Summer Reading: 2019

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant.   Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow shows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency. This is America's greatest biographer, bringing movingly to life one of our finest but most underappreciated presidents. The definitive biography, Grant is a grand synthesis of painstaking research and literary brilliance that makes sense of all sides of Grant's life, explaining how this simple Midwesterner could at once be so ordinary and so extraordinary.

It begins with an explosion. Another day, another bus bomb. Everyone it seems is after a piece of Turkey. But the shockwaves from this random act of 21st century pandemic terrorism will ripple further and resonate louder than just Enginsoy Square. Welcome to the world of The Dervish House--the great, ancient, paradoxical city of Istanbul, divided like a human brain, in the great, ancient, equally paradoxical nation of Turkey. The Dervish House is seven days, six characters, three interconnected story strands, one central common core -the eponymous dervish house, a character in itself--that pins all these players together in a weave of intrigue, conflict, drama and a ticking clock of a thriller.

At once intimate and epic, The Orchardist is historical fiction at its best, in the grand literary tradition of William Faulkner, Marilynne Robinson, Michael Ondaatje, Annie Proulx, and Toni Morrison. In her stunningly original and haunting debut novel, Amanda Coplin evokes a powerful sense of place, mixing tenderness and violence as she spins an engrossing tale of a solitary orchardist who provides shelter to two runaway teenage girls in the untamed American West, and the dramatic consequences of his actions. 

"If you enjoyed Sarah's Key and Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, then this wonderful book by Ann Mah is for you."   -- Tatiana de Rosnay Sweetbitter meets The Nightingale in this page-turning novel about a woman who returns to her family's ancestral vineyard in Burgundy and unexpectedly uncovers a lost diary, an unknown relative, and a secret her family has been keeping since World War II. To become one of only a few hundred certified wine experts in the world, Kate must pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine examination. She's failed twice before; her third attempt will be her last chance. Suddenly finding herself without a job and with the test a few months away, she travels to Burgundy to spend the fall at the vineyard estate that has belonged to her family for generations. There she can bolster her shaky knowledge of Burgundian vintages and reconnect with her cousin Nico and his wife, Heather, who now oversee day-to-day management of the grapes. The one person Kate hopes to avoid is Jean-Luc, a talented young winemaker and her first love. At the vineyard house, Kate is eager to help her cousin clean out the enormous basement that is filled with generations of discarded and forgotten belongings. Deep inside the cellar, behind a large armoire, she discovers a hidden room containing a cot, some Resistance pamphlets, and an enormous cache of valuable wine. Piqued by the secret space, Kate begins to dig into her family's history--a search that takes her back to the dark days of World War II and introduces her to a relative she never knew existed, a great-half aunt who was a teenager during the Nazi occupation. As she learns more about her family, the line between resistance and collaboration blurs, driving Kate to find the answers to two crucial questions: Who, exactly, did her family aid during the difficult years of the war? And what happened to six valuable bottles of wine that seem to be missing from the cellar's collection?

" An epic fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her. Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule--but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her--even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she's always known. The acclaimed author of The Witch's Boy has created another epic coming-of-age fairy tale destined to become a modern classic. Winner of the Newbury Medal.” (From the publisher.)

"In the frigid days of February, 1870, Caroline Ingalls, her husband Charles, and their little girls, Mary and Laura, leave the familiar comforts of the Big Woods of Wisconsin and head west to settle in a beautiful, unpredictable land full of promise and peril--the Kansas Indian Territory. The pioneer life is a hard one, especially for a pregnant woman with no friends or kin to turn to for comfort or help. The burden of work must be shouldered alone, sickness tended without the aid of doctors, and babies birthed without the accustomed hands of mothers or sisters. But Caroline's world is also full of tender joys. In adapting to this strange new place and transforming a rough log house built by Charles into a home, Caroline must draw on untapped wells of strength she does not know she possesses. For more than eighty years, generations of readers have been enchanted by the adventures of the American frontier's most famous child, Laura Ingalls Wilder, in the Little House books. Now, that familiar story is retold in this captivating tale of family, fidelity, hardship, love, and survival that vividly reimagines our past." (From the publisher.

