July 6, 2023
The Marcellus Township Wood Memorial Library’s First Thursday Book Club met on Thursday, July 6, 2023 from 12 NOON to 1:00 PM in the library with nine members present. The group enjoyed discussing the books below and were delighted to have fresh fruit, fruit juice, and scrumptious homemade goodies to share. Having recently read Mandy McGovern’s My Little Michigan Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from a Homemade Life Lived Well, one wonderful member baked the Spiced Oatmeal Cake (p. 176-177) included in this book, and another member made chocolate salami, a decadent combination of fudge and crumbled biscotti presented in a roll and sliced so that it resembles salami.
Library staff told the group that this month, an unusual object would be embedded in the July 2023 meeting minutes. The first person to locate the object in the minutes and notify library staff by sending an e-mail to marcellusmichiganlibrary@gmail.com telling us what the object is and on what page of the minutes it was found will win a $10.00 gift certificate to The Wildcat Whippy Dip in Marcellus, MI. The library staff will notify the first individual sending us an e-mail that she or he is the winner and will ask if the winner prefers to come in to pick up the gift certificate or to have us mail the gift certificate out. Other members will be notified by e-mail that a winner has been identified. All persons receiving the First Thursday Book Club Meeting Minutes are eligible to participate. Library staff are not eligible to participate.
This month’s unusual object is a glass of lemonade, and readers will need to find the object on a page other than this one to win. Nothing like a cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day! So…grab yourself some lemonade and look for lemonade in the minutes to follow.
The club members were also asked for assistance with the Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities Project—a Special Grant Opportunity for Small and Rural Communities. This is an American Library Association (ALA) initiative that provides community engagement and accessibility resources to small and rural libraries to help them better serve people with disabilities. The Marcellus Township Wood Memorial Library has been selected as one of 240 libraries across the United States and its territories to receive one of these grants. Libraries could be awarded either a $10,000 or $20,000 grant. Our Marcellus Library was awarded one of the $20,000 grants that will help the library implement updates with a universal design approach. Universal Design aims to address the most common barriers, improving access to library resources and participation in library activities to the greatest number of people, across all ages and abilities. In a recent newspaper publication about this grant opportunity, Ms. Buckhold, our Library Director, commented, “While our library has seen many updates since the original building was constructed in 1925, we’re aware of several opportunities for improvement to help everyone in our community feel welcome and supported in using the library. This grant is quite unique in that it really requires us to gather community feedback and adjust to our plans accordingly, to ensure we’re truly meeting the accessibility needs of our patrons.” As part of the grant, library staff would determine what they believed would enhance library accessibility and then would host several conversations with community members about their perceived barriers to library usage. The grant funding would then be used to correct or improve the issues identified by community members. The staff believed that having this conversation with the First Thursday Book Club members was important and outlined the ideas that library staff had identified as ways to improve accessibility including the installation of an automatic door or doors, placing infant/child changing station in the public restroom (one currently does not exist), and improving library signage. Club members were encouraged to think about these ideas and to let library staff know if they had additional ideas for accessibility improvements. They were also encouraged to visit the bulletin board in the adult section of the library outlining the grant and inviting community members to jot down their ideas or endorse ideas already posted on the board. They were told that if they have thoughts about the grant opportunity after the meeting, they could contact library staff at 269.646.9654, or e-mail marcellusmichiganlibrary@gmail.com. Since 2014, ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative has re-imagined the role libraries play in supporting communities. Libraries of all types have utilized free dialogue and deliberation training and resources to lead community and campus forums; take part in anti-violence activities; provide a space for residents to come together and discuss challenging topics; and have productive conversations with civic leaders, library trustees and staff.
