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January: Never, by Ken Follett
WOW, what a story! We follow three separate story-lines in different parts of the world, each one packed with danger, politics, intrigue, and tension. It was a breathless read, and I stayed up until 2 am to finish the final 200 pages because I couldn’t stand going to bed without knowing how it ended.
February: The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O’Farrell
Our group also read Hamnet by the same author, and I preferred it to this one. I always enjoy historical fiction to flesh out the life of someone in a period of time I don’t know much about, but in this case, I think not enough was known of Lucrezia’s life to make it interesting. The most interesting thing about her life was her death, and the author speculates on her fate.
March: Babel, by R.F.Kuang
This is the book I selected for our group. I’m a language enthusiast, and this was about a school of translation and linguistics set in England during the time of colonization. The main character was originally from China, and was brought over to Babel to become a translator. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get into it. The consensus of the group was that it had too many genres: fiction, fantasy, historical, adventure ect. We all liked sections of it, but the effect of the whole was overwhelming.
April: Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
This was a quick read and well-received by the entire group. Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant scientist but becomes famous for being a brilliant cook and TV personality. In an era where women ‘belong in the kitchen,’ she taught her female viewers to love science and to seek the extraordinary.
May: Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz, by Gail Crowther
This non-fiction work describes the lives, writings and deaths (suicide) of writers and friends Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. I’d never read anything by Sylvia Plath, and I’d never even heard of Anne Sexton. They were feminists and revolutionaries, and I started the book thinking that I’d move on to read their works when I finished. Instead, their lives were so depressing and suicidal that the thought of reading their works made me shudder. We all thought the book was dark and dispiriting.
June: The Four Winds, by Kristen Hannah
We followed ugly and un-loved Elsa through the struggles of life in Dust Bowl in the Texas Panhandle, her abandonment by her flighty husband, and her decision to take her two children to California in search of a better life. It was a quick read and well-received. Most of the ladies had enjoyed previous books by the author. Kristen Hannah is a favorite of my mother, but I had only read one other book (Winter Garden) and hadn’t cared for it. I’m not a huge fan of the character dialogues, and I’m always irritated when a book constantly describes that the characters have ‘absolutely nothing to eat,’ but then all of a sudden they do have ‘something.’
July: The Widow Cliquot, by Tilar J. Mazeo
This was the first book that I didn’t actually read for Book Club. I got 30 pages in, closed it with finality, and declared that I wasn’t going to waste my time. It’s the true story of Barbe-Nicole Clicqout, the woman behind one of the world’s most famous champagne empires. I don’t drink champagne, and I don’t drink much alcohol in general, so the descriptions of how it was made was of no interest to me. What really drove me crazy and made me shut the book was that the author had very little information on the early life of his heroine, and kept making things up to set the scene. “When walking to school, she MIGHT have seen this!” “She MIGHT have witnessed this!” The other ladies also didn’t care for it, and I have no regrets about not finishing it. We did enjoy Clicquot champagne during our book discussion.
August: Carolina Built, by Kianna Alexander
This one had great potential. It’s the true story of Josephine Leary, who was born into slavery and eventually became a prosperous land-owner in a time when Blacks, especially female Blacks, were not prominent in business. While the woman herself is remarkable, I didn’t find the book to be great. Too much description was given to what she wore at any given time, and while we were supposed to have sympathy for her against her controlling husband, there were times when we thought, “No, she really should have discussed the purchase of a new carriage with him.”
September: Horse, by Geraldine Brooks
This is my second book by the author. My Missoula book club read People of the Book. I really enjoy a book that starts toward the end and then gradually builds up to that conclusion. This one was especially good. We start with an antique painting on the street and an antique horse skeleton in a museum, and we gradually learn the (partly true) story of the amazing racehorse Lexington and the people who cared for him.
October: The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois, by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
The lady who selected it had left the group by the time we were to read it, and as I was the only one who had read it and since I hadn’t cared for it, we omitted the discussion and instead met to discuss our book selections for 2024. My biggest reason for disliking the book was that there were too many characters and I eventually had to make notes to keep track of everyone. It was a multi-generational story about slaves, their masters, and Native Americans on one tract of land. By the end of it I had two full pages of notes with everyone’s names and a tidbit about them, and it’s not relaxing to have to consult the pages every time another character walks in.
November: American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins
Holy cow, what a terrifying book. Lydia and her son Luca have escaped a cartel-led massacre of their family and are fleeing north from Mexico to try to make it to the United States. This book was very well-written and I couldn’t put it down, even though I was scared to find out what would happen next. The characters were never safe or happy, but before going to bed I had to make sure they were at least ‘ok’ before I could fall asleep. It was an unfortunate choice of book after having just booked tickets for our family to fly to Mexico next year.
December: White Elephant Book Exchange
I received this book of facts and I have been informed by the rest of the group that I’m expected to provide a tidbit of knowledge for each meeting next year.