It may or may not have had something to do with the airing
of the recent Ken Burns series on
PBS, but this week’s Nevermore members brought in two books which featured
members of the Roosevelt family. Doris
Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit illuminates the turbulent times at
the turn of the century when two close friends become heated rivals over the
presidency of the United States.
Theodore Roosevelt was the young, charismatic, dynamic leader who took
on special interests and looked to reform the nation. He endorsed his friend William Howard Taft to
succeed him as President, believing that Taft was a kindred spirit who would
continue on the path Teddy had begun.
When Taft failed to live up to Roosevelt’s expectations, Teddy took it
as not only a political but a personal affront.
One member described it as a book about “spectacular people who extended
democracy in a new way.” Goodwin has
received much acclaim as an historian whose books have broad popular appeal in
addition to solid scholarship.
The second book was a tie-in to the aforementioned series
and has the same title: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns. The book follows the show in covering the
roots of this fascinating family, including background on Theodore, his fifth
cousin Franklin Delano, and Eleanor, wife to Franklin and niece to
Theodore. Our reviewer praised the books
many illustrations, saying that there is much information to be gleaned from
the photos alone but that the text is quite well done. The story begins with
Theodore, who began life as a sickly child, and ends with Eleanor’s death in
1962. The relationships between the
principals and their circles are fascinating and will give readers an entirely
new perspective on the family.
China Dolls by Lisa
See is a novel set in the late 1930s, when three girls vie for a job as a
showgirl at the Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco. Although the girls are all of Asian descent,
their backgrounds are very different.
Despite this, Grace, Ruby, and Helen become close friends. They rely on
each other for their very survival. Then
Pearl Harbor happens, and Japanese are being rounded up for the internment
camps. Since few people know that Ruby isn’t
Chinese but Japanese, her arrest means someone close to her has betrayed her. Lisa See is the author of the
best-selling book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love.
Finally, there was Death, Snow, and Mistletoe by Valerie Malmont. Tori Miracle moved to the little town of
Lickin Creek, PA to be near her fiancé, who promptly took a job in Costa
Rica. Tori is waiting (mostly) patiently
for his return while acting as temporary editor for the local paper, taking
photos and writing about the Christmas pageant. Then a child goes missing and a local resident
is murdered, and Tori’s job becomes a lot more interesting—and maybe
dangerous. Our reader said this was a
cut above many small town mysteries, with a good mix of humor and danger.
