Nevermore: Arthur Truluv, Cabin, Evvie Drake, Dumpty, Bullwhip Days, Midwinter, Boy in the Snow

Reported by Kristin

The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg was enjoyed by a couple of Nevermore readers. Arthur Moses recently lost his wife, but rides a bus to visit her in the cemetery every day. Maddy Harris is a teen who never knew her mother, and doesn’t fit in with the other kids. They form an unlikely friendship, and draw Arthur’s neighbor Lucille into their group. One Nevermore member enjoyed Arthur’s story, with another jumping in to say how much she also liked it along with other Berg titles such as The Confession Club and The Art of Mending.

Fiction discussion then turned a bit spooky, as the next reader picked up The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. Eric and Andrew and their seven-year-old daughter Wen are enjoying their New Hampshire lake vacation when all chaos breaks loose. When a man appears on their doorstep he seems to be a friendly visitor, but he has a warning which will change all their lives forever. Our reader was impressed with the social commentary amid the terror and suspense.

On the lighter side, our next Nevermore member picked up Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes. Set in a small town, this is the tale of a woman whose husband was about to leave her, but was in a car accident before he could. This may sound dreadful, but our reader said that it was a warm and funny story about the value of the friendships which surrounded Evvie in a difficult time.

Dumpty: The Age of Trump in Verse by John Lithgow brought laughter to the table. A satirical poetry collection, our reader found it true to 2020 political life. While she found it a bit scary, she also found moments of poignancy amid the humor.

In more serious non-fiction, our next reader picked up Bullwhip Days: The Slaves Remember: An Oral History by James Mellon. Written in the 1930s when there were still living people who were born into slavery, this Works Progress Administration project captured the culture of that sad period of time. The author used dialect straight from his subjects, which might be a little difficult for modern readers, but added so much color and flavor of life. Our reader noted that this volume gave her so much and changed her own attitude from growing up in southern Louisiana.

Finally, our next reader found a common theme in two mysteries, and it went far beyond the cold, snowy titles. In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming introduces newly ordained Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson. The parish soon experiences a brutal murder and an abandoned baby. Strong characters make this a series debut worth reading.

The Boy in the Snow by M. J. McGrath has been compared to popular Scandinavian thrillers. Alaskan Native Edie Kiglatuk is supporting her husband as he begins the Iditarod dog race but the discovery of an infant corpse soon turns the scene grisly. Our reader found the scenery descriptions great, and revealed that the common theme she had found in these two titles was that the heroines did not allow themselves to play the victim.

Nevermore: Confucius, Berg, Dumpty, Hensen, Hurston, Kidd, Turner, and more!

Reported by Laura

            Our first reviewer read a Hallmark Book of Best-Loved Poems. Some were good and some not so much.  However, a few were found to be quite beautiful and moving. One of which was The Builders of Longfellow.

            The next book was Analects of Confucius. It was a good read and can be done a little at a time, so that it’s not overwhelming. This book club member said he had joined to elevate his mind. This particular offering did just that. He found that there were a lot of ideas that predated Christ, which led him to believe there was more intellectual flow from the East than first thought.

            Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston is a wonderful book that might be difficult for some people to read, as the dialect is very heavy. It has the Southern Black rhythm and punch and our reviewer absolutely loved it! This is the same author who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God and she is a brilliant storyteller. This offering was described as almost like a Black’s Aesop Fables as it is a conglomerate of stories from the Deep South.

            Trevor Ferguson is a Canadian author who writes in a soft, poetic style. The River Burns is set in a small town in Canada where there is a dispute among the townspeople concerning a historic single-lane covered bridge that must be crossed to enter or leave the town. The loggers want it replaced with a modern alternative, while others in the community want its history preserved. The dispute turns into a heated, and eventually violent, argument. It’s a long book, but our reviewer couldn’t put it down. She loves the way the author writes. On a side note, some of his previous novels have been made into movies, one of which is The Timekeeper.

            The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd is historical fiction based on fact. Set in Charleston, SC, it tells the story of two young girls, each from opposing cultures, who are thrown together against their will. Sarah is gifted her own personal slave on her eleventh birthday. She is appalled by slavery and wants to refuse the gift, but is unable to do so. Hetty “Handful” Grimke is taken from the slave quarters wrapped in ribbon and presented to her new master. Surprisingly, they grow to develop a close bond. As one of the passages states, “My body may be a slave, but not my mind.” Our reviewer really liked this book and found it to be an encouraging story.

            These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner is the diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901. It is based on the memoirs of the author’s own family who traveled west, facing Apache attacks and all of the other hardships involved in such a dangerous journey. Sarah is an independent, strong woman who can shoot and take care of herself on the trail. Throughout the journey, she finds herself falling in love with the captain leading the team and their relationship is an important part of the story. Our reviewer found it to be a wonderful book and she highly recommends it.

            Our next reviewer found the book, Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper to be a very weird book that she isn’t sure she would recommend. It tells the story of Etta, an 82 year-old woman suffering from dementia, who decides to leave her husband, Otto, at home and travel to the ocean that she’s never seen. Starting out with a note in her pocket to remind her of who she is and where she lives, along with chocolate, a knife, and a book, she embarks on her 2,000 mile journey. Along the way, she meets a coyote she befriends and names James, who joins her on her journey.  She sends letters back to her husband, but it is their neighbor, Russell, who has always loved her, who comes looking for her. Several members of the book club thought the book sounded interesting and expressed an interest in trying it.

            Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls had been reviewed before and enjoyed, but this week’s reviewer hated the book. This is by the same author who wrote The Glass Castle and tells the story of the author’s maternal grandmother. Even though she provided money and housing at times for the family, she was always resented by the author’s mother for telling her not to marry her husband; branding him as a flake. The reviewer found it stupid and senseless. She felt the fact that the photo on the cover was one taken by a depression-era photographer and not a picture of the actual family in the story was telling. She definitely wouldn’t recommend.

            Even though Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson by Delores Johnson is listed as a juvenile book, our reviewer found it fascinating. Mr. Henson was chosen from many applicants to assist Robert E. Peary on his expedition to the North Pole. He was an invaluable asset as he made friends with the Inuits, learned the language, and studied how to expertly care for the dog team. Due to his race, his contributions were not initially recognized and it took a long time for history to hail him as a hero.

            Dumpty by John Lithgow has been enjoyed by many members of the book club and this week’s reviewer was no exception. She found the artwork in this satirical poetry offering to be wonderful. Her favorite of all was the picture of Pence sitting on a fence. She said this was definitely her kind of poetry!

            Another book that has been reviewed by several members is The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg. Most have greatly enjoyed the book, but this week’s reviewer had a different take on this story of a group of friends who meet weekly to share their deepest secrets. She found it vapid and ridiculous and felt it should have been listed as a juvenile book. She found nothing redeeming about it and couldn’t finish it.

            Also by Elizabeth Berg, The Art of Mending was reviewed by a different member who felt it wasn’t the best written book, but she did finish it. In this story, Laura Bartone is looking forward to her annual meeting with her siblings as they return to their parent’s home to attend the state fair. This year, however, she senses a change in her sister, Caroline, when they meet. The very first night, she shares with Laura and her brother, Steve, some devastating allegations about their mother, which questions the memories of all of the siblings.

Nevermore: Serling, Liberty's Blueprint, Invisible Code, Finfarran, Road from Coorain, Mary Shelly, Lord of the Mountain, Robert Browning, Stuart Woods, Geraldine Brooks, Dumpty

Reported by Laura

Nevermore was a fun time this week with a wide variety of books !

          The first book reviewed was The Twilight Man by Koren Shadmi. This graphic novel is a biography of Rod Serling, who is probably most remembered for The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery series. The reviewer found it to be a wonderful and very informative book. I will definitely be adding it to my reading list!

          Our next book was also a nonfiction offering, Liberty’s Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World by Michael Meyerson. The subtitle pretty much explains it all. The reviewer enjoyed the book and shared one of the quotes from James Madison, “If people were angels, we wouldn’t need this constitution.”

          The Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler was a very good, funny detective story. It covers the exploits of two very different detectives working for the Peculiar Crimes Unit. One is very logical, while the other uses supernatural ideas to solve crimes. This particular case leads them into the world of madness, codes, and the secret of London’s strangest relic.

          The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy is the first in the Finfarran Series. After a nasty divorce, Hanna Casey finds herself back where she started, living with her overbearing mother and licking her wounds. She restores a cottage left to her by her great aunt and takes a job as the local librarian. All goes relatively well until the threat of library closure jeopardizes her livelihood and she finds herself leading the community in a fight to save it. Our reviewer reported that the book was very good and she enjoyed it.

          Our next reviewer found The Road From Coorain by Julie Ker Conway to be a beautifully written book about Australia. This memoir tells of Ms. Conway’s beginnings growing up in the outback on a sheepherder’s ranch, the drowning death of her beloved father, the subsequent withdrawal of her mother into depression, and the resulting move to suburban Sydney. In later life, she becomes the first female president of Smith College, as well as a feminist and famous writer (this is her first memoir).

          The next offering was a YA novel, Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein. It was written like a journal by Mary Shelley and feels like a biography that details what life was like before and after the publication of Frankenstein. The reviewer was impressed with the extensive research that went into this novel.

          Lord of the Mountain is a juvenile book that feels more like a YA rendering. It is an especially relevant book for our area as it follows a young man who lives in Bristol, TN and is endeavoring to disobey his father by attending the Bristol Sessions. The reviewer had not finished the book, but was enjoying it immensely thus far.

          Poetry was up next. Originally having read Elizabeth Barrett Browning and being left cold, the reviewer decided to try Robert Browning. He read some, but not all of the book, and still found it lacked something. Some of the poems seemed tacky and he found a lot of the poetry to include double entendres. He felt the Italy poem read almost like a tour guide.

          In Contraband by Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington is enjoying some time off while cruising Key West on a yacht with his friend, the police commissioner. While they are enjoying the view, a plane crashes into the water. Thrown into investigating a smuggling operation; the evidence keeps disappearing. Metal cases contained in the plane disappear and then the plane itself. This was considered a good, easy read.

          People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, was a lovely novel and comes highly recommended. Based on a true story, it tells of Hannah, an Australian rare-book expert, who is hired to restore the famed Sarajevo Haggadah. As she works, she finds tiny artifacts in the bindings of the book and uses those to unlock the mystery of the book’s owners throughout history.

          Also by Geraldine Brooks, The Secret Chord was reviewed this week. This book covers the history of the Biblical story of David and Goliath. The author found it to be a lot about who killed whom, and although it was well-written, she didn’t enjoy it.

          Dumpty is a small book filled with political cartoons and satirical verse about President Trump and others in his administration. It is written by the actor, John Lithgow. Our reviewer found it highly amusing.