Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Nevermore: White Tiger, Books, Book of Joy, Quality of Mercy, Hutterites, 9th Hour, Uncommon Type




Reported by Kristin

White Tiger by Aravind Adiga has been shared by several Nevermore members. Balram Halwai is a lower caste man in India who has high ambitions for himself and his family.  His goal of becoming a rich businessman has many bumps along the way and the underlying political unrest in the country makes it even more difficult for him.  Our reader said that it was truly a struggle between the dark (where Halwai came from) and the light (who Halwai wanted to become) and that she absolutely loved it and placed it in her top five favorite novels.


A large and impressive looking book for bibliophiles, Remarkable Books: The World’s Most Beautiful and Historic Works, produced by Dorling Kindersley (DK) was much admired by this group of book lovers.  The reader who had it in hand said that it provided a pure history of books and went into great detail on such things as how the earliest scrolls were made and preserved.


The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu provided much encouragement to our next reader.  She noted that the friendship shown between the two men was inspirational, and she especially enjoyed how mischievous and humorous they were together.  Our reader’s takeaway was that she was reminded to think about all the things for which she is grateful, and to make a list of those things at the end of each day.


Next up was The Quality of Mercy by Katayoun Medhat.  Franz Kafka (‘K’) is a very smart small town cop in the American southwest with a sharp sense of humor.  A sudden death on the reservation alarms the community and K must work with Navajo police officer Robbie Begay.  Beautifully written, the novel was given rave reviews and immediately snapped up by another reader.


Tom Hanks is not just an actor; among many other things, he’s also a collector of typewriters and the author of a short story collection:  Uncommon Type.  Our reader enjoyed Hanks’ foray into the printed word, and said that some of the stories will really grab you and some will make you say, “Is that really the end??”


The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott was praised by our next reader as a story about hope, even as the book begins with an Irish immigrant’s suicide in the early twentieth century.  In the aftermath of this family tragedy, his pregnant widow must go on and raise her child and find hope.  Our reader said that she found much in the novel about charity, giving, optimism, and what good things can come out of a really bad situation.


Finally, another reader enjoyed I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage by Mary-Ann Kirkby.  The author’s family left the insular religious group in Canada when she was ten years old.  Adjusting to the outside world in 1969 was difficult, as she had known no other life.  Kirkby eventually chose to re-examine and embrace her beginnings as part of exploring herself.  Our reader was fascinated by the descriptions of work sharing and cooperation within the Hutterite community.

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