These are the reading suggestions for 2018 that Peggy has received so far. Please submit your selections directly to Peggy by email (psunlane@yahoo.com) as she will not be at Saturday's meeting to collect the votes in person. The synopses below have all been cribbed from Amazon.
Fiction
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina
Henriquez. Arturo and Alma Rivera have lived their whole lives in
Mexico. One day, their beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter, Maribel,
sustains a terrible injury, one that casts doubt on whether she’ll
ever be the same. And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras
come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great
opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better. When Mayor Toro,
whose family is from Panama, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it
is love at first sight. It’s also the beginning of a friendship
between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and
responsibility is at this novel’s core.
The Door by Magda Szabo. A young writer,
struggling for success, employs an elderly woman called Emerence to
be her housekeeper. From their first encounter it is clear that
Emerence is no ordinary maid. Although everyone in the neighbourhood
knows and respects her, no one knows anything about her private life
or has ever crossed her threshold. Only a great drama in the writer's
life prompts Emerence to unveil glimpses of her traumatic past - a
past which sheds light on her peculiar behaviour.
Embers by Sandor Marai. In a secluded
woodland castle an old General prepares to receive a rare visitor, a
man who was once his closest friend but who he has not seen in
forty-one years. Over the ensuing hours host and guest will fight a
duel of words and silences, accusations and evasions. They will
exhume the memory of their friendship and that of the General’s
beautiful, long-dead wife. And they will return to the time the three
of them last sat together following a hunt in the nearby forest--a
hunt in which no game was taken but during which something was lost
forever. Embers is a classic of modern European literature, a work
whose poignant evocation of the past also seems like a prophetic
glimpse into the moral abyss of the present.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste
Ng. “Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins
this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s
small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James
Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams
they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the
local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee
family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. In
1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a
Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol,
a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an
indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his
life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most
tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the
hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him
entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York by Francis Spufford. New York, a small town on the tip of Manhattan
island, 1746. One rainy evening in November, a handsome young
stranger fresh off the boat arrives at a countinghouse door on Golden
Hill Street: this is Mr. Smith, amiable, charming, yet strangely
determined to keep suspicion shimmering. For in his pocket, he has
what seems to be an order for a thousand pounds, a huge sum, and he
won’t explain why, or where he comes from, or what he is planning
to do in the colonies that requires so much money. Should the New
York merchants trust him? Should they risk their credit and refuse to
pay? Should they befriend him, seduce him, arrest him; maybe even
kill him?
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride.
Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in
1857, when the region is a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery
forces. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the
area, an argument between Brown and Henry’s master quickly turns
violent. Henry is forced to leave town—with Brown, who believes
he’s a girl. Over the ensuing months, Henry—whom Brown nicknames
Little Onion—conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay
alive. Eventually Little Onion finds himself with Brown at the
historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859—one of the great catalysts
for the Civil War.
Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C.,
Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis.
As Jacob and Julia Bloch and their three sons are forced to confront
the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives
they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly
escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the very meaning
of home―and the fundamental question of how much aliveness one can
bear.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into different villages in 18th-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and will live in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising children who will be sent abroad to be educated before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the empire. Esi, imprisoned beneath Effia in the castle's women's dungeon and then shipped off on a boat bound for America, will be sold into slavery.
Kristin Lavransdatter I: The Wreath by
Sigrid Undset. Visit Norway in the mid 1300's. In this first
novel of a trilogy, we meet Kristin, resourceful, strong-willed, and pious. We enter a world that is ancient, and it becomes real.
First published in the early 1920's, this well researched, vibrant and
detailed description of life in Northern Europe during the Middle
Ages was the main impetus behind Sigrid Undset receiving the 1928 Nobel
Prize for Literature. It deserves a revival today.
The Light in the Ruins by Chris
Bohjalian. 1943: Tucked away in the idyllic hills of Tuscany, the
Rosatis, an Italian family of noble lineage, believe that the walls
of their ancient villa will keep them safe from the war raging across
Europe. But when two soldiers—a German and an Italian—arrive at
their doorstep asking to see an ancient Etruscan burial site, the
Rosatis’ bucolic tranquility is shattered.
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly.
Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this remarkable
debut novel reveals the power of unsung women to change history in
their quest for love, freedom, and second chances. New York socialite
Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French
consulate and a new love on the horizon. An ocean away from Caroline,
Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth
disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the
underground resistance movement. For the ambitious young German
doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position
seems her ticket out of a desolate life. The lives of these three
women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and
Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp
for women.
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It is
1866, and Walter Moody has come to stake his claim in New Zealand's
booming gold rush. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles
across a tense gathering of 12 local men who have met in secret to
discuss a series of unexplained events: a wealthy man has vanished, a
prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous cache of gold
has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon
drawn into a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and
exquisitely ornate as the night sky.