Books discussed:
The Code Breaker’s Secret: A Novel by Sara Ackerman
Description: “A brilliant female codebreaker. An “unbreakable” Japanese naval code. A pilot on a top secret mission that could change the course of WWII. The Codebreaker's Secret is a dazzling story of love and intrigue set during America’s darkest hour. 1943. As war in the Pacific rages on, Isabel Cooper and her codebreaker colleagues huddle in “the dungeon” at Station HYPO in Pearl Harbor, deciphering secrets plucked from the airwaves in a race to bring down the enemy. Isabel has only one wish: to avenge her brother’s death. But she soon finds life has other plans when she meets his best friend, a hotshot pilot with secrets of his own. 1965. Fledgling journalist Lu Freitas comes home to Hawaii to cover the grand opening of the glamorous Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Rockefeller's newest and grandest project. When a high-profile guest goes missing, Lu forms an unlikely alliance with an intimidating veteran photographer to unravel the mystery. The two make a shocking discovery that stirs up memories and uncovers an explosive secret from the war days. A secret that only a codebreaker can crack.”
https://www.ackermanbooks.com/the-codebreakers-secret.html
Available:
In Library: Not available
MelCat: Book; audiobook
Club member(s) comments: This is an enjoyable book with a dual time line and was recommended to the other members.
The Book Shop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
Description: “Nina Redmond is a librarian with a gift for finding the perfect book for her readers. But can she write her own happy-ever-after? In this valentine to readers, librarians, and book-lovers the world over, the New York Times-bestselling author of Little Beach Street Bakery returns with a funny, moving new novel for fans of Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop. Nina is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more. Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile — a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.”
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bookshop-on-the-corner-jenny-colgan/1123361810 Availability:
In Library: Libby audiobook
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member comment(s): The protagonist in this book buys a van and makes it into a bookmobile, traveling from place to place in a small country town. The people she meets, their eagerness to read, and the adventures she has made this a book that the club member recommended to others.
The Night Train to Berlin by Melanie Hudson
Description: “Paddington Station, present day--A young woman boards the sleeper train to Cornwall with only a beautiful emerald silk evening dress and an old, well-read diary full of sketches. Ellie Nightingale is a shy violinist who plays like her heart is broken. But when she meets fellow passenger Joe she feels like she has been given that rarest of gifts…a second chance. Paddington Station, 1944-- Beneath the shadow of the war which rages across Europe, Alex and Eliza meet by chance. She is a gutsy painter desperate to get to the frontline as a war artist and he is a wounded RAF pilot now commissioned as a war correspondent. With time slipping away they make only one promise: to meet in Berlin when this is all over. But this is a time when promises are hard to keep, and hope is all you can hold in your heart. From a hidden Cornish cove to the blood-soaked beaches of Normandy in June 1944, this is an epic love story like no other.”
https://www.amazon.com/Night-Train-Berlin-heartbreaking-historical-ebook/dp/B08F1XGWBG Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book
Club member(s) comments: The club member reviewing this book briefly described it, told the group that she liked it and recommended it to others.
Michigan Versus the Boys by Carrie S. Allen
Description: “When a determined girl is confronted with the culture of toxic masculinity, it's time to even the score. Michigan Manning lives for hockey, and this is her year to shine. That is, until she gets some crushing news: budget cuts will keep the girls' hockey team off the ice this year. If she wants colleges to notice her, Michigan has to find a way to play. Luckily, there's still one team left in town ... The boys' team isn't exactly welcoming, but Michigan's prepared to prove herself. She plays some of the best hockey of her life, in fact, all while putting up with changing in the broom closet, constant trash talk and "harmless" pranks that always seem to target her. But once hazing crosses the line into assault, Michigan must weigh the consequences of speaking up - even if it means putting her future on the line.”
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43885997
Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book
Club member(s) comments: The main character’s name is “Michigan,” and the book takes place in the upper peninsula of Michigan. With its local ties, the book was very enjoyable. The protagonist is a girl who wants to play hockey, it very good at hockey, and is trying to be the best that she can be at this sport. While pursuing her goals, she has to overcome significant barriers including a brutal hazing, and she must decide whether to speak out about this or not. The book was recommended to other members.
