Nevermore: What We're Reading!

 The Nevermore Book Club is a free-form club, meaning that everyone reads books of their choice and then gives a brief report.  Here are some of the recent titles:

We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America by Norah O’Donnell

In the Fields of Fatherless Children by Pamela Steele

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Broke-Ass Women's Club by Sharon Sala

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

An Actor & His Time by John Miller

The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives by Elizabeth Arnott

 

NEW BOOKS MENTIONED

Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History by Helen Zoe Veit

T'ai Chi for Dummies by Therese Iknoian

A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman

A Crown of Stars by Shana Abe

Nevermore: Four Seasons in Rome, Sometimes Paradise, Greatest Generation

 

Reported by Rita 

Four seasons in Rome: on Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr

Documents the award-winning writer's experiences of living, working, and raising twin sons in Rome during the year following his receipt of a prestigious Rome Prize stipend, a period during which he attended the vigil of the dying John Paul II, brought his children on a snowy visit to the Pantheon and befriended numerous locals.

Beautifully written. It was delightful.   - DC   5 stars

 

A Sometimes Paradise: Reflections on Life in a Wyoming Ranch Family by Mark E. Miller

A moving personal journey into the rugged beauty and hardscrabble challenges of Wyoming ranch life that shaped Mark Miller as a boy and then as a young man.

This book was sweet and very descriptive. Loved it!    - CD   5 stars

 

The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw

Presents personal narratives from the generation of Americans who were born in the 1920s, came of age during the Depression, fought in World War II, and came home to build a new America during the postwar era.

It was very enlightening but not as enjoyable as Boom!: Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow   - NH    3 stars   

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

At the Coalface: The Memoir of a Pit Nurse by Joan Hart

Troy: the Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry

Boom!: Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow by Tom Brokaw

Crying in H Mart: a Memoir by Michelle Zauner

Saints and Villains: a Novel by Denise Giardina

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

A Woman Among Wolves: My Journey Through Forty Years of Wolf Recovery by Diane K. Boyd

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Lessons Learned from My Dog by Amy Newmark

From Everlasting to Everlasting by Sophie Freeman

The Enemy Inside: a Paul Madriani Novel by Steve Martini

The Third Girl by Nell Goddin

The Last Good Day of the Year by Jessica Warman

 

New Books

 

Blood Ties: a Novel by Jo Nesbø

Everything Must Go: the Stories We Tell About the End of the World by Dorian Lynskey

Black Woods, Blue Sky: a Novel by Eowyn Ivey

An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence by Zeinab Badawi

Why Dinosaurs Matter by Kenneth Lacovara

Nevermore: How to Hide an Empire, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, Memory Quilt

 

Nevermore: How to Hide an Empire, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, Memory Quilt

Reported by Rita

How to Hide an  Empire by Daniel Immerwahr

It tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. Immerwahr notes that in the years after World War II, the United States moved away from colonialism. Instead, it used innovations in electronics, transportation, and culture, devising a new sort of influence that did not require the control of colonies.

  It's a good read, full of fascinating history.      – DC       5 stars

 

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller

When Lula Dean, trying to rid public libraries of "pornographic" books, starts her own lending library in front of her home, Lindsay, the daughter of Lula's arch nemesis, sneaks in nightly. She secretly fills it with banned books wrapped in "wholesome" dust jackets, changing the lives of those who borrow them in unexpected ways.

  This book is funny and clever. It’s definitely worth reading!      - MH      4 stars

 

The Memory Quilt by T. D. Jakes

In the first Christmas story from the best-selling author of Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, a grandmother learns 10 life lessons from the story of Jesus's birth in the Bible, inspiring her to create quilts for children at a local shelter.

