Nevermore: Cat Saw Murder, Jefferson's Sons, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Island, Snow Leopard, Tipperary, Island That Dared

 

Nevermore opened up with another recommendation for a mystery which has been making the rounds:  The Cat Saw Murder by Dolores Hitchens. Originally published in 1939 but recently reprinted, this delightful mystery features mature sleuth Rachel Murdock whose visit with her niece turns into a murder investigation.  Our reader added her positive review to the chorus, but noted that she was shocked that the 70ish Rachel was considered to be very elderly. 

Another book making a return appearance was Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Told from the point of view of three of Jefferson’s children by Sally Hemings, the book portrays the inconsistencies of Jefferson’s views and the inequalities experienced by his mixed race children. The book is both heartbreaking and enlightening.  Our reader was fascinated with the book, calling it both delightful and insightful. She highly recommends it for anyone with an interest in American history, or for anyone looking for a good story. The book is generally found in the Young Adult section, but adults will find it to be just as worthwhile.

 

This matched well with the next book, the classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Our reader was enthralled with the book, finding it difficult to put down.  Stowe knew former slaves and so had first-hand accounts to describe the horrors of slavery.  Our reviewer feels that everyone should read this book.  

The next book had a very brief review.  The Island by Peter Benchley has to do with the strange disappearances of many boats along with the people on board.  Our reader called it “one of the worst books ever.” Enough said. 

 

The Snow Leopard by Richard Matthiessen is an older title, dating from 1978, but it still captured the attention of our reviewer.  The book chronicles Matthiessen’s journey to the Himalayan Mountains to study the blue sheep, but the journey is as much a spiritual one as it is a physical one.  Buddhist philosophy plays a large role, and Matthiessen does a brilliant job of blending the search for an elusive creature with the search for peace. 

 

Our next reader so enjoyed Frank Delaney’s novel Ireland that she decided to read Tipperary as well.  The latter book set during the late 19^th-early 20^th centuries has two narrators:  one is Charles O’Brien, a historian who tells of his life, including interactions with influential Irishmen such as James Joyce.  He falls in love with an Englishwoman many years his junior who wants to reclaim her Irish home, Tipperary Castle. There is a second narrator who purports to have found this memoir and who comments on it. Our reader said it was confusing in places but a really good book if you could keep track of the characters and events.

 

The Island That Dared by Dervla Murphy is an in-depth look at Cuba.  Murphy is a well-respected travel writer, and here she seeks to experience Cuba in much the same way as ordinary Cubans. She’s looking for the backwaters and areas tourists never see, and interacts with the Cuban people.  She also provides a wealth of historical background and insight, with certain conclusions that some people might view as controversial.  Our reviewer recommended it highly, and felt that everyone needed to read it in order to understand the whole historic and modern day Cuban situation.

Nevermore: Uncle Tom's Cabin, Beekeeper of Aleppo, When Twilight Breaks, Highfire, No One Goes Alone

 

Reported by Garry

 

The books brought to Nevermore this week ran the gamut from historical fiction to high fantasy and romance to murder mystery.  We always have a great selection of books to discuss!

 

Our first reader told us about the writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who lived from 1811 until 1896.  Stowe is most widely noted for her 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin – a highly controversial piece of work that was, in its time, the second widest selling novel in the 19^th century United States, and is said to have “helped lay the groundwork for the American Civil War.” Stowe was a strict abolitionist who wrote 30 books, including novels, memoirs and collections of articles and letters.  Our reader commented on the extraordinary power with which Stowe writes, stating how the story “The Ghost in the Mill” was especially riveting. 

 

 

 

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri was up next.  This multiple award winning novel shines a light on the lives of a family of refugees as they try to escape to freedom and safety in the countryside of Britain from the horrors of civil was in Syria.  Nuri and his wife Afra live a quiet life in the countryside of Syria near Aleppo, until war devastates both them and their lives.  Fleeing across country, through Turkey and Greece, both must come to terms with what they have lost and what the future may hold for them.  Our reader found this to be a gripping, deeply human novel, and helped make it clear to her that every person seeking asylum is a person with a heart and a soul – not just a body who wants to come into the country.  This 2020 novel is highly recommended by our reader.