The Girl from Guernica by Karen Robards
Description: “Inspired by Picasso’s great masterpiece, Guernica, New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards returns with a riveting story of intrigue, deception and bravery in the face of war… On an April day in 1937, the sky opens and fire rains down upon the small Spanish town of Guernica. Seventeen-year-old Sibi and her family are caught up in the horror. Griff, an American military attaché, pulls Sibi from the wreckage, and it’s only the first time he saves her life in a span of hours. When Germany claims no involvement in the attack, insisting the Spanish Republic was responsible, Griff guides Sibi to lie to Nazi officials. If she or her sisters reveal that they saw planes bearing swastikas, the gestapo will silence them—by any means necessary. As war begins to rage across Europe, Sibi joins the underground resistance, secretly exchanging information with Griff. But as the scope of Germany’s ambitions becomes clear, maintaining the facade of a Nazi-sympathizer becomes ever more difficult. And as Sibi is drawn deeper into a web of secrets, she must find a way to outwit an enemy that threatens to decimate her family once and for all. Masterfully rendered and vividly capturing one of the most notorious episodes in history, The Girl from Guernica is an unforgettable testament to the bonds of family and the courage of women in wartime.”
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-girl-from-guernica-karen-robards/1141674845 Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book; Audiobook
Club member comment(s): This book’s protagonist is a teenage girl living with her mother and three sisters in Guernica, Spain, just prior to WWII, when Spain is in the middle of a civil war. When Guernica is bombed, the girl and her family are significantly impacted. She sees something during the bombing--and the Germans know it--that makes life in Nazi Germany difficult when she returns to live with her father in Germany during WWII. She experiences tremendously difficult moral dilemmas and has to make difficult decisions in order to survive. Will she survive? Will she find love after all of the heartache that she and her family experience during the war? The book is well written and well-paced. The club member researched whether the historical events described in the book were real and learned that Guernica was bombed and that Germany did play a role in this bombing. A Picasso painting is frequently referenced in the book, and yes, Picasso did paint the bombing of Guernica causing worldwide outrage and irritating Hitler. The audiobook includes narrators who speak with American accents. Only one character is American, the rest are either Spanish or German. Having narrators with accents akin to the characters in the book would have made the audiobook experience more authentic. With that known, the book is certainly worth reading or listening to.
A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke
Description: “Eva has only been married for eight months when her husband, Jackson, is swept to his death while fishing. Weighed down by confusion and sorrow, Eva decides to take leave of her midwifery practice and visit Jackson’s estranged family with the hope of grieving together. Instead, she discovers that the man she loved so deeply is not the man she thought she knew. Jackson’s father and brother reveal a dark past, exposing the lies her marriage was built upon. As Eva struggles to come to terms with the depth of Jackson’s deception, she must also confront her growing attraction to Jackson’s brother, Saul, who offers her intimacy, passion, and answers to her most troubling questions. Will Eva be able to move forward, or will she be caught up in a romance with Saul, haunted by her husband’s past? Threading together beautiful, wild settings and suspenseful twists, A Single Breath is a gripping tale of secrets, betrayals, and new beginnings.”
https://www.amazon.com/Single-Breath-Novel-Lucy-Clarke/dp/1476750157
Availability:
In Library: Book
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member comment(s): This book’s main character, Eva, marries Jackson after knowing him for a brief period of time. Eva resides in London, and Jackson tells her he has moved from Australia to London a short time ago. When an accident takes Jackson from Eva, she decides to trace his roots back to Australia by visiting his father. There she begins to learn that her husband is a very different person from who she believed him to be. The club member reviewing this book listened to the audio version. The person narrating for Eva has a wonderful English accent, and the Australian character is read by a male with a strong Australian accent—both were delightful to listen to. The book takes place in London, Australia, and Tanzania. The descriptions of the landscape and the sea in Tanzania are enticing. The club member told the group that one island—Wattleboon—is mentioned often, so she looked this island up on Wikipedia only to realize that Wattleboon is a fictional island made up by the author of this book. The descriptions; however, sounded so real! This is an interesting novel both because the characters are well developed and the setting is beautifully described.
Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke
Description: “Katie’s world is shattered by the news that her headstrong and bohemian younger sister, Mia, has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Bali. The authorities say that Mia jumped—that her death was a suicide. Although they’d hardly spoken to each other since Mia suddenly left on an around the-world trip six months earlier, Katie refuses to accept that her sister would have taken her own life. Distraught that they never made peace, Katie leaves behind her orderly, sheltered life in London and embarks on a journey to discover the truth. With only the entries of Mia’s travel journal as her guide, Katie retraces the last few months of her sister’s life, and—page by page, country by country—begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death. ‘A great read for fans of smart contemporary women’s fiction as well as thriller and mystery readers,’ Swimming at Night weaves together exotic settings, suspenseful plot twists, and familial bonds in a powerful tale of secrets, loss, and forgiveness.”
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Swimming-at-Night/Lucy-Clarke/9781451683417 Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member comment(s): Written by the same author as A Single Breath described above, Swimming at Night details one woman’s search for the truth about her sister Mia’s death. Her search takes her around the world as she follows entries in her deceased sister’s diary and discovers things about Mia that she never knew. The audiobook version used narrators with accents akin to the characters in the book and included terrific descriptions of the places that the main character visits as she uncovers the truth about Mia.
O Come Ye Back to Ireland: Our First year in County Clare by Niall Williams & Christine Breen
Description: “This New York City couple who met as graduate students in Dublin, gave up the urban lifestyle two years ago to return to the land of their ancestors. Pursuit of their dream took them to the tiny village of Kilmihil on Ireland's bleakly beautiful west coast, where they settled into a farm cottage. Their journal records culture shock at the turf they must learn to cut and burn for heat, for example as well as discovery of the wealth of traditional music and their storytelling rural neighbors. In alternating voices, they express dismay and frustration in coping with a lifestyle where time is of little significance. But, by the second year, Breen has a budding artistic career as well as a blooming garden, and Williams certifies as a farmer, as well as a dabbler in local theatrics. Entertaining and instructive, the journal, with Breen's illustrations, captures a way of life foreign to most readers.”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780939149070
Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book
Club member comment(s): The club member read a later book authored by the same couple last month titled In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden. This book details the couple’s experiences when they first move back to Ireland and live in a farm cottage. Coping with the change in lifestyle is initially daunting, but they persevere and thrive. The book is delightful and a must read for those interested in gardening and the cottage farm experience.
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Amstrong Kalish
Description: Perhaps no one was more surprised than Mildred Armstrong Kalish when her memoir of Iowa farm life became a bestseller, and then appeared among the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2007. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression began as stories Kalish spun from her past to amuse her granddaughter. She wrote them down, imagining they would go no further than her own family. But then they did, and at age eighty-five, Kalish landed in the literary limelight. Her book transports readers to 1930s rural Iowa; much that occurs is unsurprising: haying, milking, planting, and a good-deal of church-going. What is surprising is the amount of joy and gratitude Kalish expresses about a childhood defined largely by hard work and austerity. Kalish begins her narrative when her life takes a decisive turn at age five. Her father is banished from the family “forever for some transgression that was not to be disclosed to us children.” Her grandparents, rather severe folk, step in. They’ve retired from a successful farming career to the small town of Garrison but still own four farms. Mildred Armstrong, her younger sister, two brothers, and mother are settled into the smallest of these. The house has no electricity or plumbing, and the barn is ramshackle. Nevertheless, the Armstrong’s keep livestock, grow crops, can produce, and generally enjoy a large variety of wholesome foods. In fact, Depression-era scarcity hardly impacts the family due to their self sufficiency, which they achieve cooperatively with Mildred’s aunt and uncle, who farm across the road. Mildred’s elementary years are divided between town and country living. During the harsh winter, her family migrates to the large home of her grandparents, where they all suffer the situation with forbearance. The grandparents (who “never quite made it into the twentieth century”) consider their daughter’s “little heathens,” as Grandma calls them, lacking in proper dress, speech, and overall behavior. The day’s events, from waking to bedtime, adhere to a rigid time schedule. Frugality factors into the household’s many rules, including no between meal snacks and no food remaining on plates. Thrifty to an extreme, the grandparents spend money only on “tea, sugar, salt, white flour, cloth, and kerosene.”
