Nevermore Favorites for 2020

Since this is the end of 2020--pause for cheers-- we decided to list some of the books that delighted our Nevermore members during this dismal year.

Elizabeth Berg is a favorite author for many in Nevermore, and this year her book Confession Club came up a number of times.  It is a feel-good story set in a small Missouri town.  A group of women gathers each week to share stories about their lives and to support one another. Some of the characters were already familiar to those who had read the other books Berg had set in the same town (Night of Miracles and The Story of Arthur Truluv) but you don’t need to have read those to enjoy this one.      

 

Our next book was a nonfiction offering, Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Retelling by Mo Rocca in which he pays tribute to people, things, and concepts which he feels have not received their due. It is beautifully written, well researched, and often funny.  Rocca is a compassionate author who treats all the subjects with respect.  There is a great deal of background for each entry which covers a wide variety of people and subjects, including Audrey Hepburn, disco, Thomas Paine, Prussia, Sammy Davis, Jr., and dragons.  The section on Billy Carter was a favorite of one Nevermore reader. He was interviewed after he was sober and reflected on his behavior during his brother’s presidential years. Another was quite taken by the history of the station wagon.  All agreed that this was definitely a must read!    

 

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helen Tursten made the list again this year!  It was quite a sensation in 2019 and made a return this year as people looked for some escapism.  Translated from the original Swedish, this slim book of stories tells about Maud, an 88 year old who has arranged her life as she wants and intends to keep it that way, including her rent-free apartment which she inherited.  Maud will do whatever needs doing to keep things the way she likes, and that may include murder.  One reader said she loved Maud because she knows how to solve problems.

 

Other authors who made an impression this year:

 

Noah Gordon for his historical series Cole, which included The Physician, Shaman, and Matters of Choice aka Choices.  The books follow the Cole family of physicians who have The Gift, a sixth sense which tells them of impending death.  The saga begins in the Dark Ages and concludes in the modern era.

 

Erik Larson for his fascinating non-fiction, including his most recent book, The Splendid and the Vile which looks at Winston Churchill and his family during the Blitz.  Some of his other titles which came up during the year were Dead Wake (about the sinking of the Lusitania), Thunderstruck (about Marconi, mass communication, and a murder), and Devil in the White City (about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer).

 

John Scalzi is a science fiction/fantasy author who caught the fancy of several Nevermore members, first through his collection of short fiction A Very Scalzi Christmas and then through his series which started with Old Man’s War. While not usually slapstick, Scalzi’s work employs humor to good effect which surprised one reader who didn’t know that science fiction could be funny.

Audio Books: Jeanne's Picks

 

Like Christy, I am something of a newcomer to audio books. While I have to say that I still prefer REAL books (i.e., paper!) I have listened to and enjoyed several lately. My taste in audio runs more to non-fiction and to things I have read before so that if I mentally tune out at times (because I think it is a good thing to pay attention while driving) I still know what is going on.  Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

 

Cleo by Helen Brown:  I have loved this book for years and given many copies to friends. When I learned that an audio version read by the author was available, I had to give it a listen.  Brown lost her beloved older son to a traffic accident. This is the story of how she grieved and then learned to love and live again.  It’s thoughtful, heartfelt, funny, honest, and most of all beautifully written.  Unlike some authors who read their own works, Brown does an excellent job: her voice is warm and expressive, giving a sense of intimacy.  Her New Zealand accent adds to the charm.  She enunciates so well, there’s no problem understanding her.  (I admit when I watch some British shows I feel I need to turn on the captions until I get used to the accent. Not a problem here.)

 

Bono by Helen Brown: Yes, I really like Brown’s work and hope there will be audios of all her books eventually.  In this one, Helen is feeling a bit restless and wonders if she can create a new, glamorous life in New York.  She approaches her publisher who, much to her surprise, loves the idea of a Big Apple visit. She can promote her books and—as part of the promotion—foster a special needs cat named Bono.  Who, Brown finds, is not inclined to be cooperative about being fostered.  This time the book was read by a professional actress who did a good job, though I confess it took me a bit to get over my disappointment that it wasn’t Helen (after reading her books and listening to audio, I feel we are on a first name basis.)

