The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Kristi selected the book and hosted our meeting.

The author grew up on the hills of central Missouri and now lives in Austin, Minnesota. Allen has a law degree, but retired from his criminal defense law practice to write novels. In addition to earning a law degree, he studied creative writing and earned a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota. Writing is his passion and he is drawn to mysteries because of his former criminal law practice. He admittedly is not a good reader, but proclaims himself as a thinker. Allen’s first novel was rejected by 150 agents!

One of the main characters in The Life We Bury, Joe, is modeled somewhat after Allen. Joe is a teenager “dying to get out of this blue collar town”. Allen went to college far away from his hometown to escape from being drafted into the family drywall business. Joe also loves a good mystery. In this novel, Joe’s college writing assignment, along with his curiosity and desire to solve a mystery, take him on quite a journey, one that he will never forget!  

The characters are Joe, Lila, Carl and Jeremy - Joe’s autistic brother, Joe & Jeremy’s mother, Larry who is mom’s boyfriend, Virgil and Grandpa Bill and Kathy Nelson. The story begins with Joe’s trip to the local nursing home to find a willing participant to interview and write a brief biography about for his college English writing assignment. He is matched with resident Carl Iverson who has been “medically paroled” after spending 30 years in prison and begins interviewing him. Joe soon learns that there is much more to Carl than the crimes he was found guilty of. How does a Vietnam War medal of honor recipient go from heroism to committing rape and murder?  

Joe only has a short time to unravel Carl’s life story and confirm his guilt or prove his innocence. Not only does Joe’s assignment have a deadline, Carl could die any day from his cancer. Joe’s own life story does not make it easy for him – it’s one almost as complicated as Carl’s. Joe’s mother is an alcoholic and abuses her sons. Now that Joe has gone off to college, his autistic brother is left behind to take the brunt of those beatings and Joe is not there to protect him from their mother and mother’s boyfriend. When Joe ends up having to take care of his brother, life becomes even more complicated.

--> We all agreed that we were drawn into the story from the beginning. We laughed about and could relate to the Spam reference! Allen now lives in Austin, Minnesota, the home of Spam!! For the most part, the book received high ratings from the Lit-Wits. Some do not like thriller mysteries, especially if they deal with rape, war, etc. and some did not like the last 1/4 of the book feeling it became unbelievable, unrealistic drama. Most agreed that it was an easy read and we tagged the same characters as heroes and demons.  
Author's website: http://alleneskens.com/

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

This was our classic book discussion selection for this year hosted by Lori. There were mixed reviews. Many felt that the style of writing took some time to catch on to and with the use of words having a different meaning than what we know them as today, the language was difficult to understand at times. Because of this, some were bored and stopped reading. Others felt that if you got in "the zone" and "glossed" over some of the words, the sentence made sense - something you got used to as you read more of the novel. The main characters, Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, were favorites for the most part, while Lady Catherine and Mr. Collins were the least liked characters. It is one of Kristi's all-time favorites, as well as Carol McQ's.

The books we brought to give as gifts through our annual book exchange were wrapped to give a hint to book titles. This year we started with our own book and listened while a story of "lefts" and "rights" was read. As each "left" and "right" was spoken, we passed the book accordingly. It was quite entertaining! One final exchange could be made if you found a cooperative friend to agree. The list of books received was as follows:
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah - given by Judy and rec'd by Missy.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - given by Carol W. and rec'd by Barb.
The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda - given by Diane and rec'd by Stacy.
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore - given by Kelly and rec'd by Pat D.
The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton - given Barb and rec'd by Pat S.
The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, & D. Abrams - given by Carol McQ and rec'd by Kelly.
The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain - given by Stacy and rec'd by Diane.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn - given by Kristi and rec'd by Carol McQ.
A Spool of Blue Thread by Ann Tyler - given by Pat S. and rec'd by Carol W.
The Fix by David Baldacci - given Lori and rec'd by Lori.
True Colors by Kristin Hannah - given by Missy and rec'd by Judy.
News of the World by Paulette Jiles - given by Pat S. and rec'd by Kristi.

Author's website: https://www.janeausten.org/
The 12 Most Quotable Lines of Pride and Prejudice: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/01/26/quotable-pride-and-prejudice?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati

Lori chose the book and hosted the discussion, serving us a "wild" Thanksgiving feast that included turkey, baked potatoes, baked corn, broccoli, cranberry salad, apple pie, and pumpkin custard pie. Lori chose this book because she wanted an historic novel and Pat D. suggested this one.