https://www.supersummary.com/little-heathens/summary/
Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member(s) comments: The “little heathens” are small children whose parents have fallen on hard times during the Great Depression necessitating that the children and their mother uproot and relocate to house without running water or electricity and an old barn near family members. During the winter, they must live with their mother’s parents who are austere, religious, and conservative. The club member reviewing this book called it “delightful” because each chapter depicts the adventures and experiences of the children—the “little heathens” in their new environment. As an added bonus, the book includes great recipes from this era.
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox
Description: “In post–World War I England, a young woman inherits a mysterious library and must untangle its powerful secrets… With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. Ivy has never heard of Blackwood Abbey, or of the ancient bloodline from which she’s descended. With nothing to keep her in London since losing her brother in the Great War, she warily makes her way to her new home. The abbey is foreboding, the servants reserved and suspicious. But there is a treasure waiting behind locked doors: a magnificent library. Despite cryptic warnings from the staff, Ivy feels irresistibly drawn to its dusty shelves, where familiar works mingle with strange, esoteric texts. And she senses something else in the library too, a presence that seems to have a will of its own. Rumors swirl in the village about the abbey’s previous owners, about ghosts and curses, and an enigmatic manuscript at the center of it all. And as events grow more sinister, it will be up to Ivy to uncover the library’s mysteries in order to reclaim her own story—before it vanishes forever. Lush, atmospheric and transporting, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library is a skillful reflection on memory and female agency, and a love letter to books from a writer at the height of her power.”
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-heir-to-blackwood-library-hester-fox/1141490076 Availability:
In Library: Book; Libby audiobook
MeLCat: Book
Club member(s) comments: This book was enjoyable. The club member reviewing it stated that she became invested in the characters. The book includes a touch of the paranormal as well.
Whispers of Winter by Eva Orilla
Description: “Emotionally wounded with a battered and bruised self-confidence, Jolie Mossman is on the run from her life and the turbulent relationship she has been in for over a decade. She never fit into his high society world, and he never stopped ridiculing her because of it. She is finished with love, tired of jumping through hoops, and she doesn't trust men. With her hopes and dreams of a marriage and family slowly disappearing, she packs her truck, drives north, and stumbles onto an abandoned cabin. It turns out that the cabin is not quite so abandoned after all, and the man she meets deep in the Michigan woods offers Jolie another chance to find love if she can overcome her vulnerabilities and learn to trust a man once more. Riley Johnson is a widower from a long, loveless marriage. When he sees smoke coming from the chimney of his boyhood cabin, he is irritated. He does not appreciate trespassers. Rather than call the authorities and going through the process of filing legal complaints that achieve nothing, he decides to evict the man himself. What he discovers is a beautiful woman sleeping in his bed, wrapped in his flannel shirt. As soon as he lays his eyes on Jolie, he is infatuated with her. Unknowingly, she walks into his heart, and changes his whole world with every word she speaks.
Convincing her that love at first sight can be a real and genuine occurrence might turn out to be the toughest challenge Riley has ever encountered.”
https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Winter-Eva-Orilla-ebook/dp/B099THJMDS Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Not available
Club member(s) comments: Whispers of Winter was described as a good, engaging story about likable characters. If the reader is distracted by editing and grammatical error; however, this book might be problematic as there are quite a few unfortunately.
