Reported by Ashley
The Power of the Dog, written
by Thomas Savage in 1967, was praised heavily for the riveting prose it
presented. Our reader read a passage aloud to demonstrate the author’s
wonderful character descriptions and turns of phrase. Recently available as a
film on Netflix (starring Benedict Cumberbatch, much to the club’s approval),
our reader was pleased she came to the book before it released for her to watch,
even commenting on how the book kept her from Netflix with her desire to read
more. The story centers around two very different brothers on their ranch in
Montana during the 1920s, examining family dynamics as things change up with
the arrival of a widow and her son. Our reader explained how masculinity was
presented in the book and the often-brutal ways it made itself known,
particularly against those who did not necessarily fit that masculine mold. Described
as gripping and powerful, our reader greatly enjoyed the novel. (NH)
Also up for discussion was Bewilderment, new from
Richard Powers just this year. Set in the near future, the novel follows
scientist Theo Byrne and his son Robin. Robin has a list of disorders that are
all pointing toward psychoactive medications that Theo would rather they avoid.
Instead, Theo turns toward an experimental neurotherapy procedure that will
utilize Robin’s mother’s brainwaves, despite the fact that she passed away a
couple of years earlier. Our reader enjoyed how each chapter in the book took a
different planet as a topic, using the boy and his father’s nightly discussions
about these planets to remind readers that Theo was an astrobiologist trying to
prove that life exists outside of our own planet. This book absolutely stayed
with our reader, and she is certain that it will for some time. In trying to
find words to describe it, she laughingly admitted that it left her, well,
‘bewildered’. Between odd character choices and writing that described as
haunting, it seemed a fitting word for the book. In the end, she did make sure
that we knew that she highly recommended the book. (DC)
The Weaver’s Revenge, the
eleventh novel in the Chloe Ellefson by Kathleen Ernst, was also brought to the
table. Our reader said that you didn’t need to read the others in the series to
pick this one up, as it does a good job in giving the background while moving
along with the current mystery. Set in the remote Northwoods of Michigan’s
Upper Peninsula, the story follows Chloe as she takes a job helping to set up a
Finnish American historical site and pursues her own interest in rag rug
weaving. Unfortunately, a murder in the community threatens to derail all of
that. The book includes some very useful supplemental material with pictures of
the historical objects mentioned within. Our reader found the book to be very
good and recommended it to the group, praising the historical accuracy and
sharing interesting facts she’d learned while reading it. (AH)
Other books discussed:
The Personal Librarian, by
Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray (KN)
The Madness of Crowds, by
Louise Penny (ML)
All Souls: A Family Story from
Southie, by Michael Patrick MacDonald (AH)
Magical Mermaids and Dolphins
Oracle Cards, by Doreen Virtue (MF)
Archetype Cards, by
Caroline Myss (MF)
When Death Becomes Life: Notes
from a Transplant Surgeon, by Joshua D. Mezrich (CD)
E.R. Nurses: True Stories from
America’s Greatest Unsung Heroes, by James Patterson & Matt
Eversmann (CD)
Pickles Tails, Volume One: The
Hijinks of Muffin & Roscoe, by Brian Crane (CD)
Chance Developments, by
Alexander McCall Smith (WJ)
The Summons, by John
Grisham (WJ)
The Hare with Amber Eyes: A
Hidden Inheritance, by Edmund de Waal (narrated by Michael Maloney)
(MH)
Serafina and the Black Cloak, by
Robert Beatty (MH)
American Nations: A History of
the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, by
Colin Woodard (SC)
