Nevermore: Golden Doves, Anxious People, Dreamland

 

Reported by Rita

 

The Golden Doves: a Novel by Martha Hall Kelly

To finally secure justice and protect the ones they love, two former female spies, American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue, aka the Golden Doves, risk everything to hunt down an infamous Nazi doctor in the aftermath of World War II.

A real page-turner.  – KN     5 stars

 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Taken hostage by a failed bank robber while attending an open house, eight anxiety-prone strangers--including a redemption-seeking bank director, two couples who would fix their marriages, and a plucky octogenarian--discover their unexpected common traits.

Very silly – did not like it.  – MH     3 stars

 

Dreamland: a Novel by Nicholas Sparks

When Colby Mills sees his dreams of a music career derailed by tragedy, he becomes the head of a small family farm in North Carolina, where he finds a new love interest, Morgan Lee, an aspiring musician who hopes to someday move to Nashville and become a star.

Easy read – good escapism.  – VC     3 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

The Girls in the Stilt House: a Novel by Kelly Mustian

The Warsaw Sisters: a Novel of WWII Poland by Amanda Barratt

Social Movements of the 1960s: Searching for Democracy  by Stewart Burns

The Beekeeper's Promise by Fiona Valpy

Trail of the Lost: the Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail by Andrea Lankford

 

New Books

The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster  by John O'Connor

The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard by Natasha Lester

Diva by Daisy Goodwin

Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades  by Rebecca Renner

Library Mystery Series

 In honor of National Library Week, here are some popular mystery series with libraries and librarians!

The Unkindness of Ravens by M.E. Hilliard Librarian Greer Hogan matches wits with a deviously clever killer in a chilling series debut. First in the Greer Hogan series.

A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert:  Librarian Amy Webber must archive overdue crimes and deadly rumors before a killer strikes again in her new Virginia home in Victoria Gilbert’s charming series debut.  First in the Blue Ridge Library mystery series.

Murder Past Due by Miranda James: A famous author returns to his hometown and is murdered. It's up to Charlie Harris, the town's librarian, and his cat Diesel, to find the killer before the wrong person is arrested for the crime. The trouble is, every last one of Charlie's friends and coworkers had a score to settle with the novelist. First in the Cat in the Stacks mysteries.

Curiousity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly:  Small-town librarian Kathleen Paulson discovers that the two stray cats she has taken in--Owen and Hercules--are truly special when she, the prime suspect in a murder, gets some unexpected feline help in solving the crime and clearing her name. First in the Magical Cats series.

Miss Zukas and the Library Murders by Jo Dereske:  Librarian Helma Zukas and her friend Ruth, a six foot tall bohemian artist, investigating a dead body in the library’s fiction stacks. First in the Miss Zukas series.

Real Murders by Charlaine Harris: Roe Teagarden joins forces with police detective Arthur Smith and mystery writer Robin Crusoe to investigate a series of killings in which the victims are slain in the fashion of famous historical murders. First in the Aurora Teagarden Mystery series.

By Book or By Crook by Eve Gates: After her ten-year relationship implodes, Lucy escapes to the Outer Banks to heal and finds her dream job at a lighthouse library on Bodie Island, until a theft and a murder ensnares Lucy in a real-life mystery. This is the first in the series of Lighthouse Library mysteries.

Nevermore: Lost Roses, Witchfinder, Things in Jars, Red Coat, Read My Pins, Arguing with Zombies, Mountain Empire Memories

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore began with a flurry of book pages and notes from e-readers. First up was Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly. A generation before Caroline, the heroine of the earlier bestselling novel Lilac Girls, Caroline’s mother Eliza Ferriday proved herself an adventuresome young woman travelling through eastern Europe into Russia with Romanov cousin Sofya Streshnayva in 1914. Our reader said that the phenomenal descriptions made her feel as if she were right there amid the splendor of the pre-Russian revolution excesses, all while the common people were starving outside. This historical novel portrays the great and brutal inequalities which fomented the rebellion to come.

Our next reader was happy to have picked up a 50 cent book from the Bristol Public Library gift shop: The Witchfinder by Loren Estleman. Twelfth in the Amos Walker Private Investigator series, this outing takes the Detroit detective on a fact finding mission fueled by revenge. Jay Furlong is dying and he wants to know who destroyed his relationship with a young woman architect eight years ago. Our reader is only part way through, but is getting full value and enjoyment from her bargain book.

