Book Talk – July 13th, 2025

Eight members were online for the July Book Lovers SIG — so lots of books got discussed.

Heidi from Wisconsin joined us for the first time!  Great to have a new person join us with a completely different list of books she enjoyed reading.

Plus, Jim joined us after a three-month absence; it was great to see him again.  Jim was in the hospital with temporary amnesia.  I tried to convince him I loaned him money during that time, but he wasn’t falling for it. <g>

Regulars Beth, Michael, Linda, Peggy, and Cynthia rounded out our group.

I did hear from Nathan.  He is always busy during the school year, but then the June meeting date was his eldest’s 18th birthday, and he was on a 14-day trip through Utah and Colorado with his family in July.  He does hope to join us in August (before school starts again!).

We also missed Tim who regularly joins us.  Dunno what happened there.  Maybe he was at Disneyland? <g>

Join us in August for lots more interesting conversations which you will only find when a group of Mensans get together. ~ Brad Lucht

In all, 60 books were read/discussed/reviewed.  The full list can be found here:

https://mamensa.org/category/book-lovers-sig-book-talks/

Book Lovers SIG always meets on the second Sunday of each month; in this case August 10.  We meet online using Zoom, so it is easy to join in.

Folks generally start checking in around 2 p.m. for a bit of socialization.  Book discussion begins around 2:30 p.m. 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

*****

Jim

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  A captivating story of two young women in Afghanistan in the years 1979 to 2003.  Heartbreaking tales of the treatment of women before communism, during the tribal wars, the Taliban, and after.  The tales were very sad to read but sobering.  I kept comparing life there to what we experience daily here, and the differences are stark.  The detailed descriptions of daily life and culture powered me through the heartache.

Among the Volcanoes by Omar S. Canstaneda.  This is a young reader selection I found at our local Little Library.  It is the story of a 15-year-old girl in Guatemala.  She wants to be a teacher, but poverty and customs prevent her.  She takes care of her gravely ill mother, her siblings, and her father.  Her family must navigate dealing with the guerillas who want to steal their land.  She has a boyfriend who she wants to marry but cannot leave her family because they need her.  An American medical student arrives.  Nobody trusts him, but the girl eventually talks with him and agrees to have him take her mother to the hospital.  She refuses anything but the local medicine man.  In the end, the girl decides to leave her family and marry her boyfriend and become a teacher, leaving her family.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.  Eight (yes, 8) books of the classic series, including the prequel to “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”.  Spellbinding journeys into other worlds, with a subtle religious subtext, and deeper philosophical suggestions.

The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi.  This is the first book of the Wondla series.  Eva Nine is 12 years old and has lived underground her whole life, tended by a robot.  She knows almost nothing of life outside: only thru holograms and a small piece of cardboard with the fragmented words “Wond” and “La”.  Her underground abode is attacked, and she is forced to flee to the outside.  She ends up finding some allies against her attacker.  She has encounters with human artifacts and learns of a ruined human civilization.  She follows clues and discovers the meaning of Wond La, … and then there is a cliff-hanger.

The Winding Ways Quilt by Jennifer Chaverini.  This is the story of a group of women who quilt together.  Each chapter is devoted to one of the women and her story.  In the end, the ‘winding ways quilt’ is revealed to show how their lives and stories are intertwined in unexpected ways.

Time Zero by Carolyn Cohagan.
Time Next by Carolyn Cohagan.
Time’s Up by Carolyn Cohagan.

This is a trilogy about life in Manhattan in the year 2100-ish.  The apocalypse has come, and Manhattan has a 70-foot wall around it.  Inside, the conditions are like under the Taliban.  Women have no rights, cannot speak unless spoken to, cannot work, cannot read.  Reading is a crime for which you get sent to The Tunnel for rehabilitation (but no one ever leaves).  Girls are married at the age of 15.  (You know the drill.)