 

Kitty Cornered by Bob Tarte describes life with a menagerie of ducks, geese, parrots, bunnies, and cats. You know which part caught my attention.  Again, this is a book I have read, gifted, and read again.  This audio is narrated by a professional who does a good job but he doesn’t sound like the Bob I hear in my head so it took awhile for me to get into it.  I wanted to “coach” him into sounding the way I thought he should sound.  Other people who haven’t read the book and formed an opinion shouldn’t have this problem. The feline cast are all scene stealers: sweet Moonbeam (better known as Moobie) who learns to use her Elizabethan collar to her advantage; needy Maynard; free spirit Frannie; grouchy Agnes; pretty Tina; and Lucy the snapping crocodile disguised as a dilute tabby.

 

Mobituaries by Mo Rocca is a browser’s delight but also fun on audio.  For the uninitiated, Rocca likes to take topics and people he feels have not been appropriately appreciated and tells his audience about them.  It’s a fascinating and delightful look at subjects from Sammy Davis Jr., Prussia, Audrey Hepburn, disco, and much more.

 

Calypso by David Sedaris:  I had heard Sedaris on NPR so I was already familiar with his delivery and his humor.  I found myself alternately cringing and laughing as I listened to this.  I had read a previous book so I knew a bit about the family dynamics.  I’m not sure his humor is for everyone but I do enjoy his writing.  He does know how to turn a phrase.

 

Finally, the audio books that started it all, courtesy of a Book Bingo requirement:  the mother/daughter duo of Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella reading their essays about, well, whatever catches their fancy.  With enticing titles such as I’ve Got Sand in All the Wrong Places and I Need a Lifeguard Everywhere but the Beach, I was easily drawn into the lives of these two women.  Most entries are humorous, but serious topics are covered as well.

 

Next up:  I'm listening to Jim Dale read A Christmas Carol.  ‘Tis the season! And though it's a story I've read and seen many times, there are bits I don't remember such as the discussion about "dead as a doornail." I'm not finished but I think I can highly recommend this one as well!

Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving by Mo Rocca

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

The premise of this book is that some people—and some things, like dragons or disco—did not receive their due upon their demise.  Mo Rocca sets out to rectify this in his podcasts, and now in this very entertaining and interesting book.

Since I hadn’t listened to any of the podcasts, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but the Nevermore Book Club members kept saying how much they enjoyed the book so I decided to give it a try.  It certainly lived up to its reviews, at least for me.

These aren’t in-depth scholarly type reports, but Rocca does impart a lot of information in a fun way.  The book is divided up into chapters such as “Death of an American Story:  Chang and Eng Bunker” and is followed by briefer sketches of similar subjects.  Chang and Eng, as some may know, were the conjoined twins from Thailand (then Siam) who were the original Siamese twins.  They were exhibited as oddities in the 19^th century before taking control of their own destinies.  They married sisters and settled in North Carolina, where their many descendants meet today.  This fascinating story is followed by short notices of other sideshow attractions, such as Victor the Wild Boy of Aveyron and Lavinia Warren, a little person whose wedding to another little person, Charles Stratton aka General Tom Thumb, was a lavish social event—planned by P.T. Barnum, how could it not have been?

Even when Rocca profiles famous people, such as Audrey Hepburn or Sammy Davis, Jr., he looks for the aspects of their lives that he felt were overlooked.  Hepburn was a child of war, surviving life in The Netherlands under the Nazis, and that experience strongly influenced the rest of her life.  Being a movie star was seemed to be a side interest, not her reason for being. 

The ones I enjoyed most, I think, were the ones about which I knew very little.  Oh,  I was around when disco was big, but I never thought about what happened to it.  One day it was all over the radio, the next someone would shudder at a mention of the BeeGees.  While I was definitely NOT around when the Roman emperor Hadrian built his wall, I had a vague idea about it but not its real significance or the man behind it.

Most of all, I like the way Rocca handles all these topics.  Sure, he has some humorous things to say, but he’s not tearing these things down.  He has compassion and appreciation for his subjects. When he talks about the Lawrence Welk Show, he’s telling us about a boy from North Dakota who loved the accordion and who was both totally uncool and beloved.  Rocca reminisces about watching the show with his grandmother and wondering about the attraction, which in turn made me think about seeing the show as a child.

I listened to the audio version of this book and enjoyed it immensely.  Rocca reads it himself, so I feel I have a good idea of what the podcast might be like.  However, as a rule I prefer to read the books and I think I might well dip into this one, just to reinforce some of the stories.  I definitely want to read the chapter about Moses Fleetwood, an African American baseball player who played in the big leagues before Jackie Robinson; the one about Thomas Paine, who helped start the American Revolution only to end up pretty much forgotten by Americans; and Bessie Coleman, a woman of color who had to go to France to become an aviatrix.