Beagle and Wolf Books & Bindery Newletter

Staff Picks


Page One Staff Picks Youth Yak Book Groups News

Jen Jen

When the Cranes Fly South
Lisa Ridzen

This book came onto my radar when our friend Jason from Penguin Random House told us about it and then Sally read it and loved it.... This is a quiet book, mostly narrated by Bo, an older man living alone in Sweden with his dog, Sixten. Bo is not a widower, yet, but it feels like it with his wife living in a place that specializes in dementia. There are "carers" (home health aides) that come in and out of Bo's home to help with daily activities, and Bo's son Hans often makes an appearance. The voice of Bo is incredibly compelling, crafted by an author with extraordinary compassion. Bo's thoughts and narration flit between past and present. He has memories - both joyful and painful, regrets, and all the other detritus of a long human life. If you don't want to take my word for it, or Jason's, or Sally's, then take this guy's recommendation:

"One of those ‘you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to buy twenty copies and give them to everyone you love’ books.”

—Fredrik Backman, bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, in The New Yorker

I listened to this on libro.fm.

The Mad Wife
Megan Church

The Mad Wife did something quite rare for this seasoned reader - it surprised me not once but TWICE. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel about a suburban wife/mother in the 1950s who is struggling with the expectations/restrictions of American women. While the friends of protagonist, Lulu, sing the praises of Lulu's molded Jello salads, they don't seem to *really* know her. When a new family moves to the neighborhood, Lulu begins to understand (and fear) the reality that American husbands, and men in general, are in charge of women's mental health. This book has the tension and drive of Girl on the Train and the depth/importance of The Woman They Could Not Silence. I'm already planning my pitches to book groups for this one.

Note: this book will be released September 30.

Sally Sally

Sally’s review of Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley, a book for young people as well as adults, is in Youth Yak.

book cover

Mother, Nature
Jedidiah Jenkins

In August, the Sister Wolf Book Group discussed this book so we’re rerunning Sally’s review of it.

In the 1970s, Peter and Barbara Jenkins wrote an enormously popular series of books based on their 5,000 mile walk across the United States. You may have heard of this series, Walk Across America.

Fast forward to the 2020s. Peter and Barbara have been divorced for years. One of their children, Jedidiah, is close to both of them. When his mother turns 70, Jedidiah realizes with a jolt that she won’t live forever. They’ve talked for a long time about taking a trip together, just the two of them, and he realizes it’s time to do it while they still can. They decide to retrace, by car, the trip Barbara and Peter made on foot.

The back story is that Jedidah and Barbara disagree about just about everything: politics, religion, music. But they love each other and are determined to make their trip work. Jedidiah’s relationship with his mother is further complicated because he is gay, and she has a strong conservative faith which sees his sexual orientation as sinful. On the trip, Jedidiah is determined to ask her if she would attend his wedding if he were to marry a man.

Every trip can be challenging, don’t you think? negotiating all sorts of differences. Jedidiah and Barbara have just enough in common to make it work. They listen together to podcasts about true crime, eat in roadside diners, and stop at thrift stores. Along the way, Jedidiah learns the ways in which the original trip shaped Barbara into the woman she is today. Underneath it all, they explore how to stay in a relationship which hurts but is grounded in love.

I won’t tell you how the book ends, but I will say that Barbara and her son’s journey is as unforgettable as their relationship is. Read the book and tell me if you agree.

Mother Mary Comes to Me
Arundhati Roy

It had been a long time since I’d read Arundhati Roy’s novels, The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Upmost Happiness, and I remembered how beautifully they were written—but not much else. When a colleague enthusiastically recommended Roy’s latest book, a memoir called “Mother Mary Comes to Me,” I immediately secured a copy. In it, I found the same beautiful writing as in the novels turned on Roy’s own life, particularly her relationship with her mother, the tempestuous, enigmatic Mary Roy.

When Mary Roy died in 1922, her daughter was surprised by the intensity of her feelings of grief and loss. She began writing to process those feelings.

