Nevermore: Un-American, POWs, Hidden Figures, Trigger, Sotomayor, Girl Before, Roanoke Girls, Grandma Gatewood

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore met in one of the rooms of the Jones Creativity Center this week.  The verdict: a very nice space with much more light than the usual Frances Kegley conference room, and the Blackbird doughnuts and coffee were tasty as always.

Moving beyond Blackbird and onto books, our first reader introduced Un-American: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II: Images by Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Other Government Photographers by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams.  In 1942, the United States government hired these noted photographers to photograph the internment camps which were becoming home to over 120,000 Japanese Americans.  While this was supposed to be positive publicity, showing what nice places the camps were, the photographers did not always comply.  Some of their images were suppressed by the Army and only recently released.

The same reader continued with The Train to Crystal City: FDR’s Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and America’s Only Family Internment Camp During World War II by Jan Jarboe Russell.  Describing one particular family in the book, he discussed how a German family from Cleveland was sent to the Crystal City camp in Texas.  First, the father was held as an enemy alien and separated from his family.  Eventually, they were given the chance to reunite if all of them went to Texas, with the condition that they might even be involved in a prisoner exchange during the war.  Even though the children were born in the United States, the entire family ended up in Germany where they were despised as “Americans.”  Our reader was fascinated as this was part of history with which he was not familiar.

Several readers have been enjoying Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margo Lee Shetterly, the book that inspired the newly released movie.  This is a compelling story of the African American female mathematicians who calculated trajectories and timing to put spacecraft into orbit, and more importantly, bring them and their human cargo home again.  Most Nevermore readers have enjoyed the volume, but the current reader was just a bit disappointed that pictures of the historic women were not included.

Next up was Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War by Tim Butcher.  Focusing on Gavrilo Princip, who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and sparked the first World War, Trigger also discusses that there were several plots to assassinate the Austro-Hungarian heir that day.  Our reader noted that the first plaque posted on the spot condemned Princip, then was later changed to call him a hero.  Now, a brief sign low to the ground simply states the facts: “From this place on June 28 1914 Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia.”

Continuing in non-fiction, three readers have recently read My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomeyer.  As only the third woman and the first Hispanic appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sotomeyer writes of her childhood in the Bronx and the struggles she faced as she became a college graduate, a lawyer, a judge—all on the way to sitting on the highest bench in the land.  Our readers loved it, were so impressed by what she overcame, and were struck by the fact that Sotomeyer’s mother had found it important to buy the Encyclopedia Britannica so that her children could learn.

Turning now to fiction, our next reader enjoyed The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel.  Set in rural Kansas, the novel is based on multiple generations of teenage girls growing up in the family’s sprawling farmhouse.  Reviewers have compared this to a modern day Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews.  Our reader said that it was suspenseful, read quickly, and definitely kept you guessing till the end.

“Girl” titles have been very popular in the publishing business lately, additionally evidenced by the next book, The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney.  Jane (the girl in the present) and Emma (the girl before) alternate storytelling in this murder mystery.  Recommended for fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, this well written book was much enjoyed by our reader.  She said that there were “no wasted words,” always a sign of a good book.

Finally, our last reader had high praise for Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery.  In 1955, sixty-seven year old Emma Gatewood walked the trail alone with a homemade gunnysack thrown over her shoulder and no more than a shower curtain for a tent.  As Gatewood became well known, her advocacy may have saved the trail from fading into history.  Gatewood walked the trail not once, but two additional times.  Our reader very enthusiastically said, “If you have not read this book, you need to read it!”

Nevermore: Hidden Figures, Lucifer Principle, Black Widowers, Fountainhead, Fire By Night

Reported by Ambrea

Nevermore decided to start with Hidden Figures:  The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly.  Recently produced as a movie, Hidden Figures tells the story of a group of African American women—math teachers with brilliant minds who were relegated to teaching in the South’s segregated schools—who became “human computers” during the labor shortages of World War II.  They quickly became indispensable with their incredible mathematical skills, assisting NASA and the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in some of the greatest successes in the space race.  Our reader was excited to pick up Shetterly’s book.  She noted it was easy to read and fairly interesting; however, she thought Hidden Figures could have used a good editor and a trim.  Moreover, she thought the book could have used a little more detail about the personal lives of these incredible women.  She wanted to learn more about them personally and their accomplishments, rather than where each woman fit into the grand scheme of things, and she would have loved to have seen pictures.

Next, Nevermore looked at The Lucifer Principle.  Written by Howard K. Bloom, The Lucifer Principle is a compelling psychological study that explores the “intricate relationships among genetics, human behavior, and culture,” according to the book jacket, “to put forth the thesis that ‘evil’ is…woven into our most basic biological fabric.”  Drawing on years of scholarly research and delving deep into the darkest parts of human psychology, Bloom creates a book with depth and a weighty feeling of importance, like Jane Mayer’s Dark Money.  Our reader said Bloom’s book was absolutely fascinating; in fact, she couldn’t put it down.  She even bought her own copy, so, as she told her fellow readers, “I could ponder it.”  She highly recommended it to her fellow members and passed it on to the next interested reader.

Switching gears, Nevermore shared The Casebook of the Black Widowers by famed science-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov.  A collection of short stories about the Black Widowers, a group of friends who create and solve mysteries, riddles, and puzzles, The Casebook of the Black Widowers proved to be a hit for our reader.  He noted that Asimov’s book was “very short, very easy, but very good,” calling it interesting and charming.  Asimov, in conjunction to being a writer, was a professor of biochemistry and often inserted intriguing tidbits of knowledge into each of his books, including The Case of the Black Widowers.  Our reader was especially impressed by the breadth and depth of knowledge possessed by Asimov, saying he enjoyed how easy it was to learn something new.  “You’re learning as you’re reading,” he told his fellow readers, “but in a very easy [and accessible] way.”

Nevermore also took a long, hard look at Ayn Rand’s monolithic novel, The Fountainhead.  Considered a major classic, The Fountainhead follows Howard Roark as he makes his way in the world, an architect with unyielding integrity, and recounts his passionate love affair with the achingly beautiful Dominique Francon.  Initially, our reader picked up The Fountainhead in the hopes of learning about Ayn Rand and uncovering why her books have remained classics for decades; however, she found she was disappointed by the extreme selfishness of Rand’s protagonists.  Objectivism, which Rand touted, she explained to our fellow readers, appears to involve the pursuit of one’s own happiness regardless of consequences—and many of the characters involved in Rand’s novel appear to make decisions based on this ideal.  She also noted it is full of introspection and individual monologues, giving it the feel of a modernized Russian novel.  “If Tolstoy had lived in America in the 1920s, I believe he would have written this novel,” she said.

Last, Nevermore inspected a brand new book by debut author, Teresa Messineo:  The Fire by Night.  Jo, an Italian-Irish girl from Brooklyn, and Kay, a small-town girl from Pennsylvania, first met in nursing school.  They became fast friends, despite their very different backgrounds, and they quickly grew inseparable—and then the war came.  Now, Jo is caught in war-torn France with six wounded soldiers in her care and German soldiers nipping at her heels; Kay is trapped in a Japanese POW camp in Manila, struggling to protect herself and the patients thrust into her lap.  Our reader was absolutely fascinated by The Fire by Night.  She said Messineo delves deep into history, carefully reconstructing the details of World War II and bringing the conflict to life on the page.  It’s bittersweet and tragic, but it’s very, very good, and our reader can’t wait to hear more from Teresa Messineo.