Touching History
Marty Leistikow 
My friend Marty Leistikow's book is out! 

Marty has blended world history alongside the personal family histories of both her family and her late husband Norm's family. The book is well-crafted, thoughtful, and rich in primary sources (diary entries that Marty transcribed.) It also has lots of pictures and I even love the paper it's printed on—glossy and smooth.

We'll be officially launching the book on Saturday, July 26  from 2:00 to 3:00, but you're welcome to get a copy now and have Marty sign it at the launch. Way to go, Marty!

Note: we're currently having trouble with the book's listing on our online store, shop.beagleandwolf.com. It shows the book is out of stock (not true) and does not provide a cart—we're working on it!! In the meantime, call us at 218-237-2665 or email us at orders@beagleandwolf.com to reserve a copy (or just stroll on in!)

Career of Evil
Robert Galbraith

No surprise here.....Tom and I have continued listening to the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith! The latest we finished was Career of Evil (#3 in the series) in which a human leg is sent to the agency office. Strike believes there are four suspects worth investigating. When he rules out one of the four and learns the police are focusing on that person the agency does their own investigating, to the annoyance of the police. As with the first two books, while the mystery is compelling and interesting, it's really the lead characters of Robin Ellacott and Cormoran Strike that keep us engaged.

Good NIght, Irene
Luis A. Urrea
 
This book was the June pick for discussion for the Beagle Women's book group. What an interesting (and so unknown!) bit of history! This historical novel follows Irene and Dorothy, two young women who are American Red Cross clubmobile operators (or, as they're offered referred to, to Dorothy's dislike, "donut dollies.”) Their job was to visit troops in their clubmobile - make coffee and donuts, be cheerful, and flirt a little. The beginning was a slow start for me, but worth the read. It also led to a fun conversation with my dad, a veteran. When I asked him if there were "donut dollies" in Vietnam, he said, "No.....I don't think that would fly today....pretty sexist!" For those who don't usually read the Author's Note/Acknowledgments at the end of a book, it's well worth doing with this one.

Sensitive
Jenn Granneman and Andre Solo

When time allows, I’ve been listening to Sensitive. We've encountered co-author Andre Solo several times. We first met him at the Brainerd Friends of the Library's annual fundraiser, Wine & Words, and later hosted him at Author Fest. In a nutshell, this book does for sensitive people what Susan Cain's Quiet did for introverts. It's OK to be sensitive and in fact, there are some advantages to it. If you're a sensitive person or KNOW a sensitive person (and everyone does), give this book a look.

The Mediterranean Migraine Diet
Alicia Wolf and Shin C. Beh

We are a family of migraineurs—Bob, Jen, and I, and countless parents and grandparents. Tom is not and somehow puts up with the rest of us. I’m always looking for information about migraines, and I recently came across a cookbook that I’m finding helpful, even though we don’t have a lot of food triggers. (Although mine are red wine and dark chocolate—sometimes life is really unfair!) The recipes are for great, healthy, and beautiful Mediterranean Diet meals, tweaked a bit to avoid or substitute for migraine triggers. For example, Pita with Faux Tzatziki substitutes cottage cheese for yogurt. Yogurt is a food trigger for some people but not us—so I’ll just use it instead of cottage cheese. I made Garlic-Herb Shrimp for our recent anniversary, and it made a festive meal, worthy of serving on my great grandmother’s dishes. I’m looking forward to trying Roast Olive Chicken with Couscous and Apricots—okay, I’m motivated to cook my way through the whole book! Well, maybe not the red meat section!

The Names
Florence Knapp

 Have you ever wondered how your world might have been different had you been given a different name? (With a name like Donita, I’ve wondered!)
Florence Knapp explores this in The Names, where a baby boy is born to Cora and Gordon. Gordon, a highly respected doctor and not very nice man, wants him named Gordon as are all the men in his family. As they walk to the registrar’s office, Cora, who likes the name Julian, asks her nine-year old daughter Mia what she would name her little brother; Bear. When she arrives to register the baby, Cora hesitates when the registrar asks what name to put on the certificate.

Knapp goes on to alternatively examine the lives of Gordon, Julian, and Bear, from the time Cora reports to Gordon Sr.  that she has registered the baby to 35 years in the future. She delves into the generational impacts of domestic violence and speculates on how Cora and Mia’s lives might have been impacted by the different names of their son and brother.

Old Heart
Peter Ferry

This marvelous novel tells the story of an 85-year-old midwestern man whose kids are putting him in assisted living. But he isn’t willing to go, so he secretly makes preparations to instead fly to Europe to try to find a Dutch woman he fell in love with when he was a soldier in WWII. Dave Eggers praises the “astonishing array of themes” in the book, and I agree. It’s beautifully written and continually surprising. It inspires respect for people with Down Syndrome and those who love them, just one of several side stories, and it applauds those who stand up for their right to live the best life they are capable of. It would make a fine book group choice. 

Earth’s the Right Place for Love
Elizabeth Berg

If you love Ann Tyler and Marilynne Robinson but haven’t discovered Elizabeth Berg, I strongly recommend her. Earth’s the Right Place for Love (the title is from a poem by Frost) is a solid example of her novels. It’s a coming-of-age story about a sweet, timid teenager set in a small Midwestern town. Arthur is very close to his older, larger-than-life brother Frank, who is having an affair with his English teacher. Their father often beats Frank, but not Arthur. This sounds like melodrama, but it reads very differently. I adored spending time in Arthur’s head.

The Hearing Trumpet
Leonora Carrington

Some like it strange. If this is you, I recommend The Hearing Trumpet, a surrealistic fantasy classic from 1974. The novel is anti-agist as most of the characters are old men and women. It begins comically but rather normally, with the protagonist receiving the gift of a hearing trumpet. This trumpet is miraculously effective: it allows her to eavesdrop on her son and his family who are planning to institutionalize her. Once she is there, things just get wilder and wilder. The climatic ending may remind you of today’s fears for the future.

The author, who is also a painter and playwright, led quite a dramatic life herself. The institution described in the book may have some basis in an asylum she was committed to earlier in her life.