NUB of the Book in 90 Words or Less reveals the crux or heart of a book we want to recommend to you, the reading public. NUB articles written by Barrington Public Library Staff.
Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville
What might have been just another romantic, late Victorian story becomes quite another, more memorable novel about Sarah Thornhill, an intelligent young girl who tries to make sense of her world. Her world is the Australian outback of the late 1800’s, marred by race conflict between the white settlers and the aborigines, power grabs for land, and lawlessness rarely controlled or punished.
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
Prolific English writer Barbara Pym is a master of understated literary portraits of ordinary people. This novel unmasks four sixty-something year old office workers, each lonely in his and her own way. They have worked together for years, know each other’s eccentricities, but really don’t, or can’t, connect on a personal level. Their quiet, desperate lives are revealed with compassion and humor, and a sense of truth.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Queen Elizabeth happens on a bookmobile parked outside Buckingham Palace, and feels obliged, out of politeness, to borrow a book. She becomes a voracious reader. A whole new world opens up to her through literature. She can explore the world of commoners and vicariously share experiences her station in life has kept her from. Bennett’s deadpan sense of humor sends up various authors as the queen makes comments on their varying talents. This is delightful novella that can be read in a couple of hours.
Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal by Rachel Naomi RemenProminent physician
and Crohn's disease patient Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen offers insight into
the spiritual issues people encounter when faced with illness — issues
of suffering, worth and meaning, faith, courage and love — immeasurable
factors in the healing process. Remen, a pioneer in the mind/body
connection, found through her patients’ life stories that talking is a
great healer, as is simply listening. Genuine and deeply moving.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Don, a socially inept geneticist, sets out to find the perfect wife with his entertaining sidekick, Gene, in what Don calls the “Wife Project.” But Rosie, “the world’s most incompatible woman,” keeps distracting Don after she learns he can help her discover who her father is. Hilarity ensues as Rosie’s “Father Project” brings Rosie and Don closer on an adventure that takes them from Australia to New York. Don and Rosie’s romantic comedy with a “love conquers all” theme is a humorous and clever read that is anything but ordinary.
The Invisible Garden by Dorothy Sucher
Dorothy Sucher went to visit an old friend in Vermont, and fell for a little blue house set on ten overgrown acres. She and her husband bought it on the spot; her gardening adventures were about to begin. She had been a city girl all her life, and had a lot to learn. She shares her adventures in a series of essays, centered around her Vermont home, and the garden there draws her back to a centered place of being, a more conscious way to live. Exquisitely written.
~October 29, 2013~
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
A prize-winning local author has established her literary reputation by superb storytelling, details of quotidian struggles, and the underlying distance immigrants feel, both for their adopted homeland, and eventually for their native homeland as well. This novel revolves around two brothers, one of whom is killed by the police, and the second brother marries his widow. Those events shadow everyone’s lives, both in India and in Rhode Island.
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
Nora, the narrator of this novel, once had dreams of being an artist and living a free existence in Paris or Rome. But circumstances have steered her to a mundane life as an elementary school teacher, looking after an ailing mother, then tending an elderly father. In short, she has been a good daughter, done the dutiful things. And this has led to her fury, her disillusionment, her realization that in doing the ‘right’ things she has become invisible. Then, in her late thirties, the exotic Shahid family enters her life and she is enchanted with each one of them. But can she trust them, or her own evaluation of who she thinks they are?
The Crocodile by the Door by Selina Guinness
A gift of a memoir written by a young(ish) woman who, with her husband moves in with an aging uncle, into a house in the foothills outside Dublin with a view toward the distant sea They don’t move into an ordinary house. Rather, it is into a house called Tibradden, described vividly and lovingly by the author, along with beautifully written word pictures of the accompanying farmland, animals, servants, and neighbors. Money worries add to the strain of trying to retain the property in the face of land speculators, daunting agricultural regulations, and the unending task of shoring up a long neglected but beautiful home.
The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor
This Rhode Island writer published this quintessential political novel over sixty years ago, but it could actually have been situated in the present day. It is a fictional account of back door politics in Boston, centered around the re-election campaign of James Skeffington, it’s long serving mayor. Favors, money, implied threats, winks and nods trade hands, but still Skeffington comes off as a lovable rogue, an affable arm twister.
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
A foreign correspondent takes a year to travel the globe in search of what makes people ‘happy’, or more precisely ‘content’. This is a fascinating account of a happiness quotient in varying countries around the world, and how divergent the factors contributing to contentedness are from country to country. For example, the Swiss are generally happiest when things run efficiently, while the people of Bhutan try to enjoy life without ambition. This is an entertaining book that can be read in snippets, when a pick-me-up is called for.
The Great Pearl Heist by Molly Caldwell Crosby
Those who love reading Victorian or Edwardian mysteries and novels will enjoy this true life adventure that pitted “London’s Greatest Thief” against Scotland Yard’s most savvy detective in a wild scheme to steal the world’s most valuable necklace, which at today’s market prices would be worth 18 million dollars. This book reads like fiction—Sherlock Holmes comes to mind— with its fast pace, complicated twists, memorable thieves and indefatigable detectives.
The Black Sheep by Honore de Balzac
Recently listed as one of the one hundred greatest novels by The Guardian newspaper, this 1842 work by Honore de Balzac has resurfaced to some acclaim. It is the story of the Bridau family in France around the time of Napoleon’s fortunes and misfortunes. Two brothers pursue livelihoods and inheritances, one in a more ethical manner than the other. What the reader gains is a glimpse of bourgeois life in France during tumultuous times.
Trans Atlantic by Colum McCann
Last Friends by Jane Gardam
Readers who have enjoyed the first two novels of Gardam’s ‘Old Filth’ trilogy (‘Old Filth’ & ‘The Man in the Wooden Hat’) will be pleased to gather further information about Terry Veneering, a member of a love triangle shared with Betty and Edward Feathers. All three of these characters are dead, but bits of their pasts are revealed by two last friends who have gone to Eddie’s memorial service. Confused? Jane Gardam’s wry old-school style of writing will set it straight, and provide giggles along the way.
Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian
This is a family memoir centered around secrets kept by the older generation in an attempt to shield the following generations. It is also a book where the reader asks how is it possible the events described are so obscure, so forgotten. The “events" are the Armenian Genocide. Here we are, almost 100 years later, and the forced exodus of over a million Christian Armenians from their mainly Muslim homeland - a forced march into the Syrian desert, where so many died - and yet this holocaust barely registers in our history books. Author Balakian tells the story filtered through the lens of a sheltered and comfortable childhood in suburban New Jersey. His gradual discovery of his family’s history is truly riveting.
The Tell by Hester KaplanMira and Owen, a young married couple living in a huge house on
Providence’s East Side, have their marriage and lives turned upside down
when a faded television star moves in next door. Wilton, lonely and
desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter, overpowers the
couple with his attention and wealth. In the process Mira develops a
gambling addiction, and so the plot thickens. Rhode Island readers will
enjoy the familiarity of local customs, streets, and casinos.
Roxanna Slade by Reynolds Price
Roxanna Slade recounts the events of her life from the vantage of ninety years living it. The author very convincingly uses her female voice to share the joys and sorrows of a life lived close to her Southern birthplace. Her lifespan covered almost all of the last century, yet we are spared details of wars and depressions. Rather, she speaks forthrightly about the gains and losses of her existence. And in the mix are Reynolds Price’s magnificent turns of phrase which delight in this quiet, contemplative novel.
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
The former master gardener to the Emperor of Japan has settled in Malaya around the time of the outbreak of World War 2, and created a beautiful private Japanese garden. A young Chinese-Malayan woman, who survived a Japanese prisoner of war slave labor camp, asks the gardener to help her create a garden in memory of her sister, who did not survive the war. Instead he offers to take her on as an apprentice, so she could design a garden herself some day. They become romantically connected, despite the antipathy between the Chinese and Japanese. As the story unfolds, each has secrets of their past revealed. In the process, the reader is invited into the world of ex-pats hanging on in Asia at the end of British Colonialism, the quiet mysticism of Japanese gardening, the brutality of war and imprisonment camps, the turmoil of Communist insurgencies right after the War. This book earned its place as a Man Booker nomination.
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
Three Brown University graduates have remained friends through their 20’s, each trying to make some kind of progress in their careers in New York City. They had lofty expectations of themselves, given their expensive Ivy League educations, and others had high expectations of them as well. Each is floundering. And each is having to re-examine the assumption that their talents are superior, especially given the march of time. This all unfolds around the time of the 9/11 tragedy, further de-railing their sense of well-being.
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
In this National Book Award winning book, we follow 13 year old Joe Coutts, an Ojibwe youth on a reservation in North Dakota. His mother has been brutally raped, narrowly escapes with her life, and cannot, or will not, name her attacker. She recovers physically, but sinks mentally, and nothing Joe nor his tribal judge father try to do for her can help her mend. Joe and three of his good friends try to find out who the rapist was. We are allowed inside the tumultuous inner lives of teenage boys, at times hilarious, at times terrifying. And we are allowed to witness the legal limbo and daily hardships Native Americans living on reservations must endure.
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Beryl Markham was a contemporary of Karen Blixen, (author of “Out of Africa”), although not as well known. Ms. Markham grew up in Kenya and led a remarkable life: she married three times; she was the first licensed female horse trainer in Kenya; she earned a pilot’s license when it was unusual for women to do so; she was the first female pilot to fly west to east solo across the Atlantic. And, fortunately for us, she was a gifted writer. This memoir, published originally in the early 1940’s, did not sell well, but was revived in 1983 and has given modern readers pleasure ever since.
The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore
The time and place: England, 7 years after the end of World War II. A young, naive bride, who is coming to realize the difficulties of being the wife of an ambitious family doctor finds herself spending many nights alone. When she hears someone knocking at her window one lonely night, she finds herself pulled into a paranormal world of mystery and sexual passion and soon must make a fateful choice.
The Favored Queen by Carolly Erickson
It probably is impossible to write a story sympathetic to Henry VIII, and this book is no exception. What is exceptional about The Favored Queen is that it focuses on one of Henry’s lesser known wives, Jane Seymour. Although the only one of Henry’s ill fated spouses to actually give him a male heir, Jane’s life was none the less subject to heartbreak, suspicion, and neglect from her royal husband. This fictionalized account of her brief, passionate life makes for suspenseful reading.
The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
Through Doidge’s research, the idea of neuroplasticity comes to light and changes a once solid belief that the brain was immutable. Written for the non-scientist, this book follows several patients with traumatic brain injury who recover by the brain “re-wiring” itself. From stroke patients learning to speak again or a woman born with half of a brain leading a normal life, this book demonstrates how the brain is an ever-evolving organ. Doidge proves that the brain is not the rigid organ it was once considered to be.
1861: the Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart
Everyone knows what happened at Fort Sumter - start of the Civil War - an exclamation point slashed down to begin a bellicose timeline. What Adam Goodheart does, with rare emotional power and intelligence, is to take the reader beneath the bombs bursting in air to the men and women whose predilections, evolving month by month individually and en masse in 1861, drew a much more fascinating jagged, ragged start line to the complex cataclysm that destroyed one America and raised another in its place.
