Nevermore: And Finally: Matters of Life and Death, The Lowlan, Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World

 

Reported by Garry

 

And Finally: Matters of Life and Death by Henry Marsh. A few weeks ago, another reader read Do No Harm by the same author. In this follow-up, Dr. Marsh is dealing with advanced prostate cancer, which he expects to be fatal. (Spoiler alert: He survives.) During his treatment, and faced with what he believes will be the end of his life, Marsh looks back on his career with clarity and humility. One of the leading neurosurgeons in the UK, Marsh now finds himself on the receiving end of the medical system in which he has spent his entire professional career.  DC

 

The Lowland is the multiple award winning novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. Spanning 50 years and two continents, this ambitious novel with what our reader describes as “the most beautiful prose I have ever read” follows the lives and fortunes of two brothers – Subhash and Udayan. Born only 15 months apart, and with wildly different temperaments, one brother becomes a revolutionary while the other becomes an academic. When tragedy strikes Udayan, Suhash must step in and save Udayan’s widow – even if it means going up against his family and generations of strict social traditions.  NH

 

Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals by Laurie Zaleski. Fleeing an abusive marriage with only her clothes and her three children, Annie McNulty settled in an abandoned farmstead with little to her name but an unending supply of kindness. Annie started taking in abandoned and unwanted animals, and soon the farm grew to hold more than 600 animals. This delightful book is written by Annie’s daughter, Laurie, and tells not only Annie’s story, but Laurie’s, and the stories of many animals that the mother and daughter team rescued along the way.  KM

 

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky is a fascinating look at the fish at the center of much of human history. Cod enabled the Vikings to travel the Atlantic and settle in the New World. It sustained many Europeans during the medieval times as there are cod stocks in various parts of the Atlantic Ocean as well as the Baltic Sea. Cod fishing endured even beyond the Black Death years and remains an important part of the Norwegian fish trade. Our reader states that this book is excellently written (as is anything by Kurlansky) and recommends it for anyone who has an interest not only in world history but the natural world.  CD

 

Also mentioned:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Whale Day and Other Poems by Billy Collins

Little Heathens:  Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

Mountain Sisters: From Convent to Community in Appalachia by Helen M. Lewis

Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir by Marie Yovanovitch

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

Ice Palace by Edna Ferber

The Dechronization of Sam Magruder by George Gaylord Simpson

Night Shift by Robin Cook

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder