Nevermore: Lessons in Chemistry, Dreams of Joy, Children of Ash and Elm

 

Reported by Rita

Nevermore 8-18-26

 

 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fueled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. And soon a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.

I loved the dog, 6:30, and the role he played. The other characters were intriguing also and the family stories kept me interested. I know this was about the struggle of Elizabeth Zott, but I was fascinated by the depth of all of the characters.     -DC     4 stars

 

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

In her most powerful novel yet, acclaimed author Lisa See returns to the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl’s strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy. Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father, the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the Communist regime. Devastated by Joy’s flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy’s and Pearl’s separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China’s history threatens their very lives.

It settled the problems at the end of the first book, Shanghai Girls. It told a lot about early communism in China. It's a real page turner.     -WJ     5 stars

 

Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price

The Viking Age - between 750 and 1050 - saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they reshaped the world between eastern North America and the Asian steppe. For a millennium, though, their history has largely been filtered through the writings of their victims. Based on the latest archaeological and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology, their art and culture. From Bjorn Ironside, who led an expedition to sack Rome, to Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir, the most travelled woman in the world, Price shows us the real Vikings, not the caricatures they have become in popular culture and history.

Good research on 1st to 4th century Scandinavian culture, religion, and customs.      -PP       5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

Maude by Donna Foley Mabry

Pendergast: the Beginning by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Nature and the Mind by Marc G. Berman, PhD

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen

Independent People by Halldor Laxness

It's a Long Story: My Life by Willie Nelson

Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven

 

New Books

An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton

Survive and Thrive: How to Prepare for Any Disaster Without Ammo, Camo, or Eating Your Neighbor by Bill Fulton

Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery by Gavin Newsome

Secret Wonders of the World: 385 Extraordinary Places You Never Knew Existed

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

I am kind of a sucker for these sorts of books: books about interesting places in general (Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the Worlds’ Hidden Wonders  and Atlas Obscura: Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders) or books about specific topics (Street Cats & Where to Find Them: The Most Feline-Friendly Cities and Attractions Around the World by Jeff Bogle or Novel Destinations:  Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West by Shannon McKenna Schmidt.) Sometimes I want to see if I actually know any of the places; other times I find places I would like to visit.  Or want to avoid at all costs.

This compilation by Lonely Planet is divided up roughly by continent. Each section has a table of contents and then lists by topic and a suggested itinerary.  Entries are brief, and accompanied by a photo. Occasionally, warnings are attached (“At the time of this writing, travel was not advised...”) or hints about difficulty (the nearest airport or you’re going to need 4WD.)

This is a fascinating collection of things that are definitely off the beaten path.  From ancient footprints to a Fete du Vodun to Bay Islands Underwater Museum, there is truly something for everyone here.  A few (very few!) things I had heard of, such as the Nazca Lines, Winchester Mystery House, Assateague Islands’ wild horses, Cat Island, and (shudder) Snake Island, but the vast majority of places were new to me.  I particularly enjoyed some of the itineraries, such as the best places in the Pacific Northwest to see trolls or the best places to hunt vampires (New Orleans is number 1; Forks, Washington is on the list because of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.)

One of my favorite entries is Castell de Pubol in Spain, one of the places I’d never heard of before.  It’s the castle home of Gala Dali, wife of artist Salvador Dali. Gala was quite a character, apparently, and adored by her husband who bought her this medieval castle and decorated it as she wished.  When she died, she was buried in the basement.

The drawbacks are that the entries are brief.  There is an index but it’s not a thorough one.  Still, for armchair travelers and lovers of trivia, this book is good to while away some hours, and maybe inspire more research.

Death at the Crossings by Jacquelyn Nowak

 

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Sergeant Mike Minor is called to the Art History building on a college campus after the decomposing body of student Colleen Blakely is discovered in a basement storage room. The school has been on break for a couple of weeks, making determination of time and manner of death more difficult.  But that's nothing compared to the people Mike meets in the department—temperamental professors, students with grudges, and everyone absolutely obsessed with their specialty, be it African Art or Medieval Cathedrals.  The one thing that is obvious is that a lot of people wanted Colleen Blakely dead.

Set in the 1970s, there’s a bit of historical flavor to the book—although it was written in 1985, just about a decade after the fact.  The story is populated with colorful and sometimes unexpected characters.  Mike is often befuddled by the seriousness with which the suspects take art, make that ART.  He doesn’t see it himself, and wonders if these people are so incredibly cocooned in their own world that they’ve lost all sense of reality or if they’re just extremely immature.

