Nevermore: Waking Up White, Alexander Hamilton, Before She Disappeared, An Elderly Lady Must Not be Crossed

 

Reported by Garry

The books brought to Nevermore this week ran the gamut from historical fiction to farce and romance to murder mystery. We always have a great selection of books to discuss!

Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving was the first book discussed this week. The author grew up privileged in a wealthy suburb of Boston.  Sheltered and rather oblivious to the social inequalities around her, it took Irving years to realize why her efforts at inclusion and diversity were failing. In 2009, she had a life-altering moment that changed how she saw herself and her relationships. Our reader found this a well thought out, insightful book and recommends it to anyone who would like to reexamine their own position of privilege.

Alexander Hamilton’s Guide to Life by Jeff Wilser was the next book reviewed. This light-hearted but well researched biography of one of the most important figures in American history is laid out chronologically and discusses Hamilton’s approach to life with wit and heart, while still being historically accurate. Our reader is a big fan of Alexander Hamilton, and credits him with shaping the United States into the country that it is today. She says that this 336 page book is an easy read that examines and elucidates the life-approach of this influential Founding Father, and highly recommends it.

 

Our next reader took on the classic Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This novel, first published in 1818 (and one of the first examples of science-fiction), tells the story of the young Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a sentient creature from harvested body parts. The book varies distinctly from the now iconic 1931 film starring Boris Karloff. Shelley’s literary “Creature” is intelligent, sentient and capable of discussions and existential reasoning. The story also takes place in a wider variety of locations than depicted in the film. Ostensibly about a scientist and the creature he creates, this novel raises questions about the nature of sentience, the responsibility of scientists for their creations, and the rights of self-determination of “created” life-forms; questions that, more than 200 years later, are becoming ever-more relevant. Our reader highly recommends this eerily prescient, immensely influential book.

 

The latest Frankie Elkin mystery, Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner is a thrilling read that our reader particularly liked because it was not “all wrapped up in a bow” at the end. Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic who tries to solve missing person cold-cases. Her new case brings her to a rough Boston neighborhood, where she is searching for a Haitian teenager by the name of Angelique Badeau. Running into resistance from both Angelique’s family and the local Boston police, Frankie puts her own life on the line in order to solve the disappearance. Tightly written with an intriguing female protagonist, our reader quite enjoyed this modern day mystery.

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed is the second in the Elderly Lady series by Helene Tursten that picks up immediately after An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good. Maud is an 88 year old living in Gothenburg, Sweden, who knows what she wants and will achieve it at all costs. This clever book intertwines six short stories about Maud’s earlier life helping to explain how she came to be the ruthless yet caring person that she is. Doddering when she wishes to be, and cunning and spry when it suits her needs, Maud is far more than meets the eye - a character that will devilishly stick with you for years to come.

Also mentioned:

The Ballad of Laurel Springs by Janet Beard

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

Trust Me by Hank Phillipi Ryan

Two Graves by Preston and Child

The Survivors by Alex Schulman

On Animals by Susan Orlean

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Bloodline by Jess Lourey

There is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century by Fiona Hill

America’s First Western Frontier: East Tennessee: A Story of the Early Settlers and Indians of East Tennessee by Brenda Calloway

Seedtime on the Cumberland by Harriette Simpson Arnow

Blood and Treasure:  Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Along a Storied Trail by Anne Gabhart

I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America by Tyler Merritt

I’m Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tube, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream by Richard Antoine White

The Heroine with 1001 Faces by Maria Tatar

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

The House Girl by Tara Conklin

Nevermore: Murmur of Bees, Bitter and Sweet, Alexander Hamilton, The Historian, Man on a Raft, Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good

 

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore began our latest Zoom book club discussing Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years by Michael E. Newton. Our reader is a huge Hamilton fan and has read many books about him over the years, but was highly impressed with Newton’s research. She said that she thought she knew everything about Hamilton, but learned so much more with this reading. Hamilton’s heroic exploits of the Revolutionary War were emphasized, even praising his compassion at the Battle of Yorktown as he quickly outmaneuvered the British troops, but let the defeated soldiers go rather than dispatching them with bayonets.

Our next reader picked up a recommended book from six decades ago, (1960!) Man on a Raft by Kenneth Cooke. Although faded and worn, this little paperback was proclaimed to be wonderful, even though the main character endured so much misery. Our reader said that it was truly about courage, and that she was inspired by others’ perseverance.

 

On another serious note, the same reader highly recommended the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. Set in Seattle and moving between the 1940s and the 1980s, this debut novel tells the story of Asian families removed to internment camps. The Panama Hotel once served as an intersectional place for the Japanese and Chinese communities, and indeed, Henry Lee met his first love, Keiko Okabe, there during the war years. Our reader said that one of the best parts of the book was how Henry and his father came to understand each other as they each tried to define their cultural identity.

 

Moving further back in historical fiction, another book club member read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, a venture back to the fifteenth century in another retelling of the Dracula tale. The novel uses three different narrators: an unnamed young woman in the 1970s, her father Paul in the 1950s, and Paul’s mentor a generation earlier in the 1930s. The story weaves much travel through Eastern Europe through the pages, visiting monasteries and villages while looking for the origin of Dracula.

 

Back on this side of the Atlantic, our next reader read another novel that sounds all too familiar these days because it involved an influenza pandemic, The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia. The first of this Mexican author’s books translated into English, this is the tale of Simonopio, a baby found under a bridge and covered in bees. As he grows, he has visions, causing some villagers to view him with superstition. With the 1918 pandemic and the Mexican Revolution intertwined, Segovia’s beautiful voice tells of turbulent times of change.