The Red Skirt: Memoirs of an Ex Nun by Patricia O’Donnell-Gibson
Description: “A nine-year-old girl, impressionistic and dreamy, feels God has called to her through the voice of a missionary who speaks to her Catholic school class. The idea of this calling embeds itself deep within her, haunting her, and urging her to, ultimately, enter the convent. The Red Memoirs of An Ex Nun is the very personal account of this young woman’s journey to find the place where she belongs. Sad as well as joyous, inspiring as well as unsettling, we follow her story through the five years she spends as an Adrian Dominican nun; as she tries to balance her desire for a secular life with her great fear of turning her back on God's call. Poignant and insightful, The Red Skirt gives an unflinching glimpse of one woman’s internal, and decidedly human, struggle to leave behind the young, fearful girl who could not shake the words of the missionary, to become a strong woman who can accept an alternative spiritual philosophy, and, consequently, her place in the world.”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12397577-the-red-skirt-memoirs-of-an-ex-nun Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book
Club member(s) comments: The author of this book was born in Detroit and lived near Paw Paw Lake. She was raised in a devout Catholic family and felt called to become a nun. She eventually joins an order in Adrian, MI, and does serve as a nun for 5 years. The reader stated that she really wanted to like this book but felt that the author focused too much on the minutia of the Catholic religion’s requirements and on the main character’s angst that God would hate her for becoming a nun and then leaving the order. The reader wanted to understand what wisdom the main character gained from the experience of becoming a nun. The book did not cover what the author’s life was like after leaving the order. The reader had to do her own research to discover that the author married twice, had children, and became an educator. The author’s parents were rarely mentioned although the reader believed they likely would have had some anxieties about their child’s decision to become or not become a nun. Their other three daughters did not choose this path. All in all, the reader was glad she read this book particularly since the author has Michigan ties. The “red skirt” refers to nuns who leave the order.
City of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman
Description: “Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead. Early one morning, the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but. A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home. Inside, a young woman lies butchered. The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case. Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who’d gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she’s found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues. But upon closer examination, Alex and Milo discover that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide? As the psychologist and the detective explore L.A.’s meanest streets, they peel back layer after layer of secrets and encounter a savage, psychologically twisted, almost unthinkable motive for violence and bloodshed.
This is classic Delaware: Alex, a man Milo has come to see as irreplaceable, at his most insightful and brilliant.”
https://www.jonathankellerman.com/books/city-of-the-dead/
Availability:
In Library: Book; Libby eBook
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member(s) comments: The club member reviewing this book has read others by the same author and described this one as a “good read.”
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
Description: “In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen? That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies. Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take listeners from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.”
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Other-Wes-Moore-Audiobook/B003I6M0LK Availability:
In Library: Book; Libby eBook
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member(s) comments: The member reviewing this book said that her teenage grandson had had this book assigned to him as part of a summer reading program. He asked his grandmother, our club member, to read the book along with him so that they could discuss it together. She listened to the book and he read it. The book details the lives of two Black men with the same name who happened to appear in same edition of a local newspaper but for very different reasons. One of the men reaches out to the other and writes about their very different lives and what might have caused their pathways to take the directions they did. She described this as a great read and recommended the book to the others.
You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg
Description: “Lin-Greenberg’s exceptional debut novel (after the collection Vanished) explores a complex web of relationships at a fading mall in Albany, N.Y. Among the people drawn together by the mall are Tina Huang, the last remaining stylist at a struggling hair salon, and Ro Goodson, an 89-year-old white woman who is Tina’s only regular customer, and who Tina believes comes in because she’s lonely. Ro takes a dim view of her Black neighbor Joan for moving into Ro’s predominantly white neighborhood years earlier. Ro also doesn’t think much of Joan’s daughter, Gwen, an adjunct professor, or Gwen’s white husband, Kevin, manager of the mall’s bookstore, both of whom live in a tiny house on Joan’s property. Maria, a high school senior who hopes to become a professional actor, dons a chicken outfit for her food court job and is upset when she doesn’t get a lead part in her school’s production of West Side Story. The other characters are past worrying their dreams won’t come true; Tina secretly yearns to be an illustrator of children’s books but ‘knows it’s not a practical thing to pursue,’ while Ro plants a lemon tree that she knows won’t bear fruit until after she’s gone. After establishing a quirky tone, the novel’s third act reaches a grand scale as an active shooter prowls the mall, though the real drama rests in the characters’ reckoning with the limits of what is possible. This is a remarkable study of ordinary people’s extraordinary inner lives.”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781640095434
Availability:
In Library: Book
MeLCat: Book
Club member(s) comments: This book was described as a good, well written novel.