Next up in fiction was The Red Coat by Dolley Carlson. Set in Boston during the years surrounding the Second World War, this novel reveals the joy and the pain felt by both high society and working class families. A donated red coat is passed from mother to daughter. Our reader found this to be a sweet little book, and enjoyed it very much.

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd was quite a jarring departure from other fiction discussed, but one that fascinated our readers. In Victorian London Bridie Devine is a most unusual creature, a female detective set with the task of finding a kidnapped young girl. The girl isn’t just anyone, she’s a secret daughter of someone quite famous, and she may have slightly more than natural powers. Our reader predicts that this will turn into a #1 bestseller.

Turning to non-fiction, another reader enjoyed Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box by Madeleine Albright, which tells so much more of the former Secretary of State’s life than just her fashion accessories. Our Nevermore member found it to be a quick read, especially since she skimmed over the details of the pins that Albright was so famous for wearing.

The next book was non-fiction as well, even strangely titled—Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future by Paul Krugman. This Nobel Prize winner has decades of experience in the national arena and explains that the “zombies” are misunderstandings that just won’t die and are continually recirculated as gospel truths. Kruger draws together many of the issues that he has covered in his popular New York Times column in this uniquely named volume.

Finally, another reader picked up and enjoyed a newly published work on local history, Mountain Empire Memories: A Photographic History of the Early Years by the staff of the Bristol Herald Courier. Putting together photos from the Museum of the Middle Appalachians, the William King Museum of Art, the Bristol Historical Association, and the Sullivan County Department of Archives and Tourism, this coffee-table book is a really interesting browsing book. Our reader noted that if you are from this area of southwest Virginia or northeast Tennessee, this book will take you on a walk down memory lane as you recognize places from past decades.

Nevermore: Clock Dance, Lilac Girls, Salt Lane, Before We Were Yours, Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy, Treasure Island

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore began with a touching novel, Clock Dance by Anne Tyler. Willa Drake is a middle aged woman looking back over the decades of her life, from her mother’s disappearance in 1967 to decisions as a college student in 1977 and on to 2017 as she watches her family continue to evolve. Our reader said that she found this to be a strong, wonderful book, and that Tyler writes in such a way that you feel all the emotions of all the characters.

Another reader had picked up the bestseller Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, a novel based on a true story about medical experimentation on young women during Nazi Germany. Opinions on the novel were mixed, with the current reader finding it distasteful even as she skipped to the last chapter to decide whether or not it was worth finishing. (She decided it wasn’t.) Another reader agreed that she did not like the characters, but another thought that it was very well-written.

Salt Lane by William Shaw was appreciated as having a good plot and interesting characters. Alexandra Cupidi has gone from the London police department to being a sergeant in the Kent countryside. Bodies buried in the salt marshes, or “lanes,” begin appearing and Alexandra must investigate. While this is the first in a series based around the policewoman, some characters from the stand-alone novel The Birdwatcher do appear.

Two storylines intertwine in Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, one of a young woman prosecutor born into modern day privilege and one of a young girl wrenched from her family in 1939. Based on a true story of a corrupt Memphis adoption agency, this novel kept our reader riveted to the pages. The characters were vivid and believable, coming to life in alternating time periods to create a memorable story.

Stepping into non-fiction, Pulitizer Prize-winning author and historian Walter A. MacDougall made an appearance at the table with The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America’s Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest. Describing the idealism that United States citizens have often displayed since our earliest days, MacDougall attempts to define how our relatively young country has been different from other world countries. One example given by our reader was that the U.S. did not try to colonize other territories until the 1890s when the leaders tried to control Cuba, which then led to claiming a stake to the Philippines and more. After World War I, the U.S. attempted to return to an isolationist stance, but was forced back into the world arena by World War II. Our reader did an excellent job thoroughly explaining the complexities of history presented by the author.

Finally, another book club member decided to read the classic Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. She had never read it, but was fascinated to learn that the story was originally presented as a serial in the children’s magazine Young Folks in 1881 and 1882. The adventure novel captivated our reader, who even though she had to look up some of the old fashioned vocabulary used, found it very interesting.