 

The historical drama/romance When Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin was the next novel to be discussed.  This book takes place in Munich in 1938 and follows the story of Evelyn, an aspiring foreign correspondent and Peter, an American graduate student who is working on his PhD in German.  Both protagonists are caught in the building storm of World War II, and decide to use their talents to funnel information out of an increasingly dangerous Germany.  Our reader was very impressed with the amount of historical accuracy that went into this book, and liked the writing style.  Romance is not her typical genre, but she enjoyed and recommends this engaging, dramatic book.

 

Highfire by Eoin Colfer is an offbeat fantasy novel following Vern, last of the dragons. Far from his glory days, Vern now spends his days hiding out in the Louisiana bayou, drowning himself in vodka and television. By complete accident, Vern saves a down-on-his-luck teenager from the local lowlife sheriff and finds himself wondering how he's suddenly responsible for keeping the sheriff from burning the swamp down to get to the kid. Our reader found it to be one of the best books they'd read in years, filled with characters they couldn't get enough of.   While the reader wasn't bothered by it (and felt it added to the believability), they did want to advise that there is a fair bit of profanity.

 

No One Goes Alone is a new thriller by veteran writer Erik Larson, and his first venture into fiction.  (Larson has previously written the best-selling non-fiction books Devil in the White City, Thunderstruck, Dead Wake, and others.)  In this historical fantasy thriller psychologist William James leads a team in 1905 to an uninhabited island where a family has disappeared under strange circumstances.  The idyllic island soon starts to show its true nature and the team quickly finds themselves isolated and unsure of what to believe.  This book is only available in audio form as Larson believes that ghost stories are best read aloud, and our reader agrees.  She listened to the entire seven and a half hours of recording in one sitting, and says that this is a great story – perfectly timed for the Halloween season!

 

Also mentioned:

The Turnout by Megan Abbott

The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley

The Good Good Pig:  The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery

The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

The Cat Saw Murder: A Rachel Murdock Mystery by Dolores Hitchens

How to They/Them by Stuart Getty

Believing:  Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence by Anita Hill

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

A Promised Land by Barak Obama

The Summons by John Grisham

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong by James Loewen

The End of Bias by Jessica Nordell

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

If God is Love, Don’t Be a Jerk by John Pavlovitz

GMorning, GNight:  Little Pep Talks for Me and You by Lin Manuel Miranda

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Sundown Towns by James Loewen

Raven Report: July 19

The Nevermore Book Club readers were consuming more fiction this week, including:

The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver’s first novel in nine years, tells the story of Harrison William Shepherd. The son of a Mexican mother and an American father, Harrison grows up in 1930s Mexico. He lives with the artist Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo before moving to Asheville, NC where he becomes a writer. The book is a sharply observed chronicle of the ear from the 30s through the McCarthy trials of the 50s.



 

Then We Came to the End is the award-winning debut novel of Joshua Ferris. The employees of a Chicago ad agency are facing downsizing as some of their number are laid off. The satirical book evokes the dot com crashes of the 90s, Dilbert, and “The Office.”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is the story about slavery in the South. First published in 1852, it’s one of the few books that can claim to have jump-started a social revolution and a civil war. Many people read it only as a high school requirement and never look at it again; others never read it at all, yet its influence still exists today.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell was written a century later but it too has wielded a powerful influence over the collective imagination. In many ways, the two books parallel one another: each presents a strong viewpoint about conditions in a particular region and time period, and probably more people know the characters than have actually read the book.

Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown is the story of three sisters who have gone wildly separate ways but who reunite when their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. Raised in a household with a college professor father fond of quoting Shakespeare, the sisters have to redefine themselves and each other in order to move on with their lives. Funny, moving and ultimately uplifting, this is a delightful summer read.

 

Change Me into Zeus’s Daughter: A Memoir by Barbara Robinette Moss is the one nonfiction title this time. It’s the heart-wrenching true story of a young girl growing up in a very dysfunctional family. It’s been compared to Angela’s Ashes and Glass Castle. Our reviewer said, “You will never take anything for granted again.”






The Nevermore Book Club meets every Tuesday from 11:00 am until noon.  Everyone is welcome!  Doughnuts are courtesy of the Blackbird Bakery.  Join us!