Reported by Garry
The biography Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder kicked off this week’s Nevermore book club. This 2009 tale of Burundian emigre Deo traces his life as he flees from his war-torn homeland to Rwanda and even worse conditions, back through Burundi and on to New York City and finally back to Burundi as a medical doctor. When he arrived at JFK Airport, Deo had only $200 to his name, spoke no English, and had no contacts. Amazingly, he managed to get a working visa and taught himself English by reading dictionaries in bookstores (he should have gone to the library!) Eventually making connections and building a network of people who helped nurture and guide him, Deo attended Columbia University where he graduated as an MD, and then returned to his homeland to provide medical care to those in the community where his story started. Our reader loved this book and highly recommends it not only as an unblinking look at civil war and the immigrant experience but for the exquisite and insightful writing. DC
The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton is a debut novel by Eleanor Ray. In this good-humored and uplifting story, Amy is a woman whose fiancé and bridesmaid both disappeared at the same time eleven years ago. Over time, Amy has sunk into depression and isolation, becoming a hoarder in her London home. New neighbors move in across the street and Amy’s interaction with the young children helps her not only come to terms with her past but to heal from the trauma and start to live life again. Our reader really enjoyed this touching novel and noted that it deals with hoarding in both a realistic and sympathetic manner. AH
The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance, first published in 1995, is a prescient look at the world of new diseases with which humanity is not prepared to deal. Written by Laurie Garrett, this extensively researched book looks at the many, many ways that our behaviors, both as individuals and as societies, set the table for the explosive emergence of a variety of diseases that have devastating impacts on a global basis. Garrett traces back through fifty years of virology to look at the worldwide conditions that lead not only to outbreaks of new diseases, but the resurgence of old diseases that are no longer curable. Garret also points out ways that we can mitigate the effects of these plagues – all it takes is societal willpower, leadership, money, and understanding – a tall order! CD
Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show by Jonathan Karl is an explosive look at the aftermath of the November 2020 U.S. election and the months of turmoil that followed, culminating in the attack on the Capitol building in which five people died. Karl is ABC news’ chief Washington correspondent and fills this book with detailed accounts of the behind-the-scenes events surrounding the last days of the Trump administration and lays out how perilously close America was to a true insurrection and constitutional crisis. Our reader was stunned by the details in this book and stated how the reality of what was going on out of sight was so much worse than what was on public view. NH
Also mentioned:
Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving
Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein
The Whispers of War by Julia Kelly
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel
A Short History of Humanity: A New History of Old Europe by Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930’s and 1940’s by Robert Polito, Horace McCoy, Kenneth Fearing, William Lindsay Gresham, Cornell Woolrich, James M. Cain, and Edward Anderson.
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy
She Kills Me: The True Stories of History’s Deadliest Women by Jennifer Wright
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How it Changed Science, Cities and The Modern World by Steven Johnson
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
Underwater Wild by Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck
Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen
Lost Cove, North Carolina: Portrait of a Vanished Appalachian Community, 1864-1957 by Christy A. Smith (Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies series)
The Joy and Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith
The Pure Land by Alan Spence
Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City by Andrew Lawler
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
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