Phinney Books, 7:30pm – Before the main discussion, each person can talk about a book they have read during the past month and rate it from 0 to 5. Zero – “I really disliked it.” Five – “Best book I have recently read!”
Sonya, The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick, 4.5: I have been reading many of Matthew Quick’s books, including The Silver Lining’s Playbook and Love Fails. I am enjoying his voice in his writing. In this particular book, it is about a middle-aged man who is on the spectrum and the story of how he is able to create relationships with others – both romantic and as friends. He is funny, sweet, realistic, and has some very insightful comments about life in general. I would give most of his books at least a 4.5.
Act One by Moss Hart – 4.5: Thoroughly enjoyable memoir about Moss Hart starting off in his play-writing career in the 1920’s and 30’s.
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance – 4.5: As has been said by others, well worth reading this memoir of growing up very poor in Kentucky.
Kitty, The Power of Kindness: The unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life by Piero Ferrucci and Dalai Lama, 4.0: Lovely and nourishing.
Ann, A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel, by Amar Tolls, 4.5: Takes place starting in 1922. The count has been brought before the new regime in Moscow. He is forced to go back to the hotel and never leave it. It is quite posh and he has a nice room, but he is then moved into the attic. It is about who he meets, how he becomes part of the hotel, and is a picture of the effects of the regime on Russia.
Julie, The Princes of Ireland: the Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherfurd: The author takes a city or country and elaborately describes it. With Ireland, he starts in 500 and goes to 1500. It is a fascinating historical account of Ireland. In progress, so no rating yet.
Jennifer, Wonder by RJ Palacio, 5.0: It is a young adult book. The author was inspired to write when she and her family encountered another family with a child who had a disability – her own young child was scared by the disabled child. She really enjoyed the book – it is realistic – about a mix of kids trying to deal with growing up and maturing.
Tom, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life by Yiyun Li, 4.75: Picked it up because of James L McPherson who died last year. Yiun writes an amazing essay about their friendship. The whole book is a kind of memoir, kind of about writing, about changing cultures and language. It goes all over the place. Every page has wonderful passages (so many dog-eared pages!). Everything is life or death for her – so much is at stake – amazing. See Tom’s review in the Phinney Books Newsletter.
Kathleen, A Man in the High Castle by Phillip K Dick: White people feel inferior, narrated by them. Don’t think it was that well written, but a great story.
Marla, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, 5.0: Interesting how he weaves historical events and an actual railroad.
Pam, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, 5.0: Really heavily researched. The author goes into a poor area in Milwaukee. He follows 8 families (some are tenants, and some are landlords). It reads like fiction but it isn’t. Very compassionate, beautifully written, very sad.
Avid Reader: A Life by Robert Gottlieb, 5.0: Fascinating life in publishing, editor of The New Yorker for a few years.
Tim, The Chemist by Stephanie Myer, 4.5: Picked it up because of the title. The title refers to the title of the protagonist who is actually a molecular biologist. She works for the government using chemicals to inflict pain without it showing. She is then is on the run because the government is trying to kill her. It is a fascinating read with a romance. Not great literature but is a fun read.
The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, 5.0
Here is New York by E.B. White, 5.0
Rebecca, Homegoing: A Novel byYaa Gyasi, 4.25: Really good and enjoying it a lot. Each chapter is about the next generation – starts in Africa, slavery, jumps forward in time in every chapter a bit or a lot. It is beautifully written but not very happy and is quite sobering.
Here’s the article I mentioned, about how people of color understand white people far better than white people understand themselves: https://theestablishment.co/white-people-i-dont-want-you-to-understand-me-better-i-want-you-to-understand-yourselves-a6fbedd42ddf#.3x5ygb65d. The author is a friend of mine and, while the article initially made me uncomfortable and may make others in the group feel similarly, I sat with it awhile and it really impacted me, so perhaps others will also benefit.
Leah, A moveable Feast by Hemingway: This is a reread. It was published posthumously as a memoir, somewhat fictionalized. Set in Paris in a community of writers. It is quite entertaining. Each chapter is episodic, not a through line, but gives you a sense of that time and place in the 1920s.
Mimi, Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo, 4.0: Really liked it, if you liked Nobody’s Fool, then you will probably like this one. It is set 20 years after the first book.
Kjerste, The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts, by Joshua Hammer, 5.0: An excellent history of Timbuktu, the people in power, how they changed the city culturally. It is a good background and history – particularly from 2003-2013 – during that time librarians found a lot of texts, restored and preserved them.
Jon, Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai, 4.0: Young adult story about a 12 year old Vietnamese girl who goes with her family to Vietnam to try and find out what happened to her grandfather. It does a good job of describing the voice of the 12 year old girl who lives in California and hates being off the beach to go to Vietnam – it shows her evolving mind quite well.
Shelagh, Homegoing: A Novel byYaa Gyasi, 4.8: Historical saga in 300 pages – sisters who were separated (one in slavery) – hand story-telling to the next generation – spans the time to the present day – beautifully written – liked the linked stories – was impressed with what she accomplished in 300 pages as opposed to longer histories.
Dave, The Bad Popes by E.R. Chamberlin, 5.0: It has been sitting on his shelf for over 10 years. Glad he waited until now to read it. It is really good. The timeframe is medieval Italy, and is about the various popes and their children and schisms. He writes with a Shakespearian color, lots of fun to read.
Ridge Readers 