21 Saturday Sep 2019
Posted in History, Non-fiction
Tags
This is the first selection for the Non-Fiction Book Discussion Group this September 2019 at the Weston Public Library.
“Beautifully researched and written, alive with scientific and human insight, Lax’s fine book likely will become the classic account of penicillin’s true medical beginnings.” ―Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Admirable, superbly researched . . . perhaps the most exciting tale of science since the apple dropped on Newton’s head.”—Simon Winchester, The New York Times
13 Friday Sep 2019
Posted in Fiction
“’The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna’ achieves what no sweeping history lesson about American immigrants could: It brings to life a woman that time and history would have ignored.” (Washington Post)
“If you’re going through Elena Ferrante withdrawals, this is the book for you. A rich, sweeping tale of an Italian-American family and their long-buried secrets.” (Harper’s Bazaar)
“Epic in scale and richly detailed…. Grames holds the reader under a spell from start to finish as she constructs a puzzle of identity formed against convention…. Grames’s clear and compassionate voice lets the figures of her heritage move freely.” (O, the Oprah Magazine)
06 Friday Sep 2019
Posted in Biographical fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction
Her previous novel, The Invisible Bridge, is one of my all-time favorites. This one is based on the diaries of Varian Fry and again Orringer brings to light another WWII inspiring episode of history where Fry attempts to save the works and lives of Jewish artists. Part history, part love story drenched in the glorious backdrop of 1940’s Marseille – superb.
“No book this year could possibly compare with The Flight Portfolio: ambitious, meticulous, big-hearted, gorgeous, historical, suspenseful, everything you want a novel to be.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less
“Sympathetic and prodigiously ambitious…scrupulous… Her landscapes regularly rise to a Keatsian sensuousness. Her Marseille breathes as a city breathes…a thriller.”
—New York Times Book Review, cover review
“Varian Fry lit a small, bright lamp in a world of darkness, and in the deft hands of Julie Orringer—under the spell of her masterful prose, her feeling portraiture, her classic spy-thriller plotting and her vivid recreation of that beautiful and terrible world—I found the radiance of Fry’s courage, flawed humanity, and steadfast resistance shedding an inexhaustible light on our own ever-darkening time.”—Michael Chabon
30 Friday Aug 2019
Posted in 20th century, History, Non-fiction
I picked up this book after watching the recent HBO series Chernobyl. It is a great companion to the show, but also fascinating and well-written on its own. It describes the political climate and human errors that led to the devastating accident at the nuclear power plant, as well as the aftermath and effects on the people that lived and worked in the surrounding areas.
“A gripping miss-your-subway-stop read . . . Higginbotham captures the nerve-racked Soviet atmosphere brilliantly.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Midnight in Chernobyl is top-notch historical narrative: a tense, fast-paced, engrossing, and revelatory product of more than a decade of research. . . . A stunningly detailed account . . . For all its wealth of information, the work never becomes overwhelming or difficult to follow. Higginbotham humanizes the tale, maintaining a focus on the people involved and the choices, both heroic and not, they made in unimaginable circumstances. This is an essential human tale with global consequences.”—Booklist, Starred Review
16 Friday Aug 2019
Tags
families, humorous fiction, introverts, life changing events, love stories, romance, single women
This novel keeps up a fun, friendly patter while still dealing realistically and respectfully with mental health issues in the form of anxiety. A good “cozy read,” a good “beach read,” a good choice for a wide range of readers.
“Waxman has created a thoroughly engaging character in this bookish, contemplative, set-in-her ways woman. Be prepared to chuckle.”—Kirkus Review (starred review)
“Book nerds will feel strong kinship with the engaging, introverted Nina Hill, who works in a bookstore, plays pub trivia, and loves office supplies… Readers will be captivated by Nina’s droll sense of humor.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Move over on the settee, Jane Austen. You’ve met your modern-day match in Abbi Waxman. Bitingly funny, relatable and intelligent, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a must for anyone who loves to read.”—Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author of Good Luck With That
12 Monday Aug 2019
Posted in Fiction
Tags
antiquarian booksellers, Barcelona (Spain), detective, mothers and sons, mystery, rare books, widows, young men
In 1945 Barcelona, Daniel’s father brings him to a special library to pick out a book, which he will then be responsible for guarding. The book he chooses attracts attention from several other interested parties, some good, some evil. This page-turner has mystery, adventure, romance, a colorful cast of characters, and celebrates books. A fun summer read!
“One gorgeous read.” –Stephen King
“ Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic and thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore and pick up The Shadow of the Wind. Really, you should.”
—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
“Gabriel Garcia Marquez meets Umberto Eco meets Jorge Luis Borges for a sprawling magic show.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Wonderous… masterful… The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.” —Entertainment Weekly (Editor’s Choice)
05 Monday Aug 2019
Posted in Biography
Through a DNA website, Dani’s husband submitted their DNA as a lark. And in one day Dani’s life as she ever had known it was turned upside down. With the speed of the Internet and You-Tube, her personal mystery unravels at top speed!
“Fascinating… With thoughtful candor, [Shapiro] explores the ethical questions surrounding sperm donation, the consequences of DNA testing, and the emotional impact of having an uprooted religious and ethnic identity. This beautifully written, thought-provoking genealogical mystery will captivate readers from the very first pages.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“For all the trauma that the discovery put her through, Shapiro recognizes that what she had experienced was ‘a great story’—one that has inspired her best book.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Page after page, Shapiro displays adisarming honesty and an acute desire to know the unknowable.” —Booklist (starred review)
29 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in Fiction
“Mary Beth Keane takes on one of the most difficult problems in fiction—how to write about human decency. In Ask Again, Yes, Keane creates a layered emotional truth that makes a compelling case for compassion over blame, understanding over grudge, and the resilience of hearts that can accept the contradictions of love.”— Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House
“Keane’s story embraces family lives in all their muted, ordinary, yet seismic shades… offers empathy and the long view… Tender and patient, the novel avoids excessive sweetness while planting itself deep in the soil of commitment and attachment. Graceful and mature. A solidly satisfying, immersive read.”—Kirkus (starred review)
22 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction
An episode of the (sadly, defunct) VH1’s Behind the Music in book form. Reid’s descriptions will make you wish this fictional band’s songs were real. The gossipy, often conflicting input from multiple narrators makes it a perfect, juicy summer read. I enjoyed it even more than Reid’s previous hit – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
““I devoured Daisy Jones & The Six in a day, falling head over heels for it. Taylor Jenkins Reid transported me into the magic of the ’70s music scene in a way I’ll never forget. The characters are beautifully layered and complex. Daisy and the band captured my heart, and they’re sure to capture yours, too.”—Reese Witherspoon
Reid’s novel so resembles a memoir of a real band and conjures such true-to-life images of the seventies music scene that readers will think they’re listening to Fleetwood Mac or Led Zeppelin. Reid is unsurpassed in her ability to create complex characters working through emotions that will make your toes curl.”—Booklist (starred review)
15 Monday Jul 2019
Posted in Fiction
Tags
AIDS (disease) 1981-1990, art museums, brothers and sisters, Chicago Ill., families, France, mothers and daughters, sects
Yale is working at an art museum in 1980s Chicago when he is called to meet an elderly woman who claims to have a priceless collection of art to donate. At the same time, Yale, his boyfriend, and their group of male friends are feeling the devastating effects of the developing AIDS crisis. Years later, one of their friends reflects on this time period as she tries to track down her missing daughter in Paris. This is a beautiful, sad, engaging novel.
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN FICTION
WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR FICTION
WINNER OF THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
Soon to Be a Major Television Event, optioned by Amy Poehler
As her intimately portrayed characters wrestle with painful pasts and fight to love one another and find joy in the present in spite of what is to come, Makkai carefully reconstructs 1980s Chicago, WWI-era and present day Paris, and scenes of the early days of the AIDS epidemic. A tribute to the enduring forces of love and art, over everything.”—Booklist (starred review)
“To believe in something is to have faith, and Makkai dispenses it fiercely, in defiance of understandable nihilism and despair—faith in what’s right, in the good in others, in better outcomes, in time’s ability not to heal but to make something new.”—National Book Review
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