It is an excellent light read.     – AH       4 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

The Best American Travel Writing 2016 by Bill Bryson

Campbell's Rambles by Patty L. Fletcher

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin

Within These Walls of Sorrow by Amanda Barratt

You Are Here by David Nichols

Eyes of Prey by John Sandford

New Books

Merlin's Tour of the Universe by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Patriot by Alexei  Navalny

Citizen by Bill Clinton

Rock Painting for Beginners by Christine Rechl

Nevermore: Where the Red Fern Grows, Galatea, Plain Truth

 

Reported by Garry

Get out the tissues for Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Set during the Great Depression in the Ozarks and based on the author’s own childhood, this multi-award winning classic story of a boy and his dogs has wrenched hearts since it was first published in 1961.  Billy Coleman is a 10 year old boy who dreams of owning a pair of hounds for coon hunting, and works for two years to save up enough to buy a pair.  He and the dogs become Ozarks famous for coon hunting, but tragedy seems to stalk them through forested hollows of the mountains.  Nearly everyone in the Nevermore group had read this book and all praised its powerful, evocative writing and compelling storyline.  CD

 

Galatea:  A Short Story by Madeline Miller is a re-telling of the Pygmalion myth, set in ancient Greece.  Pygmalion is a talented sculptor who creates a statue of the most beautiful woman possible.  He falls in love with the statue, and in response to his prayers, the goddess Aphrodite brings Galatea to life.  Pygmalion wants (and expects) his devotion to be returned by Galatea, but she has her own mind and ideas.  This short story (62 pages long) is told from Galatea’s perspective, and explores themes such as patriarchy, misogyny, feminine desire and autonomy, and much more.  Our reader was very taken with this brief story and highly recommends it.  MS

 

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult is a murder mystery set in an Amish community.  A dead baby is discovered in a barn, and Katie Fisher, an 18 year old Amish girl is the presumed mother and murderer– but she claims she was never pregnant.  Ellie Hathaway is a Philadelphia defense lawyer who impulsively takes on Katie’s case, only to discover that her modern life-style is at odds with the Plain life lived by the Amish – no electricity, work is valued over leisure, church rules override legal rules, etc.  As with other Picoult books, the research that went into this book shows on every page as it delves deeply into the lifestyle and belief system of the Amish people.  Our reader says that this book is extremely well-written with not only a great murder mystery, but an insightful examination of the social issues that arise from a society that is at odds with the “typical” society.  NH

 Other titles mentioned:

John Vance Journal by John Vance

Southwest Saga:  The Way It Really Was by William C. McGaw

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult

The Need to Be Whole by Wendell Berry

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

JD Vance is A Fake Hillbilly by Frank Kilgore

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick

On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Rise and Shine Benedict Stone by Phaedra Patrick

Letters from Home by Kristina McMorris

Midnight at the Blackbird Café by Heather Webber

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

The 12 Hour Art Expert:  Everything You Need to Know about Art in a Dozen Masterpieces by Noah Charney

The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir by Michele Harper

Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin

Ted Kennedy – A Life by John Farrell

Sissy:  A Coming of Gender Story by Jacob Tobia

The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Nevermore: Birds of America, Murmur of Bees, An Only Child and Her Sister, Circe

 

Reported by Garry

 

Birds of America by Mary McCarthy is the coming-of-age story of Peter Levi, a sheltered and shy young man who has come to Paris in 1964 to study at the Sorbonne. Determined to live a life free of stress and unnecessary complications, Peter soon learns that adulthood will replace his childhood whether he is ready for it or not. Paralleling Peter’s chaotic emergence into adulthood are the stirrings of war in Southeast Asia and the growing social unrest in the West. Our reader said that McCarthy does an excellent job evoking the overall feelings of the turbulent 1960s in this historical fiction novel, and recommends it highly.  DC

 

The Murmur of Bees is the best-selling magical realism novel by Sophia Segovia. This is the first of Segovia’s novels to be translated into English, and if the reaction of our reader is anything to judge by, this will definitely not be the last. Simonopio is an abandoned child with amazing powers – he is protected by a swarm of bees, and when he closes his eyes he can see the future. The book follows the lives of Simonopio, his adoptive family and the fates and fortunes of those in the small, Northern Mexican town where they live. Set against the backdrop of both the Mexican revolution and the Spanish Flu of 1916, this historical novel is “absolutely beautiful” as our reader exclaimed.  AH

 

