Nevermore: Lost Causes, Stella Bain, St. Maybe, Painter's Apprentice, Bastard, Dinosaurs

Reported by Jeanne

There are several Nevermore members who love “Nordic Noir,” crime fiction by Scandinavian authors.  The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen fits into that category, and our reader found it to be quite good.  It’s the first in the “Department Q” series, and the book opens with Danish homicide detective Carl Morck returning to duty after a terrible incident in which Morck was badly injured while a fellow officer was killed and another left paralyzed.  Morck is considered difficult by the department, so he is ordered to set up a task force (of one) to investigate cold cases.  Knowing that it’s a ploy just to get him out of the way, Morck becomes intrigued by  marking time.  Other members of the group were already familiar with this fine series, so this title comes with the Nevermore seal of approval.

Two other group favorite authors came up this week.  The first was Anita Shreve whose book Stella Bain captivated our reviewer.  The setting is 1916, when an exhausted and confused woman is taken in by compassionate London doctor and his wife. The woman thinks her name is Stella Bain but she has lost most of her memories: the last thing she can remember is waking up in a battlefield hospital in France.  She thinks she was working as a nurse there, but clues to her real identity are few.  Finding out who she really is opens up a complicated past.  It is well written as is usual for Shreve, and is a wonderful blend of historical events, family ties, and the toll that war takes. 

Anne Tyler is another frequently enjoyed author, and Saint Maybe did not disappoint. When Ian’s brother Danny dies, Ian holds himself responsible. Danny’s wife dies soon after, and Ian steps in to help care for their three children.  Still wracked with guilt, Ian finds comfort in the Church of the Second Chance.  It’s another of Tyler’s complex and satisfying family stories, and our reader recommended it.

The Painter’s Apprentice by Laura Morelli takes place in the early 16^th century.  Maria Bartolini is learning to gild but develops an unfortunate attachment to a young man who is a gold beater in her father’s workshop. She is summarily sent away to apprentice to a painter and to learn about pigments until such a time that she can return and marry someone suitable. When the Plague begins sweeping through Italy, she fears she may never be able to return home. Our reader was enchanted by the descriptions of Venice.  As far as she was concerned, this book had it all: interesting characters, insights into the art world of the time, and Venetian and Italian history.  She had read Morelli’s previous book, The Gondola Maker, and enjoyed it as well.

Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison made a very strong impression on our next reviewer.  It is the heart wrenching story of a young girl growing up in poverty who suffers both physical and mental abuse.  Several Nevermore members had read it previously and all found it to be an incredibly powerful book.  Our current reader thought it should be a required text.

  

Finally, one Nevermore member had a bit of theme going with her books:  The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which Professor Challenger leads a group of British explorers to a place where prehistoric creatures still survive;  Prehistoric Origami by John Montroll, which illustrates how to make dinosaurs, mammoths, and other creatures out of paper; and finally, T-Rex to Go by Christopher McGowan, which gives step by step instructions on how to build your own T. Rex out of chicken bones.  Chicken recipes are included.

 

Nevermore: Hello Girls, Girl on the Train, My Cousin Rachel, Long Black Veil, Taduno's Song, St. Louie Slow Drag, Hot Zone, Sapiens

Reported by Jeanne

Nevermore opened with praise for Jennifer Boylan’s Long Black Veil.  The story revolves around six college students who sneak into an abandoned prison on a lark.  The situation turns deadly, and the survivors find their lives forever changed. Thirty years later, a police officer arrests one of the former students, and another is faced with revealing secrets that could ruin her life.  The story moves back and forth from 1980 to the present day, and one thing our reader found most intriguing was simply realizing how much social norms have changed in that relatively small period of time.  She said it was a good, scary book that reminded the reader that secrets will come out.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston was the next book up.  Our reader had lived near Reston, Virginia at one point, so the implications hit home for her.  The story is divided between a history of how the ebola virus was discovered and a frightening incident that occurred in a Reston lab in 1989.  Our reader said it a thrilling, terrifying book, and she recommended it to the others.

A Nigerian musician in exile receives a letter from his girlfriend that causes him to return home in the debut novel Taduno’s Song by Odafe Atogun.  Once there, he discovers no one remembers him, that his identification is all gone, and his girlfriend is missing.  It’s a Kafkaesque situation, in which the protagonist is powerless to do anything except play his music. Our reader enjoyed the book.

Sapiens by Yuval N. Harari details a number of different theories about mankind’s evolution, but he shows little or favoritism for any particular theory.  The author, a professor of history at Hebrew University, discusses the various human species whose remains have been found while describing the way our species has developed.  There’s an overwhelming amount of information packed into each page, which makes for slow reading; but the Nevermore member is finding it well written and quite good.

More recent history is covered in The Hello Girls by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman. World War I saw the first telephone lines used as a means of communication, and the first American women soldiers sent to France to operate them.  Their path was not an easy one.  They had very little respect, either from the male soldiers or the female nurses; they were in war zones; and both food and shelter were deplorable.  Our reviewer was impressed with General John “Black Jack” Pershing, who championed the women. She thought the book was quite an eye-opener, and thought more people should know about that particular part of WWI.

Our next reader was engrossed in Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.  It’s the story of three different women whose lives become intertwined. Rachel takes the train to and from work every day.  She begins watching a couple who seem to be living perfect lives, including the perfect marriage— something that attracts Rachel, unhappily divorced and upset over her ex’s new wife.   Then an apparent crime draws together the lives of these three women, surprising the reader with twists and turns.  Our reviewer hasn’t finished the book, but is finding it to be intriguing, entertaining, and well written, with especially strong characterization.

St. Louie Slow Drag, the second in the Julia Nye series by Jo Allison, is a historical mystery set in St. Louis in 1910. Julia works as a typist in the local police department, which is not her only unconventional activity.  She’s also a suffragette and is willing to go on a date to a seedy part of town to hear ragtime great Scott Joplin play.  An explosion and fire sends the club-goers fleeing—and the kerosene can says this was no accident.  Our reader was impressed with the amount of historical detail in the book.  Allison creates a vivid portrait of life at the time, including race relations, the calls for women’s suffrage, and the march for Prohibition. She recommends the entire series.

Finally, a reader picked up My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier.  A young man is intrigued by his late cousin’s beautiful widow in a complex romantic-suspense novel set in Cornwall.  Our reader gave up on it early, saying that she had just read Jamaica Inn and that was a hard act to follow.  She may try it again later.