May 2020

Although the virtual book discussions are short and sweet, I'm grateful we can still get together to share stories.

Here's what we discussed:

Eight Hundred Grapes - Laura Dave

At the Edge of the Orchard - Tracy Chevalier

Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier

The Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan

A Baker's Daughter - Marcy Brenner and Kristin Donnan

Broken for Your - Stephanie Kallos

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff - Christopher Moore

The Plague - Albert Camus

Bossypants - Tina Fey

Jaguar in the Kitchen: My Life with Jungle Larry - Nancy Teztlaff

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson

Noir at the Bar: Authors and book discussion sponsored by Literary Cleveland

From Mary Lou:

Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009). This novel presents British history in the time of King Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey through the life of Thomas Cromwell. Thomas begins life as the abused son of an abusive blacksmith. He escapes to the continent and doesn’t return to England until he is a grown man. He joins the household of Cardinal Wolsey, trains as a lawyer, and proceeds to make his fortune and his reputation. The novel provides a brilliant account of the upheavals in power politics and power religion before Elizabeth I came to the throne. It draws heavily on George Cavendish’s contemporaneous biography of Cardinal Wolsey. Thomas Cromwell makes an honorable and clever protagonist in this chronicle of intrigue and ambition.

Kate Atkinson, Case Histories (2004). This is an unusually structured mystery novel with three apparently unrelated case histories in 1970, 1994, and 1979, presented in that order. Each is horrifying in its own way. Enter our somewhat bumbling ne’er-do-well private detective, Jackson Brodie, in 2000. He is hired to investigate aspects of these cold cases and peculiar connections begin to appear. It does not seem possible that the cases can be interrelated, but they are. The suspense in the novel is based on Jackson’s discoveries of these improbable connections. In the end, after several life-threatening events, his efforts are rewarded in a most surprising manner.

Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn (2006). Jackson Brodie, retired police office and retired private investigator, is now independently wealthy. He has returned from his villa in France to Edinburgh where his actress-girlfriend has a part in a fringe play during the summer arts festival. He witnesses a road rage incident where a man is beaten badly in the street by an incredible hulk. Jackson slips off before giving a statement to police. He goes to Cramond Island where he discovers a murdered woman with a pink card in her bra: “FAVORS - We do what you want us to do.” The body disappears in the Forth and the police to whom he reports it think he is delusional. Later the incredible hulk encounters Jackson and assaults him but when the police come, Jackson is the one who ends up in jail. He meets Louise, a female police detective who finds his explanations of events incredible, but somehow intriguing. Jackson does not believe in coincidences and he keeps looking for FAVORS. Other peculiar characters also have a connection to the road rage assault, including scoundrels, human traffickers, prostitutes and criminals. As in the previous novel, everything is interconnected. In spite of himself, Jackson manages to stay alive and figure it all out. There may even be a new romance in his future with Louise.