“The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents-including a long-lost account written by the ship's cabin boy-and penetrating details about whaling and the Nantucket community to reveal the chilling events surrounding this epic maritime disaster. An intense and mesmerizing read, In the Heart of the Sea is a monumental work of history forever placing the Essex tragedy in the American historical canon. Winner of the National Book Award for Non-Fiction.” (From the publisher.)

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.

Captain Sam Wyndham, former Scotland Yard detective, is a new arrival to Calcutta. Desperately seeking a fresh start after his experiences during the Great War, Wyndham has been recruited to head up a new post in the police force. But with barely a moment to acclimatise to his new life or to deal with the ghosts which still haunt him, Wyndham is caught up in a murder investigation that will take him into the dark underbelly of the British Raj.

When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that bears similarities to a brutal killing on mainland Scotland, Edinburgh detective and native of the Isle of Lewis Fin Macleod is dispatched to the Outer Hebrides to investigate, embarking at the same time on a voyage into his own troubled past. As Fin reconnects with the people and places of his tortured childhood, the desolate but beautiful island and its ancient customs assert their grip on his psyche.

Father Harry J. Bury is a Catholic priest from the Twin Cities who is an internationally known peace activist. He is currently residing in the Byrne Residence, for retired priests, behind Ireland Library on the south campus of UST. This autobiography describes his life-long dedication to interact lovingly with citizens of the world in pursuit of peace and nonviolence.

His determination to help his fellow human beings put him in sometimes compromising and often dangerous situations with American law enforcement, foreign governments, and the church alike. Among other highlights of his activism he was:

Kidnapped at gunpoint in Gaza,
Arrested at the Pentagon,
Chained to the gates of the American Embassy in Saigon,
Participated in the release of American POWs in Vietnam,
Served at the side of Mother Theresa in Calcutta,
Arrested by Swiss Guards for saying Mass on the steps of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, and
Awarded the Key to Ho Chi Minh City in gratitude for his efforts to end the war in Vietnam.
Father Bury’s life reads like an adventure novel but is not fiction. It is the testament of a life lived to make a difference. Against all odds, with unwavering faith, he carries his message of love, peace, and non-violence as a priest, political activist, and warrior for peace.

Nearing his 90th year, Father Bury put his story on paper, hoping it will inspire and encourage all who care about humankind living in peace and without violence, to carry the message, do the work, continue the struggle, and never give up.

Bury’s activism started as a new priest serving at the University of Minnesota’s Newman Center in the 1960’s when young Catholic men asked him to write a letter for them as conscientious objectors for the Vietnam War. In 1971, at the request of some Vietnamese, he and three others chained themselves to the U.S. Embassy gate in Saigon to protest the Vietnam War. In 2005, Harry was abducted in Gaza while serving as a human shield between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian citizens.

Bury believes in dialogue and compromise between people in the community and around the world. In his 88 years, he has never hesitated to “risk the worst in order to achieve the best.”

Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships -- or, as they would say, because of them -- they are two of the most joyful people on the planet. In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the fact of life's inevitable suffering? They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy -- from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives.

Korede is a level-headed, practical nurse working in a hospital in Lagos Nigeria with her beautiful but deeply irresponsible sister, Ayoola, who is also most likely a sociopath. Three of her boyfriends have ended up dead, and despite her misgivings, Korede is compelled to help Ayoola clean up after after her crimes. The story gets even more complicated when Ayoola sets her eyes on Tade, a doctor Korede is secretly in love with. Will Korede protect Tade from possibly ending up with a knife in his back, or will she continue to protect her sister's terrible secret? Read the book yourself to find out.

Did you know that the costume for the iconic Creature from the Black Lagoon was designed by a woman named Milicent Patrick? I sure didn't, and neither did Creature super fan, Mallory O'Meara. O'Meara recounts her own life long passion for early horror movies, especially 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon', and once she learned about Milicent's role, she was determined tell her story. Up until now three has been very little written about Milicent, and it turns out that she had a crazy, eventful life. Milicent grew up in the shadow of William Randolph Hearst's California castle where her father worked, she was one of Disney's first female animators, she acted in several movies as an unaccredited extra, survived tumultuous relationships, all before she created the creature. While the book finally, officially gives Milicent credit for her creation, O'Meara also points out how contemporary Hollywood hasn't changed in regards to the treatment of women in the film industry as much as we like to think it has since Milicent's time.

