Once Upon a River
Diane Setterfield

I have two favorite books so far this year. One is Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield and the other is The Binding by Bridget Collins. Both books are historical fiction (sort of) by British authors and are told in what I call storyteller tradition. Once Upon a River is set on the Thames, along which are a number of pubs, each with its own specialty. The Swan is known for storytelling. The Swan is owned and run by a couple with twelve daughters and one son. The Swan has been in the wife's family for generations. One night, a local man comes into the Swan with a nearly-drowned child and from there, the mystery unravels. The author throws a wide net of characters and brings it all together. The characters are well-developed and lovable. I listened to this on libro.fm and the reader is fantastic. Admittedly, I developed a book-crush on one of the male characters in the book due to the narrator's voice. This is the kind of book I can envision a family all listening to together while taking a road trip (a long road trip because no one is going to want to turn off the book!)

The Binding
Bridget Collins

The Binding is also fantastic, and it’s more magical than Once Upon a River. In The Binding, books are repositories of memories that people have asked to be removed from their minds and bound into a book. Novels are known as "fakes" since they are invented stories, not real memories. Bookbinders are those who are able to remove a person's memories and bind them into a book. Emmett, the son of farmers, has been called upon to apprentice to a bookbinder named Seredith. The book is told in three parts and I can't tell you a whole lot without giving away the book's secrets, but I'll tell you this - at its heart is a nontraditional love story and the book is filled with characters to love, hate, and sympathize with. If you're a fan of The Princess Bride, Once Upon a River and The Binding are must-reads or listens—I listened to both on libro.fm and both are excellent listens. Enjoy!!

The Line Tender
Kate Allen

Did you know in a scuba dive rescue, there is a person who stays on the boat and keeps hold of the line that the rescue diver dives with? The line is used as a means of communication (a certain number of tugs means a certain message—ie: live person found, emergency, etc) The person staying on board the boat is known as the line tender. I didn't know about line tenders until reading The Line Tender by Kate Allen, which is a terrific middle grade novel. 12-year old Lucy is the daughter of a policeman/scuba diver and a biologist. Lucy's biologist mom died when Lucy was 7. Since then, Lucy and her dad have been on their own with the help of their neighbor, Mr. Patterson ("Mr. P."), and the family of Lucy's best friend, Fred, who live across the street. Unfortunately, Lucy's parents’ friend Sookie, a local fisherman, has not been around the way he used to be before Lucy's mom died. When an unexpected death occurs, Lucy manages to bring Sookie back into the fold. Lucy and Fred come across some of Lucy's mom's shark research and Lucy is determined to find out what it all means. This book is filled with heartache and amazing characters. I think it would make an excellent choice for adult book groups who like to periodically read young adult literature. The Line Tender is a Midwest Connections pick this month—not for the setting of the book, which is the East Coast, but because the author lives in the Twin Cities. I hope I get to meet her one day and tell her how much I enjoyed The Line Tender!

Midnight in Chernobyl
Adam Higginbotham

Midnight in Chernobyl, another book I listened to on libro.fm, was completely unlike the other books I reviewed this month. For starters, it’s non-fiction. The topic has long been of peripheral interest to me. As a high school student, I appreciated how easy it was to remember its date (Chernobyl occurred on my 11th birthday) and my family is of Russian/Polish descent on both sides. While there is a fair amount of science and technology that I won't pretend to have understood in Midnight in Chernobyl, what fascinated me was the politics behind it. I read accounts of Gorbachev and other Soviet politicians that I never knew about. For example, I'd always wondered why I didn't remember Chernobyl happening when it happened. I was young, but not so young to not have remembered, and I can recall other headline news that happened in those years. The reason why is that the Soviet Union kept it a secret as long as possible (oh yeah, it was a communist country—DUH!) I think this book will appeal to a broader audience than you might expect. I recommended it to my dad. While he and I share interests in movies and comedy, our reading is completely different from each other's (as far as I know, the only books we've both read have been Harry Potter—until now.) His take on the book is below.

Shout
Laurie Halse Anderson

Anderson’s ground-breaking young adult novel, Speak, was published twenty years ago. In it, she attempted to give a voice to the survivors of sexual assault. Shout is a follow up to that book, encouraging survivors not just to speak, but to shout. It is a memoir in verse. Anderson shares memories of her own rape, the ways in which she found the strength to keep going, and gives encouragement to other survivors. This book is a must-read for adults, particularly parents, as well as young people. It’s a timely addition to the books appearing in response to #MeToo. The book was on the most recent Indie Next list for young readers. I listened to the book on Libro.fm—the author did the reading.

