Nevermore: Peety, German Girl, Bushmen, Being Nixon

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore is full of animal lovers, and this was evidenced by one reader enjoying Walking with Peety: The Dog Who Saved My Life by Eric O’Grey.  Before adopting Peety, the author was plagued by health problems.  Overweight and depressed, he was surprised when his doctor suggested that he adopt a dog to encourage more physical activity.  Within a year, both human and canine were eating healthier, exercising and in much better physical health.  Our reader was touched by the sweetness of the book, and another dog lover gladly picked it up to check out next.

Crossbones Yard by Kate Rhodes introduces Alice Quentin, a London psychologist with a family history of abuse and mental illness.  Alice also enjoys running, but that joy is interrupted one day when she practically stumbles over a dead body at a graveyard.  With a killer on the loose, Alice helps to build a psychological profile of the murderer, whose style looks all too much like Roy and Marie Bensons’—two unusually cruel convicted (and currently incarcerated) serial killers.  Our reader said that this was a great series debut.

Next up was The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa, an international bestseller.  The story begins in 1939 Berlin when young girls Hannah Rosenthal and Leo Martin must flee the country to escape Nazi oppression.  The refugees travel to Havana to an uncertain, if not quite so immediately dangerous future.  More than seventy years later, young Anna Rosen receives a letter from someone she has never known, who says she is Anna’s great-aunt Hannah.  The family’s mysterious past beckons to Anna as she discovers the heartbreak and loss endured by previous generations.

Another reader appreciated the simple life portrayed in Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen by James Suzman.  The hunter-gatherers in southern Africa worked only about fifteen hours a week and had all that they needed, leaving much time for leisure activities.  Until white Europeans came, the bushmen were happy; seeing the advantages that earning money provided made the natives unsatisfied and ultimately changed their formerly egalitarian society.  Our reader commented that it was “such a refreshing book.”

In historic American politics, next discussed was Being Nixon: A Man Divided by Evan Thomas.  This newer biography encompasses everything that Nixon himself taped and wrote in his diary.  As a conservative vice president to the more liberal Republican Eisenhower, Nixon had two sides: he was very aggressive and determined to accomplish things; also he was a socially rigid person who wasn’t comfortable with others.  The author suggests that the decision to cover up the Watergate scandal was Nixon’s ultimate downfall.  Our reader proclaimed that this biography had a startlingly fresh feeling, and was recommended to all.

Nevermore: Velveteen Daughter, Mute Stones, Bushmen, Our Picnics in the Sun, Little Fires Everywhere

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore read a wide variety of books this week, beginning with The Velveteen Daughter by Laurel Davis Huber.  The similarity of title to The Velveteen Rabbit is no coincidence: this is historical fiction based on the life of Margery Williams Bianco (who wrote The Velveteen Rabbit) and her daughter Pamela, a well-known child prodigy artist.  Pamela had great talent, but also suffered greatly from severe depressions and other mental illness all her life.  Our reader enjoyed the story of a family touched with talent but also with sadness.

Another reader had a great breakthrough—she finished a book that she had been reading off and on for about a year!  The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy by Paul MacKendrick may have been a long read, but well worth the time.  The author writes with enthusiasm to draw in scholars and non-scholars alike.  Our reader learned much about the search for antiquities in Italy, but was perhaps most impressed by the last ten pages, when it is revealed that the crypt of the first Saint Peter’s church was found.

Moving to yet another continent, Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen by James Suzman.  While the book talks about how the bushmen of southern Africa have traditionally lived simple and happy lives, our reader was very impressed by the anthropological changes in people over time.  Because of being able to cook meat—skulls, faces and teeth changed, so then they were able to physically develop and articulate speech.  Our reader found “so many beautiful things” in this book.

Our Picnics in the Sun by Morag Joss took Nevermore to a novel set on the English moors where Howard and Deborah Morgan are eking out a living by keeping sheep and chickens, making pottery and weaving cloth.  Then Howard has a stroke, and the world changes for both of them.  Deborah opens a bed and breakfast but is surprised by two men who come to stay, opening up old secrets and tragedies.  Our reader said that she enjoyed the book, but that it was quite sad.

Finally, another reader read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.  A story about secrets and hidden undercurrents in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, most reviews have been positive.  However, our reader found that she didn’t have the patience for the story and thought that all the characters were immature.