One girl, though, has been secretly taught to read by her grandmother.  She has a secret rendezvous with a boy.  She gets married off, but her secret talent for reading is revealed.  She and her new mother-in-law end up killing her new father-in-law, and escapes, and her betrothed comes looking for her.

Time Zero is about the pursuit and the escape from the island to Queens, where girls can read and get an education.

Time Next is about the equally restrictive culture in Queens: At their 16th birthday, they go to a Promise Prom, where they promise their fathers that they will be chaste.  They are given a locket necklace, and the father has the only key, to be given to her eventual husband.  But… what the girls are not told is that they are then taken by their mothers and have a hormonal sensor and a tracking device implanted in their genitals.  Our heroine escapes, is caught, and is put in prison.

Time’s Up is about her escape from prison and flight to the wilds west of New York where nobody has been told anything about.  There is a happy ending.

The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins of the Universe by John D. Barrow.

This is a non-fiction romp through how ‘nothingness’ has been dealt with since ancient times, through the current day.  It offers a wonderful analysis of ‘nothingness’ that is sure to please the physicist and the layman alike.

The Way Out by Alan Gordon.  This is a self-help book for people with chronic pain.  The author offers a way to reprogram the neuro-plastic brain to interpret ‘pain’ as ‘sensation’, and then to not notice the sensation.  I have personally used this method, and it works!

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier.  This is the story of Mary Anning, a working-class woman with a passion for fossil hunting, and Elizabeth Philpot, an unmarried middle-class woman.  The setting is 19th century England.  Mary discovers a fossil on the cliffs and triggers a conflict between the church and the scientific community.  This is a historical novel based on these two real people.  Mary and Elizabeth are shunned and have to fight for recognition of their many fossil discoveries.  This is all pre-Darwin.  Highly recommended.

Clive of India by John Watney.  This historical fiction story takes place in pre-colonial and colonial India.  Robert Clive was a real person who began as an office clerk and laid the foundation for the British East India Company, and routing the Portuguese and the Dutch from India.  This is a fascinating history of India that I had not read before.

Michael

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (Nevada Book Club).  A woman shoots her husband five times in the face, then never speaks again for years in a psych ward.  An investigative journalist tries to find out why.  References to Alcestis in Greek mythology who refused to speak after returning from Hell.  Related reading: I Hear Voices by Paul Ableman and The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeny (Nevada Book Club).  Feminist empowerment on a mysterious island inhabited only by a village of women and one male writer, whose royalties support the place and who will not be allowed to leave. Well-written and organized but with a contrived secret message and an illogical last chapter.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (Nevada Book Club).  Excellent mystery told from three points of view: a medieval apothecary who poisons richly deserving men, her young assistant, and an American researching them in contemporary London.  Very well written and suspenseful.

Deadly Doses: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons by Serits Stevens, Anne Klarner.  Excellent guidebook to almost all the known natural and synthetic poisons, including name, toxicity, form, effects and symptoms, reaction time, antidotes and treatment, and case studies.  For authors writing murder mysteries who wish to be accurate, like Agatha Christie, who learned all about poisons working in a military pharmacy during WWI.

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami.  A Japanese man slowly matures through marriage and several love affairs.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito.  This Serial Manga is about a village cursed with magical spirals.  Adolescent rubbish.  Made into an anime film.

The Death I Give Him by Em Liu (Folger Library Virtual Book Club).  Hamlet updated.  The ghost is the AI running Elsinore, a modern research facility.  All the major characters in a similar plot.  The title is from a speech Hamlet gives after killing Polonius.

Queen B by Juno Dawson (Folger Library Virtual Book Club).  Witches in the court of Henry VIII.  Did you know Anne Boleyn was beheaded because she really was a witch?  Plot driven.  Clever and fun.  The author has written several other similar books about witches and their covens in the courts of famous historical figures.