An Only Child and Her Sister by Casey Maxwell Clair is the harrowing memoir of a Hollywood family that was dysfunctional to the extreme. Casey and her little sister, Christine were born into an affluent, successful Hollywood family: a starlet mother and a successful songwriter father. But looks can be deceiving – their mother didn’t like or want children, and their father had a hidden drug habit that turned the charismatic, charming man into a hair-trigger rage monster. Our reader was aghast at what the two children went through and was frankly amazed that the writer, Casey, survived to be a successful as she is.  CD

 

Circe by Madeline Miller. Daughter of the Helios, God of the Son, and a beautiful human woman, Circe is a conundrum – she does not appear to have inherited any of her father’s powers or her mother’s beauty. But Circe does possess power: witchcraft, with which she can threaten the very gods themselves. Zeus banishes Circe to a deserted island where she hones her craft and powers until she is forced to choose whether she is a god or a mortal. While the names of the Greek gods confused our reader a bit, she said that the storytelling was top-notch and gives voice to a character whose story has until now existed only on the peripheries of others.  MH

 

Also mentioned:

 

Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins

Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass by Harold Gatty

Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident by Keith McCloskey

The Sweet Remnants of Summer by Alexander McCall Smith

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiaverini

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Any Other Family by Eleanor Brown

Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman

Fighting Words by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley

Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis by Beth Macy

When The Moon Turns to Blood: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times by Leah Sottile

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson

A Melungeon Winter by Patrick Bone

The Aliens of Transylvania County by Patrick Bone

The Books of Earthsea:  The Complete Illustrated Edition by Ursula K. Le Guin

Nevermore: Le Carre, Gonzalez, Miller, Towles, Trevanian, Jennings

Reported by Jeanne

Nevermore opened with a re-reading of a John Le Carre book, The Russia House. Published in 1989, the plot has a Russian physicist smuggling out his manuscript proving that the Russian missile system is unworkable.  He wants it to go to a minor British publisher, but it ends up in the hands of MI5 and the CIA, who then recruit the publisher to go to Russia in order to get more information.  Our reader said she remembered liking it very much, but this time—not so much.

However, she was thoroughly enjoying the next book, Remnants of America’s Southeast Aboriginals:  Paleo to Mississippian by Maury E. Miller.  The book is archaeological finds in the Southeast United States, including a number of sites in Middle Tennessee.  There are some excellent photos of implements such as axes, scrapers, spear points, etc.  The reader’s grandfather was from the same area as some of the excavations, and she had photos of some of his discoveries that were quite similar to those in the book.  It’s an excellent book for anyone interested in the earliest inhabitants of the region.

Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez begins with the European exploration of the continent. The Spanish traveled vast distances through South, Central, and North America, encountering numerous indigenous tribes.  Gonzalez examines how the Europeans influenced the regions socially, politically, and economically from first contact, and how that influence has created problems today.  Our reader praised the book highly for looking at each country and culture individually, instead of lumping all together as is often done, and it includes Cuba and Puerto Rico along with the South and Central American countries. She says that the author points out the different waves of immigrants were determined by the circumstances in the individual countries, and that most such were those who were industrious and hardworking, willing to brave hardships to find freedom and a better life.  She hadn’t yet finished the book, but recommended it highly for anyone who wants a better understanding of situation.

Amor Towles’ novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, drew rave reviews from our next member. The story begins in 1922 when Count Alexander Rostov is put under house arrest in a hotel across from the Kremlin. He spends the next 30 years there, watching as history unfolds, meeting a diverse group of people who come to the hotel. The Count is a cultured man, forced to live in an attic room, but he finds life in the marvelously depicted characters.   Our reader said the book was “very clever, very interesting, very wonderful” and that it is seriously recommended.

Spy fiction returned with Shibumi by Trevanian, a pen name for Rodney William Whitaker, an American author who wrote in a number of genres.  The plot revolves around Nicolai Hel, the son of a Russian aristocrat who grew up in Japan and who learned not only numerous languages but martial arts techniques. Hel had hoped to live the rest of his life in peace, having achieved “shibumi”—the art of effortless perfection-- but is drawn into a conflict when an international conglomerate known as the Mother Company.  Our reader said it that while it was written in 1979, it almost felt contemporary, with the way that giant corporations influence the world politically, socially, culturally, and economically.

