Nevermore: When Crickets Cry, Southernmost, Boys from Biloxi

 

Reported by Rita

When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

It begins on the shaded town square in a sleepy Southern town. A spirited seven-year-old has a brisk business at her lemonade stand. But the little girl's pretty yellow dress can't quite hide the ugly scar on her chest. Her latest customer, a bearded stranger, drains his cup and heads to his car, his mind on a boat he's restoring at a nearby lake. The stranger understands more about the scar than he wants to admit. And the beat-up bread truck careening around the corner with its radio blaring is about to change the trajectory of both their lives. Before it's over, they'll both know there are painful reasons why crickets cry . . . and that miracles lurk around unexpected corners.

  Heartwarming and spiritual – couldn’t put it down.   – GP     5 stars

 

Southernmost: a Novel by Silas House

A natural disaster inspires an evangelical preacher to reverse his position about gay rights, a transition that ends his marriage and job, forcing him to take desperate measures to introduce his son to a more accepting world.

  One of the most beautiful books I’ve read.    - MD       5 stars

 

The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham

For most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts, and seafood industry. But it had a darker side. It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor, and drugs to contract killings. The vice was controlled by small cabal of mobsters, many of them rumored to be members of the Dixie Mafia. Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends and Little League all-stars. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith's father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to "clean up the Coast." Hugh's father became the "Boss" of Biloxi's criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father's footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father's clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom. Life itself hangs in the balance in The Boys from Biloxi, a sweeping saga rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters.

Typical Grisham – enjoyable and easy to read.     – NH     4 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

Amazing Men: Courage, Insight, Endurance by Joyce Tenneson

Death on the River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Amazon Adventure by Samantha Seiple

The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoèe Schlanger

The Books of Jacob: Across Seven Borders, Five Languages, and Three Major Religions, Not Counting the Minor Sects  by Olga Tokarczuk

 

New Books

 

Container & Small-Space Gardening for the South: How to Grow Flowers & Food No Matter Where You Live by Barbara W. Ellis

Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall

Let us Descend: a Novel by Jesmyn Ward

Nevermore: My Name Is Red, Other Birds, This Will Not Pass, The Plot

 

 

Reported by Garry

 

My Name is Red is a novel by Nobel Prize winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. During the height of the Ottoman Empire in 1591, the Sultan assembles a small army of miniaturists to create a book singing his praises. Specifically, and perhaps dangerously, the Sultan wants the book to include paintings of himself – which is considered an affront to Islam. When one of the miniaturists is killed, anyone could be the killer – indeed, one of the 56 chapters is narrated by the killer. There are also chapters narrated by a corpse, a dog, a tree, and the color red. Unconventional and yet successful at every level, this book truly captivated our reader’s imagination, and she stated that she absolutely loved it.  MH

 

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen is a novel set in the small coastal town of Mallow Island, South Carolina. Zoe Hennessey has come to town to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at The Dellawisp, a unique cobblestone building that holds five apartments and many secrets, both mundane and otherworldly. This atmospheric work of magical realism kept our reader guessing, and she stated it was just plain fun! She was never quite sure where the book was going, but the twists and turns were a delight to read.  WJ

 

This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns is the authoritative account of the immediate aftermath of the tumultuous 2020 United States presidential election and the attack on the Capitol on January 6. Drawing from multiple interviews, first-account documents, and recordings by Burns and Alexander (both reporters), this book lays bare the insularity of Washington politics and the duplicity with which both Republicans and Democrats treat not only their own people but the voting public. This book was so good that our reader recommends that anyone who has an interest in the current state of the political climate in our country read this for the astonishing insights it holds.  DC

 

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. What would you do? Jacob Bonner is a one-hit-wonder author whose career is on the skids. He has a student who is working on a book with a stunningly brilliant plot. Then the student dies and the book goes unpublished...until Jacob publishes it himself under his own name. Wildly successful, the book brings Jacob riches beyond his dreams. It also brings an email: “You are a thief.” Someone knows Jacob’s secret, but who and how far are they willing to go to uncover it, and how far is Jacob willing to go to keep it hidden? This nail-biting suspense novel is an easy read with incredibly descriptive characters and taut writing, and comes highly recommended by our reader. PP

 

Also mentioned:

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

The Last Mile by David Baldacci

The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiavarini

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Brazen by Julia Haart

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan

The Recruit by Alan Drew

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

Who Killed Jane Stanford?: A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits, and the Birth of a University by Richard White