I am a super fan of Karina Longworth's Hollywood podcast, You must remember this. When I learned that she wrote a book, I couldn't wait to give her more of my money. And this addictive, entertaining book book does not disappoint. Longworth's podcast and book do not gloss over the scandals and the dark side of this glamorous era, with all of the sex and lies. But despite the title, the book takes time to develop the stories of the women drawn into Hughes' orbit, examining the role of women in relationship to male power during that period of time. And as we all have read of the more recent scandals of producers and entertainers who use their power to harass and control women, it is a troubling legacy that endures to this day.

Anne Helen Petersen has a job that should've been mine. She received her PhD in 2011 from University of Texas, Austin by writing her dissertation on the history of gossip, and now she is a culture writer for BuzzFeed. This book is a perfect combination of academic writing and guilty pleasure pop culture. Petersen used the lens of "unruliness" to explore the ascension of contemporary pop culture powerhouses, from Serena Williams to Kim Kardashian to Hillary Clinton. Petersen explores why the public loves to love and hate these controversial figures, each of how has been conceived as "too" something: too queer, too strong, too honest, too old, too pregnant, too shrill, too much.

“There are books with front doors, through which the reader walks right in, and there are books with side doors. Side door books take more interpretive work, but yield special pleasures. Jamie Quatro's fantastic new novel, Fire Sermon, is a side door book. The novel delivers its story through a variety of methods: first-person confessions, "fictional" third-person descriptions, letters sent and unsent, emails, questionnaires, Socratic dialogues with the self. Roiling, raw and sensual on the surface, this mazy novel rewards a second reading... The sentences burn with desire and disquiet. The novel is generously condensed, ardently focused, its mechanisms poetic, not expository. In fact, although it is fiction, Fire Sermon reminds me most of confessional poetry, the aim of which is uncompromising honesty and self-exposure. .. You may enter this book through an interest in poetry or theology, but once you are there, it shows you more.” New York Times Book Review

“Tayari Jones displays tremendous writing prowess with An American Marriage, an enchanting novel that succeeds at every level. From the very start, An American Marriage pulls the reader in with gorgeous prose. Even beyond its plot, the story soars. It doesn’t just focus on one instance of a marriage; it explores philosophical and political quandaries, including generational expectations of men and women, the place of marriage in modern society, systemic racism, toxic masculinity, and more. It does so in a gentle, subtle way, avoiding didacticism as it nudges the reader to question their own conventions and ideals. There are rarely novels as timely or fitting as An American Marriage. It brings abstract ideas about race and love down to the material level. The story is gripping, and the characters are unforgettable.”—Foreword Reviews

From the Publisher: "A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected."
One of the best novels I’ve read. Love, love, love it!

Ties is a story of a marriage. Like many marriages, this one has been subject to strain, to attrition, to the burden of routine. Yet it has survived intact. Or so things appear. (From book’s jacket). Beautifully and skillfully translated by one of my favorite authors, Jhumpa Lahiri, this is a slim yet intense read. And reading the Intro by Lahiri is a treat in and of itself – not to be skipped!

Following her mother’s untimely death, Delia, the daughter and narrator of this novel, sets of on a journey in search of the truth about her family. This is a “psychological mystery,” as David Lipsky notes in the NYT, and a “harrowing tour of a feminine psyche under siege,” according to Seattle Times.
This is a dark, bold and gripping novel in a way only Ferrante is capable of writing. If you’re a fan of her writing and haven’t yet read this book, do.

One of the most tender novels I’ve ever read in English. Beautifully written. Melancholic. “Breaks your heart and warms it all at once.”
From the publisher:
"This is almost a love story. But it's not as simple as that. Ellis and Michael are twelve-year-old boys when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more. But then we fast-forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question: What happened in the years between?"

