Nevermore: Undertakers, Invisible Husband, Animal Vegetable Junk, Maidens

 

 

Reported by Garry

 

We had a surreal bunch of books discussed this week, with a great mix of fiction and non-fiction!

 

Over Our Dead Bodies: Undertakers Lift the Lid by Kenneth McKenzie and Todd Harra. Sometimes life (and death) are truly stranger than fiction, and this book typifies that. Chock full of weird, shocking and just plain hilarious true stories from undertakers, this book both shows the lighter side of death, but also the deep humanity practiced by those in the undertaking business. Our reader said that this book is very funny and helps to normalize what is often thought of as a near-otherworldly job.

 

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley is a heartwarming tale of love, loss and growth on a small Chesapeake Bay island. Piper Parrish’s husband, Tom, is presumed dead – his crabbing boat capsized and his body was never found. In her idiosyncratic way of coping, Piper continues on life as if Tom is still alive – talking to him, taking walks with him, and going out to dinner with him. The other 92 inhabitants of the island support Piper by playing along, acting also as if Tom is right there by Piper’s side. Into this reality-warping bubble comes Anders Caldwell, a reporter who has been given the task of writing a fluff-piece about Frick Island’s Cake Walk fundraiser. Instead, Anders stumbles across the story of Piper and her dead husband. Will this outsider make a national mockery of the small, tight knit community, or will Ander’s eyes be opened by the support and love shown by the islanders?

 

Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman. Our reader says this is a very interesting look at the history of food and cultures and how humanity’s approach to growing food has changed over the millennia from being sustainable to being destructive to the very earth and soil that we rely upon. Bittman is a recognized food authority and in this in-depth look at the way that modern food is grown, processed and marketed, he lays bare the many ways in which our modern production of food is detrimental and outright dangerous – both to our bodies and to our planet. Our reader says that this book is not all doom and gloom and that Bittman does offer some solutions, although they will not be easy to implement.

 

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides was our next book to be reviewed. This murder mystery follows Mariana Andros, a troubled group therapist, who becomes convinced that Cambridge professor, Edward Fosca, is a murderer. The victim was a friend of Mariana’s niece, and a member of “The Maidens,” a group of students who are followers of the charismatic Fosca. Mariana herself went to Cambridge and her search for the truth places her in mortal and mental peril. Will she be able to expose the killer, or be consumed in her quest? Our reader liked this fast-paced, tight thriller, and recommends it.

 

 

Also mentioned:

 

Paris Trout by Pete Dexter

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire by Chalmers Johnson

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson

The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic by Chalmers Johnson

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Saint Patrick’s Battalion by James Alexander Thom

The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The Angel Makers by Jessica Gregson