Let’s hit the road for a fun fictional adventure. “West with Giraffes” by Lynda Rutledge was inspired by the true story of two giraffes in 1938 that “survived a hurricane at sea, then were driven cross-country for twelve days in little more than a tricked-out pickup truck to become the first giraffes in Southern California.”
JoinedMarch 29, 2021
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Mary Louise Ruehr is a books columnist for The Portager. Her One for the Books column previously appeared in the Record-Courier, where she was an editor.
From its title, “Sunflower Sisters” by Martha Hall Kelly sounds like it could be happy-smiley-giggly “women’s fiction,” doesn’t it? Perhaps a lot of fashion, romance and swooning? Nope. I don’t really like those books anyway. This one I couldn’t put down.
Klara and the Sun is the latest novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. I found the book emotionally engaging, thought-provoking, and interestingly different. And it’s a good read. Technically a work of science fiction, this is really a tale about the human condition.
I long for a book I can wrap myself up in like a blanket. Happily, I found one in The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz.
Schultz, of course, is the popular columnist formerly of the Cleveland Plain Dealer who has won a Pulitzer Prize and has written two previous nonfiction books, Life Happens and …And His Lovely Wife (the “his” referring to U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown). This is her first novel.
Ken Follett. James Michener. James Clavell. You know these names if you enjoy epic reads that take you into another place and immerse you in the goings-on of well-drawn characters in war, community-building, passion, and survival. Add to these Edward Rutherfurd, author of such wonders as “Sarum,” “London,” “Paris,” and the two-volume Dublin Saga, among others. For the fan of historical fiction, Rutherfurd’s newest work, “China,” is just delicious.
I’m a sucker for books with “library,” “book,” “reader,” “bookstore,” etc. in the title. So when I noticed two novels recently on the bestseller list with “library” in the title, I had to check them out.
Reading Derf Backderf’s latest “nonfiction graphic novel” is an immersive experience. Once I started Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, about the shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, I forgot I was reading, following along as tensions became hostilities and erupted in increasing violence. I found myself lost in the book’s power to recreate the conditions of the event, recreate the animosity of government leadership, recreate the feelings of the students.
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