They also like to gossip.  It seems everyone has secrets, some big, some small, and they will all go to great lengths to keep those secrets hidden. 

This was a book I just came across while shelving and decided to give it a try.  It was a debut book, and when it comes to art it seems the author knows her stuff.  I was less certain about her knowledge of policing, because it seemed to me that Mike has a lot of beers while on duty. At one point, he admits that he probably drank too much and messed up an interview.  

There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and sometimes I did get a bit confused.  Of course, confused is my natural state.  I did end up enjoying the book and was surprised by some of the twists in the final pages.  I also a bit uncertain how to take some of the views about academia, given that the author is an art historian herself. I looked to see if there were other titles by this author, but the best I can see, this is the only novel she ever wrote, which is a shame. I would have liked to read more books by her.

Nevermore: Commonwealth, Lost for Words Bookshop, Shanghai Girls

Nevermore 8-11-26

Reported by Rita

 

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

The characters from the two families were so believable, like people you know. Well developed characters over the decades.       -DC      5 stars

 

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you. Into her hiding place - the bookstore where she works - come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?

It's an interesting take on bookstore ownership and how children's backgrounds affect their life.      -MH      4 stars

 

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Pearl and May are sisters, living carefree lives in Shanghai, the Paris of Asia. But when Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, they set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America.

It told a lot about the Chinese who came to the US in the 30's and 40's. I didn't like the ending, but was happy to hear there's a sequel.     -WJ       5 stars 

 

Other Books Mentioned

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Unlikely Thru-Hiker by Derick Lugo

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Hamnet by Maggie O' Farrell

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

Independent People by Halldór Laxness

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

 

New Books

52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets

Obstinate Daughters by Denise Kiernan

Inharmonious by Tammye Huf

The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura; translated by Yuka Maeno

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

“The shop was tucked away in a place beyond anyone’s understanding.”

This is the first line of The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop where under certain very specific conditions, a reader can find the bookshop and perhaps find closure or a new understanding on the past. The shop is a strange mixture of book and coffee shop, managed by a young woman wearing a burgundy pinafore and white blouse and her long-haired calico cat. The cat will select a book from the many in stock, and the young woman will start to read aloud from the book.

If someone else is reading the same passage from the book at the same time, and if that person is reading on a sunny day when cherry blossoms are in bloom, then just maybe the person will also find the bookshop.

As with many of the currently popular Japanese books, this one is a series of stories, linked by a person’s experience in the bookstore.  Each person is seeking something, but if you asked, they wouldn’t know exactly what they wanted; and yet, by the time they leave the bookstore, they feel more whole as if something missing has been restored.

There are four stories in this one.  In the first, a young woman named Mio is tasked with clearing out her deceased mother’s apartment. The two had not had a close relationship for many years; Mio remembers her mother as cold and strict, and always giving Mio chores to do in addition to her schoolwork.  As if coping with her mother’s death isn’t enough, Mio has also been accused of plagiarism in her manga books.

In the second tale, an elderly man dreams of his youth, when he was a train engineer. In his waking hours, he’s living in a retirement home with people he doesn’t know and staffed with impertinent young people who don’t show respect.  He does know that there’s something he needs to remember. . . but what?

Two sisters are at odds in the third story.  One is off to university to study medicine while her sister has no such ambitions.  The girls were once very close—they are twins—but now there seems to be a chasm between them. Kaho wants to make one last effort to try to understand her sister before they live apart for the first time in their lives.

Finally, a young woman is deeply worried about her father.  Since her mother’s disappearance some years before, her author father hasn’t been able to write.  It breaks her heart to see him struggle so.  And then the young woman picks up a book and begins to read. . . .

This is a wonderful book that really hits all the emotional high notes.  Each of the stories begins with the reading of a real book and there is some discussion of the plot. While two of the books were famous Japanese titles, the other two are Western classics:  The Little Prince by Saint Exupery and Peter Pan and Wendy by Barrie. You don’t have to have read any of them as the shopkeeper will discuss as much of the plot and themes as the reader needs to know. I love that shopkeeper explains that what the people are experiencing is a miracle: she says it’s like winning the lottery without buying a ticket.

The book was translated by Yuka Maeno, and it’s a very smooth translation. The translator is Japanese herself so that she understands the culture and idioms but because she lives in Ireland she can better explain the customs in a way that Westerners can understand.  Some translators try to hard to explain and the result is a clunky translation.