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
A young Ethiopian immigrant settles in Washington, D.C. He escaped the slaughter in his homeland seventeen years earlier and now owns a run-down corner store in a sorry neighborhood. When a white woman and her daughter renovate the house next to his store, he is stirred from his complacency. Budding friendships with his neighbors at once fulfill him and demonstrate how different culturally he still is, and will always be. This author’s first novel achingly shares the immigrant’s experience of loss of homeland, and sense of alienation in an adopted country.
A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill
A noted newspaper reporter recounts his early life in Brooklyn during the Depression and World War II. Son of an alcoholic, and surrounded by hard-drinking people, Pete Hamill fell into the familiar habits of hard work, followed by excessive drinking. The drinking defined his identity, and eventually cost him his marriage, damaged his memory, and clouded the clarity he needed to be a successful writer. So he quit, cold turkey. He tells his story with a thoughtful and funny fondness for the events and places of his youth. The result is an unapologetic portrait of alcohol’s consequences mixed in a cocktail of memories.
God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet
Modern medicine seeks to be efficient, but does it really provide the best care? Dr. Victoria Sweet found herself in the right setting to explore this question: San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital, the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hotel-Dieu (God’s Hotel) that cared for the sick poor in the Middle Ages. Not at the cutting edge of high technology, here Dr. Sweet could practice a kind of “slow medicine,” often calling on “Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman.” Taking time to carefully examine patients (not only their lab results), using common sense, and occasionally breaking rules helped patients to heal. Readers will be fascinated by Dr. Sweet’s sometimes astonishing stories of Laguna Honda’s patients and staff.
The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel
During WWII, Hitler’s armies looted valuable art and artifacts from museums and private collections for the creation of a Fuehrer Museum. Protecting and recovering this art was tasked to a group known as the Monuments Men. They were curators, art historians, and archivists who focused on preserving Europe’s treasures, which included churches, historical sites, art, and artifacts. Packed with historical material, this book delivers the little-known story of an almost insurmountable task. Edsel presents a journey through Europe’s dangerously unstable climate and reveals how ordinary individuals carried out an extraordinary mission.
Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Family Man by Brian McGrory
Brian McGrory, recently named editor of the Boston Globe, writes about Buddy, the pet rooster of two young step-daughters. Mr. McGrory had lived a peaceful existence, concentrating on a very successful newspaper writing career, and doting on his beloved dog Harry. The veterinarian who tended Harry at his demise becomes a central part of McGrory’s life, and he finds himself altering his bachelor lifestyle to try to fit in to his future wife’s household: kids, chaos, pets. Buddy is the result of a school incubation project, and Buddy loathes him, the intruder. They plot each others’ downfall, with hilarious escapades revealed.
Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan
Serena Frome, a young Cambridge graduate, becomes romantically involved with a much older professor, who co-incidentally is an operative of MI5, a secret government agency similar to the CIA. That connection leads to her employment in that agency, and her assignment to operation “Sweet Tooth”. The scheme is to secretly fund liberal-leaning artists and writers to try to counteract the cultural influence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. She inevitably falls in love with the author she has ensnared, and the games begin. This is a tame spy tale with appeal to readers who don’t care for spy novels. Written by one of Britain’s prominent current authors, close reading will lead to an unexpected ending.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud
Thirteen linked stories revolve around Olive Kitteridge, a prickly retired math teacher, living in a small coastal town in Maine, the kind of town where parents watch their kids move away when school is done to earn a living somewhere else. This has happened to Olive and her husband, too, and perhaps this is part of what makes Olive so unyielding and abrasive. But as the stories unfold, we see the empathy she holds for those around her who are also isolated and lonely. And we learn to like and admire her plain-spoken fortitude.
This is How You Lose Her by Junot DiazJunot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Genius Award winner,
here presents nine love stories, love stories mostly revolving around
infidelity. Yunior is the main narrator, a character seemingly based on
Diaz’ own life, and one who has appeared in previous works. The stories
are told in street-wise American English, laced with Spanish slang and
plenty of four letter words in both languages. The staccato idiom is
brutally honest and direct, and often hilarious as we share a young
immigrant’s struggles to find his footing in America and become a man.
Safe Passage: The Remarkable True Story of Two Sisters Who Rescued Jews from the Nazis
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Saving books is what libraries are all about: this is a fictionalized account of one very special book, the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a sacred Jewish codex rescued by a Muslim librarian during the 1996 Yugoslav civil war. This book originated over five centuries earlier, and we follow its near misses backwards through the years, to Sarajevo of the 1940’s, to 19th century Vienna, to 15th century Venice, to the Spanish Inquisition, to Seville in 1480. There are connections to the present day, and the life of Hannah Heath, the manuscript conservator charged with restoring the sacred text. This is entertaining reading by an award winning author.
The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
Author Barrett has the fascinating ability of intertwining scientific facts with subtle literary prose. Here we have the story of the sailing ship Narwhal sent off in 1855 to find traces of the Franklin expedition which had vanished in the Arctic some years earlier trying to find the Northwest Passage. Erasmus Darwin Wells, the main character and naturalist, was sent along on this voyage to document any scientific discoveries - this was the Age of Darwin when Victorians believed all knowledge could be ‘proofed’ on facts alone. The tension in this elegant novel is viewing how the characters struggle with their own private passions, doubts and fears in the face of that intellectual stridency.
Spartina by John Casey
Spartina is the marsh grass we Rhode Islanders see in shallow coves and inlets along our superbly beautiful coastline. It is also the name of a 50 foot boat Dick Pierce is trying to build in his back yard - a boat that will allow him to fish and lobster independently, and lift his family economically above their hardscrabble lives in South County. He comes from a long line of landowners along Narragansett Bay, but over time his ancestors have had to sell off bits of property, so a small house and lot are all that are left for him. He is embittered and trying desperately to avoid having to work for the rich newcomers who now own that land. This book won the National Book Award in 1989, and it is a book with a setting that feels like coming home.
Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine BrooksMost recently a writer of popular fiction, here Geraldine Brooks writes from experience as the Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent for the Middle East. She found herself marginalized as a professional woman until she donned the hijab, and was able to move more freely in Middle East society. She interviewed women from all walks of life, from Queen Noor, to impoverished housewives living in households harshly commanded by their husbands, to belly dancers, and everything in between. Her revelations are fascinating and often unexpected, but widen the possibilities for understanding between cultures.
American Bloomsbury by Susan Cheever
Susan Cheever gives readers an easy retelling of the lives of the ‘genius cluster’ of writers and philosophers around Concord, Massachusetts in the mid 1800’s. The account reveals the daily lives and ordinary struggles of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Henry and John Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller. We are told of their problems with money matters, petty jealousies, misguided affections, and the tragic early death of one of their number. One hundred and fifty years later modern human struggles appear to be very similar, don’t they?
The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich
When Faye Travers, an Native American antiquities dealer of Ojibwe
descent, comes across an unusually decorated ceremonial drum, she feels
compelled to delve into its history after hearing the drum “speak” to
her. Three separate but related stories of loss, sacrifice
and redemption are interwoven into the threads of the tale as Faye
uncovers the true origins of the Painted Drum.
Mr. Bazalgett’s Agent by Leonard Merrick
This novella written in 1888 is supposedly only the third time that a female detective appeared in fiction. Told in the first person, a common point of view for books featuring Victorian heroines, this story about a genteel but impoverished young woman who finds work as a female operative for an international detective agency is full of subterfuge, mistaken identities, noble feelings, and surprises, in a fast moving, highly entertaining romp.
This novella written in 1888 is supposedly only the third time that a female detective appeared in fiction. Told in the first person, a common point of view for books featuring Victorian heroines, this story about a genteel but impoverished young woman who finds work as a female operative for an international detective agency is full of subterfuge, mistaken identities, noble feelings, and surprises, in a fast moving, highly entertaining romp.
What might have been just another romantic, late Victorian story becomes quite another, more memorable novel about Sarah Thornhill, an intelligent young girl who tries to make sense of her world. Her world is the Australian outback of the late 1800’s, marred by race conflict between the white settlers and the aborigines, power grabs for land, and lawlessness rarely controlled or punished.
~December 10, 2013~
Prolific English writer Barbara Pym is a master of understated literary portraits of ordinary people. This novel unmasks four sixty-something year old office workers, each lonely in his and her own way. They have worked together for years, know each other’s eccentricities, but really don’t, or can’t, connect on a personal level. Their quiet, desperate lives are revealed with compassion and humor, and a sense of truth.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Queen Elizabeth happens on a bookmobile parked outside Buckingham Palace, and feels obliged, out of politeness, to borrow a book. She becomes a voracious reader. A whole new world opens up to her through literature. She can explore the world of commoners and vicariously share experiences her station in life has kept her from. Bennett’s deadpan sense of humor sends up various authors as the queen makes comments on their varying talents. This is delightful novella that can be read in a couple of hours.
~November 27, 2013~
~November 23, 2013~
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Don, a socially inept geneticist, sets out to find the perfect wife with his entertaining sidekick, Gene, in what Don calls the “Wife Project.” But Rosie, “the world’s most incompatible woman,” keeps distracting Don after she learns he can help her discover who her father is. Hilarity ensues as Rosie’s “Father Project” brings Rosie and Don closer on an adventure that takes them from Australia to New York. Don and Rosie’s romantic comedy with a “love conquers all” theme is a humorous and clever read that is anything but ordinary.
~November 14, 2013~
Dorothy Sucher went to visit an old friend in Vermont, and fell for a little blue house set on ten overgrown acres. She and her husband bought it on the spot; her gardening adventures were about to begin. She had been a city girl all her life, and had a lot to learn. She shares her adventures in a series of essays, centered around her Vermont home, and the garden there draws her back to a centered place of being, a more conscious way to live. Exquisitely written.
~October 29, 2013~
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
A prize-winning local author has established her literary reputation by superb storytelling, details of quotidian struggles, and the underlying distance immigrants feel, both for their adopted homeland, and eventually for their native homeland as well. This novel revolves around two brothers, one of whom is killed by the police, and the second brother marries his widow. Those events shadow everyone’s lives, both in India and in Rhode Island.
~October 7, 2013~
Nora, the narrator of this novel, once had dreams of being an artist and living a free existence in Paris or Rome. But circumstances have steered her to a mundane life as an elementary school teacher, looking after an ailing mother, then tending an elderly father. In short, she has been a good daughter, done the dutiful things. And this has led to her fury, her disillusionment, her realization that in doing the ‘right’ things she has become invisible. Then, in her late thirties, the exotic Shahid family enters her life and she is enchanted with each one of them. But can she trust them, or her own evaluation of who she thinks they are?
~September 17, 2013~
A gift of a memoir written by a young(ish) woman who, with her husband moves in with an aging uncle, into a house in the foothills outside Dublin with a view toward the distant sea They don’t move into an ordinary house. Rather, it is into a house called Tibradden, described vividly and lovingly by the author, along with beautifully written word pictures of the accompanying farmland, animals, servants, and neighbors. Money worries add to the strain of trying to retain the property in the face of land speculators, daunting agricultural regulations, and the unending task of shoring up a long neglected but beautiful home.
~September 13, 2013~
This Rhode Island writer published this quintessential political novel over sixty years ago, but it could actually have been situated in the present day. It is a fictional account of back door politics in Boston, centered around the re-election campaign of James Skeffington, it’s long serving mayor. Favors, money, implied threats, winks and nods trade hands, but still Skeffington comes off as a lovable rogue, an affable arm twister.
