Reported by Kristin
Our first Nevermore member was excited by a book about the
natural world, The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and
Compassion—Surprising Observations of a Hidden World by Peter Wohlleben.
Written as part of The Mysteries of
Nature Trilogy, the New York Times bestselling author who lives in Germany
as a park ranger in the national forest has now turned to animals, describing
how they communicate with each other and with humans. Our reader was touched by
the detail in the stories the author lovingly presented.
A different reader had picked up one of Bill Streever’s
works of non-fiction, the national bestseller Cold: Adventures in the
World’s Frozen Places. With great passion for his subject, Streever weaves
together information from pole to pole, covering snow, seals, and Shackleton. Our
reader commented that she was still reading and was so far enjoying it this
glimpse of the natural world.
Next up was another book examining the workings of nature—And
Soon I Heard a Roaring Wind: A Natural History of Moving Air by Bill
Streever. While there is a sailboat on the cover, the author digs deep into the
science of moving air with a light hand, drawing his readers in with personal
observations and how the Earth’s atmosphere has sculpted human history. Our
reader said that she was so very impressed with authors who could talk about
seemingly dull subjects like cold or heat or wind from so many different angles
and tie it into the issues that affect us all today.
Fiction consumed our next reader for over a thousand pages as
she tackled World Without End by Ken Follett. The second in the
Kingsbridge series, following The Pillars of the Earth and before A Column of
Fire, this volume begins in the year 1327 in a fictional town in England. The
sweeping saga is set two hundred years after the first in which generations of
families had built a cathedral. Their descendants continue to interact with
each other as changes come to their little world. Our reader said that it might
have been the longest book she has ever read but she enjoyed every page.
Another fictional story emerged in The Boston Girl by
Anita Diamant. Addie is a young girl growing up in the North End of Boston in
the early 1900s with immigrant parents who are still struggling to adapt to
their new world. Eighty-five years later Addie is telling her story to her
granddaughter. Our reader found this quite a charming story with interesting
historical details.
Lastly, a book club member discussed My Stroke of Insight:
A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor. A brilliant
scientist who studies the brain, Taylor had a massive stroke at the young age
of thirty-seven. Having the wherewithal to understand what was happening,
Taylor still struggled while floating between the euphoria of the right brain
and the logical left brain. A phrase that lingered after reading was Taylor
talking about “tending the garden of your mind.” Our reader found this very
moving and a very worthwhile book.
No comments:
Post a Comment