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 Sally |
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Fiona and Jane
Jean Chen Ho
This contemporary novel follows the friendship of Fiona and Jane, two Taiwanese Americans, from childhood well into adulthood. The structure is linked short stories, told alternately by Fiona and Jane. The two live in LA, although Fiona moves to New York City for a number of years. The book takes the two through issues with family, sexual identity, friendships, racism, and career choices. It provides the reader with glimpses into another culture and, for me, another generation.
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The Dizzy Cook
Alicia Wolf |
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Heal Your Headache
David Buchholz, M.D.
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Victory Over Vestibular Migraine
Shin Beh, M.D.
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In 2009, I had an episode of vertigo. It was diagnosed as BPPV (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) and I was told I’d probably never experience it again. Ha! The attacks increased in frequency and severity until the fall of 2021, when I had symptoms 40 out of 44 days. After years of frustration and visits with doctors, physical therapists, and chiropractors in two states, I had an appointment with a neurologist who correctly diagnosed my problem as vestibular migraines and was able to treat them.
I’m telling this because I’ve come to understand that undiagnosed or incorrectly diagnosed ailments are common for women, as are migraines. Perhaps my story and these books could be helpful to you.
Recently, I happened upon a book titled The Dizzy Cook. It’s written by Alicia Wolf who, like me, lives with vestibular migraines. Through the work of David Buchholz and Shin Beh, she has learned that food can trigger migraines. The Dizzy Cook presents the Heal Your Headache (HYH) diet, an elimination diet designed to identify food triggers. She not only presents the diet but includes a wealth of helpful information about migraines. The bulk of the book is recipes that provide delicious eating on the very restrictive HYH diet.
I’ve identified several triggers for my migraines, but if I can identify more and further reduce the frequency of migraines, I would be very happy.
I highly recommend all three books. Heal Your Headache is an older book, but addresses migraines in general, while Victory Over Vestibular Migraine and The Dizzy Cook focus specifically on vestibular migraine. |
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Ann
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Forsaken Country
Allen Eskens
Max Rupert has left Minneapolis and his career as a detective. He is grieving the death of his wife and wrestling with the guilt he carries due to past decisions and actions. He plans to live the rest of his life as a hermit in the woods near Grand Rapids. When Lyle, a friend and former sheriff, approaches Max asking for help, Max's plans change. Lyle's daughter Sandy and grandson Pip have disappeared. Local law enforcement believes that Sandy most likely ran away. Lyle suspects foul play and Max agrees to help. The investigation leads them to the Twin Cities and the Boundary Waters. The search is intense and dangerous, with many twists and turns. Forsaken Country is a gripping story. Once I started reading, I didn't want to quit. |
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Bob |
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No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality
Michael J. Fox
Wow, what a book….but it’s actually a bunch of little books, slices of Michael J. Fox’s life and what it’s like to live it. You may know or have heard of the author (if you’re old enough.) His “Back to the Future” movie roles as Marty McFly were/are great. But even greater are the real- life roles he’s living. Michael J. Fox has Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and he’s had it over 30 years now. If you read nothing else in this book, make certain you read about his travels to Bhutan where he discovers a reprieve from his symptoms, the tremors and the flailing arms of bradykinesia. He found an unexpected peace. Is it the food? Is it the altitude? He doesn’t know and while he might be tempted to “jump up and down with glee he simply accepts it with gratitude.” He knows the symptoms will be back.
MJF is incredible. The man has had brain surgery, spinal surgery, PD oh, and also broke his left arm into a thousand pieces (or so it seemed.) Despite all this he keeps on truckin’ even though it may take him an hour to walk twenty feet and make a right turn on a New York City sidewalk.
If you have PD you need to read this book. If you don’t have PD but know someone who does you need to read this book. If you are looking for a ray of hope, you need to read this book. I have PD and I’m glad I read it.
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Brita |
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The Ride of Her Life
Elizabeth Letts
This sweet little book is a look at an inspiring trip across America in the 1950s, just as superhighways were being planned and the pace of life was accelerating to modern automobile speed, rendering this journey unrepeatable. It is an improbable story based on the true-life adventure of Annie Wilkins, an impoverished 63 year old woman, the last in her family line, who, with the family farm lost and suffering serious health conditions, decided that she had nothing to lose by setting off on horseback with all of her worldly possessions and her faithful dog, saying goodbye to Maine and heading for California.
Her travels across the country with no maps, virtually no money and no real sense of the immensity of her undertaking, are a testament to her steely determination, courage and unflagging belief in the kindness of strangers. I hope you will enjoy this read about her ride across the USA, with her best friends and companions; the retired racehorse—not a fan of bridges—Tarzan; impetuous horseback riding mutt, Depeche Toi; the unflappable Tennessee Walker, Rex, and the hundreds of kind people they met along the way.
If you have experienced the joys of relationships with horses and dogs you will relate at a deep level to this story.
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Doni
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Fencing with the King
Diana Abu-Jaber
The upcoming 60th birthday celebration for the king of Jordan reunites a family that has been separated for many years. Powerful and wealthy Uncle Hafez, right hand man to the king, invites his brother Gabe to return from America for a fencing demonstration with the king, with whom he used to practice. Although reluctant, Gabe agrees, at the urging of his daughter, Amani. He brings with him a family heirloom that was bequeathed to him by his father.
Amani is a newly divorced, unemployed poet who lives with her parents. She finds an old letter from her grandmother and is compelled to delve into her past. She travels to Jordan with her father and sets out with her younger cousin Omar to discover what she can. They follow clues, crisscrossing the desert to learn what happened to her grandmother, in the meantime, finding out more about her Uncle Hafez and the impact of power and wealth on her family.