 

Finally, another reader enjoyed a book that has been making the rounds of Nevermore for months: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten. This small book of stories was translated from the original Swedish, and has been well enjoyed by most readers. Maud is 88 years old and has been living in her inherited apartment for decades, (rent-free, mind you) and has no plan to give it up anytime soon. She is clever, possibly criminal, and an absolute joy to know—as long as you don’t cross her.

Nevermore: Picoult, Ford, Alexander Hamilton, Churchill, Klansman, Bradley, Link, Woodward

Our first book club member picked up Jodi Picoult’s The Book of Two Ways. Dawn Edelstein discovers much about herself in a crisis—as the plane she is on prepares for a crash landing. Rather than thinking of her husband Brian, a serious astrophysicist, she finds herself thinking of an old connection, Egyptologist Wyatt Armstrong. Woven through the story are Egyptian tomb inscriptions, showing how the body can go one of two ways. Our reader found this to be a very interesting book, although she commented that there were not any overt social issues as there are in many of Picoult’s books.

 

Love and other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford struck a chord with our next reader.  Set in Seattle, this is the tale of a young boy born in China. His mother leaves the child for his “uncle” because she is poor, but the uncle takes child and puts him in a hold in a boat, and they go to America. The Coast Guard comes and the children are thrown overboard. The boy survives, and the man who rescues him is named Ernest, so he takes that name. The Christian Children’s Home Society sends him to a boarding school where he is ostracized. When he is sent to the 1909 World’s Fair this seems to be an fun outing, until Ernest finds that he is to be auctioned off as a “healthy boy to a good home.” The lady who wins the raffle is a madam in charge of a house of ill repute – where he goes as the houseboy.  Our reader found it to be a fantastic book about the history of Seattle and the World Fair, and totally recommends it.

 

Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth by Stephen F. Knott had a lot of surprises for our next reader. Hamilton died in 1804 and for the next 20 years, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did everything they could to smear his reputation. Hamilton said that the people were a great beast, but he was very concerned about the condition of everyone. He wanted even the common man to profit and thrive from the economic structure. Even today, many Supreme Court decisions quote Hamilton and the Federalist Papers. Aaron Burr who fatally shot Hamilton in a duel, saw a bust of Hamilton, rubbed his hands over the face of the bust and said “This is where all the poetry was.” Hamilton’s popularity has fluctuated over the years, with various political figures having differing opinions. FDR hated Hamilton; Lincoln loved Hamilton, and many people have strong opinions about him today with his story recently retold in a modern day musical via song and rap.

 

Another popular read this week was The Splendid and Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson. The main part of the book covers Churchill’s first year from when he assumed office amidst immediate German bombing to when the US entered the Second World War. The author researched deeply, looking for stories that others omitted. One of Larson’s sources is diaries from Churchill’s private secretary, John Colville, detailing some of the things that were going on in Churchill’s private life, such as his finances and his son, Randall. Everyone acknowledged that Churchill was a wonderful orator, but some had great reservations about his ability to be Prime Minister. He began to energize the country during a time of great difficulty with the creation of the Ministry of Aircraft Development. Larson also utilized the Mass Observation Project, diaries from everyday people about their day-to-day experiences.  Nell Last, a housewife, age 49, said of Churchill and his political rival Neville Chamberlain:  “I would rather live my life with Chamberlain, but for this time perhaps we are better off with Churchill.”

 

Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy by Edward Ball has been passed around to several Nevermore readers. The author is the great-great-grandson of Constant Lecorgne, a white French Creole who terrorized African Americans from under the infamous white sheets. Our reader noted that in 1870 Ulysses Grant asked for laws that would prevent voter intimidation, and yet some people still feel those effects of intimidation at the voting booth today. Our reader found this an excellent book but heavy reading.  

Fighting Words by local author Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is a middle grade novel. Ten year old Della has always felt protected by her older sister Suki. The sisters have secrets, but when Suki comes to a breaking point, Della’s world is shattered. The author tackles the stigma of childhood sexual abuse in a very real way. Our reader feels that everyone should read this book because abuse affects so many people and is so well hidden from the mainstream. Abuse could be happening to people you see on an everyday basis because you do not know what is going on behind closed doors. Our reviewer felt it was a very important book but said parental guidance might be needed for some children because of the topic, and recommended it for readers of all ages. 

O. Winston Link: Life along the Line: A Photographic Portrait of America’s Last Great Steam Railroad by Tony Reevy. Norfolk and Southern was the last steam railroad in the United States, and Norfolk and Western was the last one that ran steam trains on all of its lines. Winston was an artistic photographer, not just a point-and shoot hack. He was known for his perfect lighting and being able to capture glimpses of small town life that was changing dramatically in the 1950s. The History Museum of Western Virginia/O. Winston Link Museum is in nearby Roanoke, and many photographs of Bristol are in the book.  

 

Our last member said that reading Rage by Bob Woodward made her feel as if she was in the backroom listening to highly charged political conversations. Our reader felt that the author doesn’t get overly convoluted in semantics and does an excellent job of describing the chaos – with so many different people infighting and nobody knowing exactly what was happening.  She has new respect for General James Mattis, calling him unbelievably brilliant and knowledgeable. In such turbulent political times, this book was touted as descriptive and insightful, and our reader enjoyed it much more than she thought she would.