More Found Reviews

When library staff prepares to re-shelve books, we always flip through them to look for forgotten items, damage, etc. so that the next person won’t have a surprise. Sometimes we find comments.  Here are some of the ones we’ve enjoyed:

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor apparently pleased a couple of readers, since one wrote “Good” and in a different handwriting, “Couldn’t put it down.”

 

I have to say I love dueling reviews.  Plaster Sinners by Colin Watson was deemed “Very very dull” by one reader, perhaps evoking this response:  “This is a work of deductive genius.  Very enjoyable & well done.”

Bluebird Winter by Linda Howard drew two “Good” notations, a “Good (heart),” a “Very good,” and “Every woman’s dream!  Just plain wonderful book!”

James Patterson’s sophomore title Season of the Machete earned a one word review:  “Lousy.”

Still Glides the Stream by D.E. Stevenson came out in 1957, but this tale of a Scotsman who sets out to find the truth about a friend’s death drew a lot of comments on the review page.

“A delightful romantic story.”

“A sweet, simple, nostalgic story.”

“Very good—I really enjoyed it.”

“Great—I hated to see it end!”

“A little ‘tame,’ but I agree with the above.”

“Very good—I really enjoyed it for the second time around twenty years later.”

“D.E. Stevenson is my all-time favorite author, bar none.  I have read all her books many times & enjoy them every time.  I just found one from 1923, Peter West, which was overly descriptive, probably her first, but she certainly learned the right amount of adjectives as she aged.  I think she wrote the best family values—ever!”

 

Sherryl Wood’s Sweet Tea at Sunrise in large print had a couple of “Good” and “Very good” reviews, followed by, “Can’t believe it took 469 pages for two people to get into bed together!”

Christmas in My Heart: A Second Treasury edited by Joe Wheeler had “Very good book 2015” written in it.  Just beneath it, in the same handwriting was “Very good book 2016.” It’s very good to know that the reviewer’s opinion hadn’t changed in a year!

 

Jill Marie Landis’ Magnolia Creek won rave reviews from three readers.  The story is set during the American Civil War and chronicles the story of Sara Collier who marries her sweetheart Dru just before he rides off to fight.  Our readers judged it as “Great,” “SUPER GOOD,” and “A wonderful heartwarming book!  Among the best I have read!” 

Murder for Treasure by David Williams earned two reviews.  One was the pithy “Boring!” while the second was a bit more descriptive:   “Not top grade English but readable if you’re hard up for a weekend read.”

Nevermore: Italian Shoes, Last Englishman, I Am a Girl from Africa, The Firekeeper's Daughter, Empire of the Summer Moon

 

 Reported by Garry

 

Nevermore began with a story of redemption set in the cold of the Baltic Sea:  Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell. Fredrik Welin lives alone on a remote island inherited from his grandparents. Once a successful surgeon, he lives cut off from the rest of the world as a form of penance for a horrible mistake he made in the operating room many years ago. A series of unexpected visitors interrupt his solitude and slowly pull him out of his self-imposed isolation. Our reader loved the evocative writing in this brief novel and was particularly impressed by the depictions of solitude and reflection on a small Swedish island. DC

 

The Last Englishman:  The Double Life of Arthur Ransome by Roland Chambers is the biography of author Arthur Ransome. Raised in relative wealth and privilege in England, Ransome abandoned a young wife and daughter to go to Russia as an investigative writer where he came to sympathize with the Bolshevik cause, becoming personally close to a number of the Revolution leaders, including Vladimir Lenin. Upon his return to England, he divorced his first wife, Ivy Constance Walker, and married Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina, a secretary to Leon Trotsky whom he met in Russia. Ransome then settled in the English Lake District and began writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children’s books, which established him not only financially but as one of the best British children’s authors of the past century. Our reader greatly enjoyed this look at the complex figure behind a well-known series of children’s books, and recommends this well-researched and balanced biography. AH

 

I Am A Girl from Africa is the inspiring autobiography of Elizabeth Nyamayaro. Born in Zimbabwe, Nyamayaro was dying of malnourishment at age eight when her life was saved by a UN aid worker. This moment transformed Myamayaro who has since made it her life’s mission to aid others. Now a senior advisor at the United Nations and the founder of HeforShe, one of the world’s largest organizations for gender equality, Nyamayro charts her journey of perseverance from Zimbabwe to London, New York and beyond in this deeply empowering memoir that our reader absolutely loved. AH

 

In Angline Boulley’s debut novel The Firekeeper’s Daughter, Daunis Fontaine is a half-native, half-white 18-year-old who witnesses a horrific crime and becomes involved in the FBI investigation revolving around murder and methamphetamine sales on her Ojibwe reservation. This multi-award-winning novel (soon to be a Netflix series) is part crime novel and part coming of age story written by an author who is herself of mixed Native American heritage. Our reader was particularly impressed by not only the strength of the writing but the insightful, detailed, and highly relevant exploration of the issues that Native American women face on a daily basis. MH

 

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne is the historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West. This meticulously researched book focuses on the lives of two pivotal characters in American history – Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah. Cynthia Ann was captured by the Comanches when she was nine years old, and grew to love her captors and lived with them for 24 years. Her son Quanah became the most successful Comanche fighter and commander, effectively defending against the westward expansion of white settlers in the Texas Panhandle for decades. Our reader was enthralled by this book and highly recommends it as a detailed narrative of a portion of American history that is often-times portrayed only from the victor’s standpoint. PP

 

 

Also mentioned:

 

President Hamilton: A Novel of Alternative History by Lewis Ben Smith

How To Talk To Your Cat by Jean Craighead George

Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough

Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman

The Wrath of Angels by John Connolly

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger

The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

The Blue Tattoo:  The Life of Olive Oatman by Margo Mifflin

The Mitford Vanishing by Jessica Fellowes

Mountains Beyond Mountains:  The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure The World by Tracy Kidder

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

Seven Brief Lessons in Physics by Carlo Rovelli

Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding

The Betrayal of Anne Frank:  A Cold Case Investigation by Rosemary Sullivan

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Disappearance of a Scribe by Dana Stabenow

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

 

Reviewed by Christy

            Mabel and Jack have moved all the way from the east coast to the brutal Alaskan frontier – in the hopes that they can start fresh and maybe even heal. It’s been many years since the stillborn death of their only child, and the couple continues to struggle with their grief. It’s 1920, and cars are still a bit of a novelty. If Mabel wants to visit her nearest neighbors, she must hitch up their horse and traverse the wild terrain. But mostly, Jack and Mabel keep to themselves and yet drift further and further apart.

            In a moment of rare levity, they begin frolicking in the snow one night and even build a small snow child. The next morning, the snow child is gone but they catch fleeting glimpses of a young girl running through the forest. What is a child doing alone out in the Alaskan wilderness? And where did she come from?

            Inspired by a Russian fairy tale, The Snow Child is a quiet meditation on the ripples of grief and the importance of found family. To be perfectly honest, not a lot happens in the book. It is slow moving and more concerned with its characters than much of a plot. Ivey takes her time with these characters, which helped me as a reader grow more and more attached to them. She does this while beautifully conjuring up the frozen landscape. I enjoyed this book so much more than I was expecting, and I even shed a tear or two or several. I loved the themes of opening oneself up to new friendships and new adventures. Watching Mabel and Jack grow, not only as people but as a couple, was deeply gratifying.  I can see why the meandering, thin plot wouldn’t be for everyone but this could be a case of the right book hitting me at the right time. If you enjoy character-driven novels with a hint of magical realism, this could be the next read for you.