, so Nevermore readers were anxious to try her second.  In Pretty Baby, a woman impulsively takes in a disheveled teenage mother with a sickly baby.  Her husband and daughter are shocked and dismayed, especially as they know nothing about this girl.  Soon parts of the young mother’s past begin to surface, and the tensions rise. Our reader said it was just as good as the first book, very suspenseful, and with no wasted pages.

We have several readers who are fans of Jussi Adler-Olson’s  Department Q mysteries, so they were eagerly awaiting the latest entry in the series.  In The Hanging Girl, Detective Carl Morck and the other cold case investigators are drawn into a seventeen year old case in which a teenage girl was found hanging in a tree on the island of Bornholm.  At the time, it was ruled the result of a hit and run, but the Bornholm detective always insisted it was murder.  Now the detective has brought the matter to a head, and the cold case investigators are off to Bornholm to try to uncover the truth.  Our reviewer said that there were a lot of characters in those 500 pages but she still enjoyed it.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr made another appearance at Nevermore.  While most of our readers have enjoyed it, some thought it was over-rated.  One didn’t like the way that the author moved around in time, going forward and then back.  Several people noted that seems to be a trend in books nowadays; some didn’t like it, some didn’t mind or thought it was effective. The story begins with the childhoods of Marie-Laure, a French girl who goes blind at the age of six, and Werner, a German boy who is pressed into the Hitler Youth.  Their lives converge during the War.  As noted, the story moves back and forth in time, from childhood to the War to present day.

My Bookstore, edited by Ronald Rice, is a collection of essays by published authors about their favorite bookstores.  The essays vary from humorous to enthusiastic, and the bookstores themselves sound wonderful. Actually, it’s not the stores so much as the people who own the stores and who are able to connect readers with books. Contributors include Wendell Berry, Fannie Flagg, Lee Smith, and John Grisham.  Our reviewer thought it was a fun book to dip into.

One of our readers recommended Lincoln’s Funeral Train by Robert Reed as being both an important and fascinating book.  It recounts the 1700 mile journal taken by the train on its way to Lincoln’s grave site.  Some seven million people witnessed at least part of the journey as the train went through 440 towns.  It was a pivotal event in our history, and certainly worthy of a book on the topic. Vintage photos and copies of documents enhance the text.

Another reader who had seen The Theory of Everything decided to read the book on which the movie was based.  Travelling to Infinity by Jane Hawking is an autobiography, detailing the courtship, marriage, and divorce of Jane and Stephen Hawking.  Stephen was diagnosed with ALS before their marriage and before he gained international fame for his work in psychics. Our reviewer thought it was a well done, interesting book about two extraordinary people.

Finally, another fascinating woman was discussed:  Elizabeth Custer.  After her husband George’s death, she devoted the rest of her life to burnishing his reputation.  She wrote books, did the lecture circuit, and published numerous articles about her adored Autie. The subject came up because a member was reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s The Last Stand:  Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which covers both sides of the battle, giving thorough coverage to both the Native Americans and to the soldiers. The various personalities are also discussed.  Our reader though it might be a bit too comprehensive at times, but was enjoying it.