Nevermore: Commonwealth, Lost for Words Bookshop, Shanghai Girls

Nevermore 8-11-26

Reported by Rita

 

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families. Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

The characters from the two families were so believable, like people you know. Well developed characters over the decades.       -DC      5 stars

 

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you. Into her hiding place - the bookstore where she works - come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?

It's an interesting take on bookstore ownership and how children's backgrounds affect their life.      -MH      4 stars

 

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Pearl and May are sisters, living carefree lives in Shanghai, the Paris of Asia. But when Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, they set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America.

It told a lot about the Chinese who came to the US in the 30's and 40's. I didn't like the ending, but was happy to hear there's a sequel.     -WJ       5 stars 

 

Other Books Mentioned

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Unlikely Thru-Hiker by Derick Lugo

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Hamnet by Maggie O' Farrell

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

Independent People by Halldór Laxness

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

 

New Books

52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets

Obstinate Daughters by Denise Kiernan

Inharmonious by Tammye Huf

The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva