Summary by Ambrea
This
week, our meeting began with The Nature
of the Beast, another Chief Inspector Gamache book by Louise Penny. Now living in Three Pines, Quebec, with his
wife, Armand Gamache has adapted to village life and he has learned to take
nine-year-old Laurent Lepage’s stories with a grain of salt. But when Laurent suddenly disappears, Gamache
is faced with the very real possibility that Laurent’s stories might not have
been tall tales after all—and a very real, very sinister monster has set down
roots in his new hometown. According to
our reader, Penny’s novel was very good.
It has threads of a traditional mystery, but, he pointed out, “it fools
you.” He said the resolution was nothing
like he expected.
Our
reader also explored NASA Space
Shuttle Manual: An Insight into the Design, Construction, and
Operation of the NASA Space Shuttle by David Baker. The NASA Shuttle, which flew nearly 140
missions by the time of its retirement in 2011, has a long and storied
history—and David Baker explains just how the Shuttle came to be, how it
operated, how it was built, and how it served a multitude of purposes
throughout its tenure at NASA. Our reader
said it was an excellent book, because it details the entire development of the
Shuttle and, more importantly, offers excellent illustrations to really help
readers view the project down to the tiniest details.
Another
reader shared The Jesus Cow by
Michael Perry. Perry, who typically
writes nonfiction, crafts a humorous tale about a low-key farmer, named Harley
Jackson, who receives the shock of his life on Christmas Eve: a calf is born with the image of Jesus Christ
emblazoned in his fur—and Harley, confronted with a multitude of other challenges,
isn’t sure what to do. According to our
reader, The Jesus Cow is a hilarious
story with a heart of gold. “It’s such a
good story,” she said, which she found appropriate for this time of year.
Our
readers also looked back at Go Set a
Watchman by Harper Lee. In a
previous meeting in August, Lee’s new novel—which finds Jean Louise Finch (who
is best remembered as young, rebellious Scout) returning to Maycomb County,
confronting a number of drastic changes in her tiny hometown and her father,
Atticus Finch—received some mixed reviews.
However, in our most recent Nevermore meeting, our reader said she
really liked Go Set a Watchman. She loved reading about Scout’s childhood
stories, loved the glimpses of small-town life Lee offered, and she highly
recommended reading it: “You don’t have
to like the topic, but it’s worth reading.”
Next,
our readers examined Brave
Companions: Portraits in History by
David McCullough, bestselling author of Truman
and John Adams and The Wright Brothers. McCullough, who is best known for his forays
into history, explores some of the most oft forgotten names in American
history. From Alexander von
Humboldt—who, as a contemporary of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, explored
North and South America extensively—to Harriet Beecher Stowe to Harry Caudill,
McCullough sheds new light on these forgotten (sometimes, neglected) figures by
writing short “sketches.” Our Nevermore
reader was absolutely thrilled with Brave
Companions, saying he didn’t think McCullough was capable of writing a poor
paragraph.
Last,
our readers looked at an audiobook by Michael Connelly called The Crossing. Recently published in November as part of his
ongoing Detective Harry Bosch series, The
Crossing chronicles Bosch’s investigation as he helps his half-brother,
Mickey Haller, uncover a killer—and, whether it’s Mickey’s client or not, Bosch
has dedicated himself to uncover the truth.
But as Bosch pursues his line of inquiry, he discovers the prosecution
doesn’t have a faultless defense and, worse, the killer he’s pursuing might be
chasing him. Our reader said Connelly’s
novel was so, so good. Although it was
full of the usual tropes found in suspenseful novels—such as a lawyer who never
loses, a detective unexpectedly pulled out of retirement—she said it was an
excellent novel.
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