Winter Birds by Jamie Langston Turner
Description: “Plain and dutiful, Sophia Hess has lived most of her life without ever knowing genuine love. Her professor husband had married her for the convenience of having a typist for his scholarly papers. The discovery of a dark secret opens her eyes to the truth about her marriage and her husband. Eventually nephew Patrick and his wife, Rachel, take Sophia into their home, and she observes from a careful distance their earnest faith and the simple gifts of kindness they generously bestow upon her and others-this in spite of an unthinkable tragedy they've suffered. Dare she unlock the door behind which she stalwartly conceals her broken heart? An insightful and moving portrayal of the transforming power of love.”
http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/winter-birds/276681
Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Book
Club member(s) comments: Winter Birds, the club member told the group, focuses on the change that occurs when a grumpy old woman moves in with a kind couple and learns what true love really is. Each chapter begins with a reference to a winter bird and links the bird to the content of the chapter. Although hard to read at times, the reader told the group the book was very good and recommended it to the others.
The Book That Matters Most: A Novel by Ann Hood
Description: “Hood’s latest novel is a moving, intricate story about loss, healing, and the value of critical thinking. A year after being left by her husband, Ava is still reeling from the grief of separation, which brought back the pain of losing her sister and mother early in life. In order to branch out and meet new people, Ava joins a book club where each member must choose a book that matters most to them for the group to discuss. Although the new activity keeps her engaged, Ava, who lives in Providence, R.I., still feels alone, with her son abroad in Africa and her daughter studying in Florence. What Ava doesn’t know is that her daughter has recently quit school and is now living in Paris under increasingly dangerous circumstances. Ava doesn’t immediately enjoy the book group (she watches a movie adaptation instead of reading the first book), but bit by bit, book by book, she rediscovers her love of reading, makes new friends, and begins to heal. As the narrative focus moves among different characters and back and forth in time, suspense builds about what happened to Ava’s mother and sister and what might happen to her daughter. Meanwhile, the book club allows Ava to examine her grief and slowly learn how to move forward. This is a gripping, multifaceted novel about recovering from different kinds of loss and the healing that comes from a powerful story.”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780393241655
Availability:
In Library: Book
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member(s) comments: This book is about a woman’s experience joining a book club and reading books that each member chose because the book mattered most to them. A great read!
18
A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality by Kate Khavari
Description: “1920s London isn’t the ideal place for a brilliant woman with lofty ambitions. But research assistant Saffron Everleigh is determined to beat the odds in a male-dominated field at the University College of London. Saffron embarks on her first research study alongside the insufferably charming Dr. Michael Lee, traveling the countryside with him in response to reports of poisonings. But when Detective Inspector Green is given a case with a set of unusual clues, he asks for Saffron’s assistance. The victims, all women, received bouquets filled with poisonous flowers. Digging deeper, Saffron discovers that the bouquets may be more than just unpleasant flowers— there may be a hidden message within them, revealed through the use of the old Victorian practice of floriography. A dire message, indeed, as each woman who received the flowers has turned up dead. Alongside Dr. Lee and her best friend, Elizabeth, Saffron trails a group of suspects through a dark jazz club, a lavish country estate, and a glittering theatre, delving deeper into a part of society she thought she’d left behind forever. Will Saffron be able to catch the killer before they send their next bouquet, or will she find herself with fatal flowers of her own in Kate Khavari’s second intoxicating installment?”
https://www.amazon.com/Botanists-Flowers-Fatality-Saffron-Everleigh/dp/1639102787 Availability:
In Library: Book
MeLCat: Book
Club member(s) comments: This book was very enjoyable but the club member reviewing the book told the others that they really should read the first book written by the author before this one—A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons: A Novel.
