Quick Lit September 2020 Archives

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

by Candice Millard

I took it as my reading sign when Suzanne picked this narrative nonfiction book on WSIRN episode 242, describing it as "gripping." Millard weaves together three strands—politics, medicine, and technology to tell the story of James Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, who only served 200 days because he was shot and eventually died. The world of the late 1800s was just starting to understand germs and antiseptic and washing, but the whole country was lying in absolute agony for months while people were wondering, can we save him? Historic cameo: Alexander Graham Bell, who you'll remember as inventor of the telephone, plays a part as he worked around the clock, desperate to invent a device to find the bullet without injuring the president further.

Remedial Rocket Science

by Susannah Nix

From the publisher: "Opposites attract when a computer geek meets billionaire bad boy. The last thing Melody expects when she accepts a dream job offer is to run into her college one-night stand again. Not only does the hunky blast from her past work at the same aerospace company where she's just started in the IT department, he's the CEO's son. Jeremy's got a girlfriend and a reputation as a bad boy, so Melody resolves to keep her distance and focus on building a new life for herself in Los Angeles. But despite her good intentions, she can't seem to stay away from the heavenly-smelling paragon of hotness. As the two begin to forge an unlikely friendship, Melody's attraction to Jeremy grows deeper than she's ready to admit. Can the woman who always plays it safe take a risk on the man who's all wrong for her in all the right ways? This slow-burn romance is the first in a series of standalone rom-coms featuring heroines who work in STEM fields."

Actress

by Anne Enright

From the publisher: "Katherine O’Dell is an Irish theater legend. As her daughter, Norah, retraces her mother's celebrated career and bohemian life, she delves into long-kept secrets, both her mother’s and her own. Katherine began her career on Ireland's bus-and-truck circuit before making it to London's West End, Broadway, and finally Hollywood. Every moment of her life is a performance, with young Norah standing in the wings. But with age, alcohol, and dimming stardom, Katherine's grip on reality grows fitful. Fueled by a proud and long-simmering rage, she commits a bizarre crime. As Norah's role gradually changes to Katherine's protector, caregiver, and finally legacy-keeper, she revisits her mother's life of fiercely kept secrets; and Norah reveals in turn the secrets of her own sexual and emotional coming-of-age story. With virtuosic storytelling and in prose at turns lyrical and knife-sharp, Enright takes readers to the heart of the maddening yet tender love that binds a mother and daughter."

Before the Ever After

by Jacqueline Woodson

For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone’s hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he’s as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ’s house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ’s mom explains it’s because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that–but it doesn’t make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days, all the while wondering what their past amounts to if his father can’t remember it.

Don’t Look for Me

by Wendy Walker

From the publisher: "The greatest risk isn't running away. It's running out of time. One night, Molly Clarke walked away from her life. She doesn't want to be found. Or at least, that's the story. The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family that couldn't be put back together. They called it a 'walk away.' It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over. But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?"

Winter Counts

by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

I thoroughly enjoyed this new crime novel set on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Lakota nation. (Weiden is a citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation and received his MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts.) Virgil Wounded Horse is a Native American vigilante for hire: when people can't get justice through the reservation's official channels they turn to him to enact their own. This happens with depressing regularity because of the 1885 Major Crimes Act: certain felonies can only be prosecuted by the federal government, but at their discretion—and they typically decline to prosecute any case that doesn't include murder (Weiden says in his Author's Note that this circumstance is factual and all-too-real.) When Virgil's nephew gets entrapped in a fake drug bust, authorities more or less force the young teen to take a dangerous undercover assignment so they can nail the men who are trafficking heroin on the reservation. While the story is solid, this book shines for its setting, and its powerful exploration of identity. Though this reads as a standalone, Weiden left the door wide open for a sequel; I'm certainly interested in reading more. (Though the story is rarely graphic in portraying violence, the novel does begin with Virgil knocking out a child molester's teeth in a parking lot, please be mindful of the associated content.)

Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round

by Myquillyn Smith

Even before I finished Welcome Home, I was putting Myquillyn's principles into action—and enjoying the process. There's no one I trust more for guidance on making my home livable, welcoming, and beautiful. Her new book walks you through the seasons of the year, highlighting simple and gratifying ways to decorate (yay) and host (eventually) in tune with the rhythms of the year. For the fall season, I'm ready to shop my backyard for fall decor, as she suggests, and my kids can't wait to try the stacked apple cider bar she demonstrates how to do for a fall celebration. This would make a lovely gift book. Publication date September 15.

Housekeeping

by Marilynne Robinson

The first novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gilead. Despite the novel's title, the story is one of loneliness, transience, and loss. Set in the isolated (and imaginary) town of Fingerbone, Idaho, Robinson unfolds the story of two sisters and the stream of temporary caregivers that enter their lives, one after another, after the death of their mother and grandmother.

Quick Lit September 2020