“Less is a satirical comedy novel by American author Andrew Sean Greer first published in 2017. It follows gay writer Arthur Less while he travels the world on a literary tour, as his fiftieth birthday looms. The book covers themes such as romantic love, same-sex relationships, aging, and travel.” A light read (and not usually my kind of reading).

A bestseller and, as Nicholas Sparks observed, “This wonderful novel has a bit of everything—mystery, romance, and fascinating characters, all told in a story that takes place in North Carolina.”
Readable and gripping, but ultimately, I found it to be somewhat “thin.”

“Westover’s one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind. . . . In briskly paced prose, she evokes a childhood that completely defined her. Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her.”—The Atlantic. An amazing read that will likely stick with me for a long time.

"It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…

The Good Neighbor is a lovely biography about a true gem of a human. Fred Rogers, or as most of us know him, Mr. Rogers. He was a kind soul who did his best to help others. While listening to this title I found myself welling up with hope for humanity. A well-written and well-read biography about a man who’s impact and legacy has and will continue to outlive him.

Daniel Mason, himself a physician and the author of The Piano Tuner, has written a wonderful story about an Austrian medical student who finds himself working in a field hospital in the Carpathian Mountains in World War I. The chaos and the conditions of Eastern Europe are described in beautiful prose, and the story is both exciting and romantic. I found myself comparing the story to Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls, and I think fans of that great novel would like this one as well. Not that Mason’s style is Hemingwayesque, but the stories have some things in common. Daniel Mason is a beautiful stylist in his own right and you will learn something about World War I in that part of Europe and you will meet Marie Curie briefly and you will have this thought “What if I suddenly found myself treating patients with horrific wounds (both physical and mental) and I didn’t really know what I was doing?”

While in Denver a few weeks ago, I read a profile of Colorado novelist Peter Heller and immediately decided to read his new novel (he’s lived a very interesting life.) It turns out, he had just been interviewed by Kerri Miller (you can find the interview here.) If you are interested in adventure travel and canoeing in the wilderness; if you read and enjoyed Eric Sevareid’s Canoeing With The Cree; if you like mystery mixed in with exploration; if you have traveled with a friend on a very challenging trip, you will love this book. It is a quick read and perfect for the summer.

Dave Barry has an old dog named Lucy and having turned 70, he realizes he can learn some things from her. Having an old dog (Finn) myself, I had to pick this up when Barry was in town two weeks ago for Wordfest in Minneapolis. (Footnote, Dave plays with the famous author rock group The Rock Bottom Remainders along with Amy Tan, Stephen King, Roy Blount, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom and others, and we saw them play First Avenue that weekend. They are something else.) This is one of those books that I cannot read without laughing out loud – it drives my wife crazy and I cannot read it at night when she is trying to sleep. If you love dogs and want to laugh, check this one out.

From Publishers Weekly: “This gorgeous, complex, and magical novel, grounded in Germanic, Russian, and Jewish folklore but richly overlaid with a cohesive, creative story of its own, rises well above a mere modern re- imagining of classic tales. Novik (Uprooted) begins the story through the eyes of Miryem, a Jewish moneylender's daughter, whose pride in her ability to wring payments from borrowers draws the demanding attention of the terrifying, otherworldly, and rules-bound Staryk, who are ruled by a wintry, gold-loving king. Secondary characters -- a peasant boy, a duke's daughter, a tsar -- eventually become narrators, weaving interconnections that feel simultaneously intimate and mythic. Novik probes the edges between the everyday and the extraordinary, balancing moods of wonder and of inevitability. Her work inspires deep musings about love, wealth, and commitment, and embodies the best of the timeless fairy-tale aesthetic. Readers will be impressed by the way Novik ties the myriad threads of her story together by the end, and, despite the book's length, they will be sad to walk away from its deeply immersive setting. This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever.”

