Book Recommendations
Welcome back. We hope the holiday break provided you plenty of time to celebrate with family, reconnect with friends, and relax with a good book. The staff at MacPhaidin Library used some of their vacation time to check items off their “to-read” lists. Here are some of their recommendations. All of these items are in the MacPhaidin Library Collection or available with a free eCard from the Boston Public Library.
- Book: How I Won a Nobel Prize by Julius Taranto
Reviewer: Trish McPherson
I really enjoyed this book – I think. It was a challenging read that made me very uncomfortable. Still, I couldn’t put it down. This novel is set at the Rubin Institute, established by a billionaire as a safe haven for banished and canceled academics and thinkers. Those in residence there include politicians who were pictured in blackface, academics accused of sexual impropriety with students, Wall Street schemers, conservative commentators, and...R. Kelly. They are joined by Helen, a brilliant young physicist. Desperate to continue her potentially planet-saving research, she follows her mentor to Rubin in the wake of his ouster from Cornell. He was booted from the Ivy League school after his affair with a student came to light.
I struggled with this book for a few reasons: the passages relating to Helen’s work with high temperature superconductivity were very dense; there were as many scenes that made me cringe as those that me laugh; and Helen is an exceedingly difficult character to like, though easier to understand. Despite that, she, and all the novel’s characters kept me fascinated – if a little repulsed - to the final page. - Book: Absolution by Alice McDermott
Reviewer: Trish McPherson
I am a big fan of Alice McDermott and enjoyed this story about Tricia and Charlene - American women living in Saigon in the early days of the Vietnam War. These women, and their peers, are in Southeast Asia to support their husbands – the attorneys, analysts, and corporate elites there to further the United States’ efforts in the region. But what are these ladies to do besides host cocktail parties and lunch? Led by Charlene, they embark on a series of do-good initiatives – buying and distributing gifts for sick and injured children and crafting beautiful garments for the residents of a leper colony. These savior-like efforts are initially viewed as humanitarian adventures but lead to questions about privilege, their roles as “helpmates” to their husbands, and their very presence in the country as the violence moves closer to their safe enclaves. - Book: Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner
Reviewer: Trish McPherson
I have long been a listener of Dacher Keltner’s podcast – The Science of Happiness. On it, he frequently discusses the experience of awe as it relates to happiness – being moved to tears by nature’s staggering beauty or getting goose bumps from a piece of music. In this book, Keltner discusses those types of awe as well as other types of awe: moral beauty - being awed by others’ kindness and courage; collective effervescence - experiencing the crowd-sourced joy we feel at a sporting event or music festival; and sacred geometries – the delighted disbelief we grapple with when seeing patterns found in nature or the beauty of cells under a microscope. Keltner’s message is that awe is all around us. It can help us appreciate our time here and understand the cycle of life. But we must be mindful enough to take advantage of the opportunities to experience it. Kelter, a professor of psychology at UC Berkely and director of its Greater Good Science Center, also delves into the science of awe and its impact on our brain and bodies. - Book: Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
Reviewer: Uma Hiremath
The Soiling of Old Glory won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot Photography in 1977. Deservedly. It is a gripping capture of a charged moment in Boston history. A white teenager, furious over court-ordered desegregation busing, is shown attacking a black lawyer with an American flagpole. In Lehane’s most recent heartbreaker, we get a realistic sense of the teeming reality that made for this climactic moment. The novel’s protagonist, surprise, is a woman. A most unforgettable woman, Mary Pat Fennessy is the product of Southie’s public housing. She both repels and attracts as victim and perpetrator of Boston’s bone-deep hatreds and endemic violence. I rooted for her even as she repeatedly broke my heart. “Whatta ya gonna do.... it is what it is”, as she would say. I see this becoming yet another Lehane movie, especially with that cinematographic grand finale exploding on Castle Island. - Book: The Deluge by Stephen Markley
Reviewer: Garrett McComas
An entry into the growing genre of Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction), The Deluge follows characters of varied backgrounds as they struggle with the realities of climate change and against the forces that are causing it. The book spans many years and paints a portrait of current and upcoming climate collapse. At times the book is absolutely terrifying and emotionally devastating. However, what kept me coming back to this book was the humanity and complexity that Markley portrays each character with and the moments where they are allowed to feel and think deeply. Each character is compelled to act, whether it’s for their loved ones, their political beliefs, or simply the current disaster they find themselves in. The book is written at times practically, at others poetically, but always in a deeply human way, which brings a bitter-sweet hope to our shared future. - Book: Wool by Hugh Howey
Reviewer: Lindsay Boezi
I became interested in the Silo series of books after watching season 1 of the Apple TV+ adaptation. Wool is the first in a three-book series that chronicles the inhabitants of an underground silo in post-apocalyptic America. No one knows who built the silo, why the outside air is toxic, or why the residents are forbidden to learn or discuss the history of the world before the silo. People who break this rule are forced to leave the silo permanently – a punishment that amounts to certain death.
The book primarily follows Juliette, a mechanic from the lowermost levels of the silo who ascends to the highest level of law enforcement after the previous sheriff asks to go outside. With the power of her new position, Juliette begins to investigate what drove the previous sheriff to rebel against the silo’s rules and, in doing so, uncovers a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in the silo. Season 1 of the Apple TV+ adaptation only covers the first 100 pages or so of Wool, and many questions remain unanswered. If you are itching to know what happens to Juliette and the silo before Season 2 premiers, I highly recommend this thought-provoking dystopian read. - Book: The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
Reviewer: Heather O’Leary
A fun blend of The British Baking Show and a classic whodunnit. Although set in a sprawling estate in rural Vermont, anyone who has watched an episode of the tranquil British baking competition will instantly recognize the premise of the fictional tv show that is the center of this murder mystery. The story starts with contestants from different walks of life joining baking-expert hosts in a spacious white tent on the grounds of a beautiful manor house. The stakes quickly move beyond soggy pie bottoms to murder, and the story’s characters may be hiding deep secrets behind their aprons.
Do you need additional inspiration to jump-start your 2024 reading journey? Consider taking on the Massachusetts Center for the Book Reading Challenge. The challenge: read a book in a specific category each month. Some of those monthly “challenges” will be easy – November’s read, for example, is a “soul soothing” book of your choice. Others might prove more difficult. In December, the challenge is to read a well-reviewed book in your least favorite genre.
Good luck and happy reading.