Nevermore: Not Taco Bell Material, Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, Killing Eve, Common Good, Chances Are

Reported by Jeanne

Adam Carolla is a well-known podcaster and satirist who has appeared on numerous radio and television shows. Our Nevermore member said he has “the gift of gab,” so she was interested to read his book Not Taco Bell Material.  Carolla organizes this memoir by the places he has lived, and gives a lot of social commentary along the way.  Our reader said it was a fun book but noted that Carolla can be very sexist and misogynistic along the way.

Another member has been stuck in the 1800s, she says, and she continued the trend with The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer.  Treuer, an Ojibwa who was raised on a reservation in Minnesota, takes issue with the impression given by Dee Brown that Wounded Knee was the end of Native American culture.  Instead this book asserts that extreme adversity strengthens Native resolve, and illustrates how Native Americans have taken their place in modern society despite the obstacles.  Our reviewer praised the book for its excellent writing and research.  She said it was a wonderful book.

Killing Eve:  No Tomorrow is the second in the Killing Eve series by Luke Jennings. The action revolves around Eve, a former MI5 agent, who is determined to stop a female assassin who kills political figures and who plays a cat and mouse game with Eve.  Our reader had read the first in the series, Codename Villanelle, and liked it, but felt this one was more of the same, only with less sex—which she said was a plus.

In The Common Good, economist Robert Reich begins by trying to define what the “common good” is, comparing it with the assertion of a pharmaceutical executive that his mission is not so much to provide needed medicines but to maximize profits.  He then traces the history of how the concept seems to have changed in American society, using political and corporate examples, and ends by asking if the original concept can be restored.  Our reviewer says he offers some remedies and suggestions, and that he does have hope.

Richard Russo’s novel Chances Are revolves around the friendship of three men who met at a summer job back in the 1960s.  Their lives have taken very different paths since then:  one is a real estate broker, another owns a small publishing house, and the third is a rock musician past his prime.  Along with memories of their exploits, there’s the memory of a girl they all loved, a girl who disappeared.  The Nevermore reader said she fell asleep on the book but hastened to add that it was her hectic life and not the book that was to blame.  She went on to say that she did enjoy it, but hadn’t yet finished.

Nevermore: Worst Hard Time, Frog with Self-Cleaning Feet, Tell Me Everything You Don't Remember, Codename Villanelle

Reported by Lauren

            Natural disasters, international spies, and funny animals are just a few of things our Nevermore members discussed at the last meeting. 

            One reader shared her review of The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan, a study of what has been called “the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land.” This nonfiction book describes the perils of living in the High Plains during the Great Depression while dust storms decimated crops causing residents to starve.  These stoic, hard-working farmers refused to abandon their homesteads, surviving on little to nothing.  Our reader declared it was so much worse than she had ever imagined or been taught. She strongly encouraged everyone read to it, as the threat of natural disasters brought on by climate change due to technological advances is still timely. 

Our next reviewer shared The Frog with Self-Cleaning Feet by Michael Bright. Another nonfiction work, this book highlights fun facts about various animals in the wild, including what they eat, how they camouflage and defend themselves from predators, and even how they bathe and use medicinal plants and herbs to heal themselves. Our reader remarked, “Humans are so boring! We only know how to use our two hands, while these fantastic animals are so creative.” She wished she could read and discuss it with a friend, as she caught herself laughing out loud and saying, “This is unbelievable!” She highly recommended we all check it out.

Two of our members had read Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember: The Stroke That Changed My Life Forever by Christine Hyung-Oak Lee. Ironically neither of them could remember the full title! Author Christine had a stroke at just 33 years old. Her doctor recommended that she keep a diary or journal to help rebuild her memory. This memoir is the result. One reader loved the book, saying that it was really like being inside the mind of stroke victim. The writer jumps around in time, repeats things, and doesn’t always remember details. She found this realistic and endearing; however our other reader disagreed. She didn’t like the time jumps and memory lapses, and found the whole thing repetitive and unnecessary in some places. It was tough for her to even finish. We were all amused to see how two people could interpret the same book so differently.

On a fictional note, one reader is currently engrossed in Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings, the first in the series of novels on which the award-winning BBC America mystery series Killing Eve is based. Villanelle is a Russian orphan turned assassin; Eve is a British Intelligence Agent assigned to track down a killer (Villanelle). The cat-and-mouse game between the two women is extremely interesting so far – our reader promised to keep us posted! She also took the sequel, Killing Eve: No Tomorrow.

To wrap up our meeting, we discussed one of the latest titles in the self-help genre, Girl Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. Hollis is a successful blogger, author, motivational speaker, and mom. In this novel, she presents strategies other like-minded women can use to reach their own goals and find success, whatever that looks like to them. Her main point is to stop apologizing for your dreams, and do whatever you need to do to reach your goals. Through funny anecdotes and various lists, she advises women to stop allowing others’ doubts to keep you from living your best life. While our reviewer didn’t find any of the information new or ground-breaking, it was a nice reminder to be yourself and stay the course, even when daily life seems overwhelming. Three out of five stars!

The Nevermore Book Club meets every Tuesday at 11:00 am in the Frances Kegley Meeting Room at Bristol Public Library.  New members welcome!