Bellman & Black
Diane Setterfield

After reading The Thirteenth Tale last month, I couldn’t resist reading another Diane Setterfield (unfortunately, this means I’ve now read all her work, so I hope she’s working on another!) As a boy, William Bellman shot and killed a rook with a sling. He wasn’t generally a mean boy, but he did commit this one act of deadly violence. Following that, life goes along very well – he learns the family craft, excels at it, and eventually takes over the business. He marries a woman that he continues to love for the rest of his life, and together they build a family and life that is enviable. This is the point in the book that I thought WOW! This is going so WELL for William Bellman, and that was the last of things going well for him. I won't reveal what goes oh-so-wrong, but it does, and Bellman finds himself embarking on a new career, a peculiar one with an even more peculiar partner. Setterfield's writing is astounding. To me, this book has echoes of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. It's not for everyone, but those who love it, love it deeply.

The Secret of the Three Fates
Jess Armstrong

At Afternoon-In in January, I presented a book called The Curse of Penryth Hall. which is the first in a new series called Ruby Vaughn Mysteries. In book 1, readers are introduced to the plucky American heroine, Ruby Vaughn, who lives in England as an orphan who has grown up and is working/living in the care of her employer/landlord, Mr. Owen. She travels to deliver books to a customer, a murder occurs, she meets an interesting man named Ruan Kivell, and solves the murder. I absolutely loved it, so I went on to book #2, The Secret of the Three Fates. In book #2, Mr. Owen tells Ruby a lie that ends with both of them at a seance in the Scottish HIlls. Of course, since this is a mystery series a death occurs during the seance. Ruby is especially motivated to solve this murder as Mr. Owen becomes a prime suspect. Like the first book, the setting, story, and heroine are all great fun. For those who loved Ruan in book #1, he's back! If you like audiobooks, I recommend this one, but only after you've read the first book in the series.

The Cuckoo's Calling
Robert Galbraith

I’ve heard for years that the Cormoran Strike mystery series by Robert Galbraith is amazing, but just never got around to them until NOW! The first book in the series is The Cuckoo’s Calling and it’s an excellent audiobook for those who “read with their ears” (as Doni says.) Cormoran is a down-on-his-luck private investigator. He is the son a celebrity (which he tries to avoid people knowing—he was the product of an affair, and does not have a relationship with his biological father), a former member of the military—former because he left after having part of his leg blown off (and now has a prosthetic, which isn’t great for someone of his size—slightly smaller than a bear). His on-off toxic relationship with a woman named Charlotte has ended again and unfortunately, since he was living at Charlotte’s, he’s now homeless, so he takes up temporary residence in his office. His private investigation business is not doing well—he’s lacking paying clients. For secretarial needs, Cormoran uses a temp agency, but he really can’t afford that anymore—except he forgot to let the agency know he no longer wanted temps to be sent and a new one named Robin has arrived. He’ll let her stay for the week, figure out a way to pay her, and then be rid of her, except that in a week’s time she proves herself to be incredibly capable and helpful. Also during that week, a wealthy potential client walks through the door (it is fiction after all, anything can happen), and Cormoran agrees to take on the case with some money down from the wealthy client. The wealthy client is the brother a celebrity who has recently died—she fell from her apartment, and the police ruled it a suicide, but the brother is sure she was pushed. The writing, characters, and story are all superb and I’m so glad I’m finally getting to this series!

As a reader, I absolutely adore the non-fiction mashup of Foreign Fruit. (As a bookseller, I know the decision of WHERE to shelve it will plague me until I either just perpetually keep it on display and/or order multiple copies and shelve them in multiple sections.) Katie Goh, half-Irish and half-Asian, has a deep-rooted interest in the orange, the fruit. Like the author herself, the orange has a history that includes the adjectives (provided by the author) of hybrid, foreign, inauthentic (I would argue against this one in regard to the author), and ultimately purposeful. Segmented into various places where the author has traveled to either delve into family history or to learn more about the history of the orange, Foreign Fruit is a mesmerizing read that blends history, science, and memoir. 

Note: Foreign Fruit releases May 6th

Note: At the recent Minnesota Book Awards gala, Anton Treuer won the Young Adult Literature category with the book Where Wolves Don’t Die. There’s been a lot of buzz about this book at the store, and it’s the first book the Sister Wolf Books Book Group will read this summer, so this seemed a good time to reprint Jen’s review.

If you haven’t heard me talk about this book, then I suspect you’ve either been away, like, on the moon, or you’ve gone deaf and might want to get that checked out. I’m not the only one talking about it, there has been a LOT of well-deserved buzz over Where Wolves Don’t Die, Anton Treuer’s first novel and first juvenile book. I often recommend that a book group periodically read a juvenile book, for a number of reasons—probably the one that’s most compelling for book group members is the chance to read and discuss a book, then pass it on to grandchildren to read and discuss it again. This is a perfect book for just that. So what’s the book about? Ezra lives in Minneapolis with his father, an Ojibwe language professor. After Ezra gets in a fight with Matt, a fellow student (or more accurately, a bully) Matt’s house burns down and it seems best to get Ezra out of town, or even better, out of the country. Ezra goes to stay with his grandparents in Canada. There’s a fair amount of Anishinaabe culture woven into the story (some of which Ezra is learning along with the reader), but I think what will be most appealing to kids reading this is the mystery and the outdoors adventure feel to it (think Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.) For adults, you’re going to LOVE the grandparents in this story, especially the grandfather. Treuer narrates the audiobook himself, and I think a Native narrator is crucial for this book.

Note: here’s the link to a five-minute video of Treuer talking about the book.

Memorial Days
Geraldine Brooks

On May 27, 2019, author Geraldine Brooks received the phone call that none of us wants to get. While on book tour, her husband, Tony Horwitz, had collapsed and died on a street in Washington DC.