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra.  Two unalike sisters endure life in war-torn Chechnya.  The smart one ends up as the last doctor in a bombed-out hospital which used to have 500 doctors and is now reduced to only her in a trauma ward and a maternity ward.  Her beautiful artist sister gets trafficked as a prostitute until she returns home to draw giant murals from memory of what the city used to look like.  Her daily routine: “ten men, three cheeseburgers, seven glasses of water, and two shots of heroin”.  Full of grim war details.  A masterpiece.

The Tsar of Love and Technic by Anthony Marra.  A sequel to A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.  The anthology of short stories expands and develops and completes the life stories of characters from Marra’s earlier book.

All These Wonders by MOTH Project (Nevada Book Club).  An anthology of 40 transcriptions of 15-minute stories presented in the MOTH Radio Hour.

“A House of Mourning”: A 5-year-old mourner does right by her deceased 4-year-old friend.
“A Phone Call“: A wrong number caller answers and then spends all night on the phone.
“Forgiveness”: A murderer shows genuine remorse in court.

Unknown Masterpieces – Edited by Edwin Frank (NYRB).  An anthology from the New York Review of Books of essays from noted authors, including John Updike, Toni Morrison, Susan Sontag, Lydia Davis and Michael Cunningham, about their favorite under-appreciated books.  I’ve picked a couple of my next reads from this list, including A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes, The Pilgrim Hawk by Glenway Wescott, and The Radiance of the King by Cameron Laye.

Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa (trans. John Bester) (NYRB).  An anthology of short fiction from one of Japan’s best-loved authors.  Strange and charming fables and stories reminiscent of Aesop’s fables and traditional fairy tales.

Peggy

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz.  Third book in the Susan Ryeland/Atticus Pund series, which has been televised on PBS.  Susan, an editor, is back in England and editing an Atticus Pund detective novel written by a new author (the previous one died in Magpie Murders).  While Susan is editing, she realizes the author is hiding clues to his grandmother’s murder.  When the author dies, Susan becomes suspect #1.  These books are of the puzzle murder variety with anagrams and other wordplay involved.

Reading Horowitz got me to re-watch the Foyle’s War series, which he also wrote, thus explaining why my book list is shorter this month.  Luckily, I didn’t re-watch Midsomer Murders (now on season 25); he also wrote some of their early seasons.

The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair.  Middle book of a 7-book series set in post-WWII London featuring Iris Sparks, ex-intelligence agent who is dating a gangster, and Gwen Bainbridge, an upper-crust war widow, who jointly run The Right Sort Marriage Bureau.  Gwen attempted suicide after her husband died and so is under the supervision of the Court of Lunacy, with no control over her finances or her child’s custody.  Her custodian turns out to be no friend in her efforts to retake control of her life.  Would have been best to read the series in order (The Right Sort of Man is the first), but I started at book 7 (An Excellent Thing in a Woman) and skipped around.  The Lady from Burma is my favorite because of the Court of Lunacy.

Who is Government? by Michael Lewis, Dave Eggers, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell and some others.  Each of the authors interviewed a federal government worker (IRS agent, archivist, cemetery head, coal mine collapse researcher) and the articles originally appeared in the Washington Post.  A worthy sequel to Lewis’ Fifth Risk, which is about the things the Government does for us we don’t know about.

The Rushworth Family Plot by Claudia Gray.  Jane Austen characters propagate this mystery.  A neurodivergent Darcy son and a Tilney daughter (Northanger Abbey) investigate the deaths of two characters from Mansfield Park.  Slavery is a recurring theme in characters analyzing their moral choices.

Razor Blade Tears by S.A. Cosby.  An interracial gay couple is gunned down, and their ex-con fathers go on the warpath.  More violence than I care to read about, but it fits these characters.

Beth

Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman.  This is the French Revolution, with vampires, told from the point of view of a servant who happens to be a dead-ringer for Marie Antoinette.  With the zing of a thriller, it looks at how the mob mentality removes people’s choices and has them taking risks that are against their best interest due to the intransigence of the powerful.