The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami. The
imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America--a Moroccan
slave whose testimony was left out of the official record. In 1527
the conquistador Panfilo de Narvez sailed from the port of Sanlcar de
Barrameda with a crew of 600 men and nearly a hundred horses. His
goal was to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for
the Spanish crown and, in the process, become as wealthy and famous
as Hernn Corts. But from the moment the Narvez expedition landed in
Florida, it faced peril--navigational errors, disease, starvation, as
well as resistance from indigenous tribes. Within a year there were
only four survivors: the expedition's treasurer, lvar Nez Cabeza de
Vaca; a Spanish nobleman named Alonso del Castillo Maldonado; a young
explorer named Andrs Dorantes de Carranza; and Dorantes' Moroccan
slave, Mustafa al-Zamori, whom the three Spaniards called Estebanico.
These four survivors would go on to make a journey across America
that would transform them from proud conquistadores to humble
servants, from fearful outcasts to faith healers.
The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge
Selleck. In the summer of 1976, recently widowed and childless, Ora
Lee Beckworth hires a homeless old black man to mow her lawn. The
neighborhood children call him the Pee-can Man; their mothers call
them inside whenever he appears. When the police chief’s son is
found stabbed to death near his camp, the man Ora knows as Eddie is
arrested and charged with murder. Twenty-five years later, Ora sets
out to tell the truth about the Pecan Man. In narrating her story,
Ora discovers more truth about herself than she could ever have
imagined.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John
Mandel. Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander,
the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a
production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu
pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we
know it came to an end. Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the
settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and
musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have
dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity
alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they
encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s
existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time,
and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange
twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
The Trespasser by Tana French. Being on
the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed
it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems
glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of
thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is
savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.
Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’
quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a
shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table
set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except
that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before and that her death
won’t stay in its neat by-numbers box.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang. Before the
nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary,
controlled life. But the dreams - invasive images of blood and
brutality - torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and
renounce eating meat altogether. It's a small act of independence,
but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly
grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, brother-in-law,
and sister all fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively
defends the choice that's become sacred to her. Soon their attempts
turn desperate, subjecting first her mind and then her body to ever
more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling
into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest
to her but also from herself.
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Lo
Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just
been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise
with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and
the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the
Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first,
Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner
parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week
wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo
witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying
nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All
passengers remain accounted for.
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev
Sahota. In the north of England, a group of young Indian immigrants
struggle to begin something new—to support their families; to build
their futures; to show their worth; to escape their pasts. An epic
for our times, The Year of the Runaways is a stunning work of fiction
that explores what it means and what it costs to make a new life, the
capaciousness of the human spirit, and the power of humanity in the
face of unspeakable suffering.
Nonfiction
April 1865: The Month That Saved
America by Jay Winik. One month in 1865 witnessed the frenzied fall of
Richmond, a daring last-ditch Southern plan for guerrilla warfare,
Lee's harrowing retreat, and then, Appomattox. It saw Lincoln's
assassination just five days later and a near-successful plot to
decapitate the Union government, followed by chaos and coup fears in
the North, collapsed negotiations and continued bloodshed in the
South, and finally, the start of national reconciliation.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehise
Coates. In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions
about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a
father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework
for understanding our nation's history and current crisis. Americans
have built an empire on the idea of "race", a falsehood
that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black
women and men - bodies exploited through slavery and segregation and,
today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion.
What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within
it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and
free ourselves from its burden?
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi
Coates' attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his
adolescent son.
Blood, Bones & Butter: The
Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton. Before
Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune,
she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning
in her life. Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional
journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the
years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother
stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the
kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by
complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; Hamilton’s
own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the
kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between
Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family—the result of a
prickly marriage that nonetheless yields lasting dividends.
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold
Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly.
Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the
Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the
interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine
Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who
participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles
their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged
alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and
their country’s future.
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four
Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott. Illuminates one of
the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the
stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farm girl, an
abolitionist, and a widow—who were spies.
Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the
Missing Men of World War II by Wil S. Hylton. In the fall of 1944, a
massive American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the Pacific
islands of Palau, leaving a trail of mysteries. According to mission
reports from the Army Air Forces, the plane crashed in shallow
water—but when investigators went to find it, the wreckage wasn’t
there. Witnesses saw the crew parachute to safety, yet the airmen
were never seen again. Some of their relatives whispered that they
had returned to the United States in secret and lived in hiding. But
they never explained why. For sixty years, the U.S. government, the
children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and
scuba divers searched the islands for clues. With every clue they
found, the mystery only deepened.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi.
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s
worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed
with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the
dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just
like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When
Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a
naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the
question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and
meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the
brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a
patient and new father confronting his own mortality.