Mary Roy was a woman who, by anyone’s standards, should not have been a mother. After having two children, she divorced her husband and made her own way in a patriarchal society that oppressed women socially and economically. She started her own school with sheer grit and sued the government over the law which kept her from receiving a part of her father’s inheritance. (She won.) Her school always came first, and her children were a distant second, if that much. She was abusive and distant.

And yet, Arundhati Roy is clear that she became the woman and writer she is because of her relationship with her mother. She also explores other influences on her, in particular the politics of India.

Don’t miss this remarkable book! (And be careful or you’ll have the words of Paul McCartney’s song “Let it Be” in your head for several days, as I did!)

“When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be…”

Note: this book will release September 2.

To the Moon and Back
Eliana Ramage

When he was young, my husband dreamed of becoming an astronaut. As he grew older, that dream faded. The closest he got to the space program was to take his students from Oklahoma State University on a field trip to the Johnson Space Center, where they met Owen Garriott, the astronaut from Oklahoma who had been to the Skylab.

Like my husband, as a child Steph Harper dreamed of becoming an astronaut. More than that, she wanted to become the first Cherokee astronaut, and her dream only intensified as she grew older, becoming an obsession that touched the lives of others around her, particularly her mother, sister, and her first girlfriend.

When Steph’s mother, Hannah, became pregnant with Steph as a teenager, her parents threw her out. She married Steph’s father and had another child, Kayla. When the children were five and two, Hannah escaped her abusive marriage, taking Steph and her sister with her to Tahlequah Oklahoma. The girls grew up thinking their father had died in a car accident, with few memories of him and that time in their lives. Hannah wanted her children to identify as Cherokee, and to learn about the history of their people, but they knew little of their personal history. This secrecy affected their lives as much as Steph’s obsession with becoming an astronaut did.

The book covers about 30 years, and in that time we see Steph dealing with her dream, learning to really be a part of her family, and accepting her sexuality.

It’s a long book, but well worth savoring. You may just love it to the moon and back!

Note: this book will be released September 2.

Life, and Death, and Giants
Ron Rindo

Can you imagine a novel about a baby who grew to be very nearly a giant, a young Amish woman who kept secrets, a small community where Amish and English (non-Amish) co-existed AND many references to the poems of Emily Dickinson? Somehow, all these elements work in the world author Ron Rindo has created. Nearly all its inhabitants are trying to do their best. Some of them struggle with their faith while others are trying to put the past behind them. The story is told from multiple points of view (none of them the young giant, Gabriel) which creates a rich tapestry of community, and shows the ways Gabriel touched many, many lives.

This is one of my favorite books of the year!

Note: this book releases September 9.

Awake
Jen Hatmaker

When Awake by Jen Hatmaker showed up on my desk, I had only the vaguest idea of who she is. Hmmm, an author, podcast host, and apparently a former evangelical Christian. None of those descriptors engaged me—but the book did. After 26 years of a partnership in the public eye, Hatmaker and her husband divorced. Awake isn’t a tell all or he said, she said book. Instead, it’s a thoughtful account of life after divorce. And funny—oh, my goodness, it’s funny! In part, it’s a reckoning with the evangelical church and also how one woman reclaimed herself and her life.

It's not a book for everyone, but Hatmaker fans and women who are asking themselves, “Is that all there is?” will surely be delighted.

Note: this book publishes September 23.

Apostles Cove
William Kent Krueger

A highlight of the year at the store is a new book by William Kent Krueger and the good fortune we have to be one of the first stops on his book tour. (Krueger is a champion for independent bookstores, and we love him for his support.)