~August 15, 2013~
A foreign correspondent takes a year to travel the globe in search of what makes people ‘happy’, or more precisely ‘content’. This is a fascinating account of a happiness quotient in varying countries around the world, and how divergent the factors contributing to contentedness are from country to country. For example, the Swiss are generally happiest when things run efficiently, while the people of Bhutan try to enjoy life without ambition. This is an entertaining book that can be read in snippets, when a pick-me-up is called for.
~August 9, 2013~
Those who love reading Victorian or Edwardian mysteries and novels will enjoy this true life adventure that pitted “London’s Greatest Thief” against Scotland Yard’s most savvy detective in a wild scheme to steal the world’s most valuable necklace, which at today’s market prices would be worth 18 million dollars. This book reads like fiction—Sherlock Holmes comes to mind— with its fast pace, complicated twists, memorable thieves and indefatigable detectives.
~July 30, 2013~
Recently listed as one of the one hundred greatest novels by The Guardian newspaper, this 1842 work by Honore de Balzac has resurfaced to some acclaim. It is the story of the Bridau family in France around the time of Napoleon’s fortunes and misfortunes. Two brothers pursue livelihoods and inheritances, one in a more ethical manner than the other. What the reader gains is a glimpse of bourgeois life in France during tumultuous times.
~July 11, 2013~
As he did when writing ‘Let the Great World Spin’, author McCann uses as
a base for the narrative a single historical event. In this case the
event was the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic, from St.
John’s, Newfoundland to Ireland in 1919. On board was some mail,
including a letter which is passed unopened through generations of
women. It provides a thread of continuity for a narrative that moves
back and forth through time, and back and forth between the United
States, Canada and Ireland. There are historical figures in the mix:
Frederick Douglass touring Ireland in search of support for
Emancipation; George Mitchell brokering the peace in Northern Ireland.
Highly recommended!
~July 9, 2013~
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
In The Last Runaway, we follow the adventures of Honor Bright, a young Quaker who comes to America in 1850 to escape a personal heartache but who soon becomes embroiled in a much grimmer heartache, the horrors of slavery and the dangers of the underground railroad. As a Quaker, Honor is opposed to slavery, but she soon learns that even her fellow Quakers have found ways to turn their backs on their principals in order to avoid being prosecuted under the Fugitive Slave Act. This is an exciting, quick paced novel by the talented writer of Girl With the Pearl Earring.
In The Last Runaway, we follow the adventures of Honor Bright, a young Quaker who comes to America in 1850 to escape a personal heartache but who soon becomes embroiled in a much grimmer heartache, the horrors of slavery and the dangers of the underground railroad. As a Quaker, Honor is opposed to slavery, but she soon learns that even her fellow Quakers have found ways to turn their backs on their principals in order to avoid being prosecuted under the Fugitive Slave Act. This is an exciting, quick paced novel by the talented writer of Girl With the Pearl Earring.
~ June 7, 2013~
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
Stegner has been identified as a ‘western’ writer, not in the
sense of cowboys and Indians, but rather a clear, direct and unadorned
style of writing, with a strong sense of place and character. Though
published more than 25 years ago, this is a timeless book revolving
around a lifelong friendship two couples have shared. The Morgans and
the Langs meet at the University of Wisconsin at the beginning of their
careers, and become inseparable friends. The Langs come from privileged
backgrounds, the Morgans from no privilege at all, and yet their lives
intertwine through time, triumphs and tragedies. This is an
unforgettable portrait of a long friendship, but also of long marriages.
~ May 30, 2013~
Readers who have enjoyed the first two novels of Gardam’s ‘Old Filth’ trilogy (‘Old Filth’ & ‘The Man in the Wooden Hat’) will be pleased to gather further information about Terry Veneering, a member of a love triangle shared with Betty and Edward Feathers. All three of these characters are dead, but bits of their pasts are revealed by two last friends who have gone to Eddie’s memorial service. Confused? Jane Gardam’s wry old-school style of writing will set it straight, and provide giggles along the way.
~ May 21, 2013~
This is a family memoir centered around secrets kept by the older generation in an attempt to shield the following generations. It is also a book where the reader asks how is it possible the events described are so obscure, so forgotten. The “events" are the Armenian Genocide. Here we are, almost 100 years later, and the forced exodus of over a million Christian Armenians from their mainly Muslim homeland - a forced march into the Syrian desert, where so many died - and yet this holocaust barely registers in our history books. Author Balakian tells the story filtered through the lens of a sheltered and comfortable childhood in suburban New Jersey. His gradual discovery of his family’s history is truly riveting.
~ May 10, 2013~
~ April 25, 2013~
Roxanna Slade by Reynolds Price
Roxanna Slade recounts the events of her life from the vantage of ninety years living it. The author very convincingly uses her female voice to share the joys and sorrows of a life lived close to her Southern birthplace. Her lifespan covered almost all of the last century, yet we are spared details of wars and depressions. Rather, she speaks forthrightly about the gains and losses of her existence. And in the mix are Reynolds Price’s magnificent turns of phrase which delight in this quiet, contemplative novel.
~ April 11, 2013~
The former master gardener to the Emperor of Japan has settled in Malaya around the time of the outbreak of World War 2, and created a beautiful private Japanese garden. A young Chinese-Malayan woman, who survived a Japanese prisoner of war slave labor camp, asks the gardener to help her create a garden in memory of her sister, who did not survive the war. Instead he offers to take her on as an apprentice, so she could design a garden herself some day. They become romantically connected, despite the antipathy between the Chinese and Japanese. As the story unfolds, each has secrets of their past revealed. In the process, the reader is invited into the world of ex-pats hanging on in Asia at the end of British Colonialism, the quiet mysticism of Japanese gardening, the brutality of war and imprisonment camps, the turmoil of Communist insurgencies right after the War. This book earned its place as a Man Booker nomination.
~ April 5, 2013~
Three Brown University graduates have remained friends through their 20’s, each trying to make some kind of progress in their careers in New York City. They had lofty expectations of themselves, given their expensive Ivy League educations, and others had high expectations of them as well. Each is floundering. And each is having to re-examine the assumption that their talents are superior, especially given the march of time. This all unfolds around the time of the 9/11 tragedy, further de-railing their sense of well-being.
~ March 12, 2013~
In this National Book Award winning book, we follow 13 year old Joe Coutts, an Ojibwe youth on a reservation in North Dakota. His mother has been brutally raped, narrowly escapes with her life, and cannot, or will not, name her attacker. She recovers physically, but sinks mentally, and nothing Joe nor his tribal judge father try to do for her can help her mend. Joe and three of his good friends try to find out who the rapist was. We are allowed inside the tumultuous inner lives of teenage boys, at times hilarious, at times terrifying. And we are allowed to witness the legal limbo and daily hardships Native Americans living on reservations must endure.
~ February 26, 2013~
Beryl Markham was a contemporary of Karen Blixen, (author of “Out of Africa”), although not as well known. Ms. Markham grew up in Kenya and led a remarkable life: she married three times; she was the first licensed female horse trainer in Kenya; she earned a pilot’s license when it was unusual for women to do so; she was the first female pilot to fly west to east solo across the Atlantic. And, fortunately for us, she was a gifted writer. This memoir, published originally in the early 1940’s, did not sell well, but was revived in 1983 and has given modern readers pleasure ever since.
~ February 20, 2013~
The time and place: England, 7 years after the end of World War II. A young, naive bride, who is coming to realize the difficulties of being the wife of an ambitious family doctor finds herself spending many nights alone. When she hears someone knocking at her window one lonely night, she finds herself pulled into a paranormal world of mystery and sexual passion and soon must make a fateful choice.
~ February 20, 2013~
It probably is impossible to write a story sympathetic to Henry VIII, and this book is no exception. What is exceptional about The Favored Queen is that it focuses on one of Henry’s lesser known wives, Jane Seymour. Although the only one of Henry’s ill fated spouses to actually give him a male heir, Jane’s life was none the less subject to heartbreak, suspicion, and neglect from her royal husband. This fictionalized account of her brief, passionate life makes for suspenseful reading.
~ February 20, 2013~
Through Doidge’s research, the idea of neuroplasticity comes to light and changes a once solid belief that the brain was immutable. Written for the non-scientist, this book follows several patients with traumatic brain injury who recover by the brain “re-wiring” itself. From stroke patients learning to speak again or a woman born with half of a brain leading a normal life, this book demonstrates how the brain is an ever-evolving organ. Doidge proves that the brain is not the rigid organ it was once considered to be.
~ February 14, 2013~
Everyone knows what happened at Fort Sumter - start of the Civil War - an exclamation point slashed down to begin a bellicose timeline. What Adam Goodheart does, with rare emotional power and intelligence, is to take the reader beneath the bombs bursting in air to the men and women whose predilections, evolving month by month individually and en masse in 1861, drew a much more fascinating jagged, ragged start line to the complex cataclysm that destroyed one America and raised another in its place.
~ February 13, 2013~
A young Ethiopian immigrant settles in Washington, D.C. He escaped the slaughter in his homeland seventeen years earlier and now owns a run-down corner store in a sorry neighborhood. When a white woman and her daughter renovate the house next to his store, he is stirred from his complacency. Budding friendships with his neighbors at once fulfill him and demonstrate how different culturally he still is, and will always be. This author’s first novel achingly shares the immigrant’s experience of loss of homeland, and sense of alienation in an adopted country.
~ January 31, 2013~
A noted newspaper reporter recounts his early life in Brooklyn during the Depression and World War II. Son of an alcoholic, and surrounded by hard-drinking people, Pete Hamill fell into the familiar habits of hard work, followed by excessive drinking. The drinking defined his identity, and eventually cost him his marriage, damaged his memory, and clouded the clarity he needed to be a successful writer. So he quit, cold turkey. He tells his story with a thoughtful and funny fondness for the events and places of his youth. The result is an unapologetic portrait of alcohol’s consequences mixed in a cocktail of memories.
~ January 22, 2013~
Modern medicine seeks to be efficient, but does it really provide the best care? Dr. Victoria Sweet found herself in the right setting to explore this question: San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital, the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hotel-Dieu (God’s Hotel) that cared for the sick poor in the Middle Ages. Not at the cutting edge of high technology, here Dr. Sweet could practice a kind of “slow medicine,” often calling on “Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman.” Taking time to carefully examine patients (not only their lab results), using common sense, and occasionally breaking rules helped patients to heal. Readers will be fascinated by Dr. Sweet’s sometimes astonishing stories of Laguna Honda’s patients and staff.
~ January 20, 2013~
During WWII, Hitler’s armies looted valuable art and artifacts from museums and private collections for the creation of a Fuehrer Museum. Protecting and recovering this art was tasked to a group known as the Monuments Men. They were curators, art historians, and archivists who focused on preserving Europe’s treasures, which included churches, historical sites, art, and artifacts. Packed with historical material, this book delivers the little-known story of an almost insurmountable task. Edsel presents a journey through Europe’s dangerously unstable climate and reveals how ordinary individuals carried out an extraordinary mission.
~ January 2, 2013~
The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey
This is an odd little book. Well, the
title will demonstrate that! Yet this book, a long, meditative prose-
poem that alternates seamlessly with a well-researched scientific study
is much more than the sound of a snail, eating , no matter how
voraciously. This book shows as few others can, what a
creative, sensitive, self aware mind can make of the most mundane of
circumstances, once the body is forced by illness into solitary, nearly
motionless observation and reflection.
