Nevermore: March 10

 What Nevermore is Reading

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt's Creek by Daniel Levy 

The Little Book of Secret Societies 50 of the World's Most Notorious Organizations and How to Join Them by Joel Levy

 

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases by Lydia Kang

The Lower River by Paul Theroux

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 

The Devil's Bones by Jefferson Bass

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

 

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Chemistry and Other Stories by Ron Rash 

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O'Donohue

Six Feet Deep Dish by Mindy Quigley

 

NEW BOOKS

  

Let's Call Her Barbie:  A Novel by Renée Rosen 

The Mysterious Death of Junetta Plum by Valerie Wilson Wesley 

Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbo 

Before It's Gone: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America by Jonathan Vigliotti

The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy by Susan Wise Bauer

Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters by Edward J. Larson

Nevermore Books

 With the recent Tuesday holidays, Nevermore had had a forced hiatus.  Here are some of the books they were reading the last time they met:

Twice by Mitch Albom

 

Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home by Stephen Starring Grant

 

The Judge's List by John Grisham

 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

 

The English Problem by Beena Kamlani

 

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs

 

Five Epic Disasters (I Survived True Stories #1): Volume 1 by Lauren Tarshis

 

Heartwood (a Read with Jenna Pick) by Amity Gaige

 

The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei

 

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston

 

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

Nevermore Book Club

 

We refer to the Nevermore Book Club as our “free-form book club.”  Members read whatever they like and they talk about the book with the group.  Fiction, non-fiction, new books, old books, adult books, YA books, children’s books, picture books—you name it, they read it.  Just to give an idea of the breadth of the members’ choices, here is a list of recent books read.

 

The women  by Kristin Hannah

 

Al Capone does my shirts by Lisa Kurkov

 

How to hide an empire : a history of the greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

 

The library of lost dollhouses : a novel by Elise Hooper

 

The girl who lived twice by David Lagercrantz

 

The girl who takes an eye for an eye by David Lagercrantz

 

The white dawn : an Eskimo saga by James Houston

 

The last gentleman adventurer [electronic resource] : coming of age in the Arctic by

Edward Beauclerk Maurice

 

The snake scientist by Sy Montgomery

 

Inside animal minds : the new science of animal intelligence by Mary Roach

 

The octopus scientists : exploring the mind of a mollusk by Sy Montgomery

 

Jayber Crow : a novel by Wendell Berry

 

Demon Copperhead : a novel by Barbara Kingsolver

 

The crystal cave by Mary Stewart

 

Shantaram : a novel by Gregory David Roberts

 

One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

Missing sister by Joshilyn Jackson

 

Mrs. Nash's ashes by Sarah Adler

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

 

Reviewed by Christy


    In Grady Hendrix’s novel My Best Friend’s Exorcism, Hendrix tells the story of two teenage best friends fighting off demon possession in the late 80s. Curious as to what kind of parents these girls might’ve had, he wrote The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. In it, a book club full of harried housewives have to face off with a monster when a stranger comes to town and slowly infiltrates every aspect of their life. When a book is described as “Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meets Dracula” how on earth could anyone say no?

    Like his novels We Sold Our Souls and the aforementioned My Best Friend’s Exorcism, Hendrix’s newest work has the retro, fun vibe (it spans the early - mid 90s) but it’s also unexpectedly touching at times. Patricia is excited to welcome James to the neighborhood. He’s sexy and mysterious and adds a small thrill to her other otherwise humdrum life. She’s married to Carter, a psychiatrist who is a neglectful father and a dismissive husband. Her two children are getting older and more scornful by the day. Between car pools, cleaning, cooking, laundry and more, she never has a moment to herself. When she does ask for help, she’s met with disdain and disbelief (“What else do you even do all day?”). A new face in town adds a spark to her day.

    This will probably come as no surprise but James is not who he seems. He’s dangerous, and he’s a threat to everything Patricia knows and loves. She does everything in her power to convince her friends in the book club to battle this unknown entity. Hendrix’s characters are well developed, and the friendships so relatable and strong that you can’t help but root for them. The male characters know their place in society and use it to their advantage ruthlessly. When vaguely told James is shady, they jump at the chance to give the new guy in town the benefit of the doubt, rather than believe their wives of many years. As minor antagonists, they are not cartoonish. They’re familiar.

    Striking a balance with his social commentary, Hendrix also writes some really great gross-out scenes. After a character hides under a decaying, bug-infested quilt, I had to take a break so the itching would stop. Hendrix has quickly become one of my favorite authors. His books are just so fun while still plucking a heartstring now and then. I was a little hesitant to pick up this book just because I knew I would read it fast and then have to start the long wait for his next one. That is exactly what happened.

**I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**