Elusive by Genevieve Cogman.  The French Revolution continues its bloodbath, and our protagonist fights back against vampires, a 500-year-old image in her head, and rampant sexism and classism.

Quicksilver (1st book of the Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson.  Set in the years 1863 to 1715 this is a story of England, France, Germany and The Netherlands, told through three fictional characters, Daniel Waterhouse, scholar; Eliza, opportunistic very smart woman; and Jack Shaftoe, Vagabond, with the occasional appearance by the wandering Jew of indeterminate age and a cast of supporting characters.  It follows politics, science, culture, society, economics, warfare, etc.  An incredible story that will keep you looking up stuff that may have only lightly touched your mind in high school.  All related to adventure and cleverness.

The Confusion (Book 2 of the Baroque Cycle) by Neal Stephenson.  We watch the Far East Trade and the birth of the capitalistic system in Europe develop and how they are tied together, while following the adventures of our protagonists.  Quite the ride.  Read with Uncle Google.

The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe.  A group of five women and their husbands/families.  Lots of stereotypes and one-dimensional characters and it reads sort of like an advice column.

Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett.  We are back in Wendell’s kingdom, but all is not well and there are lots of spells to break and evil people to reform.  It’s a lot of fun as Emily has to put all her skills and knowledge to use to save herself and her new husband, Wendell, in Fairie.

Linda

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz.  5*
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz.  4*

A writing professor and not-too-successful author borrows a plot idea to write a bestselling novel.  Real-life plot twists ensue.  The ethical question underlying all this is: Who is the true author of a story?  Is it the person who invented the plot or the person who turns it into a novel?

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott.  3*  Partially based on true events, where the CIA tries to smuggle Dr. Zhivago back into the Soviet Union where it’s banned.  It made me want to read Dr. Zhivago although I didn’t like the movie.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney.  3*  ANOTHER book where a writer bases a novel on a stolen/borrowed idea.  Set on a creepy island where the locals seem to be conspiring to confine him.  A bit of magical realism.

The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis.  5*  A Covid book.  Involves a few of the medical personalities leading up to the pandemic.  Dr. Fauci is not one!  Not flattering to the CDC.  Extremely readable.

Red Dog Farm by Nathaniel Ian Miller.  4*  A young man in Iceland struggles with whether to take on the family farm or pursue an urban career.  Very enlightening about what it’s like to farm in a hostile environment.

Tall Oaks by Chris Whitaker.  5*  A child disappearance.  Some quite wacky characters, including a teenager who thinks he’s a gangster.

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker.  5  I really like this writer.  3 books in, 5 for each.  This novel stretches over decades of time, starting with the abduction and imprisonment of a child, and the other child who saves him.  Goodreads reviews are all over the place.

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee.  3*  A memoir of growing up in the English Cotswolds’ in the years between the 2 wars.  I recently visited this area, and the book was given to the travelers on the tour – it’s apparently quite famous locally and has been made into more than one miniseries/movie.   Just a quiet reminiscence of a charming rural area in times gone by.

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen.  4*  Number 2 in her Martini Club series.  Retired CIA operatives in a small town assist the police in solving local murders.  (Thursday Murder Club knockoff?)  This one involves a missing teenager.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.  4*  Set in two different time frames: The present day and 1791.  The female druggist in the 18th century sometimes uses her skills as a poisoner.  In the present day, an American woman struggling with a failing marriage delves into research about this apothecary to exercise the academic muscles that are frustrated by her domestic situation.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard.  3*  Small-town murder comes under new examination 26 years later.  Involving dynamics of a powerful local family in rural Kansas.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.  5*  The early days of time travel when the bugs are still being worked out.  Involving individuals brought to the present from various years of the past.

On Spice by Caitlin Penzey Moog.  3*  History of herbs and spices.

The Lost Bookshop by Eve Woods.  3*  Involving a London bookshop that may come in and out of reality, and the search for a theoretical second novel by Emily Bronte.  Some present and past characters and a love story.  A bit disorganized.