~ December 31, 2012 ~
Brian McGrory, recently named editor of the Boston Globe, writes about Buddy, the pet rooster of two young step-daughters. Mr. McGrory had lived a peaceful existence, concentrating on a very successful newspaper writing career, and doting on his beloved dog Harry. The veterinarian who tended Harry at his demise becomes a central part of McGrory’s life, and he finds himself altering his bachelor lifestyle to try to fit in to his future wife’s household: kids, chaos, pets. Buddy is the result of a school incubation project, and Buddy loathes him, the intruder. They plot each others’ downfall, with hilarious escapades revealed.
~ December 14, 2012 ~
Serena Frome, a young Cambridge graduate, becomes romantically involved with a much older professor, who co-incidentally is an operative of MI5, a secret government agency similar to the CIA. That connection leads to her employment in that agency, and her assignment to operation “Sweet Tooth”. The scheme is to secretly fund liberal-leaning artists and writers to try to counteract the cultural influence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. She inevitably falls in love with the author she has ensnared, and the games begin. This is a tame spy tale with appeal to readers who don’t care for spy novels. Written by one of Britain’s prominent current authors, close reading will lead to an unexpected ending.
~ November 30, 2012 ~
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud
Thirteen linked stories revolve around Olive Kitteridge, a prickly retired math teacher, living in a small coastal town in Maine, the kind of town where parents watch their kids move away when school is done to earn a living somewhere else. This has happened to Olive and her husband, too, and perhaps this is part of what makes Olive so unyielding and abrasive. But as the stories unfold, we see the empathy she holds for those around her who are also isolated and lonely. And we learn to like and admire her plain-spoken fortitude.
~ November 6, 2012 ~
~ October 31, 2012 ~
Do not miss this stellar memoir published in 1950 by Ida Cook as We Followed Our Stars.
Passionate opera fans, Ida and her sister ventured abroad to pursue
great performances and there encountered the harsh realities of a world
on the brink. With ingenuity, boundless optimism and the will to risk
their lives, the British sisters worked abroad and at home to help Jews
escape the deadly fate of the concentration camps. Packed with
heart-stopping moments, this lovingly written true story shines a light
through one of humanity’s darkest chapters.
~ October 23, 2012 ~
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Saving books is what libraries are all about: this is a fictionalized account of one very special book, the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a sacred Jewish codex rescued by a Muslim librarian during the 1996 Yugoslav civil war. This book originated over five centuries earlier, and we follow its near misses backwards through the years, to Sarajevo of the 1940’s, to 19th century Vienna, to 15th century Venice, to the Spanish Inquisition, to Seville in 1480. There are connections to the present day, and the life of Hannah Heath, the manuscript conservator charged with restoring the sacred text. This is entertaining reading by an award winning author.
~ October 2, 2012 ~
The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
Author Barrett has the fascinating ability of intertwining scientific facts with subtle literary prose. Here we have the story of the sailing ship Narwhal sent off in 1855 to find traces of the Franklin expedition which had vanished in the Arctic some years earlier trying to find the Northwest Passage. Erasmus Darwin Wells, the main character and naturalist, was sent along on this voyage to document any scientific discoveries - this was the Age of Darwin when Victorians believed all knowledge could be ‘proofed’ on facts alone. The tension in this elegant novel is viewing how the characters struggle with their own private passions, doubts and fears in the face of that intellectual stridency.
~ September 25, 2012 ~
Spartina by John Casey
Spartina is the marsh grass we Rhode Islanders see in shallow coves and inlets along our superbly beautiful coastline. It is also the name of a 50 foot boat Dick Pierce is trying to build in his back yard - a boat that will allow him to fish and lobster independently, and lift his family economically above their hardscrabble lives in South County. He comes from a long line of landowners along Narragansett Bay, but over time his ancestors have had to sell off bits of property, so a small house and lot are all that are left for him. He is embittered and trying desperately to avoid having to work for the rich newcomers who now own that land. This book won the National Book Award in 1989, and it is a book with a setting that feels like coming home.
~ September 21, 2012 ~
Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change by Vivian Diller, Ph.D.& Jill Muir-Sukenick, Ph.D.
Two psychotherapists who were former models
met in a coffee shop through their husbands. They quickly found they had
much in common, and, in conversations over the years, came to realize
that their own speeded-up process of age awareness was identical to the
point most women come to later in life. In this thoughtful book, Vivian
and Jill hope to help all women turn their ‘uh-oh, I’m aging’ moments
into the much more satisfying ‘ah-hah’ moments of moving forward into a
beautiful future.
~ September 18, 2012 ~
Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine BrooksMost recently a writer of popular fiction, here Geraldine Brooks writes from experience as the Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent for the Middle East. She found herself marginalized as a professional woman until she donned the hijab, and was able to move more freely in Middle East society. She interviewed women from all walks of life, from Queen Noor, to impoverished housewives living in households harshly commanded by their husbands, to belly dancers, and everything in between. Her revelations are fascinating and often unexpected, but widen the possibilities for understanding between cultures.
~ September 17, 2012 ~
Heft by Liz Moore
It’s not very common for the hero of a novel to be a 550 pound man. But Arthur Opp the protagonist of Heft by Liz Moore is all that and more. A retired professor, too self conscious to venture outside his front door , Arthur is unaware of the profound effect he has had on one of his female students, with whom he has corresponded faithfully for years. A lonely man with a big heart and a painfully shy nature, Arthur will soon get more than he bargained for as he timidly reaches out to the wider and much messier world beyond his own.
It’s not very common for the hero of a novel to be a 550 pound man. But Arthur Opp the protagonist of Heft by Liz Moore is all that and more. A retired professor, too self conscious to venture outside his front door , Arthur is unaware of the profound effect he has had on one of his female students, with whom he has corresponded faithfully for years. A lonely man with a big heart and a painfully shy nature, Arthur will soon get more than he bargained for as he timidly reaches out to the wider and much messier world beyond his own.
~ September 11, 2012 ~
Pure by Andrew Miller
There’s historical fiction, and then there is this. The setting of this unsettling novel is Paris, just prior to the French Revolution. A young engineer has been commissioned to empty a filled and fetid cemetery, and tear down the adjoining church because the surrounding neighborhood has been adversely affected. The author peoples the book with particularly unusual characters, with particularly realistic descriptions of disinterring bones and corpses, with particularly vivid glimpses of what Paris looked like in 1785. As unappetizing as this all sounds, this writer has the unique talent of drawing the reader on, page after discomfiting page.
There’s historical fiction, and then there is this. The setting of this unsettling novel is Paris, just prior to the French Revolution. A young engineer has been commissioned to empty a filled and fetid cemetery, and tear down the adjoining church because the surrounding neighborhood has been adversely affected. The author peoples the book with particularly unusual characters, with particularly realistic descriptions of disinterring bones and corpses, with particularly vivid glimpses of what Paris looked like in 1785. As unappetizing as this all sounds, this writer has the unique talent of drawing the reader on, page after discomfiting page.
~ September 6, 2012 ~
Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story
by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
Pomegranate charms bedeck mother and daughter as
they journey in Greece, pursuing Demeter and Persephone. In this pursuit
each woman discovers it is not so easy to decide whether her path lies
underground, or above; nor is it simple to discern who has the more
arduous task. Is it Sue Monk Kidd in her 50’s seeking a new creative
identity? Or her daughter Ann, bumping hard into her own
role as an adult in her early 20’s? Mother and daughter alternate
chapters in this inspiring memoir.
~ August 29, 2012 ~
Down from Troy by Richard SelzerIf you need a break from novels of crime and violence, or works of nonfiction that are cover to cover angst, try this lovely memoir. Doctor Richard Selzer retired from medicine in his late fifties to take up writing full time. And in doing so, we are invited into the world of his childhood in Troy, New York in the 1930’s. He lived with his parents above his father’s medical offices, where he could often overhear his father’s working class patients’ woes and ailments. His Dad frequently took him on house calls, hoping to inspire in him an inclination to become a physician too. Also at play was his artist mother’s desire for him to pursue an artistic career. In the end, both parents would have been pleased.
~ August 17, 2012 ~
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan, widely regarded as America’s foremost food policy critic
and writer, presents a fascinating account of the interplay between
four different plants and we humans who desire those plants. Apples
have evolved to sate our desire for sweetness, and tulips for beauty.
Marijuana has been developed over time to help man escape his
inescapable present. Potatoes have gone from tiny tubers to uniformly
produced vegetables for mass markets. The author provides great and
entertaining detail on each of the plants discussed.
~ August 8, 2012 ~
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Oringer is a
gripping, romantic, and heart breaking story of three young Hungarian
brothers, each with his own talents, dreams, and passions, whose lives
are changed dramatically and forever by the scourge of the Nazi regime
as it sweeps throughout Europe in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.
The Master by Colm Toibin is a masterful
fictional autobiography of American novelist Henry James as he struggles
to perfect his unique, psychological, and at times oblique style of
writing, while living an ex-patriot life in England and Europe; far
removed from the struggles of his family in America, yet always aware of
the influences of his brilliant and troubled family on his own choices
and decisions.
~ August 7, 2012 ~
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
Richard Russo’s novels are loved because of their affectionate portrayal of New England working class towns. This novel is a departure, somewhat, with 60 year old Jack Griffin, sometime movie script-writer, current college professor, driving to the Cape to attend a wedding. This spurs memories of vacations there when he was a child, taken for two weeks every summer with his hilariously awful parents, also college educators. He also finds himself uneasy about his own marriage, and we wonder about the absence of his wife. Jack fails to realize how closely his own actions resemble those of his snobbish parents. But we get to sit back and enjoy the whole package.
Richard Russo’s novels are loved because of their affectionate portrayal of New England working class towns. This novel is a departure, somewhat, with 60 year old Jack Griffin, sometime movie script-writer, current college professor, driving to the Cape to attend a wedding. This spurs memories of vacations there when he was a child, taken for two weeks every summer with his hilariously awful parents, also college educators. He also finds himself uneasy about his own marriage, and we wonder about the absence of his wife. Jack fails to realize how closely his own actions resemble those of his snobbish parents. But we get to sit back and enjoy the whole package.
~ July 26, 2012 ~
When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner
Every person hits a ‘wall’ sooner or later, and is left wondering how
such a thing could happen to them. Rabbi Kushner experienced tragedy
losing his son in childhood to a degenerative disease. Years later, he
wrote this gift of a book for all of us reeling from life’s random and
chaotic losses. Even for the non-religious reader, this book provides
the philosophical foundation for how to proceed once we find ourselves
in a maelstrom. And Rabbi Kushner speaks to us in clear, gentle,
understandable ways, just the tone to point us forward.
~ July 21, 2012 ~
Gut Feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer
If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink,” Gigerenzer’s “Gut Feelings” will certainly satisfy your inquiry into the science behind Gladwell’s book. By providing an edifying and appealing explanation into the science discussed in “Blink,” Gigerenzer reveals how snap decisions and intuition provide better judgment than meticulous analysis. Backed by research and personal experiences, he explores nature, nurture, and how our most important decisions in life are influenced by gut feelings. This is a short, thoughtful book which will leave you astounded by the role our instincts play in decision-making.