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
Description: “On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation?
These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed. Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless. Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son’s secret liaison stand ready to welcome their granddaughter. The parson’s housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister. But the return of a lost child is not without complications and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known.”
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Once-Upon-a-River/Diane-Setterfield/9780743298087 Availability:
In Library: Book; Libby audiobook
MeLCat: Book; audiobook
Club member(s) comments: This book was described as having a very redeeming end!
Don’t Call Me Lady: The Journey of Lady Alice Seeley Harris by Judy Pollard Smith
Description: “This biography tells the true story of one of history’s forgotten women, an Englishwoman named Alice Seeley Harris who has also been called the Mother of Human Rights. She has been hidden by her husband’s shadow since she started her African journey near the end of the Victorian era, but now her story is brought to light by author Judy Pollard Smith in Don’t Call Me Lady: The Journey of Lady Alice Seeley Harris. Armed with her Bible, zeal, and a camera, Harris arrived in the steaming African jungle of Congo and documented the worst atrocities known to humanity. She captured enough evidence on her glass lantern slides to bring down the Belgian King Leopold, who ruled the colony of the Congo Free State. In this biography, Smith uses imagined conversations based on in-depth research to tell Harris’s story of her work. She also provides questions that allow her book to be used in classes or discussion groups. The world gave credit to the men in this story, but Smith provides evidence that it was the young, English missionary and photographer whose bravery truly changed history.”
https://www.scribd.com/book/387794463/Don-T-Call-Me-Lady-The-Journey-of-Lady-Alice-Seeley-Harris
Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Not available
Club member(s) comments: Lady Alice Seeley Harris took a camera with glass lantern slides to the Congo and photographed evidence of exploitation of and atrocities against the African people. She started the antislavery movement after witnessing the murder of many of the Congolese people during a 10 year period of time. Although difficult to read, Judy Pollard Smith tells the unforgettable story of Lady Alice Seeley Harris. This is a great story that will stay with the reader for a very long time.
Deeper Than African Soil by Faith Eidse
Description: “Deeper than African Soil captures the romantic, pores-open wonder of a child raised among worlds. It unveils the adventure and suffering of revolution, disease, boarding school trauma, wrenching farewells and losses deeper than most people endure in a lifetime. It explores the nature of memory itself, why we repress it and how to call it forth, all five senses open. Daughter of Canadian Mennonites, Faith Eidse was separated from family at the scariest moments of her life. Amid postcolonial tensions in Congo, Canada and the U.S., Faith and her sisters—Hope, Charity and Grace— lived vivid lives, bridging cultures from their home (Dutch Mennonite) to their host villages in southern Manitoba, the American Midwest and southwestern Congo. Yet home was always changing— sometimes drastically. Faith never truly belonged to the places they lived. In the United States, Faith was an immigrant. In her parents’ passport country, Canada, she was a visitor. In Congo, she claimed friendship, longing and memories. She related to all cultures yet owned none, formed identity from bits of home (first culture) and host (second or third) cultures to create a unique third culture. ‘Third culture kids’ each have their own enriched, complicated story but share a diaspora of the heart and longing for home.”
https://www.amazon.com/Deeper-Than-African-Soil-Recollection/dp/1601268475 Availability:
In Library: Not available
MeLCat: Not available
Club member(s) comments: The club member reviewing this book told the group that it details the lives of missionaries to the Congo and particularly the experience of the missionary’s children. The children are shuttled to boarding schools exposing them to potential physical and sexual abuse. The club member was in the Congo serving as a missionary during the time that this book was written which made the book difficult to read. The writing, the club member stated, is not the best she’s read but it is brave and honest.
The next meeting of the First Thursday Book Club will be held in the Library on Thursday, August 3, 2023, at 12 NOON. Looking forward to seeing you all here!
