Nevermore: We the Women, Dewey, In the Fields of Fatherless Children

 

Nevermore 4-28-26 Reported by Rita

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

A vivid portrait of the unsung American women from 1776 to today who changed the course of history in their fight for freedom and helped shape a more perfect union. Over a decades-long, distinguished career, award-winning journalist Norah O’Donnell has made it her mission to shed light on untold wom­en’s stories. Now, in honor of America’s 250th birthday, O’Donnell focuses that passion on the American heroines who helped change the course of history.

A very informative book on women's history. I found it inspiring and hopeful and thoroughly enjoyed it.    -KM     5 stars

 

Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story by Vicki Myron

Abandoned in a library book drop slot in the dead of winter, this remarkable kitten miraculously endured the coldest night of the year. Dewey Readmore Books, as he became known, quickly embraced his home inside Spencer's public library, charming the struggling small town's library-goers, young and old. As word of Dewey's winning tail, or rather his tale, spread, the library cat gained worldwide fame as a symbol of hope and proof positive that one small cat could change a town, one reader at a time.

This story is heartwarming, delightful, sweet, and bittersweet.     -CD      4 stars

 

In the Fields of Fatherless Children by Pamela Steele

In late 1960s Appalachia, many things loom darkly over June, the Vietnam War is dividing the country, and a strip mine is eating away the mountain at the head of the holler where she lives, threatening the natural landscape and the only way of life she has ever known. While still in high school, June has fallen in love. She is pregnant, and the father may be Ellis Akers. Ellis is the son of Solomon, a mortal enemy of June’s stepfather, Isom. The feud is so old it fuels two vengeful men with the power of long animosity between rival families. June’s brother, Tom, leaves to enlist in the war, and so does Ellis. Suddenly, June is on her own, at sixteen with a newborn, and is a mother unable to protect her daughter from the wrath of Isom. Without warning, her baby is kidnapped. Guided by her love for the generations of women before her, but now desperately alone, June must carefully navigate the search for her child alongside family and strangers in a wild and disappearing landscape.

 

It is pretty good. I love the vocabulary.     - MS    4 stars

 

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Broke-Ass Women's Club by Sharon Sala

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

An Actor and His Time by John Gielgud

 

New Books

 

Picky by Helen Zoe Veit

T'ai Chi for Dummies by Therese Iknoian, Manny Fuentes

A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman

A Crown of Stars by Shana Abé

The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives by Elizabeth Arnott

Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict

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

Real Libraries and Librarians!

 Here are some fascinating non-fiction books about libraries in celebration of National Library Week!

The Library Book by Susan Orlean examines the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history, and delivers a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution: our libraries.

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer is the inspiring story of how an average, mild-mannered archivist and historian became an expert smuggler when she organized a dangerous operation to sneak 350,000 precious manuscripts out of Timbuktu in the face of the 2012 al Qaeda takeover.

This Book Is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson is a romp through the ranks of information professionals who organize our messy world and offer old-fashioned human help through the maze. Johnson celebrates libraries and librarians and discovers offbeat and eloquent characters in the quietest corners.       

The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family by Joshua Hanagarne traces the author's inspiring story as a Mormon youth with Tourette's Syndrome who after a sequence of radical and ineffective treatments overcame nightmarish tics through education, military service and strength training. He is also a librarian with Salt Lake City Public Library.

The True Tails of Baker & Taylor: The Library Cats who Left Their Pawprints on a Small Town and the World by Jan Louch: The memoir of a small-town librarian from Nevada's Douglas County Public Library describes her loving relationship with two Scottish Folds who through promotions for the book-distribution company for whom they were named became two of the world's most famous library cats.

Dewey by Vicki Myron is the true story of a librarian’s discovery of a half frozen kitten in the drop-box of her small town library in Iowa.  The kitten becomes a beloved library mascot whose intuitive nature prompted hundreds of abiding friendships.

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson: Showcasing the smart and talented people who live between the pages, this inspiring collection of true stories, as told to one of the greatest novelists of our time, invites us into a world where we can feel our curiosities, discover new voices, and find whatever we want or require.

Nevermore: Elephant, Dewey, Mother Tree, Return from Siberia, Hiding Place

 

 

Reported by Garry

 

We had quite a full house this week, with 13 participants! We had our usual mix of fiction, non-fiction, light and fluffy, and deadly serious.

 

How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith is a light-hearted book which is the 21^st in the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series. Our reader thought that this charming book set in Botswana and following the story of Precious Ramotswe was a great way to spend a sultry summer afternoon reading.

 

Another sweet, light read was Dewey, the Library Cat by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter. Our reader says that this version, a middle grades adaptation of the original adult non-fiction tale, is as fluffy and adorable as the cat on the front cover. She read this book with her grandchild and said that it is a perfect book for a young reader to share with a beloved adult.

 

Our next reader discussed the biological study/memoir Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard. This book describes not only Simard’s childhood in British Columbia, but her journey and studies showing how exquisitely interconnected a forest is – far more so than is obvious above ground. Simard’s research shed light on the hidden communication networks between trees and the other plants in the forest, which she describes in this impressive book in direct, accessible language. Our reader was amazed by the information in this book, and says that it has changed the way she looks at the world.

 

Return from Siberia by John Shallman was our next book reviewed. This intriguing historical novel is narrated by John Simon, the grandson of the main character Joseph. Joseph is a young Russian activist during the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. Exiled to Siberia by the Russian Czar, Joseph writes of his political ideals and struggles. One hundred years later John finds and translates his grandfather’s manuscript. In doing so, John discovers extraordinary echoes of the past in the present and comes to realize how the actions of past generations affect the current. Our reader found this to be a fascinating read with the caveat that the writing is “a bit first-draft.”

 

We had a chilly murder mystery as our next book, The Hiding Place by Paula Munier is the third book in her Mercy Carr mystery series, following the adventures of the titular Mercy Carr and her Belgian Malinois dog, Elvis. This time, they are facing trouble on two fronts at once: The man who killed Mercy’s grandfather has escaped prison and may have taken her grandmother hostage, and an Army vet shows up on the scene to claim Elvis is his dog, not Mercy’s. This book is a masterful blend of action, suspense, romance, intrigue, and danger set in the Vermont countryside. Our reader thoroughly enjoyed this well-plotted thriller and recommends it to anyone looking for a tightly written, exciting mystery.

 

Also mentioned:

 

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Good American: The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, the U.S. Government’s Greatest Humanitarian by Robert Kaplan

The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden

Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

Saint Patrick’s Battalion by James Alexander Thom

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris

The Buses are A Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider by Charles Person and Richard Rooker

Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place by Jim Nollman

You Might Be a Redneck If… by Jeff Foxworthy

Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman

Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light by Hellen Ellis

It’s Elemental: The Hidden Chemistry in Everything by Kate Biberdorf

The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter by Kai Bird

Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

One Two Three by Laurie Frankel