Nevermore: Chasing History, Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Melungeon Winter, The Poison Squad

 

 

Reported by Ben

 

Chasing History by Carl Bernstein: this book is the famous reporter's account of his personal journey as a reporter. Bernstein first faced difficulty establishing himself in the profession. He was a poor student who barely graduated high school and flunked out of college after spending too much time working for a newspaper instead of studying. Then he lost his job after a new editor took over the newsroom, stating reporters needed a college degree. Undaunted, Bernstein found a way to stay in the journalism profession and would cover big stories during a tumultuous time in US history. Our Nevermore club member loved Bernstein's writing style. She couldn't put the book down!

 

 

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green: 20-something protagonist April May stumbles upon a strange figure, appearing to be a transformer robot or monolith. She posts a picture of her find to social media, which goes viral, earning her notoriety. What April had stumbled upon was a mysterious phenomenon soon to be known as "The Carls," many more of which are being discovered in other cities. The plot thickens as April contends with her newfound fame and society faces a divide over what to do with these strange visitors. The Nevermore reader who shared this book went into it with a little apprehension, since it was a young adult novel. However she really liked the book and recommended it to the group.

 

A Melungeon Winter by Patrick Bone: in the 1950s, two friends--one white and one black--team up to exonerate the father of one of the boys who was accused of murder. The boys must work with a local Melungeon hermit named Mr. Mullins to solve the mystery. Nevermore's reader fell in love with the book, emphasizing how well it represented the region and time period she came from. Bone's novel is one of the few she will keep and read again!

 

The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum: this nonfiction title details the struggle to make food safe, from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. What was the problem? Your milk might have been just water with chalk mixed in. The meat at your table could contain borax. The food industry was experimenting with preservatives and being reckless with the contents of the country's food. Complicating the crusade to clean up everyone's food were changing government administration staffs which brought new priorities with them and a lack of funding for research. Our woman-on-assignment reading this book indicated that this one was not for the faint of heart. She was unable to finish reading it, being disturbed by what she learned. Blum's book did generate a lot of discussion and questions at the table, however. An eager Nevermore regular quickly snatched it up at the end of the discussion.

 

Other titles mentioned:

 

Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845–1850 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

 

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

 

The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray

 

Amy and Isabelle: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout

 

The Adventures of Maya the Bee by Waldemar Bonsels

 

Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge

 

At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie

 

The Russia House by John le Carré

 

A Bad Day for Sunshine and A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

 

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger

 

Look for Me by Lisa Gardner

 

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

Visualizing The Beatles: A Complete Graphic History of the World’s Favorite Band by John Pring and Rob Thomas

Reviewed by Kristin

I’ve read many Beatles books over the years, and Visualizing The Beatles was certainly a fresh take on a subject that has been analyzed by hundreds (or thousands!) of writers and millions of worldwide fans. The authors delve into all sorts of Beatles facts and present them graphically.

For example…

Songwriting: Who Wrote That? In graphs showing rough percentages, the authorship of each song is displayed. In the early days, it was usually John or Paul in the famous Lennon-McCartney, partnership, but eventually George found his place. This segment was repeated for each album and was fascinating as a visual representation of how the band changed over the years. Lead singers are also included in charts, with Ringo usually getting his one song per album, at least after the first few.

Style Through the Years. Details on their iconic looks are woven through the book, with their representative style highlighted as the band members went from grey and black suits to more colorful designs (and back to black in late 1965-66) to more diverse looks as the sixties came to a close. Their wardrobe uniformity made way for individual expression, and these charts show that very nicely.

Instruments: What Can You Hear? I really enjoyed this segment (again, repeated for each album) in which instruments played by each Beatle are identified. Besides the more obvious piano, guitar, or drums, other instruments like the cowbell, maracas, and harmonica are listed. The graphics become more complicated but still easily understood as time goes on, listing tape loops and other instruments like the sitar or the guiro or the flugelhorn.

The graphics show so many more things: dominant musical keys, track lengths, words most often used, where they were when, filmography, covers vs. originals, musical influences, world timelines for context, and so much more. Two pages of tiny print contain a list of every singer or band which has recorded a Beatles song to date. This is definitely a book worth seeing if you have any interest the history of rock and roll.

One more noteworthy inclusion: for the week of April 4, 1964, The Beatles held the top five spots on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with Can’t Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Please Please Me. In addition to those top five, they also held an additional seven spots in the top 100, with I Saw Her Standing There at #31, From Me to You at #41, Do You Want to Know a Secret at #46, All My Loving at #58, You Can’t Do That at #65, Roll Over Beethoven at #68, and Thank You Girl at #79. Less than two months after their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, The Beatles were indeed riding the wave of Beatlemania across the US.

