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