This book is a lovely, complex tale of family secrets, sibling relationships and love for a beautiful country. Abu-Jaber weaves characters into the story who are believable and integral to the plot. The peek into Jordanian history culture and landscape are intriguing and form the structure for a very good read.
Note: the paperback edition of this book will be released March 14th.
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Gina
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Birnam Wood
Eleanor Catton
Mira Bunting is the activist who started the guerilla gardening group Birnam Wood. The group turns unused or abandoned pieces of land into food gardens. As Mira is looking for a way to put this group in the green, she comes across the perfect piece of land in Thorndike.
Robert Lemoine, an American magnate, is also interested in Thorndike. He is planning to use the space for his end-of-times bunker.
Thorndike brings these two antithetical people together for what could be a mutually beneficial partnership.
I’ll leave it there as I feel the rest of the story is best left to unfold as you turn each page.
The last five pages will leave you with your mouth agape, completely gobsmacked. Books with unforgettable endings are few and far between. This is one of those books.
Note: this book will be released in hardcover on
March 7.
It may be pre-ordered here.
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Hannah
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Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir
Elizabeth Miki Brina
What a beautiful book! A good memoir has all the readability of a novel with the added power of being real. This story is very powerful. Brina is the daughter of an American officer and an Okinawan woman. They live in America, so she has to deal with being an “other.” More importantly, it takes her decades to get a handle on what her mother has gone through and to see her protective father clearly. This is also a primer on Okinawa and our shameful treatment of its people. The book is full of love and regret and redemption. The ending is a big hug, but you will never think of Okinawa the same way after you read it.
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Trust
Hernan Diaz
This highly praised novel has a unique structure. It’s set up as four different “books” by different fictional authors. I found the first book a bit slow, but Trust builds momentum to the satisfying end. It’s about a New York tycoon who is widely blamed for the 1929 market crash. Well, it’s about the financier and his mysterious wife, and the stock market and their mansion on Park Avenue, and a young woman who gets mixed up in the attempts to make all of this accessible to average people. I can’t think of another book remotely like it. Great Gatsby meets Upstairs Downstairs? Not really. Rashomon? Nah… |
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Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
Oh Elizabeth! This is one of the best books by a great writer. There is such a sense of intimacy, of getting a true accounting of a mind both complex and simple in different ways. It’s a deeper examination of Lucy Barton (from Strout’s My Name Is Lucy Barton, which I wish I’d reread before reading Oh William!, but each book stands alone.) It’s also an exploration of marriage, and of the possibilities and limitations in really knowing another person. It’s not a long novel: it’s an exquisite gem of one. |
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Lee |
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The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
In the Coopers Chase retirement village, four friends meet once a week in the Jigsaw Room to investigate unsolved murders.
Approaching their 80s, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron use their skills from their varied professions (nurse, psychiatrist, union organizer, and ... hmmm ..) to work on unsolved murders.
When a killing takes place that involves the village, the group sets out to solve the mystery ... which blossoms into multiple, interconnected mysteries.
The characters make this is a fascinating read, the plot is exceptionally well done, and the views on grief, loneliness, and justice are complex. **And** there are some truly hilarious passages. |
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Tim
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The Librarian of Burned Books
Brianna Labuskes
This novel takes place simultaneously in snatches of time: Berlin, in 1932, Paris 1936, and New York 1944. A young woman has written an acclaimed first novel and has been given an all-expenses paid trip to Germany in order to promote her book and good relations between the new Nazi Government in Germany and the U.S. Government. She discovers she's being groomed as a propaganda tool. In Paris, a refugee is working in a library that specializes in promoting books the Nazi Government has both banned and burned, while waiting for the inevitable World War to begin. And in New York, a woman is working to supply American G.I.'s with inexpensive books, while fighting a Senator intent on censoring the books being sent. These women’s stories all come together in a way that illustrates the insidiousness of censoring reading materials. I do wonder how much of this story is influenced by actual events?
Note: this book will be released in paperback on
February 21.
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Over the Edge of the World
Laurence Bergreen
On the 20th of September 1519, 5 ships sailed from Spain, intending to sail west until they reached the fabled spice islands. The convoy was under the leadership of Captain General Ferdinand Magellan, and he knew less about where he wanted to go, and what it might take to get there, than we know today about what it will take to go to Mars. Laurence Bergreen tells the story of this adventure, or misadventure, with a clear objective assessment of the personalities and motivations of the people who assisted the enterprise, as well as those who did their best to see it fail. Antonio Pigafetta (a Venetian scholar, with an unfortunate last name) whom few of us have heard of, went on the voyage, charged by the Spanish authorities, to record the events and details of the enterprise. Since there was no established "form" his written account was to follow, he was free to develop his own. And didn't he just! Diary-like accounts of the day-to-day shipboard life, weather observations, even detailed hand drawn maps, and descriptions of geographical features, as well as accounts of the peoples and their customs... even vocabularies of the languages they spoke. Yale University has Pigafetta's papers in its rare book collection. (Who knew?) If you're looking for a world class adventure, this is the book!
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Parnassus on Wheels
Christopher Morley
Helen McGill is a plain, bookish, middle aged spinster, keeping house for her brother on a rural New England farm. Her life seems to stretch out before her, wearily dull, and as repetitious as the weekly cycle of almost ritual household duties. One day a horse-drawn van pulls into the farmyard, driven by Mr. Roger Mifflin. This Mr. Mifflin travels through the countryside selling new and used books from his van. Suddenly, unexpectedly, marvelously, Helen's life changes and expands in unexpected ways.
This is a short well-crafted book, especially well-suited for a young reader looking for "that formative book" that sets them, sure footed, on the road of a lifetime of satisfying reading. It would make an excellent gift! |
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Would you like to be a guest reviewer?
Email Sally at sally@beagleandwolf.com |
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Staff Picks