Claw and Disorder by Eileen Watkins

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Cassie McGlone is faced with more than one mystery in Claw and Disorder, the fifth in the Cat Groomer series.  She’s asked to help with an intervention of sorts in the case of the Tillmans, an elderly couple who have ended up with too many cats.  They are also struggling with clutter from an overabundance of possessions with sentimental value.  They are a very sweet couple and Cassie hopes she will be able to help them.

On the other end of the scale is a new customer for Cassie’s Comfy Cats boarding and grooming services. Gillian Foster wants her purebred Himalaya cat Leya out of the way while she finishes renovations on her historic home. She’s doing period furnishings, wall paper, etc. in hopes to impress the local historical society, and to say that she is obsessed with the project is an understatement.  While Cassie appreciates the business, she finds Mrs. Foster to be a little too tightly wound—to put it kindly.

Then things begin to turn sour quickly.  Not only does an important guest at the Fosters’ party become ill after ingesting some food, but Mrs. Tillman is found dead of asphyxiation.  Suspicion falls on Mr. Tillman—or even the cats. 

There are going to be even more unhappy endings if Cassie can’t unravel these mysteries.

I have read all the books in this series to date, and I always appreciate how Watkins manages to incorporate real life problems into her narratives and to present both sides of the story. Previously she’s taken on TNR (Trap, Neuter, and Release) and the trade in exotic cats. This time she touches on animal hoarding and the plight of seniors struggling to remain in their own homes. This book takes on two mysteries and manages each storyline well.  One solution in particular was unexpected, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

I do like the characters, although I have to say I find Cassie’s boyfriend to be a bit of a wet blanket.  You could do better, girl!

You don’t have to read the series in order, but if you are so inclined the titles are:

The Persian Always Meows Twice

The Bengal Identity

Feral Attraction

Gone, Kitty, Gone

Claw and Disorder

Night of the Were-Cat (2022)

Nevermore: Sisters in Arms, Traveling with People I Want to Punch, Fever Feuds and Diamonds, Divine Justice

 

 

Reported by Garry

 

Sisters In Arms: A Novel of the Daring Black Women Who Served During World War II by Kaia Alderson tells the fictionalized story of the 6888^th Central Postal Directory Battalion – the only all-Black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps. Fearless Eliza and level-headed Grace are from different backgrounds but come together to serve their country during World War II. Facing incredible odds, both from within and outside of the Army, these ladies forged a path for themselves and all women who came after them in the Armed Forces. This book is a work of fiction, but is based on true events and historical figures. Our reader loved this look at a piece of history that has remained hidden until relatively recently.  WJ

 

Traveling with People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann is a light, fun read that made our reader laugh out loud a number of times. Mann is the snarky, sarcastic best-selling author whose list of both human and non-human punchables includes (but is not limited to) people who go barefooted on airplanes, armrest hogs, children who do not use headphones, crummy WiFi in hotels, food poisoning, sunstroke, and the horrible knowledge that you have paid a fortune to create these “wonderful” memories. This book is the latest in a series of People I Want to Punch in the Throat that has topped the New York Times Best Seller list.  CD

 

 

Fever, Feuds and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History by Paul Farmer is the thoroughly researched account of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in the West African nations of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia - the worst outbreak of this terrifying disease in history. Tracing the history of health care and disease containment from colonial times through 2014, Farmer lays out how social structure and health care are intricately intertwined, at a deadly cost. Farmer was a founding member of Partners in Health, was on the front line during the Ebola outbreak and used his first-hand experience to write this harrowing story of a plague that cost an estimated (and most likely wildly under-reported) 11,323 deaths.  AH

 

 

Divine Justice by David Baldacci is part of the Camel Club Series about a group of conspiracy theorists and an undercover CIA hitman who goes by the alias of Oliver Stone. Stone is on the run after killing two master-spies who were responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter. The storytelling is taut and full of twists and turns that kept our reader flipping the pages – so much so that she highly recommends this thriller by one of the world’s top selling authors.  MC

 

Also Mentioned:

Orfeia by Joanne M. Harris

Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom by Carl Bernstein

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Roots by Alex Haley

Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict

Black Potatoes:  The Story of the Great Irish Famine by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Eli the Good by Silas House

Rachel Calof’s Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains by Rachel Calof