Finally, No Tomorrow by Luke Jennings is the second in the Killing Eve series.  British agent Eve is hot on the trail of her arch-rival Villanelle, the assassin whose existence she discerned in the first novel.  There is a lot of action, international travel and intrigue, and –as our reviewer put it—“less sex, which is a plus.”

Nevermore: Salinger, Truman, Way of All Flesh, Education of Little Tree, The Wife, Saint Maybe

Reported by Ambrea

Nevermore kicked off their meeting with At Home in the World by Joyce Maynard.  When Maynard was entering her freshman year at Yale she received a letter from J.D. Salinger that changed her life.  He had read a story she wrote for The New York Times and admitted he admired her—and not long after, she went to live with him.  He was fifty-three; she was eighteen.  In her memoir, Maynard looks back on that year with Salinger and the repercussions of the choices she made.  Our reader said Maynard’s memoir is fascinating.  “[Maynard] is an exceptional writer,” she continued, raving about the raw emotions and honesty with which she imbues her work.  She highly recommended it to her fellow readers, noting it was a book that is real and heartbreaking and uplifting in its own way.

Next, Nevermore tackled Plain Speaking:  An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman by Merle Miller.  Composed of interviews originally intended for a television program, Plain Speaking is a book that breathes new life into the man known as Harry Truman.  Miller’s book offers insight into the thoughts and reflections of the former president, as well as provides careful background details regarding his tenure as a politician and his life beyond the Oval Office.  Our reader thought Plain Speaking was an interesting book.  At once readable and relatable, Miller’s biography proved to be thoroughly enjoyable for the insight it gave into Truman’s life and his bluff, plain-speaking personality.

The Way of All Flesh, a novel by husband and wife team under the name of Ambrose Parry, followed next.  Set within the medical community of Edinburgh in 1847, The Way of All Flesh is an eerie tale of greed, murder, and suspicion that draws Sarah Fisher and Will Raven into a mystery that could change them—or destroy them forever.  Similar to both The Anatomist’s Apprentice by Tessa Harris and Beloved Poison by E.S. Thompson, The Way of All Flesh is a dark mystery set in a time of great change and upheaval within the medical world.  Our reader said it was an interesting novel that drew her in and kept her attention.  Although she didn’t rave about it, she thought it was a decent piece of work and happily passed it on to the next reader.

Nevermore also checked out The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter.  In this novel, Carter tells the story of “Little Tree,” a Cherokee boy who was orphaned and raised by his grandparents.  He spends his childhood learning how to live in the Cherokee Way, but when he is taken away to be schooled by whites, he discovers that their way of life is much different from the one he lived and loved.  Our reader admitted she has actually read Carter’s novel several times.  “It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read,” she said.  “It’s my favorite book.”  She continued, saying she thought it was such a captivating, heartbreaking story, and she couldn’t recommend it highly enough to her fellow readers.

Next, Nevermore shared The Wife by Meg Wolitzer.  Joan Castleman has supported her husband, Joe, for decades.  Once, she dreamed of having her own literary career, but, instead, she has spent her entire marriage dedicated to Joe and his future—and now she’s decided it’s time to stop.  Our reader absolutely adored reading The Wife, surpassing even Nevermore fan-favorite The Box.  She admitted that she couldn’t put it down after she started reading.  She found Wolitzer’s novel to be absolutely captivating, creating characters who are sympathetic and a story that is enchanting and riveting and, in the end, absolutely breathtaking.  She loved reading it, and she was so very glad for the recommendation of it.

Nevermore wrapped up their meeting with Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler.  Ian Bedloe lives an ideal life:  he’s a start athlete in high school, his future is bright, and his family is happy, stable, and practically perfect—until a vicious rumor incites tragedy that leaves Ian weighted down by guilt and struggling to breathe.  Now, Ian is seeking redemption and penance and peace, and he might just find it in the life he chooses to build for himself and the ones he loves.  Our reader said she loves the way Anne Tyler writes.  “It’s descriptive and beautiful,” she told Nevermore.  “[And] it has a poetic little ending.”  Although she revealed she enjoyed Clock Dance more, she still found Saint Maybe to be a wonderful, satisfying book that just lifted Tyler higher as a favorite author.