In addition to Brooks, Horwitz left behind two relatively young sons, loving family members, and many, many friends and colleagues.

Brooks had no time to grieve. She needed to tell their sons of their father’s death (one was at boarding school and the other was nearly at the end of extensive travel), make arrangements for a memorial service, and work through the myriad details that accompany a death, particularly one which is sudden. Eventually, in February of 2023, she went to the remote Flinders Island, off the coast of Tasmania (Brooks is Australian) to do the grief work which she had neglected. Memorial Days is the account of her time there. It alternates between reflection on the events at the time of Tony’s death and their life together and the present, on Flinders Island. At the end of the book, Brooks has found resolution and a way to move ahead with her life.
I think the book is one which will resonate with everyone who has lost someone dear to them, whether or not a spouse. I listened to the audio book, which Brooks narrates. At first, I found it difficult to listen to her Australian accent, but that fell away as I listened to her story.

Everything Is Tuberculosis:
The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
John Green

I never thought I would find a book that solely focuses on an illness often seen as a relic of the past so fascinating. Little did I know that tuberculosis is still a major cause of death worldwide. Green weaves the history of the impact Tuberculosis has had on humans, everything from the science behind it to how it has been both stigmatized and glamorized, with the story of a TB patient named Henry. This short book packs an emotional punch with the inclusion of Henry’s story and how it spurred the author’s advocacy for lower TB test and treatment prices. One of the most impactful quotes in this book is, “The cure is where the disease is not, and the disease is where the cure is not.” I love how this quote so simply outlines the biggest inequality in tuberculosis treatment globally—it is not that the disease is incurable, it is that humans are not making the treatment widely accessible. 

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame
Neon Yang

I love fantasy books featuring dragons, especially when there is LGBTQ representation in them. Yeva is a dragon hunter and a living legend who never removes their helmet, most recently tasked with slaying the dragons rumored to exist in a remote region called Quanbao. Can the king of Quanbao, Lady Sookhee, trust that this reticent warrior will do what is right for her people? This is an Asian-inspired novella that focuses more on Yeva’s character growth and relationships than battle action and packs a lot of folkloric heart into a short number of pages.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
Kylie Lee Baker

I’m on the fence about reading books set during the pandemic because the topic still feels too fresh, but I made an exception for this horror novel. It perfectly captures the feelings and behaviors of people during the beginning of lockdown. Cora Zeng is an unforgettable character trying to handle the grief of losing her sister, a crime-scene cleaning job, conflicting family obligations, and the mystery of who is targeting and killing Asian women in New York City. This masterful work of fiction focuses on the real-world horrors of racism amidst a pandemic, alongside more traditional and speculative horror elements. I found this read deeply disturbing, with my feelings vacillating between tension, sadness, and dread. This unique premise is exactly what I look for in my horror books, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for social commentary and nuanced horror.

The Correspondent is a great example of this, with main character Sybil Van Antwerp sitting at her desk overlooking the river every morning, with her English stationary and favorite pen, writing to family, friends, and her eye doctor. She also writes to the troubled young son of a former colleague, the Dean of the English department of a local university, and various authors including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry, as well as many others. She writes an ongoing letter to an unidentified recipient that she never sends.

In spite of the character driven nature of an epistolary, a lot happens to Sybil over the years we follow her. The life she considered full and stable changes and is enriched as unexpected letters arrive in her mailbox. 

I listened to this book on Libro.fm. There are multiple narrators for the various voices, which really works for this book. I do plan to reread The Correspondent with my eyes, though, because it is so complex and well written. The complexity makes it difficult to review well; you’ll just have to read it!

At the Edge of the Haight
Katherine Seligman

Maddy lives on the streets of San Francisco. However, the current culture among the city’s unhoused, and the challenges they face, are far from those in the hippy heyday. 

Maddy chases her dog into some bushes and discovers the body of a young man: an ominous figure sees her and says he knows where to find her. Yes, the book spends time on solving the mystery, but it’s much more about her life in Golden Gate Park, and about the victim and her parents, and the lives of her circle of friends. It’s the kind of novel that lets you experience a way of being unlike your own. 

When I was partway through reading it I found myself giving dollars to panhandlers. When I got deeper into the book, I decided to return to my previous decision to donate to a local shelter instead.

Scarpetta
Patricia Cornwell

Bestselling author Cornwell is a founder of the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, a Senior Fellow at the International Crime Scene Academy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and an advocate for psychiatric research. All of her expertise is displayed in this crime novel: if you are into learning about such things, Scarpetta, and probably all of her novels, should appeal to you!

Lanterns and Lances
James Thurber

Thurber, from my hometown of Columbus, wrote for the early The New Yorker and was often at the famous Algonquin Round Table in the 1920s. He’s the author of one of my favorite short stories, “The Unicorn in the Garden,” which can be found in The Thurber Carnival.

I stumbled on Lanterns and Lances, a 1954 collection of essays and stories that showcase his dry humor and the masterful way he played with language. It has everything from the alphabet-related games he employed when trying to get to sleep after awakening in the middle of the night, to a chapter on Henry James, and a story about an ogre who eats all the clocks in a town. The book is peppered with Thurber’s distinctive drawings.

By the time this book was written, Thurber was losing his sight (due to an incident when he was seven years old and his brother shot him in the eye while trying to shoot an apple off his head). Even when Thurber was quite blind, he kept writing. Lanterns and Lances gives us a sample of the rich life that would go on in his remarkable brain when he could not see. But really, I commend any of the Thurber books to your attention if you enjoy this kind of humor.

Note: this book is out of print, but Jen is a master at tracking down such books. Let her know if you’re interested in this one!