Nevermore: Our Missing Hearts, Summer I Turned Pretty, Micro, More!

 

Reported by Rita

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is a dystopian coming of age novel about a 12 year old boy named Bird trying to unravel the mystery of his missing mother, a Chinese American poet who left when he was nine during a time of great civil conflict. In his quest to find her, he revisits the folktales his mother shared with him using a network of underground libraries. Our reader wasn’t impressed, calling it cumbersome and redundant. NH

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han was a surprisingly enjoyable read according to our reader.  This young adult novel is the first of a series that follows Belly, who lives for summer and time spent at the beach house, and with her crushes Jeremiah and Conrad. Our reader picked it up as a beach read and later found out her nieces love the series so it made for a nice connection between them. In spite of being described as “agonizing and cringe worthy” at times, it was an enjoyable book. HM

Micro by Michael Crichton was described by our reader as Jurassic Park meets Honey I Shrunk the Kids. This sci-fi thriller follows a group of graduate students working for a mysterious biotech company in Hawaii who find themselves shrunk to “micro” size. They must find a way to return to normal before it’s too late while navigating a strange new world where every bug is an enemy and even a blade of grass is a giant obstacle. Our reader really enjoyed the book and said it also includes lots of interesting bug and plant information. AC

R.E.A.D.S. audio made the discussion this week with one reader recommending a short story that is part of the NPR Classic Driveway Moments available through R.E.A.D.S. or the Libby app. “Hitching a Ride with Junior McGee” is a 21-minute audio tale of two people traveling cross-country to attend a bluegrass festival. It was described as a fun and interesting listen. PP

Also Mentioned:

Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory

Dave Barry Turns 50 by Dave Barry

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

I’m Just Saying: A Guide to Maintaining Civil Discourse in an Increasingly Divided World by Milan Kordestani

The Dollmaker by Harriette Simson Arnow

Ripper by Isabel Allende

Long Shadows by David Baldacci

Why Am I Like This: The Science Behind Your Weirdest Thoughts and Habits by Jen Martin

Time Remembered by Miss Read

The Hidden Message in Water by Masaru Emoto

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama

Three Pines/Chief Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny

New Books:

Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia’s Most Notorious Shoot-Out by Travis A. Rountree

The Questions That Matter Most: Reading, Writing, and the Exercise of Freedom by Jane Smiley

The Summer of 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season that Defined the American West by Chris Wimmer

The Paris Deception by Bryn Turnbull

The Old Lion: A Novel of Theodore Roosevelt by Jeff Shaara

Nevermore: Our Missing Hearts, Paris Orphan, Magnolia Palace, Immune

Reported by Garry

 

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. In this near future dystopian novel, 20-year-old Bird Gardner has not seen his mother, an acclaimed Chinese American poet and activist, since she vanished eleven years previously. Bird and his father live a quiet existence in a small room just off Harvard Square. One day, Bird receives a letter containing only a cryptic drawing, and he realizes the drawing contains clues as to the whereabouts of his mother. This novel was named a Best Book of 2022 by multiple news organizations and comes highly recommended by our reader.  AH 

The Paris Orphan by Natasha Lester. Jessica May is an American photojournalist who comes to Paris during World War II, and faces an uphill battle as a woman on the front lines. Friendships with other war correspondents and military men help, but the love of an orphaned girl thrust into the arms of the soldiers is what keeps Jessica going. Skip to 2005 and D’Arcy Hallworth has come to a chateau outside of Paris to curate a collection of World War II photographs – an assignment that will upend everything she thinks she knows about her family. This historical fiction is loosely based on true events, was heavily researched and is an absolute page-turner. Our reader said that she couldn’t put it down.  WJ

 

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis. Romance, murder, high art and a true-life famous family all come together in this historical novel. In 1920, Lillian Carter, down-on-her-luck former model, starts working with the Frick family heiress and slowly but surely becomes entangled in the messy life of the family – affairs, stolen jewels, and high drama, culminating in a possible murder. Fifty years later, English model Veronica Weber chances upon a series of hidden messages in the Frick mansion (now a museum), a discovery that sets off a whirlwind adventure that could finally unlock the truth behind what really happened in the gilded halls of the opulent manor. Our reader was thrilled with this combination of romance, history, and art.  MH 

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer is an incredibly engaging, accessible deep dive into the human immune system. Each chapter delves into a different facet of the immune system that is engaged in a never-ending war against bacteria, viruses, fungi, and cancers. Our reader particularly loved the informative, colorful diagrams throughout the book, finding that they really helped clarify and emphasize the descriptions in the text, and found the book to be completely fascinating.  KM

 

Also mentioned:

Hard Times Cotton Mill Girls: Personal Histories of Womanhood and Poverty in the South by Victoria Byerly

Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen

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

The Accidental Veterinarian: Tales from a Pet Practice by Philipp Schott

The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family by Kerri K. Greenidge

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Walking to Wijiji by Bunny Medeiros

The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder by Edward Humes

All The Broken Places by John Boyne

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden

Tutankhamun's Trumpet: Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects from the Boy-King's Tomb by Toby Wilkinson

She and Her Cat: Stories by Makoto Shinkai

Raising Them Right: The Untold Story of America's Ultraconservative Youth Movement and Its Plot for Power by Kyle Spencer

The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World by Malcolm Gaskill

Weird Virginia: Your Guide to Virginia's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Jeff Bahr, Troy Taylor, and Loren Coleman

Nevermore: Tattooist, Mars, Bone Clocks, Mosquito, Big Sky, Past Tense, Everything I Never Told You

Reported by Laura

           The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is a beautiful love story set in the most horrific circumstances you can possibly imagine. Lale Sokolov arrives in Auschwitz and is given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival. It’s love at first sight when Gita comes through his line and he resolves to save them both. The reviewer thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommends it.