If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink,” Gigerenzer’s “Gut Feelings” will certainly satisfy your inquiry into the science behind Gladwell’s book. By providing an edifying and appealing explanation into the science discussed in “Blink,” Gigerenzer reveals how snap decisions and intuition provide better judgment than meticulous analysis. Backed by research and personal experiences, he explores nature, nurture, and how our most important decisions in life are influenced by gut feelings. This is a short, thoughtful book which will leave you astounded by the role our instincts play in decision-making.
~ July 14, 2012 ~
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The transgressions of Henry VIII have often been chronicled, but in this
lengthy novel we view events mainly through the eyes of Thomas
Cromwell, his trusted advisor. The list of characters is huge, and at
times readers may be confused as to who is doing what, but persistance
is well worth the effort. Tudor England comes alive, and we can glimpse
the lives of ordinary people and courtiers alike. Henry, Catherine,
Cardinal Wolsey, Anne Boleyn all are fleshed out, and even though we all
learned the facts of this period of British history in school, Hilary
Mantel’s talent as a writer makes magic happen. And incidentally, there
is a wonderful audio version of this book, narrated by Simon Slater, who
masterfully gives each character a specific voice or intonation.
~ July 10, 2012 ~
Susan Cheever gives readers an easy retelling of the lives of the ‘genius cluster’ of writers and philosophers around Concord, Massachusetts in the mid 1800’s. The account reveals the daily lives and ordinary struggles of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Henry and John Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller. We are told of their problems with money matters, petty jealousies, misguided affections, and the tragic early death of one of their number. One hundred and fifty years later modern human struggles appear to be very similar, don’t they?
~ June 28, 2012 ~
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith
Any time you’re feeling low, take this advice: crack open a copy of the latest book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Mma Ramotswe with her compassionate world view, along with her sometimes tetchy but often helpful assistant Mma Mukutsi must solve several puzzlers, including a case of graft that involves the local orphanage and a stolen car ring that threatens one of their friends. As ever, all ends well, but it’s the getting to the solution, using Mma Ramotswe’s uncommon sense and wisdom, that provides the interest and delight.
Any time you’re feeling low, take this advice: crack open a copy of the latest book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Mma Ramotswe with her compassionate world view, along with her sometimes tetchy but often helpful assistant Mma Mukutsi must solve several puzzlers, including a case of graft that involves the local orphanage and a stolen car ring that threatens one of their friends. As ever, all ends well, but it’s the getting to the solution, using Mma Ramotswe’s uncommon sense and wisdom, that provides the interest and delight.
~ June 28, 2012 ~
Merry Hall by Beverly Nichols
For gardeners who love to read about gardening, or even for those who detest mucking about in flower beds, Beverly Nichols (1898-1985) is a delight. He has been called the Bertie Wooster of gardening. The first of a trilogy, Merry Hall concerns his restoration of a house and garden in post war England. His writing will produce whoops of laughter as his readers follow his endeavors through his self-skewering style and tart wit. For example, he thinks of himself as a weekend guest on his newly acquired estate and its 999 year lease, so he wonders whether it is really worth planting hyacinths. The sequels are ‘Laughter on the Stairs’ and ‘Sunlight on the Lawn’. Treat yourself!
For gardeners who love to read about gardening, or even for those who detest mucking about in flower beds, Beverly Nichols (1898-1985) is a delight. He has been called the Bertie Wooster of gardening. The first of a trilogy, Merry Hall concerns his restoration of a house and garden in post war England. His writing will produce whoops of laughter as his readers follow his endeavors through his self-skewering style and tart wit. For example, he thinks of himself as a weekend guest on his newly acquired estate and its 999 year lease, so he wonders whether it is really worth planting hyacinths. The sequels are ‘Laughter on the Stairs’ and ‘Sunlight on the Lawn’. Treat yourself!
~ June 23, 2012 ~
Canada by Richard Ford
Fans of Richard Ford’s magnificent trilogy of books (The Sportswriter, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land) based around central character Frank Bascombe, are in for a surprise if they are anticipating an equally affable, comfortably middle class read in this, his newest work. Dell, the 15 year old main character, finds himself in a small Saskatchewan town, among mysterious and, in some cases, unsavory caretakers. He has fled Montana after his parents are jailed for bank robbery, an event that occupies the first portion of the book. It is Ford’s talent as a writer, his adept descriptions of the ordinary, his skilled turn of phrase, and mastery of language that compel the reader forward through this discomfiting novel.
Fans of Richard Ford’s magnificent trilogy of books (The Sportswriter, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land) based around central character Frank Bascombe, are in for a surprise if they are anticipating an equally affable, comfortably middle class read in this, his newest work. Dell, the 15 year old main character, finds himself in a small Saskatchewan town, among mysterious and, in some cases, unsavory caretakers. He has fled Montana after his parents are jailed for bank robbery, an event that occupies the first portion of the book. It is Ford’s talent as a writer, his adept descriptions of the ordinary, his skilled turn of phrase, and mastery of language that compel the reader forward through this discomfiting novel.
~ June 20, 2012 ~
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Readers of Lahiri’s Pulitzer Prize Winning novel The Namesake will not be disappointed by her most recent collection of stories. Again, Lahiri mines that deep , rich vein of tension, anxiety, hope, and triumph felt by all immigrants, with special insightful knowledge of the experience of those emigrating from India. These memorable stories are redolent of compassion, humor, and wisdom that will speak to every reader.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
A young clone is brought into being by a despotic drug lord (the Scorpion) & earmarked for his rejuvenation. In the distorted Tex/Mex culture of the book, individual characters are richly described; one cares about them. Seen in terms of current events, the scenario Farmer presents is very believable - a slightly failing US, the incorporated yet lawless drug-lands to the south, Mexico beneath. Can the Scorpion’s clone escape his fate in this desperate, failing world? Read the book to find out.
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
Kabul Beauty School: an American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez
Post-Taliban, Afghanistan had its share of humanitarian aid from the West. Perhaps none was as directly emollient as that provided by hairdresser Deborah Rodriguez. Under their burkas, Afghan women are perfectly coiffed. Yet the long, proud tradition of women running independent hairdressing salons was shattered by war and needed a restorative boost. In 2003 Rodriguez established a successful school for hairdressers in Kabul. Along the way she met and married an Afghan man who provided both passionate love and stalwart support for her good work.
~ January 21, 2012 ~
On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry
Canaan’s Side is this beautiful country, where Lilly Bere and her fiance have fled to escape retribution for being on the wrong side during Ireland’s ‘Troubles’. But trouble follows her, nevertheless. Lilly, as a woman approaching her nineties, writes down reflections of her life, in the wake of the death of a beloved grandson. Though dogged all her life by fear of violence, and the absences of people she loves, she manages to compose a life of kindness and usefulness, and tells us her story with unforgettable lyricism.
~ November 8, 2011 ~
Readers of Lahiri’s Pulitzer Prize Winning novel The Namesake will not be disappointed by her most recent collection of stories. Again, Lahiri mines that deep , rich vein of tension, anxiety, hope, and triumph felt by all immigrants, with special insightful knowledge of the experience of those emigrating from India. These memorable stories are redolent of compassion, humor, and wisdom that will speak to every reader.
~ June 12, 2012 ~
Baseball lovers in need of a ‘good read’ will devour this novel.
Unassuming Henry is invited to play baseball at an elite mid-western
college, and for the most part his talent and dedication serve him well -
until he starts to overthink the game and his place on the team.
Common sense philosophy intertwines with college life drama - spun with
the warm and chatty style of the author. A few unlikely coincidences
may need to be overlooked, but this is a book to enjoy fully, not to
parse critically.
~ June 2, 2012 ~
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane departs somewhat from crime and detective novels, and
presents a historical novel set in his beloved Boston. There are
multiple threads to the plot: one involves Babe Ruth, one the anarchist
threat, with the strongest being the policemen’s strike of 1919. The
period detail, the street-wise style, drive this historical novel
forward, revealing the racial and ethnic divides at a turbulent time in
Boston’s history.
~ May 5, 2012 ~
Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman
Ivy-Leaguer Piper Kerman sowed her wild oats as a drug runner in her early 20’s. She’d left that life in the dust for a decade when the knock came at her door. She
went on to serve time in a federal prison in Connecticut, there
discovering an upside-down world she at first resisted; then came to
recognize as just another place where fallible human beings are forced
into tough, tender, community in order to survive. Piper’s voice has a wise-girl rasp of humor and compassion. Don’t miss this book.
~ May 1, 2012 ~
Greene on Capri by Shirley Hazzard
Readers who have been entranced by Shirley Hazzard’s ‘Transit of Venus’
will enjoy this brief memoir. Though written in an entirely different
genre, the account helps us to escape to the paradise that is Capri.
And it’s beauty is revealed through her recounting tales of a friendship
with Graham Greene. Despite his contrary and argumentative nature,
Hazzard and her husband managed a close relationship with Greene over
several decades. We are treated to her thoughts about their long,
gossipy, and literary conversations, and get to know him as a friend had
known him.
~ April 27, 2012 ~
A young clone is brought into being by a despotic drug lord (the Scorpion) & earmarked for his rejuvenation. In the distorted Tex/Mex culture of the book, individual characters are richly described; one cares about them. Seen in terms of current events, the scenario Farmer presents is very believable - a slightly failing US, the incorporated yet lawless drug-lands to the south, Mexico beneath. Can the Scorpion’s clone escape his fate in this desperate, failing world? Read the book to find out.
~ March 24, 2012 ~
Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer
Neuroscience heavy-hitter Jonah Lehrer dazzles us with the inner workings of our own minds in Imagine: How Creativity Works. He weaves an interesting investigation into how ordinary folks, pop-culture heroes and even certain communities develop brilliant ideas from what appears to be thin air. Lehrer focuses on using mental processes like daydreaming, or, simply relaxing in order to initiate creative flow. Don’t let the word “neuroscience” scare you, Lehrer provides a smooth read for both scientists and non-scientists alike; well supported by scientific fact and years of research.
~ March 6, 2012 ~
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Largely set at Brown University in the 1980’s, The Marriage Plot revolves around a classic love triangle. Madeleine, a preppy English student, falls passionately in love with seriously depressed Leonard, a brilliant but incapacitated math student. Mitchell loves Madeleine from afar. And so we have a marriage plot - who should marry whom - the plot most Victorian novels were based upon. All three characters are graduating, and losing the familiar and comfortable framework Brown had provided over the previous four years. Rhode Islanders will enjoy reading a novel which takes place in institutions and neighborhoods we all know so well.
~ March 2, 2012 ~
Set in the modern day classical music circuit, this novel’s main characters are former lovers who lost contact years ago, and are re-united by chance. In the interim Julia has married and had a child, but the attraction between herself and Michael is re-ignited, with consequences for all. The background to the story is the world of classical performance music, in London, Vienna, and Venice, and presented in great detail. Non-musicians, too, will be captivated.
~ February 29, 2012 ~
Post-Taliban, Afghanistan had its share of humanitarian aid from the West. Perhaps none was as directly emollient as that provided by hairdresser Deborah Rodriguez. Under their burkas, Afghan women are perfectly coiffed. Yet the long, proud tradition of women running independent hairdressing salons was shattered by war and needed a restorative boost. In 2003 Rodriguez established a successful school for hairdressers in Kabul. Along the way she met and married an Afghan man who provided both passionate love and stalwart support for her good work.
~ February 28, 2012 ~
About Schmidt by Louis Begley
Schmidt is certainly not a lovable man. But as a literary character he is definitely memorable. He is a retired Manhattan lawyer, recently widowed, who discovers he has relied entirely on his wife’s connections for any semblance of a life outside of his professional ties. So he is lonely, acerbic, unable to stay connected with his only child, coldly analytical. Yet somehow readers may find some sympathy for him, which reflects the genius of Louis Begley’s controlled, economic prose.
Schmidt is certainly not a lovable man. But as a literary character he is definitely memorable. He is a retired Manhattan lawyer, recently widowed, who discovers he has relied entirely on his wife’s connections for any semblance of a life outside of his professional ties. So he is lonely, acerbic, unable to stay connected with his only child, coldly analytical. Yet somehow readers may find some sympathy for him, which reflects the genius of Louis Begley’s controlled, economic prose.
~ February 14, 2012 ~
The Greater Journey by David McCullough
Readers who enjoyed reading ‘The Paris Wife’ by Paula McLain may have become intrigued by what draws Americans to The City of Lights. David McCullough explains in ‘The Greater Journey’ that Americans have always been drawn to France, right from the founding of this nation. France was viewed as the place one went to complete an education, so generations of artists, scientists, physicians and writers made the journey. The story is unfolded in a series of biographical anecdotes. These range from James Fenimore Cooper, to Samuel Morse, to Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to Elizabeth Blackwell, among many others, each one as captivating as the last.
Readers who enjoyed reading ‘The Paris Wife’ by Paula McLain may have become intrigued by what draws Americans to The City of Lights. David McCullough explains in ‘The Greater Journey’ that Americans have always been drawn to France, right from the founding of this nation. France was viewed as the place one went to complete an education, so generations of artists, scientists, physicians and writers made the journey. The story is unfolded in a series of biographical anecdotes. These range from James Fenimore Cooper, to Samuel Morse, to Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to Elizabeth Blackwell, among many others, each one as captivating as the last.
~ February 8, 2012 ~
The Odds by Stewart O'Nan
It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Art and Marion, married for 30 years, are headed to Niagara Falls for a last hurrah. They are both unemployed, their house back home is in foreclosure, and their future together looks hopeless. They have agreed to take the last of their cash to the casinos and let Lady Luck save their financial and marital situations - or not. Author O’Nan is the master of the details of everyday life for ordinary people, and we regular folks can recognize any number of vignettes and observations told with sympathy and kindness.
It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Art and Marion, married for 30 years, are headed to Niagara Falls for a last hurrah. They are both unemployed, their house back home is in foreclosure, and their future together looks hopeless. They have agreed to take the last of their cash to the casinos and let Lady Luck save their financial and marital situations - or not. Author O’Nan is the master of the details of everyday life for ordinary people, and we regular folks can recognize any number of vignettes and observations told with sympathy and kindness.
~ January 28, 2012 ~
The Morning Show Murders by Al Roker
Morning Show Man Al Roker along with Dick Lochte dive into the mystery genre that revolves around Chef Billy Blessing. Blessing’s Executive Producer for the popular morning show “Wake Up America!” is found poisoned by a meal of coq au vin that came from Blessing’s restaurant. After the District Attorney shuts down his restaurant and he is suspended from the morning show, Blessing turns to solving this “Who done it?” mystery. This is the first of three mystery novels that Roker and Lochte have teamed up on.
Morning Show Man Al Roker along with Dick Lochte dive into the mystery genre that revolves around Chef Billy Blessing. Blessing’s Executive Producer for the popular morning show “Wake Up America!” is found poisoned by a meal of coq au vin that came from Blessing’s restaurant. After the District Attorney shuts down his restaurant and he is suspended from the morning show, Blessing turns to solving this “Who done it?” mystery. This is the first of three mystery novels that Roker and Lochte have teamed up on.
~ January 21, 2012 ~
A Secret Gift: How One Man’s Kindness - and a Trove of Letters - Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression
by Ted Gup
In the midst of want, sometimes heroes emerge. One such was Sam Stone of Canton, Ohio who became an anonymous giver of $5 each to 150 families in distress shortly before Christmas, 1933. Stone, whose volatile fortunes and immigrant beginnings gave him pity for the distressed, advertised his willingness to give under the pseudonym Mr. B. Virdot. His anonymity lasted 75 years, broken only when his grandson found a suitcase with letters of appeal and gratitude from the families in question, and wrote this book of grace in hard times.by Ted Gup
~ January 13, 2012 ~
The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
Winner of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this is the gently told story of Father Hugh Kennedy, a Catholic priest in a fictional city which closely resembles a Boston, Worcester, or Providence of 50 years ago. Father Kennedy struggles with his own demons, and reconnects with an unhappy family he had known well in his youth. All the while, we glimpse what life is like for a parish priest, its challenges and rewards. Author O’Connor was a native Rhode Islander, and captures well the jealousies and advantages of sharing in a small world where everyone knows, or knows about, everyone else.
~ January 4, 2012 ~
The Greenhouse by (Translated by Brian Fitzgibbon)
Lobbi is in his early 20’s, uninterested in college, feels misunderstood by his father, is tenderly protective of his autistic brother, intensely misses his recently deceased mother who taught him a love of gardening, and is unsure how to incorporate into his life his baby daughter, conceived during a single night of passion with a woman he scarcely knows. With all these conflicting worries in his head, Lobbi sets off to an unpaid job to put to rights a neglected but world famous rose garden in an isolated monastery. The results, for the garden and Lobbi’s perplexing life are not quite what he expected, but pretty wonderful, nonetheless.
Lobbi is in his early 20’s, uninterested in college, feels misunderstood by his father, is tenderly protective of his autistic brother, intensely misses his recently deceased mother who taught him a love of gardening, and is unsure how to incorporate into his life his baby daughter, conceived during a single night of passion with a woman he scarcely knows. With all these conflicting worries in his head, Lobbi sets off to an unpaid job to put to rights a neglected but world famous rose garden in an isolated monastery. The results, for the garden and Lobbi’s perplexing life are not quite what he expected, but pretty wonderful, nonetheless.
~ December 16, 2011 ~
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
This novella is a Christmas story, a wistful and unusual one. Manny, the manager of a Red Lobster restaurant in a failing shopping mall, has to oversee the last daily shift before it closes for good, five days before Christmas. Manny feels a strong loyalty to the place, and to its employees, and he strives to make everyone’s last day the best it can be. We watch the dignity and effort put into the work going on in the kitchen, and out front where there are few customers due to a snow storm. The story is a delicately sad one, but also a testimony to the hard working lives of so many ordinary folks.
~ December 10, 2011 ~
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
As this year’s winner of the Booker Award, readers know they are in for a treat. This book exceeds expectations. Tony, the 60-something main character, receives an unexpected bequest from a former girlfriend’s mother, a woman he met only once over a brief weekend some forty years earlier. This legacy of money, and an as yet undelivered diary of a schoolboy chum, lead him to try to reconstruct the details of the long past encounters with the girl, her mother, and his friend. He discovers his memories are at best unreliable, have been either erased by time or altered to fit a more flattering version of himself. Meeting the former girlfriend to try to sort out the bequest, he is forced to re-assess his behavior both then and in the present, and we are left to wonder if he is capable of of seeing the truth at all.
~ November 23, 2011 ~
Canaan’s Side is this beautiful country, where Lilly Bere and her fiance have fled to escape retribution for being on the wrong side during Ireland’s ‘Troubles’. But trouble follows her, nevertheless. Lilly, as a woman approaching her nineties, writes down reflections of her life, in the wake of the death of a beloved grandson. Though dogged all her life by fear of violence, and the absences of people she loves, she manages to compose a life of kindness and usefulness, and tells us her story with unforgettable lyricism.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami has devoted readers who look forward to his novels being translated from Japanese to English. Currently, IQ84 has been published in this country, to much acclaim. His admirers may be surprised to learn he has written an engaging memoir about becoming a runner, a marathoner, a super-marathoner. In his lean and simple prose, we glimpse the writer as a real person, apart from the way readers know him from his writing style. A meditation of sorts, we vicariously experience his discipline in running and in writing.
~ November 1, 2011 ~
I recently came across a tiny treasure, Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s memoir of illness and enlightenment, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. This spacious meditative koan is similar to another favorite memoir of mine, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Both are small books about the mind voyaging out from an all-but-incapacitated body. Each manages to loom into sunlit immensities, soaring on the charged particles of their inquiries. Best of all, these authors show us a way to be when all-encompassing hurry, of necessity, ebbs to stillness.
~ October 29, 2011 ~
Irish prize-winning novelist, Anne Enright, tells the story of a married 32 year old Gina Moynihan who falls in love with an older married man. Set in present day Ireland, Gina’s interior monologue is surprisingly without guilt or remorse, and often hilarious with her wry observations. The plot is given to us in the first pages, so the enticement to continue reading is the brilliance of the compressed details of the author’s writing, her selections of words and sentence structures that amaze at every turn.
~ October 24, 2011 ~
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
Not a typical celebrity chef memoir, Blood, Bones & Butter is Hamilton’s gritty, sensual recollection of a life in kitchens. A waitress and caterer before she opened New York’s Prune restaurant, Hamilton took time along the way to earn her MFA in writing, and it shows. Whether recalling the magical spring evenings of her father’s legendary lamb roasts, the rustic pleasures of her mother-in-law’s Italian villa, or the messy, exhausting, and sometimes glorious world of a professional chef, Hamilton brings the reader into her world with rich, vivid details.
Living Well is the Best Revenge by Calvin Tomkins
Not a typical celebrity chef memoir, Blood, Bones & Butter is Hamilton’s gritty, sensual recollection of a life in kitchens. A waitress and caterer before she opened New York’s Prune restaurant, Hamilton took time along the way to earn her MFA in writing, and it shows. Whether recalling the magical spring evenings of her father’s legendary lamb roasts, the rustic pleasures of her mother-in-law’s Italian villa, or the messy, exhausting, and sometimes glorious world of a professional chef, Hamilton brings the reader into her world with rich, vivid details.
~ October 19, 2011 ~
Readers intrigued by the social interactions of the main characters in the novel ‘The Paris Wife’ would enjoy reading an account of the lives of the Gerald Murphys, the wealthy, attractive, and willing hosts to the Ernest Hemingways, the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, the Ezra Pounds and many other notable artists and writers. They all lived life to the fullest in Europe after the First World War. Fascinating details emerge about these notables. The Murphy’s charmed existence is not without tragedy, as recounted in this short, lively account.
~ October 3, 2011 ~
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
How often can a reader pick up a book and find great entertainment - and also learn something at the same time? We are allowed into the fictionalized world of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson. His large personality and talent were nurtured by Hadley in America and Europe. We peek into their lives in bohemian Paris, in Spain and elsewhere, where Gertrude Stein, the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, the Ezra Pounds, and other famous writers were all in the same social circles. This novel may encourage rereading ‘A Moveable Feast’ by Hemingway himself for his recollections of this same time.
~ September 21, 2011 ~
How often can a reader pick up a book and find great entertainment - and also learn something at the same time? We are allowed into the fictionalized world of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson. His large personality and talent were nurtured by Hadley in America and Europe. We peek into their lives in bohemian Paris, in Spain and elsewhere, where Gertrude Stein, the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, the Ezra Pounds, and other famous writers were all in the same social circles. This novel may encourage rereading ‘A Moveable Feast’ by Hemingway himself for his recollections of this same time.
~ October 3, 2011 ~
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
State of Wonder is yet another demonstration of the skill with which writer Ann Patchett boldly presents unusual and provocative situations with credibility and élan. When Dr. Annick Swenson, a brilliant but reclusive scientist who has worked many years unraveling the mystery of the ultra-extended fertility of women in a remote Amazon tribe fails to report her findings, the drug company that sponsors her sends one of its scientists to make contact with her. When he reportedly dies of a fever, Dr. Marina Singh, his research partner and friend, is sent to find out what happened. Her discovers and her choices are sure to enthrall any reader interested in bioethics , the environment, cutting edge science, and self discovery.
~ September 21, 2011 ~
Standby by Sandy Broyard
The word ‘standby’ refers to the waiting time cars and passengers without ferry reservations must endure in order to make the passage from Wood’s Hole to Martha’s Vineyard. Author Broyard, widow of Anatole Broyard, the New York Times reviewer and boulevardier, uses the metaphor to share her sense of grief and limbo after her husband’s death. She reviews her life with him, and her struggle to find her own footing through dance, and writing, and finding a new existence on the Island, all the while holding closely a difficult man’s memory.
Richard Russo is expert of giving readers an unblemished sense of small town New England and New York State. His characters seem very familiar, ones we recall from childhood, or perhaps we recognize family members, warts and all. Author of many works of fiction, this one takes us to Thomaston, N.Y., a fading factory town divided deeply on class lines. Most characters are resigned to living out their lives struggling to hang on to what they can; the main character, Lucy, has cautiously remained in town and managed to buy up some convenience stores. But disadvantaged Bobby escapes the limits of family and fortune and re-invents himself in Venice, where Lucy and his wife plan to meet up with him many years later. This is storytelling by a master.
~ August 1, 2011 ~
Iran: A Persian Tapestry by Nooshie Motaref
In this passionate novel, women speak with fervor. Their deep desires open to us - their person-hoods revealed. Veils are lifted, muzzles removed as we journey into a glorious storied land. One, alas, chained tight by a kismet formed of the need for power and dominance in an always uncertain and warlike world. Here the strongman binds his subjects, abundant oil tempts the West, Muslim Religion sways a Zoroastrian culture into its tent. While these extraordinary girls, our narrators, our sisters, see glimpses of light through shutters, conveyed to their eyes by their intelligence; by their charged souls, burnished into lamps by which they see more and more as the generations pass. Until the final woman, in this brilliant frieze of Persian women, breaks the chain and soars into unknown space - claiming her freedom, yet, inevitably, carrying the weight of the past tied to her ankles, and held, sacred coals, in her heart.
Emily Alone by Stewart O’Nan
Fair warning! Alan Hollinghurst writes for adult and free-thinking readers about the highflying 1980’s in London when the AIDS epidemic was at it’s height and drugs were rampant. Nick Guest has graduated from Oxford and gone to live with his friend’s wealthy family in Notting Hill. He becomes the unofficial caretaker of Catherine, the unstable daughter, and in exchange enjoys the sumptious benefits of living in the midst of great wealth and political connections. The descriptions of his gay relationships and cocaine indulgences may not be for some. However, the book’s perceptive set-pieces will linger with the reader long after the last page is read.
~ July 16, 2011 ~
~ July 8, 2011 ~
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
~ September 10, 2011 ~
The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
Dr. Catherine Cordell escaped and killed her kidnapper and would-be murderer in Savannah, Georgia years ago, but when murders of the same modus operandi follow her to Boston, the cat and mouse game begins again. Boston PD Detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli join the hunt for the serial killer, who has been terrorizing women throughout the city. This the first of Gerritsen’s crime thrillers; she has since written eight more books in the Rizzoli and Isles series (Dr. Maura Isles is introduced in The Apprentice).
~ August 27, 2011 ~
~ August 12, 2011 ~
~ August 4, 2011 ~
By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize winner among many other accolades, here sets us in the midst of the current New York art world. Peter Harris owns a modestly successful art gallery and has a comfortable life. His wife Rebecca’s much younger brother comes to stay in their New York loft, and his careless beauty and lifestyle set their world on it’s head. While in that chaotic wake, we readers are treated to insights on how the art world functions, it’s intricacies, it’s betrayals, it’s connections to those with great wealth and influential contacts.
~ August 12, 2011 ~
The Gathering by Anne Enright
In this Man Booker Prize winning novel, Veronica Hegarty has gone home to Dublin for the funeral of her favorite brother, Liam, lost to suicide in the prime of life. The gathering of Liam’s eleven siblings freshens old memories and resentments. Veronica struggles to come to grips with the riddles of love and loss, all the while trying to recall through the sieve of memory how her comfortable life came to be so very different from Liam’s struggles, had she missed seeing his desperation despite spending so much time together growing up. The Irish gift for language makes this story shimmer, makes it linger.
~ August 4, 2011 ~
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
Richard Russo is expert of giving readers an unblemished sense of small town New England and New York State. His characters seem very familiar, ones we recall from childhood, or perhaps we recognize family members, warts and all. Author of many works of fiction, this one takes us to Thomaston, N.Y., a fading factory town divided deeply on class lines. Most characters are resigned to living out their lives struggling to hang on to what they can; the main character, Lucy, has cautiously remained in town and managed to buy up some convenience stores. But disadvantaged Bobby escapes the limits of family and fortune and re-invents himself in Venice, where Lucy and his wife plan to meet up with him many years later. This is storytelling by a master.
Rat Girl: a Memoir by Kristin Hersh
WWII Era *“vitamin on legs” singer/movie star Betty Hutton – ‘closerthanthis’ to her teenaged fellow college student Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses? Why is fiction rarely as delicious and strange as this memoir? Follow Betty and Kristin, along with Kristin’s fabulous, all original, fiercely hilarious, optimistic and fearless band as they rocket through a year of very, very wakeful processing of the world they encounter in mid-1980’s RI. I promise the read will wake you up, too.
WWII Era *“vitamin on legs” singer/movie star Betty Hutton – ‘closerthanthis’ to her teenaged fellow college student Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses? Why is fiction rarely as delicious and strange as this memoir? Follow Betty and Kristin, along with Kristin’s fabulous, all original, fiercely hilarious, optimistic and fearless band as they rocket through a year of very, very wakeful processing of the world they encounter in mid-1980’s RI. I promise the read will wake you up, too.
*Bob Hope referred to Betty as a “vitamin on legs” during a WWII USO show.
~ July 29, 2011 ~
In this passionate novel, women speak with fervor. Their deep desires open to us - their person-hoods revealed. Veils are lifted, muzzles removed as we journey into a glorious storied land. One, alas, chained tight by a kismet formed of the need for power and dominance in an always uncertain and warlike world. Here the strongman binds his subjects, abundant oil tempts the West, Muslim Religion sways a Zoroastrian culture into its tent. While these extraordinary girls, our narrators, our sisters, see glimpses of light through shutters, conveyed to their eyes by their intelligence; by their charged souls, burnished into lamps by which they see more and more as the generations pass. Until the final woman, in this brilliant frieze of Persian women, breaks the chain and soars into unknown space - claiming her freedom, yet, inevitably, carrying the weight of the past tied to her ankles, and held, sacred coals, in her heart.
~ July 28, 2011 ~
Stewart O’Nan has essentially written a documentary on a portion of the life of Emily Maxwell, an elderly widow living out her days in her home in Pittsburgh. Some chapters read like short stories, as almost any small incident in her life takes on larger than necessary proportions. As an example, while preparing for a holiday visit from her children and grandchildren, she spends time shuffling Kleenex boxes from one room to another, estimating by their fullness where each should be placed according to where they might be needed most. While this may sound like a tedious read, it is instead a generous and clear character study, and Emily becomes a treasure.
~ July 22, 2011 ~
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
~ July 18, 2011 ~
The Lamplighter by Anthony O’Neil
“Creepy” is the best way to describe this tense and chilling mystery that climaxes in a pitched battle to the death between the forces of evil and innocence. It all begins when a young, high spirited girl is abducted from an orphanage in Victorian Edinburgh. Years later a doughty detective, trying to improve his reputation in the Edinburgh police force, attempts to solve a series of gruesome, seemingly unrelated murders. The twisted trail leads to a nightmarish plot of revenge, seemingly too powerful to stop, without incredible risks and sacrifice.
Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
by Deborah Heiligman
by Deborah Heiligman
When we picture Charles Darwin, we would normally think of the aged patriarch with his long flowing white beard, doggedly devoted to his world-shattering theories of evolution. But Charles Darwin was a man who cared deeply about family, and especially about this soul mate and wife Emma. Together the two formed a lasting, intimate union, shaken but never destroyed by their strong differences in religious faith. This brief but insightful book deepens our understanding and appreciation for Darwin and his complex, at times heart breaking, world.
~ July 16, 2011 ~
All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
by Michael Patrick MacDonald
Whitey Bulger is back in the headlines after sixteen years on the lam. Myths and truths continued to swirl during his long absence. Michael Patrick MacDonald came of age in the 1970’s, growing up in the housing projects of South Boston at the height of the rivalry between the Irish and Italian crime mobs. His clear and warm, yet unsentimental writing style lets us observe what life was like growing up in the midst of abject poverty, prejudice and violence. It helps us to understand how thugs like Whitey, a presence in this book, could come to be viewed by some as a Robin Hood. This book takes us back to real life in Southie, before gentrification, where family and ethnic loyalties were more valued than the rule of law.
Whitey Bulger is back in the headlines after sixteen years on the lam. Myths and truths continued to swirl during his long absence. Michael Patrick MacDonald came of age in the 1970’s, growing up in the housing projects of South Boston at the height of the rivalry between the Irish and Italian crime mobs. His clear and warm, yet unsentimental writing style lets us observe what life was like growing up in the midst of abject poverty, prejudice and violence. It helps us to understand how thugs like Whitey, a presence in this book, could come to be viewed by some as a Robin Hood. This book takes us back to real life in Southie, before gentrification, where family and ethnic loyalties were more valued than the rule of law.
~ July 8, 2011 ~
Frank Lloyd Wright is well remembered for his pioneering architectural talents. Less well known to modern readers is his scandalous affair with Mamah Cheney. Both left spouses and children to pursue their love affair, though Mamah was the more vilified. The author, Nancy Horan, gives us a strongly realistic but fictional account of their flight from Chicago, their struggles to legitimize their relationship both in America and Europe, and then their brief time together at Taliesin. Readers glimpse Mr. Wright’s over-arching ego, even in the presence of a consuming passion.
~ July 1, 2011 ~
All Rhode Islanders consider Bristol, Rhode Island the center of the universe every 4th of July. Mary Cantwell has written a memoir of her childhood growing up in Bristol in the 30’s and 40’s, a gentle reminiscence of her close family, social mores, small town activities and big civic celebrations. Her book, is the perfect book to while away a lazy summer afternoon.
~ June 25, 2011 ~
I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
This suspenseful, at times spooky book falls into the “page turner” category of novel as the reader learns bit by bit about the frightening experiences of Elizabeth Lerner, a teenage girl, kidnapped by a serial killer, who for some unknown reason, lets her live. As an adult with a happy marriage and two children, Elizabeth, having changed her name to Eliza Benedict believes she has left behind the horrors of that teenage experience. Suddenly she is thrust into fear and anguish again when her abductor, only weeks away from execution by lethal injection, contacts her.
Isabel’s Bed by Elinor Lipman
Elinor Lipman is known for her light, very funny romances and she hits her stride nicely once again with Isabel’s Bed. Read this very amusing story about a not so young , would be writer, dumped by her bagel loving boyfriend, and how she discovers true love and maybe her true calling while working as a ghost writer for a sexy and infamous celebrity, wintering on the Cape.
American Girl: Scenes From a Small-Town Childhood
by Mary Cantwell
All Rhode Islanders consider Bristol, Rhode Island the center of the universe every 4th of July. Mary Cantwell has written a memoir of her childhood growing up in Bristol in the 30’s and 40’s, a gentle reminiscence of her close family, social mores, small town activities and big civic celebrations. Her book, is the perfect book to while away a lazy summer afternoon.
~ June 25, 2011 ~
Still Life with Chickens by Catherine Goldhammer
Newly passed ordinances in Barrington allowing householders to raise chickens might encourage readers to indulge in this endearing memoir. Author Goldhammer is starting over in mid-life: newly separated, in reduced circumstances, and with a reluctant almost-teenage daughter to contend with, they move to a dilapidated cottage by the sea, buy six chicks, and begin a new life. The dailyness of the need to look after the chickens, and her daughter, and the cottage, help her build a bridge to a new way of being. And the chickens show her the way.
~ June 21, 2011 ~
This suspenseful, at times spooky book falls into the “page turner” category of novel as the reader learns bit by bit about the frightening experiences of Elizabeth Lerner, a teenage girl, kidnapped by a serial killer, who for some unknown reason, lets her live. As an adult with a happy marriage and two children, Elizabeth, having changed her name to Eliza Benedict believes she has left behind the horrors of that teenage experience. Suddenly she is thrust into fear and anguish again when her abductor, only weeks away from execution by lethal injection, contacts her.
~ June 14, 2011 ~
Elinor Lipman is known for her light, very funny romances and she hits her stride nicely once again with Isabel’s Bed. Read this very amusing story about a not so young , would be writer, dumped by her bagel loving boyfriend, and how she discovers true love and maybe her true calling while working as a ghost writer for a sexy and infamous celebrity, wintering on the Cape.
~ June 13, 2011 ~
Under the Greenwood Tree or The Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School -
Thomas Hardy - he of Tess of the D’Urbervilles & Jude the Obscure, sorrowful paeans to a lost English Countryside way of life, left one brilliantly complete message in a bottle of how that life was once lived in a novel he published anonymously in 1872. Written in the style of a musical composition, this wholly satisfying literary “Quire” sings of the activity of a group of Church musicians -one of whom softly, slowly courts his lady love in the measured cadences of a folk dance under the greenwood tree.
~ June 7, 2011 ~
Even readers who don’t care for true crime books may be mesmerized by this one. The organizing theme is the preparation and construction of the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893. It alternates between chapters devoted to the architects, builders, participants in the Fair, and chapters devoted to a serial killer who constructed a hotel near the Fair site conveniently providing him with victims, and disposal rooms to get rid of the evidence of his butchery. This is a fascinating portrait of a bygone era.
~ May 27, 2011 ~
This is a fictionalized account of the love affair between Irish playwright John Synge and actress Maire O’Neill. They were vastly different in age and background, and were flaunting the mores of Irish society at the beginning of the 20th century. Maire tells us the story from her perspective, sometimes as musings to herself. She has become an elderly destitute person, losing her grasp of reality. The music and the poetry of her recollections - of their relationship, and of her life after his early death - fade in and out between the present and the past. Exquisite.
~ May 20, 2011 ~
The Town that Food Saved by Ben Hewitt
Hardwick, Vermont had fallen on sad times when their granite quarrying industry declined. The town has reinvigorated itself with a local food-producing economy - which luckily coincides with a growing nation-wide drive to ‘eat local’. The book explores the tensions and connections between the local farmers (who already considered themselves as local food providers) and the influx of agripreneurs who raise and market artisanal food products that in many cases local residents can’t afford. The book is a fascinating look at the dangers of centralized food production, and the unexpected but rewarding challenges of a local food economy.
~ May 12, 2011 ~
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
A most unappealing title will reward the reader with the story of Edward Feathers, an offspring of the diminished British Empire who has come home to retire in Britain with his wife. Filth is an acronym for ‘Failed in London Try Hong Kong’, which is what Eddie had done. His lonely childhood carries implications all his professional and married life, though he is too alienated from himself to see that. The author gives us insights into his behavior that Edward himself cannot see. Getting past the book’s title and uninviting cover art will reward all readers with an understated and wistful masterpiece.
~ May 6, 2011 ~
Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
Author Crawford presents a meditation on the value of work in our lives, in particular the role that mastery of a discipline plays in the satisfaction the worker derives from that activity. The unfortunate modern paradox, he argues, is that the valued ‘knowledge workers’ rarely see an assignment done from the idea stage all the way through to the end product as an individual enterprise. Those who work with their hands, the ‘shop class’ workers may master an activity and therefore find pleasure in that physical work. This is philosophy for non-philosophers, and entertaining, besides.
~ April 29, 2011 ~
Margaret Roach had a wonderfully successful career at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Yet she found herself thinking about how her life would be if she could escape her corporate life, and live full-time at the small property she owned a hundred miles north of New York City. She had spent 20 years worth of weekends rescuing both a dilapidated house and garden before she summoned the courage to compose a life where her heart was at rest. Readers come along with her as she learns to listen, really listen to her own inner voice and the voices of her surroundings.
~ April 25, 2011 ~
Lamb in Love by Carrie Brown
Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck
When 11-year old Jennifer is thrown out of church onto the sidewalk she thinks, “well, at least it can’t get any worse!” Yet, good fortune is sparse in this childhood. Mother dead of a lingering disease, young Jennifer discovers she is adopted via her hostile older brother, who then disowns any kinship with her. Her father remarries a harsh woman, and then dies before he is 40. Jennifer’s subsequent life and death struggle for survival is handily won by her gorgeous spirit - her story a shining parable of courage.
When 11-year old Jennifer is thrown out of church onto the sidewalk she thinks, “well, at least it can’t get any worse!” Yet, good fortune is sparse in this childhood. Mother dead of a lingering disease, young Jennifer discovers she is adopted via her hostile older brother, who then disowns any kinship with her. Her father remarries a harsh woman, and then dies before he is 40. Jennifer’s subsequent life and death struggle for survival is handily won by her gorgeous spirit - her story a shining parable of courage.
~ April 20, 2011 ~
About Alice by Calvin Trillin
Here is a real-life love story. Calvin Trillin writes about his marriage to his beloved Alice, who died in 2001. It is not a record of disease or dying, but rather a gift to us all of how it is possible to share a life with another in generosity, humor and commitment. Mr. Trillin was smitten with Alice from the moment he saw her, and so are his readers. Written originally for the New Yorker, this slim book can be read in an hour or two, but will be remembered long after.
~ April 7, 2011 ~
The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble
A Russian “Little Mother” doll with four nesting pieces, this novel begins with a diary, moves on to a description of a long-dreamed-about trip to the Mediterranean, proceeds to a daughter’s view of the matter and ends with a summation by the protagonist—a woman in her early 60’s who is facing life and death anew after the breakup of her marriage. A Pym-ish sort of tone pervades—where high intelligence that is both constricted and constrained by custom nonetheless confronts life’s inevitabilities with grace and courage (and a nice hot cup of tea…).
A lovely little romance blooms between the oh-so-Brit middle-aged post-master (the Lamb in the title) and an also middle-aged nanny to a defective child grown to be a magical adult who makes worlds with hand shadows and understands far more than he lets on. This little novel captures the English Village with great sympathy, understanding and love. In the whole, this book, like many I seem to prefer these days, shows me the world greatly enlarged in heart and soul—a world “as it should be”, and, sometimes, blessedly, is.
~ April 6, 2011 ~
Repossessing Ernestine by Marsha Hunt
This compelling memoir by Hunt, an African American actress and writer, reads like an edge-of-your-seat mystery. After learning from a cousin that her grandmother, Ernestine, who was committed to an insane asylum in the 1920s, was still alive at the age of 94, Hunt decided to find her and uncover her past.
Black Projects, White Knights by Kage Baker
SF Story Collection that plays up the humor inherent in the interface between immortal case workers who labor (endlessly…) for their 24th century masters at Zeus Inc., and the hapless mortals they shoulder aside in their line of work. Don’t miss tales featuring young Alec and his cyber-electronic “playfriend”, who starts out as an instrument of social control and ends up as a tool for liberation in Alec’s claustrophobic, politically correct society. (For an added treat, look for Baker’s “Company” novels as well…)
~ April 2, 2011 ~
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
Everyone is looking for happiness, right? Eric Weiner takes us on an unscientific but entertaining tour of 10 countries in an attempt to discover what different cultures call ‘happiness’. Surprisingly, happiness is defined in varying ways culture to culture, but it’s meaning is fairly uniformly defined locally. So, for example, what makes the Swiss happy (an efficient train system among other things) would not impress anyone living in Bhutan. Prepare for a little interval of happiness enjoying this book.
~ March 29, 2011 ~
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
by Immaculée Ilibagiza
To read Left to Tell is to be a participant, not a spectator. Immaculée Ilibagiza - gentle soul in a world gone suddenly venomous - finds strength to hold on in the face of torture; extends forgiveness after great personal harm. Enduring the Rwandan crisis with her, via her own perfect testimony, the reader is carried along with her from shock to anger to transcendence. This is a transformative reading experience not to be missed.
~ March 28, 2011 ~
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Two sisters growing up in Shanghai in 1937 think the world holds no greater challenge than which of them will win their father’s favor and their mother’s love. But when war with Japan slams home a brutal reality, Pearl and her younger sister May face violence, deception, and betrayal that will test the bonds of their sisterly love and determine their fate in America, their adopted land.
~ March 18, 2011 ~
Even experienced gardeners occasionally have questions about what to do with plants already in their gardens, or plants they are considering for purchase. Here are clearly presented answers to their questions for commonly grown perennials: when and how much to pinch back, how to over-winter, water and light requirements, estimated size at maturity, and so on. There is a good index to help gardeners quickly find the help they need, and quickly get back out to the garden to do what the author advises.
~ March 12, 2011 ~
Tracy Kidder, a master of narrative non-fiction, shares the story of Deogratias, a medical student from Burundi, who must flee his country when the slaughter between Hutu and Tutsi began in the early 1990’s. He escapes to New York City, desperately struggles to stay alive, and is saved by the incredible generosity of strangers. We are given glimpses of the horror Deo escaped in Burundi, too. While seemingly a grim topic, the book instead conveys a transformative insight into what extraordinary kindness and determination can accomplish.
~ March 10, 2011 ~
Don’t let the florid cover & romance novel title stop you from reading The Spy Who Wore Red. In this thrilling WWII memoir, fledgling fashion model Aline Griffith’s patriotism leads to her recruitment as an OSS agent in 1943. The mission: to infiltrate Madrid high-society and uncover links to the Nazi Regime. Her courage, the bracing heart of the tale. Go with her as she invites - “Slide back in time with me… the story I want to tell begins one day in September in New York…”