Krueger signing books

At a signing, Kent takes time to chat with each person

Kruger with staff

L to R: Tom, Jen, Diane (Kent’s wife), William Kent Krueger

Apostle’s Cove begins with a present-day Cork ruminating on his advancing age (which gave me a laugh, since he’s several years younger than I am!) He takes a phone call from his son Stephen, who works for “a nonprofit dedicated to securing freedom for unjustly incarcerated inmates.” Stephen tells his dad that it appears Cork was responsible for the imprisonment of an Ojibwe man, for a murder he didn’t commit. Cork remembers the case well—it was the first big crime after his election as sheriff.

The story moves between present day and 25 years earlier. As well as re-investigating a murder, we see the characters we have grown to love. Krueger writes beautifully, and his stories are always illuminated by the generosity he has for the characters.

Get this latest book and set time aside to read it. You’ll be glad you did.

Cascade

We don’t have book reviews from Cascade, our long-time staffer who is beginning grad school this month, but we do have this update on her adventures. (And we can’t even miss her too much when we see the grin on her face as she headed into her future!)

Hello Park Rapids friends,

I have successfully moved to Madison and have been settling in for the last two-ish weeks! I'm really enjoying my apartment and my close proximity to good restaurants, grocery stores, and several bus lines. I was recently offered a position at the Chazen Museum of Art on campus and I begin training next Monday, 8/18. I'm very grateful I will be able to reject the job in food service I had previously accepted as a backup. As for school, I have orientation on the 21st and classes begin 9/3.

My next planned adventure (other than continuing to settle into my apartment) is to check out the Madison farmers market, which is apparently one of the biggest in the US.

That is my current update (as was highly requested ). I attached a photo of myself before leaving PR with the moving trailer. Hope you all are doing well!

Hannah
Hannah

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The Second Mrs. Darcy
Elizabeth Aston

This is a bit of a bait and switch. I was compelled to pick it up because who could possibly follow Lizzy as Darcy’s wife?! But it turns out the Mr. Darcy here is a cousin to Fitzwilliam. Oh well, it’s a fun read.

The author studied with an Austen biographer at Oxford, so this novel is full of accurate details and flights of delightful fancy about how things might have been for the characters we cherish. I was pleased to learn that Mr. Bennet was widowed and found peace in his home… for many years, cheating Bishop Collins out of Longbourn. Barchester people, from Anthony Trollop’s world, also crop up in this book, and I imagine there are other references I didn’t pick up.

In the first part of this book Mrs. Darcy is living in India, so we get a glimpse into the English POV in India during the empire. But then she goes to Regency London, and even visits Netherfield Hall. The characters, the romance, and the tone are quite appropriate and enjoyable.

Darcy’s Story
Janet Aylmer

It’s amazing how many books there are purporting to tell us about Pride and Prejudice from different points of view or postulating about the characters’ lives after Austen’s novel ends. While these aren’t great moments in literature, they offer a chance to revisit one of our favorites in a new way, enjoying with the authors a fresh perspective. Darcy’s Story is a fine example of “fan fiction.” Aylmer keeps the story faithful to Pride and Prejudice, using much of the dialog and never straying from what might have been going on away from Lizzy’s presence. It’s particularly engaging because Darcy is such a strong character, one many of us fell in love with in our youth. How can any real life man compete? How cool, getting into his head this way. Sigh…

The Murder of Mr. Wickham
Claudia Gray

And then there’s this delicious premise: Mr. and Mrs. Knighly are hosting a house party at Donwell Abbey. The guests include couples from each of Austen’s novels, with ages appropriate to when the novels were written.

There’s one uninvited character: Mr. Wickham shows up and, due to the weather, cannot be expelled immediately. It turns out that almost all of the people in the party have motives for murdering him. One of them does. But which one? Darcy’s son Jonathon and Juliet Tilney, who came without her parents, decide to figure it out. They are concerned that the magistrate, Frank Churchill, might be too ready to seize on an innocent person from outside the group. book cover

Of all these novels that play with Austen lore, you might find this one is the most fun. It's the first in a series: here's the second. A fourth came out in 2025.



Katrina See Katrina’s reviews of books appropriate for adults and young people in Youth Yak.