Cynthia

I (mostly) read a lot of medical journals/articles this month.

Heidi

I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

I had been meaning to read this 2013 autobiography for years but, knowing that it would contain graphic descriptions of violence, I kept putting it off.  It was one of the books that I purchased last summer for my sister, who liked biographies, but she didn’t survive to read it, so I read it a chapter or two at a time, in my sister’s honor.  Even though I had read news stories about the author, who is the youngest Nobel laureate, having received the Nobel Peace Prize at age 17 for her advocacy for women’s rights to education in the face of their persecution by the Taliban, I learned a lot about the history and geography of Pakistan by reading this book, particularly that of Swat, the region where Malala grew up.  It is a well-written picture of war and persecution from the perspective of a teen-aged girl.

The League of Lady Poisoners: Illustrated True Stories of Dangerous Women by Lisa Perrin

This was another of the books that I bought for my sister last summer.  I like to do as much of my book shopping as possible at an independent bookstore in Two Harbors, Minnesota, which is a small town on Lake Superior’s North Shore, near a cabin on Gitche Gumee where my granddaughter and I have a tradition of vacationing each summer.  I confess I was first attracted by the lavish cover of the book.  Seeing that it was a collection of true crime stories, another of my sister’s favorite genres, and that the cover reminded me of decorated Christmas trees, I bought it with the intention of giving it to my sister for Christmas.  Each chapter in the book consists of stories, throughout history and in various geographic locations, about women with a given motive for their crimes—to escape from abuse, greed, jealousy, etc.  For me, this book was best enjoyed in small sips, as it is a rather dark topic and I am not a true crime fan myself.  The book includes information about poisonous plants and other substances that were used to commit the detailed crimes, and also touches on scientific advances that eventually enabled the definitive discovery of poisoning crimes.  Well worth reading.

It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas

When I have been very busy with obligations, it is my habit to re-read books I have especially enjoyed, and this book is one such book.  Being near the end of an intensive few months of volunteer wildlife surveys, I chose to wind down before sleep for several days with this book.  Yes, it is a romance novel.  The author writes intelligently about both the mundane givens and the vagaries of human nature.  I identify with the heroine in this book because she has a “nose,” she is athletic, she rides horses, and she is outspoken.  The book opens with her and her sister in a perfumer’s shop, a scene that engaged me immediately.  There is a scene in which the heroine jumps one of the hero’s horses while riding side-saddle, followed by a physical and emotional confrontation between the hero and heroine that is a delight to read.  This author is also expert in writing erotic scenes that are not trashy or tawdry—great vicarious experiences for anyone lacking sexual passion in their own lives (which applies to way too many of us, I think).  Kleypas’ romance novels generally include some danger posed to the heroine that must be overcome, or some extremely traumatic past that threatens to destroy the heroine’s present happiness, but these elements are not formulaic or trite.  I’ve probably read a dozen of Kleypas’ books so far and this one is my favorite.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

I make no apologies for being a big fan of Jane Austen.  With the exception of Emma (which I could not force myself to finish, I dislike the heroine so much), I have read all her novels at least 10 times.  They are a favorite go-to for a relaxing, entertaining read that I am sure I will enjoy.  Austen’s heroines, particularly Anne Elliot and Elizabeth Bennett, are people that I would absolutely cherish as friends.  People who think that her novels are just historical romances are missing out on some of the most insightful and humorous writing ever produced.  I especially enjoy reading a slender, pocket-sized, 1955 edition of this book that I bought in a used book store in Madison many years ago.  (Yes, I am a tactile reader and enjoy books best when I can feel, smell, and see them in my hands.  No Kindle for me, though I read most of my news online.)  Catherine Morland is the young heroine of Northanger Abbey and it is a pleasure to watch her mature from a foolish girl who has been introduced to, and is absolutely captivated by, the spooky Gothic novels of her time, to an ardent young lady who learns from her mistakes, grows to love a kind young man, and, by necessity, finds that she can think for herself and take care of herself.