This book is really a love letter to books, reading, and authors which may be why I enjoyed it much.  I would certainly read another if the author decides to grace us with more stories of the Sakura book shop.

Zine Making and Book Binding: A Beginner’s Guide in 25 Projects by Lauren Simkin Berke

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Way back in the olden days, when mimeograph was the standard and off-set printing an expensive proposition, I discovered zines.  Short for “magazine,” these were largely fan-produced publications with assorted content, depending on the fandom: they could have stories, poems, reviews, news, etc.  Flash forward a few decades and all at once it seemed people were talking about zines again. This time many seemed to be the product of a single author/artist, but still a creative outlet.

When this book first came in, I didn’t examine it thoroughly because I am not the creative type and didn’t think it applied to me.  Some time later I picked it up and discovered that it’s actually more about the physical creation of a personal book and was intrigued.

I was very impressed with the first chapter, which went over the parts of the book, tools, needed, and some terms to know.  I had no idea what a “bone folder” was, so had to look that up. (It’s a tool used to score paper, and is indeed traditionally made of bone.) The book press was like the flower press that the Jones Center for Creative Arts, Technology, and Workforce Development helped folks make a year or so ago.  Some of the tools are ordinary things (a ruler, glue cup) while others are more specialized like, well, the bone folder.

Berke also talks about the different types of bindings, including perfect bound (glued) or other sewn bindings as well as coil binding and other methods.

All this is just to get one started in the process of making a book.  The rest of the chapters are devoted to step by step instructions on how to make your own sewn book, on how to do the paper folds, creative pop-ups, or expandable book forms.  The section on making accordion book forms includes how to make book ornaments.

In short, this is a very good resource for anyone interested in making their own books or zines.  There are also other resources listed, and the information is up to date. Alas, there is no index but there is a pretty thorough chapter list in the front of the book.

Nevermore: I See You've Called in Dead, Daughters of the Sun and Moon, The Creek, the Crone, and the Crow

 

Nevermore 8-4-26

Reported by Rita

 

I See You've Called in Dead by John Kenney

Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living. As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live.

This was funny, tragic, and thought-provoking. I loved it.      -NH     5 stars

 

 

Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See

In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain – America – where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated, speaks fluent English and has been endowed with a face of great beauty, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many. Each woman has her own desires. Dove wants to love and be loved, Petal desires freedom and Moon seeks justice. Together they face a larger society that wishes them not one ounce of good will. Anti-Chinese sentiment is strong in Los Angeles, and this eventually leads to the Night of Horrors during which all three women are challenged in ways they could not have imagined. Brought together by hardship and heartbreak, they must use their bravery, endurance and ability to ‘eat bitterness,’ discover their voices, find freedom and connect through solace and friendship. Together they are daughters of the sun and moon.

The situations were bad, but I really enjoyed this book and the author's writing.      -WJ       5 stars

 

 

The Creek, The Crone, and the Crow by Leah Weiss

Welcome to Baines Creek, a town hidden deep in Appalachia, where one of the last one-room schoolhouses in America is on the brink of closing. It's summer 1980, and Kate Shaw has lived in Baines Creek for ten years. A skeptic by heart, she rejects superstition and the belief in Appalachian folklore, much to the chagrin of local legend Birdie Rocas, a lively and reclusive witch with a trove of secrets. Yet when Birdie dies and leaves Kate her collection of handmade books and a trunk of illuminated manuscripts and journals, Kate is thrown into world of things she doesn't understand. Enter Lydia Brown, a psychic with a curious birthmark whose visions stopped the day her parents died. Grief-stricken, without her gift, and in need of spiritual guidance, she travels to Appalachia in search of Birdie and the answers she might provide.

I really liked this book and enjoyed the familiar setting.     -MH     5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned 

Disaster Prepping for Dummies by David E. Stevens

The Workhouse by Simon Fowler

While You Were Asleep by Ryan A. McPherson

A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart

Salka Valka by Halldór Laxness

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

The Mending of Broken Bones by Paul Lockhart

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Marion by Leah Rowan

Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow by Juliet Grey

Marie Antoinette: the Journey by Antonia Fraser

A Fabulous Thru-Hike by Derick Lugo

 

New Books

Cryptocurrency 101 by Joe Duarte, MD

Messenger Cat Cafe by Nagi Shimeno

A Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys