Another good book club meeting. Christina, Linda, Beth, and Peggy joined me online.
Since there were only five of us, we had plenty of time to chat and ask each other questions about the books we’d been reading. All in all, very relaxing. We talked a bit about bringing more people into the group. So many local members have died over the last couple of years. It was suggested that we emphasize that no one has to read a specific book, the way most book clubs are set up. Just tell us what you’ve been reading. Or, if you haven’t had time to read, maybe just join us and maybe discover a book that might interest you. That’s certainly true for me; Linda introduced me to the Cork O’Connor Mystery Series, by William Kent Krueger. He is a heck of a writer; excels at character development.
In all, 44 books were read/discussed/reviewed. The full list can be found here:
https://www.mamensa.org/category/book-lovers-sig-book-talks/
Book Lovers SIG always meets the second Sunday of each month; in this case May 12 (which also coincides with Mother’s Day). We will continue to meet online using Zoom; that seems to be the easiest way to meet for the few remaining locals.
We generally start at 2 pm with a bit of a chat. Book discussions begin around 2:30 pm, more or less, or when Peggy says, “OK, Let’s talk about books!”.
To join us on Zoom, simply click on the link shown below:
https://tinyurl.com/BookLoversSIG
You can also open your Zoom app and use these parameters:
Meeting ID: 946 0436 4344
Passcode: 844358
Remember, Book Lovers is yet another way for members who do not live in large metropolitan areas or who can’t make it to local events to get more out of their Mensa membership.
*****
Linda
Code Girls by Liza Mundy. NOT the female code breakers at Bletchley Park in England, rather the thousands of them in the U.S. doing equally valuable work (maybe more so). 5*
Revival by Stephen King. Basically, just another Stephen King novel. If you’ve read King, you know what you’re getting. 3*
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Nigerian people who immigrate to the U.S — and some back to Nigeria (fiction). Good characters and writing. Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Fiction (2013). 5*
The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. 3*
A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie. Standard Agatha-Christie clone country house mystery. Nothing special. 3*
Beth
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquil Blackgoose. Interesting take on the colonization of America, with Dragons. The Norwegians got here first and set up their society with a King and Jarls and the same bigotry as the English in our timeline. The English are in America also. The Native people are present, and continuing their culture, while slowly, sometimes, assimilating into the dominant culture. The Problem starts with the sighting of a dragon, who flies away across the Atlantic, and the dragon’s egg. When the egg hatches, the dragon chooses the native girl who found the egg. In the eyes of the elite, this cannot be allowed to stand: the savages are taking on privileges they are not entitled to. The response of the native dragoneer is brave, naive, and effective. Good read and ripe for sequels. This book shows a different way to stand up for your culture, while learning and adopting new things, without having to resort to violence.
Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger. Stories of the dysfunctional family we met in Catcher in the Rye. One summary of Salinger’s work places the War as the great disrupter of all the carefully laid plans of this family, and presumably others. Of course, no one talked about it, so the next generation was left to reinvent society and its norms without adult supervision, by people who were deeply wounded and not dealing with it, because all the wisdom is gone or seen as ineffectual. So here we are, 75 years later with the pendulum swung out to the other end of the grievance arc.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. Delightful take on the fairy myth. The protagonist is actually writing an encyclopedia of Faery and putting together a comprehensive look at the multiple species of Faery. Humans and Faery interact without looking at each other, but with serious consequences. This book is about her investigatory trip to a village in the far north (Norway?) to see if she can find faeries. Turns out she has great expertise and no fear. This gets her into a lot of trouble, and the story arc goes where you don’t expect it to go. This is another take on doing things just a little differently by not being afraid of the established boogey men and getting very different results. (Books are talking to each other.) Great world building and complicated characters. Waiting on the library for the next book.
The Dead Letter Delivery by C. J. Archer. Continuation of the magical mystery series, set in post WWI London. An age-old story of a woman looking for her past, with good accidental friends and magic. Nice to read when you want to be entertained.
Breath by James Nestor. This was an interesting story about how to breathe well, and it’s got practical (and ridiculous/not recommended) prescriptions for how to do this. I’ve learned to expand my diaphragm and working on nose breathing, and my stamina is BETTER. There is science and anecdotal information to back it up. Interesting.
To Be a Jew Today by Noah Feldman. This book didn’t answer my questions about the Jews and why they are where they are but did pose me new questions about the Jewish law (Torah) and the endless, malleable interpretation of the Torah, and how different groups of Jews have adapted their rules as their situation changed. There is a lot on the history of the homeland, and the philosophy of the Jews that are living in Israel, which is not the same as Jews living elsewhere. Turns out there are many different sects of Jews (like Protestants) and they are just as different, which affects how they feel about the homeland, and the settlements, etc. I am also reading Palestine 1936 by Oren Kessler, which has a lot of detailed information about what was going on in the 1930s.
The Earth Transformed by Peter Frankopan. Author of The Silk Roads and The New Silk Roads. This is an overview of history through the lens of climate. The weather and climate — droughts, floods, famine, too hot, too cold, just right — as they relate to what happened in history. We tend to think that the weather in the past was the same as it is now, but it is not so. Years when the crops failed over regions had a huge impact on what happened in all those wars and kings. The transfer of food plants, domestic animals, and pests was affected by the weather, and in turn affected the areas they came from, and where they went. There are lots of things that just don’t make it into regular history. This is really an overview with lots of examples, without delving into any specific thing in great detail. There is an extensive bibliography (200 pages) that is not in this 650-page book, but is available online, so when you find something that catches your interest, you can jump in there through the bibliography.
The Curse of Penryth Hall: A Mystery by Jess Armstrong. Disgraced, wild heiress takes a box of books to a customer in a small English village, which is also home to an old friend she has ghosted. Things go sideways immediately, with people dying from a “curse”. Everyone is a suspect, and I did get it down to 5 people, one of which was the actual bad guy.
Peggy
The Hunter by Tana French. Second novel in the Searcher series. In the first novel, Cal Hooper moves to Ireland from Chicago and connects with Trey, a teenager from a broken family. In the second, Trey’s wastrel father returns and brings along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold. Everyone in the book has a scheme of their own and I didn’t like many of the characters. I like her Dublin Murder Squad series better.
Wool (a Silo Novel) by Hugh Howey. The Silo Series on Apple TV covers the first half of Wool. The remaining population of a broken US are living in an underground silo. If you fight the government (for example, by having a baby outside the lottery) you are sent outside to “clean”, and the toxic atmosphere kills you. There’s a big surprise at the end of the TV series that sets up the remaining books in the series (Shift and Dust). Not hard science.
Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford. An alternative history where the form of smallpox that came to North America is much milder than the form that the US got. So, Cahokia survives and St. Louis doesn’t exist. Utah is the Republic of Deseret and Oregon becomes part of Canada. This noir mystery is dedicated to Professor Knoeber’s daughter (Ursula LeGuin), and Knoeber is a character in the story.
Brad
Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth by Rachel Maddow. Pretty detailed history of the development of the oil and natural gas industries in the United States, and then by extension, Russia, thanks to the efforts of Rex Tillerson, head of ExxonMobil. Basically, there is no despot on earth that Tillerson wouldn’t embrace to guarantee a supply of oil, and profits, for ExxonMobil. Not a man of moral character. Also, an in-depth discussion of fracking, specifically in Oklahoma, and the 2-3 companies there that pretty much run the state government, even today.
One story that did stand out to me, of which I was unaware. Our federal government, in the early to mid-60s (63, 64?) was interested in developing fracking technologies. They wanted that natural gas. So, they withdrew some nuclear weapons from our stockpile and set them off deep underground in Colorado. This experiment was eventually shut down for two reasons. One, nuclear weapons are really expensive; the cost/benefit ration just didn’t pan out. And two, the levels of tritium generated by these explosions were literally so high that they couldn’t be measured. I worked in the nuclear weapons complex for several years. We were told a lot about accidentally losing weapons, or weapons involved in a plane crash, but never anything like this.
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Nonfiction (2019). ****
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive by Lucy Adlington. Similar to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this is a story of how 25 women survived Auschwitz for years by sewing elegant gowns and dresses, first for the wife of the commandant, then as word spread, for the wives of all the upper echelon Nazi leaders. But as an act of rebellion, they also sewed and mended for their fellow prisoners.
Several of these women had worked for the most important fashion houses across Europe. Others had developed their sewing skills by attending schools. Others still learned from their mothers and grandmothers. Regardless, it is what kept them alive. *****
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard. Millard tells us a story that most of us are unfamiliar with, that of James Garfield, an exceedingly decent and humble man who never wanted to be president. He was shot in the back by an insane assassination (God told him to do it). Garfield survived for four months after the shooting, but in the died because of the ignorance and hubris of the physician that attended to him. If only we had someone like Garfield today. Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best History & Biography (2011). *****
Iron Lake (Cork O’Connor #1) by William Kent Krueger. O’Conner is part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian. He served as a detective in Chicago for many years, before marrying and returning to his small hometown in norther Minnesota, where he was sheriff, until a shooting cost him his job. But people still think of him as the sheriff, and still rely on him to help them with their problems. Krueger does an excellent job of character development. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this series until now, but am glad Linda turned me on to it. There are a total of 20 books in the series; even they the first one was published in 2008 there is still a long waiting list at the library for each of the books. I’ve got a 7-week wait until the next one becomes available. *****
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. I won’t go into the details, but this is a standalone novel, another excellent read by Krueger. Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller (2013). *****
Christina
The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt. Very strange picture book about a bunch of abandoned and/or deformed crayons making their way back to a brat named Duncan who has badly abused them. Read for the Irish Readathon (green on the cover).
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I liked this better than I expected to, but I still didn’t love it. I’m a sucker for the “path not taken” trope, but I feel like this was trying to be very ambitious and turned out just a little better than okay.
Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons by Ashli St. Armant. The older end of middle grade or younger end of young adult. Viva is visiting family, in New Orleans and gets pulled into a treasure hunt. It’s far-fetched and relies heavily on luck, but it’s a fun little adventure. Read for March Mystery Madness and Middle Grade March.
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. Gorgeous illustrations by Patrick Benson. I wasn’t impressed with the text, and I hated the narration in this read-along ebook edition I found on Hoopla. Read for the Irish Readathon.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Epic family drama spanning generations and continents. Not my kind of thing, but beautifully written and brilliantly constructed. Read for the Folger’s book club.
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin. An atheist lesbian struggling with depression and executive dysfunction (and probably a host of other things) accidentally gets a job in a Catholic church. This is marketed as a comedy, but it really isn’t. It’s more an exploration of grief and fear and recovery from a lifetime of family dysfunction. But neurotypicals just love to laugh at us wacky neurodivergents. Good book. Read for Wolverine Farm’s book club.
Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale. Another neurodivergent woman whose life has gone to hell, but this one discovers she can time travel to try to fix everything. Smale herself is actually autistic, so it’s no surprise that she presents this journey of self-discovery very accurately. The “Groundhog Day” section is a little overlong, but the pacing eventually gets back on track and the story resolves nicely.
Witchy Whiskers by Danielle Garrett. Murder mystery set in a magical town, featuring a witch who runs a magical candle shop and is taking care of her traveling aunt’s sassy familiar — a talking cat. Entertaining fluff but with solid writing. Read for March Mystery Madness.
Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes by Anne Elizabeth Moore. A collection of essays relating horror movie tropes to living in today’s world, especially as a woman. At least that’s what it’s supposed to be. It’s all over the place and the theme gets lost a lot, and sometimes it seems like Moore forgot what she was trying to say. There’s some good stuff in here but digging it out is quite the chore. And the cover is hideous. Read for the Queer & Loathing book club.
I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosin. Middle grade historical fiction about a Chilean girl who is sent to Maine when “The General” takes over and her parents have to go into hiding. If there was an author’s note explaining why the Pinochet dictatorship was completely fictionalized (my guess is to keep the protagonist from aging out of the story), it was not included in the audiobook edition. Other than that, collapsing of history and some magical realism elements that didn’t feel well integrated, this was a good story. Read for Middle Grade March.
Baking Yesteryear: The Best Recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s by B.Dylan Hollis. Delightful cookbook based on Hollis’s entertaining videos. I don’t do TikTok but I catch them on YouTube. His sense of humor comes through well in the book, and it’s also a good guide for new bakers. Read for GenreLand.
The Weirdies Get Weirder by Michael Buckley. The sequel to The Weirdies. Lots of funny bits, but the plot suffers greatly from obviously being the middle book of a trilogy, with no third book in sight. Kate Winslet’s narration is, as always, amazing. Read for Middle Grade March.
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung. A collection of bizarre short stories translated from Korean. I really liked two of them, several were very “ew!” to me, and the rest I just didn’t understand well enough to have feelings about them. My guess is that something got lost in translation and/or I am just not very familiar with Korean culture. Read for the F*cked-Up Book Club.
A Patchwork of Clues by Sally Goldenbaum. A quilting-oriented cozy mystery set in a fictional KCK suburb. Not bad but nothing special, either. I listened to the audiobook, so if you are a quilter, you might want to check the paperback and see if it includes any fun extras. Read for March Mystery Madness.
Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie & Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie. Two re-reads for my chronological Christie project as well as March Mystery Madness. This time around I am mainly focusing on differences between editions, listening to a recent audiobook while reading an older print copy. The editorial changes are sometimes bizarre, especially with Dell.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. A children’s classic that I somehow missed back in the ’70s. If you haven’t read it, carefully avoid reading the cover blurb. It robs the story of any suspense or drama. There is a good sense of time and place, but overall, I found the story bland. Read for Middle Grade March.
The Secret Path by Christopher Pike. My first read for the Old School April nostalgia-thon. This is the first in the Spooksville series, which came out long after my childhood, so I was unfamiliar with them (and Goosebumps and similar series of that era). A new kid in town meets a lot of strange people, including some kids who rope him into a search for a secret path to an alternate dimension. They find it. Much horrific wackiness ensues. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it is a fun ride with plenty of nightmare fodder.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey. A day in the life of the International Space Station, circa 2034. It’s mostly astronauts and cosmonauts (six in all) thinking about life, the universe, and everything. Gorgeous prose but no plot to speak of. I’m doing an unofficial read along of this year’s BookTube Prize, and I ranked this below Yellowface (which I read last year). Four more books to read in this section.
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg. A cute and funny children’s picture book about two ants who learn of the existence of sugar crystals and learn the hard way that greedily staying behind in the sugar bowl is a bad idea. My big takeaway is that ants are pretty much indestructible. This is the same author/artist who did Jumanji. Read for Old School April.
Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen. Murder mystery set in San Francisco in 1952. A gay cop is kicked off the force when he is found in a compromising position during a raid on a gay club. The story opens with him getting drunk and contemplating suicide, but soon a mysterious woman shows up to offer him a job. She is convinced that her wife was murdered, and she wants him to 1) prove it and 2) find the murderer — without revealing that her mansion, Lavender House, is a haven for a found family of gay people. Sort of a queer, mid-century noir take on the country house mystery. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Read for Queer & Loathing.
Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World by Michael Pollan. Short Audible freebie, just an hour if you listen at 2x like I did. He crams a lot of info into a short amount of time, even with all his self-insertion. Interesting use of an hour of my day, but I think Pollan just annoys me more than anything. Read for the TBR Clear Out Readathon.
Michael
I haven’t been reading much lately because I’ve been writing. Wrote an original 10-minute play which I’m submitting to a contest and working on/revising a full-length film script set in the 1980’s Boston underground rock scene and a novel set in Southeast Asia.