From Publishers Weekly: “In Tracy's busy ninth Monkeewrench novel (after 2017's Nothing Stays Buried), the computer geeks of Grace MacBride's Monkeewrench software company join forces with Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth. The death of Minnesota philanthropist Gregory Norwood just one year after the fatal overdose of his addict son, Trey Norwood, looks like a suicide, until Leo and Gino uncover enough oddities to suggest murder. Meanwhile, a new anti-terror program developed by Monkeewrench uncovers a terrorist plot to bomb city hall. That a lowlife named Gus Riskin had a hand in Trey's death is revealed in the prologue, but Tracy maintains suspense by carefully concealing the links that connect Riskin to Gregory's death and to the terrorist plot. The book's chief pleasure lies in watching the members of MacBride's oddball crew, including Harley Davidson and Roadrunner, match wits and skills with the wise-cracking detectives.”

IFrom Publishers Weekly: “Morton (The Lake House) explores the tangled history of people and place in her outstanding, bittersweet sixth novel. In contemporary London, Elodie, a young archivist, encounters among her employer's collection a satchel, a photographic portrait, and a sketch of a country house. The sketch, in particular, arouses Elodie's professional curiosity and her memories, since it bears close resemblance to a house figuring heavily in the magical stories her late mother once told her. The trail of Elodie's research-spurred by her discovery that the sketch depicts an actual place-is woven together with tales of the house's various denizens between 1862 and the present, as well as with the voice of a spirit who haunts its walls. This specter-who remains nameless for most of the novel-is the clock maker's daughter of the title, abandoned as a young girl, trained as a pickpocket, and eventually chosen as an artist's muse, but possessing an artist's eye of her own. The novel's central mystery focuses on the circumstances of her abrupt disappearance in the 19th century, entangled with the abduction of a priceless jewel, the murder of the artist's fiancée, and the artist's personal and professional collapse. At the novel's emotional core, however, is the intersection of lives across decades, united, as the ethereal narrator suggests, by a shared experience of "loss that ties them together." In addition to love-not only romantic love but also love between parents and siblings-and loss, the stories, brilliantly told by Morton, offer musings on art, betrayal, and the ways in which real lives and real places can evolve over time into the stuff of legends.

From Publishers Weekly: “Send a motley crew of hurting but comfortably heeled Aussies to a secluded resort for a pricey 10-day "Mind and Body Total Transformation Retreat" and what happens? In this cannily plotted, continually surprising, and frequently funny page-turner from bestseller Moriarty (Big Little Lies), nothing like the restorative reset they're anticipating. The nine guests at Tranquillum House include middle-aged romance writer Frances Welty, her normal spunkiness shaken by recent personal and professional setbacks, and 20-year-old Zoe Marconi, there with her parents on the anniversary of the family tragedy that shattered their lives. What they haven't reckoned on is Tanquillum House's messianic but precariously stable director, whose secret agenda could be dangerous to their health. It would be unsporting to disclose more about Moriarty's largely endearing cast, since her progressive revelations about them contribute so much toward making this such a deeply satisfying thriller.”

From Publishers Weekly: “Debut novelist Martine sets a careful course in this gorgeously crafted diplomatic space opera that strands its protagonist amid imperial politics and murder. Mahit Dzmare, summoned from tiny Lsel Station to replace the previous ambassador to the Teixcalaanli Empire, Yskandr, must negotiate both for Yskandr's corpse and for the safety of her home world, an object of Imperial annexation. Her fluency in Teixcalaanli language and culture ("for a barbarian") helps her decode the messages hidden in their poetry, even as it inclines her to the same starry-eyed admiration and involvement with the Imperial court that overcame her predecessor. Her secret implant of Yskandr's memories should be aiding her, but it is 15 years out of date and, apparently, sabotaged. Mahit instead relies on her need to establish an identity of her own while juggling an aging Emperor's desire for technological immortality and a threatened military uprising to his rule. The Teixcalaanli culture comes so fully to life that the glossary in the back of the book is unnecessary. Martine allows the backstory to unroll slowly, much as Mahit struggles with her intermittent memories, walking delicately upon the tightrope of intrigue and partisan battles in the streets to safely bring the tale to a poignantly true conclusion. Readers will eagerly await the planned sequels to this impressive debut.”

In this memoir, the author picks up the shattered pieces of her life by hiking 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. Better than the movie because you really get to know the person. Side note: Cheryl Strayed attended UST for one year.