Reported by Garry
Nevermore began with a story of redemption set in the cold of the Baltic Sea: Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell. Fredrik Welin lives alone on a remote island inherited from his grandparents. Once a successful surgeon, he lives cut off from the rest of the world as a form of penance for a horrible mistake he made in the operating room many years ago. A series of unexpected visitors interrupt his solitude and slowly pull him out of his self-imposed isolation. Our reader loved the evocative writing in this brief novel and was particularly impressed by the depictions of solitude and reflection on a small Swedish island. DC
The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome by Roland Chambers is the biography of author Arthur Ransome. Raised in relative wealth and privilege in England, Ransome abandoned a young wife and daughter to go to Russia as an investigative writer where he came to sympathize with the Bolshevik cause, becoming personally close to a number of the Revolution leaders, including Vladimir Lenin. Upon his return to England, he divorced his first wife, Ivy Constance Walker, and married Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina, a secretary to Leon Trotsky whom he met in Russia. Ransome then settled in the English Lake District and began writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children’s books, which established him not only financially but as one of the best British children’s authors of the past century. Our reader greatly enjoyed this look at the complex figure behind a well-known series of children’s books, and recommends this well-researched and balanced biography. AH
I Am A Girl from Africa is the inspiring autobiography of Elizabeth Nyamayaro. Born in Zimbabwe, Nyamayaro was dying of malnourishment at age eight when her life was saved by a UN aid worker. This moment transformed Myamayaro who has since made it her life’s mission to aid others. Now a senior advisor at the United Nations and the founder of HeforShe, one of the world’s largest organizations for gender equality, Nyamayro charts her journey of perseverance from Zimbabwe to London, New York and beyond in this deeply empowering memoir that our reader absolutely loved. AH
In Angline Boulley’s debut novel The Firekeeper’s Daughter, Daunis Fontaine is a half-native, half-white 18-year-old who witnesses a horrific crime and becomes involved in the FBI investigation revolving around murder and methamphetamine sales on her Ojibwe reservation. This multi-award-winning novel (soon to be a Netflix series) is part crime novel and part coming of age story written by an author who is herself of mixed Native American heritage. Our reader was particularly impressed by not only the strength of the writing but the insightful, detailed, and highly relevant exploration of the issues that Native American women face on a daily basis. MH
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne is the historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West. This meticulously researched book focuses on the lives of two pivotal characters in American history – Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah. Cynthia Ann was captured by the Comanches when she was nine years old, and grew to love her captors and lived with them for 24 years. Her son Quanah became the most successful Comanche fighter and commander, effectively defending against the westward expansion of white settlers in the Texas Panhandle for decades. Our reader was enthralled by this book and highly recommends it as a detailed narrative of a portion of American history that is often-times portrayed only from the victor’s standpoint. PP
Also mentioned:
President Hamilton: A Novel of Alternative History by Lewis Ben Smith
How To Talk To Your Cat by Jean Craighead George
Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough
Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman
The Wrath of Angels by John Connolly
Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman by Margo Mifflin
The Mitford Vanishing by Jessica Fellowes
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure The World by Tracy Kidder
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Seven Brief Lessons in Physics by Carlo Rovelli
Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding
The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation by Rosemary Sullivan
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
Disappearance of a Scribe by Dana Stabenow
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