Moon of the Crusted Snow
Waubgeshig Rice

In a remote Canadian village, the native residents are finishing their final preparations for the coming winter. Some time back they had been forced to leave their homes in the south and settle in this inhospitable area. With help from the outside world, they have re-established community life. This particular fall, there are outages of connections to the outside. While this has occurred from time to time in the past, it’s unusual for internet access and electricity to be out at the same time. Villagers wait, with increasing restlessness, for service to be restored. Finally, two young villagers who have been in school in the south return home on stolen snowmobiles, and news that the outages are widespread, and anarchy is beginning. It’s clear that the village is on its own, and that the regular deliveries of fuel oil, medicine, and groceries, as well as power and communication will not be forthcoming. In addition, the village must cope with a handful of refugees from the south, one of whom has ambiguous but malignant intentions. I listened to this book on Libro.fm, and it was an absorbing story of survival against the backdrop of loss of all the infrastructure which supported life.

Women Rowing North
Mary Pipher

In Women Rowing North, Mary Pipher draws on her experience as a clinical psychologist and cultural anthropologist to shed light on a variety of experiences that women face as they age. Naturally, aging brings change. Health issues become more common. The deaths of close friends and family members are inevitable. Our sense of identity may change as our roles change. Retirement can be a challenging time, but also brings the opportunity to have new experiences and meet new people. Pipher weaves a sense of meaning and purpose from the strands of joy and sorrow experienced as we grow older. Women Rowing North is both informative and encouraging.

Successful Gardening on the Northern Prairie
Eric Bergeson

Spring has finally arrived! If you're an amateur gardener or landscaping wannabe living on the northern prairie, you will want to read this book. Bergeson discusses just about every question that you might possibly have about growing healthy vegetables and flowers or choosing the right trees for your land in USDA hardiness zones 3a, 3b, and 4a. This book is instructive and filled with practical information, yet easy to read. It is as if readers are lucky enough to have an extremely knowledgeable neighbor who is happy to share gardening tips. I highly recommend it.

Midnight in Chernobyl
Adam Higginbotham

I have to say up-front that I really liked this book. It’s about the nuclear power reactor accident in Pripyat, Russia (near Chernobyl.) The book details how the accident happened, how the staff reacted, and the response by the rest of the world. Essentially it’s a history book (which I’m not really a fan of..….just ask Mr. Hambrick, my high school history teacher) but I could not put this book down, and I knew the ending! The author does a great job of weaving together the stories of the individuals involved, from Mikhail Gorbachev down to the failed reactor’s control panel operator, Leonid Toptunov. The author’s research is quite extensive, with over 100 pages dedicated to references (370+ citations.) He looks not only at the accident but the problems with the nuclear reactor’s design. One of the Russian scientists interviewed said the design was so bad that if the accident hadn’t happened in Chernobyl it would have happened somewhere else. In addition to the bad design, there are details of other problems, such as a lack of training for the firefighters in the event that something like this happened. Probably worst of all was the attitude of the Politburo, the ultimate power in the USSR, which was intentionally slow about making decisions and releasing information to warn their own people of the dangers from nuclear fallout, not to mention the rest of the world.

In reading this book, make sure you review the “players” list at the beginning (lots of tough Russian names) and the explanation/definition of levels of radioactivity and what they mean, in the back. They’re quick reads and helpful. This is a well done book that I highly recommend.

The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel
Margaret Atwood

This adult graphic novel takes the familiar text from Atwood’s classic book and adds striking images by Renee Nault. Nault did a beautiful job on the illustrations, captivating the reader on every turn of the page. I began this book thinking that it would be similar to the Hulu series, but I assure you it is not. I felt I was almost seeing a different story through the eyes of this artist. I would highly suggest this to anyone who read and loved the original book, or even someone like me who has a hard time trudging through older books and appreciates a new spin on things.

Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle
Mary J. MacLeod

Tired of the noise and pace of life in London, Mary and her husband long for a quieter place to raise their two boys. On vacation they fall in love with an island in the Scottish Hebrides. Mary writes of life in Scotland where winters are long and cold, but summers are sunny and bright. As a district nurse, she soon becomes acquainted with the natives as patients and friends. I enjoyed this fun read. Every chapter is a different story, so it was easy to pick up and put down. A great read for busy lives. There is also a sequel titled Nurse Come You Here! I'll look for that next.

To Siri With Love: A mother, Her Autistic Son, and the Kindness of Machines
Judith Newman

The author's 13 year old autistic son found someone who would not only find information on his various obsessions (trains, planes, escalators and weather), but would also semi discuss them with him tirelessly. Her name was Siri and she lived in his mother’s I-phone. I enjoyed this series of funny, poignant, and uplifting stories about Gus and his twin brother Henry. Plus, I learned a lot about autism. Statistics show 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with autism. This book was on the New York Times 100 notable book list in 2017.

Virgil Wander
Leif Enger

On the way home to Greenstone from Duluth, Virgil Wander loses control of his car and plunges into Lake Superior. Fortunately, there is a man on the beach and he is able to pull Virgil to safety. Virgil's memory and his language skills are altered, so he looks at his small town and the people in it in a new way. Bestselling author Enger's great descriptions of land and people make this an interesting book. I first heard Leif and his brother Lin speak at a library conference years ago when they were experimenting with becoming authors. They were writing mysteries. Leif would write a chapter and Lin would write the next one. It was a unique way for both to get experience. The mysteries sold well in Minnesota. Since that time, they have both become accomplished authors.

The Power
Naomi Alderman

Imagine what would happen if all of the 15-year-old girls in the world suddenly had the to shoot strong electric shocks out of the palms of their hands. In this book, which was on a slew of Best Books lists including Obama’s and The New York Times lists, the author doesn’t take the comforting route of assuming that empowering the nurturing gender would instantly lead to peace and harmony. It’s an exploration of the relationship between power and wisdom, between anger and compassion. Margaret Atwood sums it up in a word: shocking.

The Temptation of Forgiveness
Donna Leon

If I were queen of the world I would command Donna Leon and Louise Penny to cowrite a book in which Venetian Commissario Brunetti and Canadian Chief Inspector Gamache partner to solve a crime. I don’t know how the authors would plot this, but the two intelligent, compassionate, happily married gentlemen would be such a delight solving a mystery together.

The Temptation of Forgiveness is now out in paperback. These books don’t need to be read in order, but for those who are new to the series it’s maybe not the best introduction to Leon as the book is more subtle than many of her others. It’s the way our old friends in the series respond to the situation that’s most interesting. For those who know and love the series, this is a great treat.

If you remember the opera singer Flavia Petrelli from Death at La Fenice, she returns in the excellent 2015 Falling in Love.

In all of the books in this series Venice, not the tourists’ Venice but the beautiful and endangered city of the permanent residents, is a major source of delight. There’s always a social issue involved, too: and Venice’s problems make ours look solvable by contrast. Perhaps Venice is a canary in the coal mine. But learning about it through these books is more joy than sorrow.

Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens

This is easily one of the best books I’ve read in the past 12 months. Set in the North Carolina Coastal Marshes, it’s the story of a woman’s life in a small rural town. I don’t want to give much of the story away, but I will say that if you liked Leif Enger’s Virgil Wander for his ability to relate a sense of place and atmosphere as well as create a story you really want to enter into, this is the book for you. It’s a mystery within a mystery, all within an excellent story. I will be very surprised if this book isn’t chosen by several book groups….. lots to talk about.

Lie With Me
Philippe Besson

I’ve sometimes made semi-bitter comments on difficult life situations, observing that there should be a How-To Manual for encounters with them. First Love For Dummies, First Break-Ups For Dummies… well, you get the idea. Without such guidance we’re nearly perfect victims, lacking every social grace, ravaged by shame, doubts, fears so strong they make us physically ill. Serene imperturbability might be the best outward aspect we should try to adopt, but most of us fail spectacularly in the attempt. It’s not often these personal dramas are depicted in fiction so perfectly that at the end you’re left nearly in tears.

The Daughter’s Tale
Correa

I loved Correa’s unforgettable first book, The German Girl, and was eager to read his second book, The Daughter’s Tale. It was even better than the first book! Inspired by true events, the book follows the experiences of one family as they attempt to flee Nazi Germany. I couldn’t put The Daughter’s Tale down—it grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let go!