Stella Maris
by Cormac McCarthy
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If ever a novel was meant to be read aloud, this is the one. It is voiced with perfection by Julia Whelan and Edorardo Balerini. A suicidal severely disturbed but brilliant mathematician has admitted herself to a psychiatric facility. Her psychologist peels away the layers of falsehood and obfuscation as the sessions proceed. This was the last book McCarthy published before his recent death. There is no happily ever after here, but a peaceful goodbye.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Fiction, Psychological fiction, Women
Compass Roads: Poems About the Pioneer Valley
by Jane Yolen
[Book]
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The jacket copy reads “a book about a place”. This collection of poems gathered by Jane Yolen is also a book about a people, people who have chosen to plant their roots in this valley and those who came before us. You will laugh in recognition. An ode to the parking garage? Maybe shed a tear too.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Local author, Massachusetts, Poetry
The Dictionary of Lost Words
by Pip Williams
[Book]
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Words matter. Williams’ romantic novel places several imaginary characters inside the very real creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. The women who were really involved in that enterprise have left little historical record. The novel’s focus is the lost words: the words of women and the poor that are not recorded in history and the lives of women that go unrecorded and disregarded by academia. The protagonist experiences a series of losses, yet the book is overwhelmingly positive in outlook. A strong sense of place takes the reader to England at the turn of the last century and at the beginnings of World War I.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: England, Fiction, Historical fiction, Women
Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden
by Diane Ackerman
[Book]
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Ackerman’s award winner (NY Times Notable Books) is an exploration of the pleasures of her Ithaca, New York garden over the course of a year. While many gardeners may be quite jealous, (she clearly has LOTS of paid assistance in maintenance and renovations), her descriptions and historical asides are in her trademark lush, sensory-oriented language.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Gardening, Nature, Non-fiction, Writing
Outwitting History
by Aaron Lansky
[Book]
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Outwitting History is an adventure tale, but much more than an adventure tale. It is a deeply felt, thoughtful look into the place of “other” cultures subsumed into the American melting pot, an homage to a generation that will soon be gone, and an homage to books. Yiddish may have outwitted history, but couldn’t have done it without Aaron Lansky. Share this story of the birth of one of our local institutions and the local hero who made it happen. Bring a tissue but be prepared to laugh.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: History, Local author, Local history, Non-fiction, Yiddish
A Woman of No Importance
by Sonia Purnell
[E-Audiobook]
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This biography of a completely unsung WWII heroine reads like a spy thriller. In spite of what seems today incredible discrimination because of her gender, American Virginia Hall was instrumental to the creation of various undercover operations in Nazi occupied France, working for the British long before the US entered the war. The danger of those operations, descriptions of the conditions for the civilian population, and of the torture to which suspected members of the Resistance were subjected are not sensationalized. The narrator, Julie Stevenson, does an admirable job of distinguishing between the various, largely male, characters. This title is recommended especially to fans of Susan Elia MacNeal’s Maggie Hope series, which are about a woman in similar circumstances in the SOE in the British secret service.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: History, Women, World War II
Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir
[Book]
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If you liked Weir’s The Martian you will love Project Hail Mary. This is a tale of a good, but flawed man who has to think his way out of a seemingly impossible situation. A very plausible story, set in the near future, with more heart than The Martian because not only does the main character have to save himself, he has to save others. Science nerds will love the internal ruminations as the protagonist overcomes each problem. Non-nerds might learn some physics, painlessly.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Fiction, Science fiction
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
[Book]
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This very readable history of why and how we got involved in the mess of competing tribes and loyalties that is Afghanistan explained in short, digestible chapters each detailing an event or a person. The long chain of events that led to September 11 and the failure of intelligence services is enlightening if grim reading. This writer will be interested in the author’s sequel to see if we’ve learned anything at all.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: History, Non-fiction
Fall or, Dodge in Hell
by Neal Stephenson
[Book]
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This is a cheeky poke at nerdy types and downright funny if you are one (with a sense of humor). Stephenson’s written a thoroughly enjoyable send-up of geek culture. Still underneath this near-future tale of the desire for immortality he asks some big questions and reflects on contemporary societal divisions and where they might lead.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Fiction, Science fiction
All He Ever Wanted: A Novel
[Book]
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If you like dark, involving, character-driven tales, pick up this one about a professor at a small New England college at the turn of the last century. The unlikable, perhaps unreliable narrator is writing an account of his obsession with a woman he met by chance, is instantly enthralled with, and ultimately marries. I didn’t so much enjoy this very well written “memoir” as was possessed by it. As the object of the narrator’s desires, we see the female character only through the narrator’s eyes and she remains enigmatic. As is Shreve’s modus operandi there is another interlocking tale written years later called Stella Bain. Perhaps these characters stayed with the author as they did with me.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Academia, Fiction, Historical fiction, Obsession
High Tide in Tucson: Essays From Now or Never
by Barbara Kingsolver
[Book]
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Written in the 1990s but still every bit as pertinent and fresh, this series of essays from the novelist is about nature, single motherhood, and musings about cultures and politics (oddly prescient). Most of the essays were previously published in magazines, but were revised for inclusion in the book. Kingsolver pays close attention to her natural and human surroundings whether she is in Africa or her home turf of Kentucky, or her current abode in the desert. Some essays are funny, some lump-in-the-throat poignant; all are highly recommended.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Essays, Mindfulness, Nature, Non-fiction
Tipping Point: The War With China—The First Salvo
by David Poyer
[Book]
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Set in a near future near and far east on the brink of war(s), this addition to a long series about naval officer Dan Lemson doesn’t require you to know his back story. Nor is this about, as the publisher would have you think, the potential for a war with China. That is only the background to a very well drawn psychological tale of a commanding officer under stress, with realistic problems, human and mechanical. Applicable to management dilemmas, except of course in this case, errors can cause death. An anti-war tale of how wars are “sleep-walked” into, and how those on the front lines are puppets to the orders from those safely at home. Not much resolution of issues by the end of the story, several books follow this tale.
Reviewed by Linda
Tagged: Fiction, Naval stories, Sea stories, War stories
