Good reads for December
Recent travel has afforded me a great deal of reading time. A sampling:
“Meet Me at the Museum” by Anne Youngson -- An epistolary novel between an English farmer’s wife and a museum curator in Denmark. They share life, love and loss leading to a new perspective on their existence. Thoughtful and delightful.
“Gun Love” by Jennifer Clement -- Nominee for the National Book Award and a New York Times Book Editor’s Pick. The hard life of a single mother and her daughter in Florida and their interaction with the illegal gun trade. Sparing prose, unsentimental and revealing of an underworld we probably rarely consider.
“City of Light, City of Poison” by Holly Tucker -- True crime mystery. A detailed account of treachery in 1600’s Paris which gave rise to the first police chief of that city.
WESTERN-THEMED
“The Removes” by Tatjana Soli -- Historical fiction centered on George Custer and his wife, Libbie (you don’t know Custer like you think you do). Alternates with the story of a woman, Anne Cummins, captured and held by the Cheyenne.
“Trials of the Earth” by Mary Hamilton -- The author’s own life living in the backwoods of the Mississippi Delta from her birth in 1866 through the early 1930s. It was an exhausting existence of endless work, but she never looks for sympathy.
“Days Without End” by Sebastian Barry -- If you are a Cormac McCarthy fan, this is for you. A wide-ranging saga of the frontier by turns funny and tragic, encompassing war, love, hardship and the immigrant experience.
NON-FICTION
“Sweet Bitter” by Stephanie Danler -- Her own thinly veiled coming of age story as she lands in New York City and takes a job as a server at Union Square Café. Lots of behind the scenes gossip but not Kitchen Confidential as she is not in the kitchen. I just had brunch at USC and refrained from querying my server about the veracity of this book.
“Cork Dork” by Bianca Bosker -- I am a plebeian wine drinker, but loved this read. Bosker is an award winning journalist who decided to become a certified sommelier (note -- this is the first level, not a master sommelier) within a year and describes her experience in the crazy world of wine experts. Not technical, but this book will help you understand why wines are tasted as they are and feel more confident looking at a wine list. If you liked the documentary “Somm” this is perfect for you. A plethora of personalities populate her story.
“Fordlandia” by Greg Grandin -- Henry Ford was a brilliant inventor and capitalist, doomed by his arrogance in this account of his efforts to establish a Western style factory town to grow rubber trees in the mighty Amazon jungle. I promise you will be fascinated.
Becky Bechhold is a Daniel Island resident who describes herself as “a voracious reader.” Prior to moving to the island, she was part of a book club that had met for over 20 years. She has a record of all the books they read! After Becky contributed a list of book suggestions for a summer reading issue in The Daniel Island News this past June, a reader got in touch to compliment Becky’s insights and ask for more! She was more than happy to oblige.