Reported by Garry
And Finally: Matters of Life and Death by Henry Marsh. A few weeks ago,
another reader read Do No Harm by the same author. In this follow-up,
Dr. Marsh is dealing with advanced prostate cancer, which he expects to be
fatal. (Spoiler alert: He survives.) During his treatment, and faced with what
he believes will be the end of his life, Marsh looks back on his career with
clarity and humility. One of the leading neurosurgeons in the UK, Marsh now finds
himself on the receiving end of the medical system in which he has spent his
entire professional career. DC
The Lowland is the multiple award winning novel by Jhumpa
Lahiri. Spanning 50 years and two continents, this ambitious novel with what
our reader describes as “the most beautiful prose I have ever read” follows the
lives and fortunes of two brothers – Subhash and Udayan. Born only 15 months
apart, and with wildly different temperaments, one brother becomes a revolutionary
while the other becomes an academic. When tragedy strikes Udayan, Suhash must
step in and save Udayan’s widow – even if it means going up against his family
and generations of strict social traditions.
NH
Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals by Laurie
Zaleski. Fleeing an abusive marriage with only her clothes and her three
children, Annie McNulty settled in an abandoned farmstead with little to her
name but an unending supply of kindness. Annie started taking in abandoned and
unwanted animals, and soon the farm grew to hold more than 600 animals. This
delightful book is written by Annie’s daughter, Laurie, and tells not only
Annie’s story, but Laurie’s, and the stories of many animals that the mother
and daughter team rescued along the way.
KM
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark
Kurlansky is a fascinating look at the fish at the center of much of human
history. Cod enabled the Vikings to travel the Atlantic and settle in the New
World. It sustained many Europeans during the medieval times as there are cod
stocks in various parts of the Atlantic Ocean as well as the Baltic Sea. Cod
fishing endured even beyond the Black Death years and remains an important part
of the Norwegian fish trade. Our reader states that this book is excellently written
(as is anything by Kurlansky) and recommends it for anyone who has an interest
not only in world history but the natural world. CD
Also mentioned:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Whale Day and Other Poems by Billy Collins
Little Heathens: Hard Times and
High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred
Armstrong Kalish
Mountain Sisters: From Convent to Community in Appalachia by Helen M. Lewis
Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir by Marie Yovanovitch
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
Ice Palace by Edna Ferber
The Dechronization of Sam Magruder by George Gaylord Simpson
Night Shift by Robin Cook
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