Lee				Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World Srdja Popovic The author is the founder of the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS.) He was a leader in the struggle to overthrow Slobodan Milošević, the Serbian authoritarian leader. Popovic is a firm believer in the use of nonviolent techniques to push for needed reforms. He describes not only how to bring down governments and overthrow dictators, but also how these techniques can be used to force local changes. One important point he makes is that in violent confrontations, only relatively few people have the stamina and skills that are needed. In a nonviolent confrontation, virtually everyone can be a participant. (How difficult is it to simply chalk “He’s finished” on a wall or a sidewalk? Or to show up at a town council meeting?) Also, nonviolent movements are about twice as likely to succeed as movements that utilize violence in their efforts. Among the many points he discusses is inverse sequence planning: First set your goal and then work backward, describing each step needed to accomplish that goal. This is a great book for anyone who wishes things were different.



				The Glass Eel J.J. Viertel This is a debut novel by a father/son writing team. And what an excellent novel it is. Jeanette King is struggling, living on an island off the coast of Maine. The death of her son eventually led to her divorce. She is holding her life together by shucking and packaging crab meat and putting in additional time at two other jobs. Then she finds her ex’s boat empty and running in circles off the island, and a classmate of her son throws her a tacklebox filled with cash. This leads to any number of disreputable characters and a couple of new and trusted friends. And some moments of unexpected violence. We also gain some great information about elvers, which are the cause of much mayhem in the book. (Elvers are juvenile American eels. They are transparent and resemble tiny, translucent eels. Hence, the book’s title. They are most valuable fish per pound in the U.S.) Obviously, there are plenty of dark moments, but the book has some terrific bits of humor. Note: this book will be released September 9.



Tim				The Correspondent Virginia Evans Dear Reader, Virginia Evans has a new book out, The Correspondent, and for fun’s sake, the story is all told in letters. I can't remember the last such book (epistolary novel) I've read... Richardson's Clarissa?) There's something so much more intimate and personal about a letter. The assumption, first and foremost, of it being directed to an audience of one, just and only you, with the possibility of its only being shared with a very limited few. How many people have shared with you their personal correspondence, where one party reflects on divorce, the accidental life-shattering death of a child, new love, or the daily struggles of aging? It's the secret ultra-personal aura of the 'letter form' that bursts the boundary of a novel's simple prose, maybe even achieving a more personal intimacy than poetry does. In this book, the main character Sybil, a 73-year-old woman (maybe even the name itself alerts us to being guided into rich possibilities of experience), is an educated, articulate, and aware woman who is very human and vulnerable. She stumbles and struggles, just as we all do, and in her letters, reflects with grace on her life. This is a rare book, and I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy reading it. Yours as ever, Tim
				Apocalypse: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World And Can Forge New Futures Lizzy Wade Apocalypse..., is a surprising book, clearly laying before the reader the uncomfortable truth that catastrophe (from which we all instinctively shrink and seek to avoid) is one of the fundamentally transformative natural processes..... perhaps "the” most fundamental. I know that sounds shocking. But Gentle Reader, I was shocked too! Wade, through a series of various historical examples, definitely proves her point. As cruel, nasty and psychically damaging as these events are, they offer a number of ways which we might respond and are therefore pivotal moments of change. We need to understand the nature of the event. They can be quick, say a meteor strike, or slow, as we saw with caronavirus, or will continue to see with climate change. Global, or even personal, as in a cancer diagnosis. [aside: in my case simple ageing, or not doing my laundry before Friday next.] In addition to trying to gain a perspective on the event, we also need to be conscious of our options in how we respond... do we rebuild after an earthquake? If so, what precautions do we implement? Do we acquiesce or resist, by demanding the Epstein files? You see... different catastrophes, different responses. It's best we understand something of the structure of these events, so we can better tailor our responses, in order to achieve our best future outcomes. Very readable. Excellent book!

Would you like to be a guest reviewer? Email Sally at sally@beagleandwolf.com.

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