Brad (35/13,695)

Vermilion Drift (Cork O’Connor #10) by William Kent Krueger.  What I like about this series is that its characters are not static; they continue to develop and grow.  O’Connor’s wife is dead, his two daughters are off at college, leaving him home alone with his teenage son.  So, there’s that.  At the same time there is a murder that ends up being related to a series of murders that occurred decades ago.  Are they related?  Which also brings up the past of O’Conner’s dead father, who was at one time a sheriff of the town he lives in.  Krueger does a really good job of tying all these bits and pieces together.  *****

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.  My nonfiction book this month.

There is no short synopsis of this book.  Harari describes how mankind has evolved from small bands of nomads (20-25) to stationary groups of 100+ during the agricultural revolution.  Interestingly, the average lifespan during this transition actually decreased, as diets that were once varied became more reliant on grains and farmed animals.  And they now know how to defend their crops and livestock from other groups seeking to expand, leading to more conflict.

Next came the cognitive revolution, which led to towns, cities, and empires.  Everything is bigger, and there are even more deaths.  This is a very interesting book on human development.  Recommended.  *****

The Secret History by Donna Tartt.  It has been a while since I read a book as well written as this. Although released over 30 years ago, it doesn’t feel dated at all.  At its heart is a small group of students studying Greek culture at an elite small college in Vermont.  Excellent character development.  Highly recommended.  *****

Prodigal Son (Orphan X #6) by Gregg Hurwitz.  Up to this point in the series Hurwitz had basically told the same story, albeit well done.  This one broke the mold a little bit.  X is trying to ease into retirement, but then he is contacted by someone who claims to be his mother.  This ends up being a story about what it means to have a family.  Noticeably less violent than the previous books in the series.  *****

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.  Oh my gosh, I did not like this book.  Essentially a collection of short stories about people that live in a small coastal town in Maine.  Almost all the stories focus on Olive Kitteridge, a miserable woman who enjoys making other people miserable.  Anyone that doesn’t agree with her point of view is stupid.  If you like reading about unhappy people, this is the book for you.  Very well written, however, which is why I give it ***.

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2009), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2008).

Void Moon by Michael Connelly.  This is a stand-alone book, published in 1999.  Basically, Connelly’s version of Ocean’s 11.   A professional thief pulls off a daring heist in Las Vegas, but ends up with more, much more than she anticipated.  Turns out this was mob money, and they want it back.  An enforcer is brought in to track down the thief and recover the money.  Basically, (the plot) parallels the approach detective Bosch would take in the series Connelly is most well known for.  Except Bosch doesn’t kill everyone he comes across.  *****

Caucasia by Danzy Senna.  The story is about a daughter that is the product of a white mother and a black father.  She looks white, while her olde sister is definitely black.  The mother is a daughter of a blueblood Boston family who becomes radicalized during the 60s.  Her father is a professor who researches racism.  We follow the family through the years, with the white mother going on the lam with her “white” daughter, while the father takes his black daughter and mother to Brazil, in search of a racially equitable environment.  Lots more to this story.  Excellent writing.  (It was) amazing that this was a debut novel.  Highly recommended.  *****

Fever by Mary Beth Kean.  Historical fiction about typhoid Mary.  Emphasis on fiction, plus heavy Chick Lit.  Not what I was hoping for.  ***

Nightshade (Detective Stilwell #1) by Michael Connelly.  New series by Connelly, now that he has finished with Bosch.  Another detective though, this one based on Catalina Island, where he has been banished because of a major conflict with his old partner.  So, he handles the routine and the mundane, until a body is found and the old detective instinct rises up.  Similar to Bosch, the urger is always to keep the momentum going, to disregard procedures.  And like the Bosch novels, several loose threads at the end are simply glossed over or ignored.  The writing keeps you engaged, and the story moves along at a rapid clip, again, like the Bosch novels.  ***

Christina — Book Discussion & Report TBD