Reported by Kristin
Nevermore book club members read widely and love to share
their findings with others, whether that be in person or more recently during
our Zoom meetings. This week, one reader enjoyed The Lost German Slave Girl
by John Bailey. In 1818, a group of Germans migrated to the United States
intending to settle in Philadelphia. After spending months on ships, many of
them dying, some of the survivors ended up at the Port of New Orleans where
they were treated as indentured servants to pay their expenses. One young girl
who lost most of her family is sold into slavery, and doesn’t learn of her
heritage until 1843. Our reader found this true story to be really interesting
in that New Orleans culture was so richly portrayed using court documents and
first person accounts.
The next Nevermore reader was sadly disappointed in one of the
books she read this week, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Even though this
title is a national bestseller and won McCarthy the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished
fiction by an American author, (and even though this reader usually enjoys
books about walking,) she found this one to be a total waste of her time and
she could not name one thing that she liked about it.
Fortunately, our disappointed reader also picked up a new book
by a local author that included walking, and enjoyed it much more. Gap Year:
Rambling Through Brambles in England and Scotland by Anna Hess is a
retrospective of sketching nature twenty years ago, as the author looks back at
her earlier travels during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a small book which uses
distinctive art and hand lettering to share her memories. Two more volumes are
expected, covering the author’s continued journey through Costa Rica and
Australia.
In historical fiction, Her Last Flight by Beatriz
Williams recounts the tale of Janey Everett, a photographer and war
correspondent intent upon researching aviator Sam Mallory. In 1947, Janey is
looking back over the last decade of early flight, and seeks answers, that may
or may not lie in a remote area of Hawaii. Our reader enjoyed the book and
recommended it to others.
Miracle at St. Anna by James
McBride was yet another piece of historical fiction, this one also very much
enjoyed by our next reader. Four black American soldiers in the Second World
War, aka “Buffalo Soldiers,” found a different culture as they served in Italy.
A heartwarming story, the black soldiers discovered a community without
prejudice based on the color of their skin. Our reader claimed that she could
not put it down.
Lastly, another book club member read Twisted Twenty-Six,
the latest in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Grandma Mazur is up
to her usual high jinks, but this time she makes it all the way to the altar
with gangster Jimmy Rosolli. Fortunately, Stephanie doesn’t have to hear about
the wedding night, because the groom expires from a heart attack within his
first hour of marital bliss. Our reader called this a very silly, light read,
and a great escape.
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