            Packing for Mars by Mary Roach is a fascinating look at what astronauts go through to get ready to go back to space. Written in her usual humorous style, from the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s space capsule with cadaver filling in for astronaut, this book doesn’t disappoint. The reviewer found it interesting and funny.

            Set in small town Ohio during the 70’s, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng explores the struggles within families as well as between cultures. The father is a respected professor and the mother endeavors to live her unfulfilled dreams through her children. Each child is facing struggles of their own, but when the “favorite” daughter commits suicide, the entire family is torn apart. Our reviewer enjoyed this book.

            The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell focuses on Holly Sykes, a 15 year-old in a relationship with an older man. She leaves home after arguing with her mother and finding her boyfriend with her best friend, then begins work as a picker on a strawberry farm to survive. Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena having heard voices she knew as “the radio people” while still a child. The farther she travels into the English countryside, the more intensive her visions become. The reviewer says that the book tends to jump from one character to another, but then ties them all together at the end. She recommends the book and this awesome author, who also wrote Cloud Atlas.

            The nonfiction book, The Mosquito by Timothy C. Winegard, explains how the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humankind’s fate. From the Civil War to today, the resiliency and dangers of the mosquito have changed the course of history. There is no really effective treatment against mosquitos, even DTT was ineffective while still being used. The reviewer found this book to be really fascinating and wished she could read it again and again!

            Big Sky by Kate Atkinson is the latest in the Jackson Brodie mystery series. This offering covers the difficult topic of human trafficking. A group of men in London advertise for well-paying jobs. When young women answer the ads, they are chained and used. The reviewer enjoyed the book and felt it had enough compassionate characters to outweigh the bad so that the subject matter wasn’t too overwhelming.

            The last book discussed was Past Tense by Lee Child which is part of the Jack Reacher series. Reacher decides to explore the small town in New Hampshire where his father grew up, but when he arrives, no one has ever heard of any family by that name ever living there. As he investigates, he befriends a Canadian couple who have broken down in the same area and become mired in lethal dangers. As usual, Reacher comes to the rescue in his own indomitable style . The reviewer found this book intriguing and didn’t want to stop reading it.

Nevermore: Jackson, Choo, Greene, Streever, McCrumb, Pearce, Ng, Charleson

Reported by Laura

         

 Nevermore read a wide variety of books this week from suspense to heartwarming to intriguing non-fiction. The first book of the day was the new Joshilyn Jackson book, Never Have I Ever. It came highly recommended! The story involves a woman named Amy who has a past she would like to keep secret. She marries the man of her dreams and inherits a step-daughter. Life is good, with the exception of the guilt she carries daily. Then one night at book club, a beautiful creature named Roux suggests they play a game, “Never Have I Ever” and tell a secret no one knows about them. This leads to blackmail and a multitude of uncovered secrets. Definitely worth a read.

          One book club member read The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo. Set in 1930’s Malaysia, this book follows the coming of age of a young girl who is an apprentice dressmaker moonlighting as a dance hall girl to help pay her mother’s debts. Her life becomes intertwined with a young house boy searching for his master’s finger that was lost in an accident many years ago. It must be found so that when his master dies, they can be buried together. This book is filled with a delicious mix of fantasy and magic, including men who turn into tigers and other mysterious happenings.

          Our next book, Nothing is Forgotten by Peter Golden, is an excellent story of a young NJ man raised by his beloved Russian grandmother. He begins a radio show as The Mad Russian, poking fun at Krushchev. This radio show is heard in Russia, not only by a young girl, but also by authorities who are unappreciative of the satire.  The grandmother ends up murdered and the grandson travels to Russia to learn more of her history, and hopefully, the cause of her death. This book gives great insight into the concentration camps of WW ll and explains a lot of what went on during this dark period of history.

          Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng was the next book reviewed. This book focuses on Mia, an artist and single mother, who rents a home with her daughter in a community reminiscent of a Stepford village. Until their arrival, the community seemingly is run perfectly with every house and life following the accepted pattern. Mia and her daughter’s lives become intertwined with the family from which they are renting and many surprises and stories within stories ensue. This book came highly recommended.

          Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene is a hilarious and intriguing story of Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman who is recruited as a spy. Set in 1959, this story follows Wormold as he pretends to recruit sub agents and makes up false stories to report. But then, the stories start to come true…

          Sharyn McCrumb is always an appreciated author at Nevermore. This week’s book was The Ballad of Frankie Silver. It follows the story of two separate 18 year-olds who are accused of murder in 1832. They both hide the truth for their own reasons. This book is recommended, but the reviewer felt it went on a little too long.

          Two nonfiction books by Bill Streever (who was born in Kingsport, by the way!) were reviewed this week. Cold was determined to be the best of the two. It was fascinating and informative, telling the story of how everything responds to climate, from the smallest bug to every human on earth. This book covers an entire year, telling about climate and how it changes through the months. Reading this book will change how you think about the world around you and all of the minute creatures below the surface; each reacting to climate in its own way. The other book by Mr. Streever was And Soon I Heard a Roaring Wind. This book is a scientific study of the history of wind and covers many areas, including the forecasting of weather. The reviewer found it very informative and would definitely recommend it.

          Another nonfiction book reviewed was When the Rivers Run Dry by Fred Pearce. This book was a look at the details of the water shortage crisis that threatens the earth. It was very informative, though frightening!

          Our last book was a very sweet, poignant story entitled Where the Lost Dogs Go by Susannah Charleson. This is the true story of the author’s dedication to lost animal search and rescue missions. It heartwarmingly reveals the transformation at the instant when an animal is reunited with its owner. A good read to warm the heart.