Nevermore: Dan Rather, Kitchen Front, Underground Railroad, Orphan's Tale, Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune

Reported by Garry

Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News by Dan Rather was the first book reviewed this week.  Published in 2012, Rather Outspoken is the first memoir by the famed news anchor, and our reader said that this is a fascinating book.  She commented that Rather is an excellent writer who is very candid and truthful about his coworkers – the owners of Viacom (CBS’s parent company) didn’t like him because he was too honest.  One of the observations that our reader particularly picked up on was Rather’s advice that when embedded in an armed forces unit, always go to the sergeants and the colonels for information – they are the most truthful.   Our reader also highlighted his sections on Vietnam and Jerusalem, and was overall very impressed with this memoir from one of the most storied news anchors in the industry.

 

Next up was The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan.  This historical novel is set in England during World War II.  Due to the effects of the German war on Britain, the UK is undergoing food shortages.  In order to encourage and enable the people of the UK to make as much as possible with as little as possible, the BBC launches a cooking show called “The Kitchen Front.”  Four very different women compete for the top prize – the chance to be the first-ever female co-host of the radio show – by using rationed food to make fancy meals.  Our reader enjoyed this book and found the characters to be well drawn and engaging.   

 

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. The story follows Cora, a slave girl in Georgia who escapes from the cotton plantation via the Underground Railroad – a literal railroad running under the soil of the Southern states to deliver escaped slaves to safety in the North.  Our reader pointed out that this book is more fantasy than historical fiction, but recommends it and found it a very interesting read.

 

The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff is a historical novel set during WWII.  Noa is a 16 year old Dutch girl who was raped and impregnated by a German soldier. She was thrown out of her home and had to give up her baby.  Noa sees a train car of Jewish infants on their way to a concentration camp and steals one off the train to save it.  In doing so, she jeopardizes her life. Joining a circus in order to create a new life, she strikes up a contentious relationship with the lead aerialist, Astrid, and learns how to be a trapeze artist in order to blend in to the circus community.  Tensions arise as secrets come out and the Germans close in.  Our reader enjoyed this book, and recommends it for its writing and intriguing story line as well as the in-depth look at circus training and culture.  

 

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim was next up.  This modern day novel has magical components woven into the story of intergenerational and intercultural change.  Natalie Tan grows up in Chinatown in San Francisco with a disapproving, agoraphobic mother and leaves to pursue her dreams of becoming a chef – a decision which upsets her mother to the point that the two women haven’t spoken for seven years.    After her mother’s death, Natalie returns home to find the neighborhood is in decline, and that she has inherited her grandmother’s restaurant.  Once a thriving cornerstone of the community, the restaurant has started to fall apart, like Chinatown itself.  The neighborhood seer predicts that if Natalie cooks three of her grandmothers’ special (read: magical) dishes to help the neighborhood, that the restaurant will flourish again.  Our reader really enjoyed this magical homecoming book for not only its great recipes but for its heartfelt look at community and what it means to belong. 

 

Books also mentioned:

Caste:  The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

China by Edward Rutherfurd 

Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese-Amerian Heroes in WWII by Daniel James Brown

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

Maisie Dobbs Mysteries by Jacqueline Winspear

The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

This Land is Their Land:  The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving by David J. Silverman

Maus II by Art Spiegelman

The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux

Bottle of Lies:  The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Jennifer Eban

Homegrown Humus by Anna Hess

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

Nevermore: Peter Robinson, Octavia Butler, Pam Jenoff, Ron Rash, and more!

Our first reader could barely wait to talk about the book she had just read:  When the Music’s Over by Peter Robinson.  English Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is investigating an accusation of assault that happened decades ago.  The complaint has only been brought to light now, as the accused is a well-known figure.  At the same time, Detective Inspector Annie Banks’ case is that of a lifeless young woman, abandoned in death.  Beyond the threads of mystery, our reader was interested in how the Pakistani subculture within Great Britain is viewed.  She was so engrossed in the book that she felt very upset when she had to put down the book in order to get back to her obligations.

Another enthusiastic reader jumped right in with her latest read: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.   Originally published in 1979, Kindred is the story of Dana, a modern African American woman who is suddenly thrown back in time to a plantation where her ancestors lived and worked at the mercy of their white owners.  She has a mission in the past, to save the white son of the plantation owner.  Our reader was very interested in this classic fiction, but somewhat disturbed at the events endured in the historical time period by Dana.

Next up was Worlds Apart: Poverty and Politics in Rural America by Cynthia M. Duncan.  While our reader found it “awfully grim”, it was still important reading discussing case studies of three communities in New England, Appalachia, and the Mississippi Delta.  Duncan interviewed many individuals and tried to present all viewpoints available.  Our reader came away from the book with the idea that these depressed areas can transition out of poverty if they have the power that comes from available jobs and a sense of pride in their communities.

Nevermore leaned toward fiction this week, next discussing The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff.  In 1940’s Germany, sixteen year old Noa was shamed after giving birth to a Nazi soldier’s baby and forced to give up the child.  Living above a rail station, one day she sees a carload of Jewish babies being shipped to a concentration camp.  In grief and longing, Noa grabs one of the babies and runs.  Finding friendship and a job at a German circus, Noa discovers family and the strength within herself.

Another English mystery was discussed, The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth.  When a young Polish refugee is murdered, her employer—the former police investigator John Madden—feels that he must press the investigation.  In the midst of World War II, London is already tired from the contact sirens and bombings.  Yet Madden presses on.  Airth’s masterful style is evident in this volume.  Our reader said it was the best mystery she had read in a long time, and in fact called it “so vivid, like watching a movie.”

Back to the other side of the pond, The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry is a present day story mirroring the Salem Witch Trials, as Salem’s chief of police John Rafferty investigates a suspicious death, but then connects back to an old case from a few decades earlier when three young women had been killed.  Callie Cahill has a personal connection to that cold case—one of the women was her mother.  As Callie researches her family history and finds that an accused witch was one of her ancestors, the past comes back to haunt the present.  Our reader was engrossed in this centuries spanning tale.

Our next reader was interested in the “Southernisms” contained in One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash.  Despite having known most everyone in Seneca, South Carolina since childhood, Sheriff Will Alexander has a murder to investigate.  Rash is well known for his lyrical prose depicting Appalachian culture.  Our reader said that he found the characters to be people struggling with their value systems as they gave in to taking actions that they might not otherwise have done, if not in such a desperate situation.

Lastly, Nevermore discussed Never Out of Season: How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future by Rob Dunn.  Worldwide food production has never been more efficient, but the genetic diversity of food items has decreased significantly.  As crops are cloned for mass production, many different plants would be a risk for extinction in the case of a blight.  Once common varieties of bananas, chocolate, and more, have been eradicated and we are now accepting second best varieties.  Our reader was alarmed at the danger to crops, but felt that this was a very important book to read.