Nevermore: Crime and Punishment, Everything is Tuberculosis, King of the North

 

Nevermore Book Club readers enjoy a wide variety of books, old and new, fiction and non-fiction. Here are some of the books recommended from a recent meeting:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a classic of Russian literature for good reason.  The protagonist, Raskolnikov, is mired in poverty as is his family.  He sees others suffering as well, and who are forced to pawn their possessions to survive.  Roskolnikov convinces himself that by murdering the pawnbroker and stealing her money, he can save his family and perform great acts of public service; that such a deed would not be a true crime because it would serve the greater good. Afterwards, however, he struggles with his conscience even as he tries to help others. Our reviewer thought it was a magnificent book and feels everyone should read it.

Everything is Tuberculosis is by John Green, best known as the Young Adult author of such best-sellers as The Fault in Our Stars.  Green began researching TB after meeting young patient Henry Reider in Sierra Leone who had contracted a drug-resistant form of the disease.  Green gives a history of TB, which once ravaged all of Europe and had a lasting impact on the culture of the time, while he chronicles the efforts to save Henry’s life.  Our reader found the book fascinating, informative, and recommends it to everyone.

King of the North:  Martin Luther King’s Life of Struggle Outside the South by Jeanne Theoharis examines the often overlooked time King spent in the Northeast, starting when he was a student in Boston.  While King’s work to combat racism in the South is well documented, the same work in the North has been minimized.  Our reader was impressed with the attention played to Coretta Scott, later King, who was also a student in Boston at the time. Although she hasn’t quite finished with the book, she recommends it highly.

Conclave by Robert Harris is a fictional account of the election of a new pope.  Cardinal Lomeli is charged with managing the Conclave while facing his own crisis of faith.  He becomes aware of a rumor that one of the cardinals actually had been dismissed from his duties just hours before the Pope’s death, something the cardinal emphatically denies. It falls to Lomeli to try to uncover the truth.  The book was the basis for the Oscar nominated movie of the same name, and the reviewer said the film was an excellent adaptation.

Nevermore: Sister Stardust, These Violent Delights, You Call This Democracy?, A Very Punchable Face

 

Reported by Garry

Sister Stardust by Jane Green is a historical novel based loosely on the troubled life of Talitha Getty, the wife of oil heir Paul Getty, and told from the viewpoint of Claire, a small-town young woman who moves to London and takes a job as a shop-girl. One day the radiant Talitha walks in, and Claire’s world is never the same. Set in England and Marrakesh during the height of the 1960s counter-culture, this novel is a beautifully written, captivating read. MS

 

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong is a historical science-fiction novel, set in the gang-ridden shadows of 1920s Shanghai and taking many thematic queues from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Juliette Cai is the New York-educated, 18-year-old heir to the Scarlet Gang, and her rival (and first love) is Roma Montagov, a 19-year-old Russian who leads the White Flowers. The two come together to find a cause and cure for a mysterious contagion ravaging the city, which causes its victims to tear out their own throats. Romeo and Juliet is masterfully transformed from a doomed teenage love story to a delightful blend of political intrigue, gruesome horror, race-against-the-clock mystery, and, yes—romance—set against a city that becomes a character in its own right.  SH

 

You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix the Government and Deliver Power to the People by Elizabeth Rusch. The political landscape has never been so tumultuous: issues with the electoral college, gerrymandering, voter suppression, and a lack of representation in the polls and in our leadership have led to Americans of all ages asking, “How did we get here?” According to Rusch, the power to change lies with the citizens of this great country—especially teens. Rather than pointing fingers at people and political parties, You Call This Democracy? looks at flaws in the system and offers real strategies to improve the United States government. Each chapter breaks down a different problem plaguing American democracy, exploring how it’s undemocratic, offering possible solutions (with examples of real-life teens who have already started working toward them), and suggesting ways to effect change—starting now!  AH

 

A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir by Colin Jost is a series of essays by the Saturday Night Live head writer about his life growing up on Staten Island and his journey to becoming the lead writer of one of the most storied and influential television shows in history. Jost’s mother was the Chief Medical Officer for the NYPD and this book includes heart-wrenching stories of her time during the 9-11 Twin Towers collapse, as well as hilariously bizarre incidents such as the time Jost watched paramedics perform CPR on a raccoon. Jost attended Harvard, majoring in history and literature, where he graduated cum laude in 2004. Our reader was laughing out loud while reading this book and said it was one of the most enjoyable autobiographies she has ever read.  CD

Also mentioned:

The Matchmaker: A Spy in Berlin by Paul Vidich

A Coin for the Ferryman by Megan Edwards

The Fifth Book of Peace by Maxine Hong Kingston

Heart in the Right Place by Carolyn Jourdan

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

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

French Braid by Anne Tyler

Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler

Black Cloud Rising by David Wright Falade

A God in Ruins by Leon Uris

A Measure of Belonging:  Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South edited by Cinelle Barnes

Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System by M. Chris Fabricant

Black Ghost of Empire:  The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation by Kris Manjapra

From the Hood to Holler:  A Story of Separate Worlds, Shared Dreams and the Fight for America’s Future by Charles Booker

Nevermore: Chasing History, Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Melungeon Winter, The Poison Squad

 

 

Reported by Ben

 

Chasing History by Carl Bernstein: this book is the famous reporter's account of his personal journey as a reporter. Bernstein first faced difficulty establishing himself in the profession. He was a poor student who barely graduated high school and flunked out of college after spending too much time working for a newspaper instead of studying. Then he lost his job after a new editor took over the newsroom, stating reporters needed a college degree. Undaunted, Bernstein found a way to stay in the journalism profession and would cover big stories during a tumultuous time in US history. Our Nevermore club member loved Bernstein's writing style. She couldn't put the book down!

 

 

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green: 20-something protagonist April May stumbles upon a strange figure, appearing to be a transformer robot or monolith. She posts a picture of her find to social media, which goes viral, earning her notoriety. What April had stumbled upon was a mysterious phenomenon soon to be known as "The Carls," many more of which are being discovered in other cities. The plot thickens as April contends with her newfound fame and society faces a divide over what to do with these strange visitors. The Nevermore reader who shared this book went into it with a little apprehension, since it was a young adult novel. However she really liked the book and recommended it to the group.

 

A Melungeon Winter by Patrick Bone: in the 1950s, two friends--one white and one black--team up to exonerate the father of one of the boys who was accused of murder. The boys must work with a local Melungeon hermit named Mr. Mullins to solve the mystery. Nevermore's reader fell in love with the book, emphasizing how well it represented the region and time period she came from. Bone's novel is one of the few she will keep and read again!

 

The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum: this nonfiction title details the struggle to make food safe, from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. What was the problem? Your milk might have been just water with chalk mixed in. The meat at your table could contain borax. The food industry was experimenting with preservatives and being reckless with the contents of the country's food. Complicating the crusade to clean up everyone's food were changing government administration staffs which brought new priorities with them and a lack of funding for research. Our woman-on-assignment reading this book indicated that this one was not for the faint of heart. She was unable to finish reading it, being disturbed by what she learned. Blum's book did generate a lot of discussion and questions at the table, however. An eager Nevermore regular quickly snatched it up at the end of the discussion.

 

Other titles mentioned:

 

Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845–1850 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

 

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

 

The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray

 

Amy and Isabelle: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout

 

The Adventures of Maya the Bee by Waldemar Bonsels

 

Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge

 

At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie

 

The Russia House by John le Carré

 

A Bad Day for Sunshine and A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

 

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger

 

Look for Me by Lisa Gardner

 

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith