The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

28 Monday Oct 2019

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Can a house/a childhood home dominate the grown-up lives of a brother and sister who grew up with a father and caring staff in a fairy-tale huge house in Pennsylvania? A quiet read, a re-examining of childhood loss and forgiveness, but two indelible characters you won’t forget long after the book is finished.

“Patchett’s splendid novel is a thoughtful, compassionate exploration of obsession and forgiveness, what people acquire, keep, lose or give away, and what they leave behind.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

“…you won’t want to put down this engrossing, warmhearted book even after you’ve read the last page.” (NPR)

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Know My Name: a Memoir by Chanel Miller

21 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by in Biography, memoir

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In 2015, Chanel Miller was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner on Stanford’s campus. She was known as “Emily Doe” during the trial, and her victim impact statement was read by millions of people when it was posted online just after Turner’s controversial sentencing. In Know My Name, she reveals her identity and writes about all of the ways her life — and the lives of her loved ones — changed, and the journey to put herself back together. A powerful, beautifully written memoir.

“She has written a memoir that converts the ongoing experience of sexual assault into literature…Beautiful…“─The Atlantic

“Know My Name is a blistering, beautifully written account of a courageous young woman’s struggle to hold a sexual predator accountable. Stand back, folks: This book is going to give a huge blast of momentum to the #MeToo movement.”─Jon Krakauer

“She writes exquisitely of her pain, makes us feel every fragment of it, but also expounds on the kindness that nourished her spirit…Miller matters. Readers will see every victim matters.” ─USA Today

“In a perfect world, Know My Name would be required reading for every police officer, detective, prosecutor, provost and judge who deals with victims of sexual assault.” ─LA Times

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The Overstory by Richard Powers

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by in Fiction, nature

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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction – “An ingeniously structured narrative that branches and canopies like the trees at the core of the story whose wonder and connectivity echo those of the humans living amongst them.”- citation from the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
New York Times Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Book and a Washington Post, Time, Oprah Magazine, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018

Overstory is a soul-stirring look into the inner lives of trees and a clarion call to us humans to alter our ways before it is too late. The introduction to the 9 characters is really 9 elegant short stories.  But gather up your strength and make it to the end.  This book will change you.

“This book is beyond special.… It’s a kind of breakthrough in the ways we think about and understand the world around us, at a moment when that is desperately needed.”- Bill McKibben

“The best novel ever written about trees, and really just one of the best novels, period.” ―Ann Patchett

“Monumental… The Overstory accomplishes what few living writers from either camp, art or science, could attempt. Using the tools of the story, he pulls readers heart-first into a perspective so much longer-lived and more subtly developed than the human purview that we gain glimpses of a vast, primordial sensibility, while watching our own kind get whittled down to size.… A gigantic fable of genuine truths.”- Barbara Kingsolver, The New York Times Book Review

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A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

07 Monday Oct 2019

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Here is a book with characters you will love to hate.  A relentlessly immoral man having tasted literary fame once will stop at nothing in his pursuit of success.

“Boyne’s mastery of perspective, last seen in 2017’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies, works beautifully here….Boyne understands that it’s far more interesting and satisfying for a reader to see that narcissist in action than to be told a catchall phrase. Each step Maurice Swift takes skyward reveals a new layer of calumny he’s willing to engage in, and the desperation behind it….so dark it seems almost impossible to enjoy reading A Ladder to the Sky as much as you definitely will enjoy reading it.” —NPR

“Boyne expertly explores notions of originality and authorship through multiple first-person accounts of the despicable Swift. As a result, his latest novel is absorbing, horrifying, and recommended.”– Library Journal (starred review)

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A Necessary Evil (book 2) by Abir Mukherjee

30 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in detective, Fiction, mystery

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I just discovered this detective murder mystery series.  Once I finished the first book, A Rising Man, I had to rush to read this second one immediately and am anxiously waiting my turn on the wait list for the third, Smoke and Ashes.  That’s because Captain Sam Wyndam, former Scotland Yard detective, and Indian born, Sergeant Banerjee are quite the pair and it all takes place in post WW I India where there are still elephants, palaces, jewels, opium, temples, maharajas, harems, etc. It is a delectable read!

“Brilliant. Wyndam is an intriguing protagonist, offering crisp narration that’s sometimes slightly arrogant, sometimes amusingly self-effacing. Add in clever dialogue that’s laden with double entendre, and what more can a hardcore whodunit fan ask for?”- Bookpage (Top 10 Mystery of the Year)

“Mukherjee is adept at multifaceted, slow-burn plot manipulations. Packed with incident and intrigue, yet never in a way that sacrifices historical verisimilitude or character development for the sake of a thrill. At its heart, the novel and its prequel, A Rising Man, take the buddy-cop formula and turn it on its head in endless rotations. From the cars to the flowers to the moth-eaten flags, Wyndham sees empire for the lie that it is. This makes him an intriguing embodiment of the intricacies and hypocrisies of the period―especially in Mukherjee’s hands.”

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The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat: the Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Eric Lax

21 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by in History, Non-fiction

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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

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The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames

13 Friday Sep 2019

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“’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)

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The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer

06 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by in Biographical fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction

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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

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Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham

30 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in 20th century, History, Non-fiction

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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

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The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abby Waxman

16 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in Fiction, Humor

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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

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