This book is set in northern New York in the late 1700s. It features the dynamics between Indians and Colonists in that region of the country. Though it included a number of very interesting characters, it mostly told the story of a bold young woman and her adventures with a charming man who was white but identified himself as a native.

Many of us compared this book to Outlander and, in fact, this book mentions some characters and/or storylines from Outlander and other works of fiction including The Last of the Mohicans, and Sense and Sensibility. That made some of us feel a little cheated, and we wanted more originality. We all agreed, and the scores reflect, that Sara Donati's writing falls short when compared to Diana Gabaldon's.

That said, most of us agreed that the book had great character development. We especially loved Curiosity, Galileo and their family. We commented how Julian was a scoundrel right until his end, and enjoyed reading about some of the townsfolk, woodsmen, and natives.

There were some parts of the book that kept us hooked so that we couldn't put it down, like when Elizabeth was alone in the wilderness trying to get help for Nathaniel. We thought some other parts of the book seemed to drag on and were unnecessary. Some thought there was too much going on and the book was simply too long.

Considering its length, we were very disappointed that some storylines were never wrapped up and left us hanging at the end (the birth of the twins, what happened to Hawkeye, and the stories behind some newly-introduced characters). We understand that those cliffhangers are meant to lure you into the next book, but most of us probably won't read the series.

Author's website: http://rosinalippi.com/weblog/

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Pat D. chose the book and hosted the discussion.

The author was born in Botswana and has written seventeen books in this series. He taught law in Botswana and then moved to Edinburgh to teach medical law. His wife is a physician, and they have two daughters. Smith is very smart with interesting abilities, which includes being a bassoonist in The Really Terrible Orchestra. Pat recommended that we read the first two books since they are such quick reads.

Pat took a lot of time to research and layout the questions. She shared Botswana trivia and map, then posed a question that blended the trivia with the book. Here are some discussion notes:

• Common sense problem solving cases
• Many enjoyed the smaller crime cases rather than one large case.
• Simple storytelling
• Botswana has a .7 white population.
• Mama R Precious) is like a therapist and thinks out of the box.
• Mama R married Note because of immaturity and just having a man pay attention to her.
• JLB loved his best friend and had many beautiful words for her even though not always spoken aloud to her.
• Mama R loves her country and people. She wants the best for Botswana.
• The language has many clicks and enunciations.
• Mama R has experiences with men that are not always positive (except Dad and JLB).
• Botswana became a democracy in 1966.
• The book had no violence or scary stuff.
• Botswana ideals are to respect elders and do what is right.
• For those of us who read both of the first two books in the series, the second book (Tears of the Giraffe) was our favorite.

Author's website: http://www.alexandermccallsmith.com/

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Pat S. chose the book and hosted the discussion. The book was a popular gift in our last Christmas book exchange. Pat served homemade chicken corn soup, salad, and peach cake with ice cream. Delicious!

This book told the story of a grumpy man who lived in a working-class neighborhood in Sweden. He'd had a hard life, with the most recent disappointment being the forced retirement from his long-term job. He set his mind on committing suicide as he could see no reason to keep on living, but for one reason or another was unable to complete that task despite his frequent attempts and varied methods. A new family in the neighborhood, much to his initial disdain, became a less-than-welcome influence on his time and energy. Even though he thought the entire human race had gone to pieces (idiots), he continued to regrettably assist those in need, including a feral cat. This is a love story as well as a study of the character of this curmudgeon who lived in his very black and white world where right was right and wrong was wrong. As the story progressed though, Ove softened in his approach to others, became an honorary "grandfather" to the new neighbors, and built friendships with members of his community.

Most of us loved this novel and found it to be humorous and heartwarming, though the book was a little slow-going in the early chapters. We didn't like Ove at first, but as his past was revealed to us, we gained a better understanding of his peculiar behavior and became fond of him. We were entertained by the brash pregnant neighbor and her family, and how they took liberties with Ove's time. And we were appreciative of Ove's relationship with the cat; some of us even thought that the cat might be his wife reincarnated. We thought the relationship between Ove and Sonya was endearing. She must have been a very special person, and we talked about why she loved him.

We observed that Ove's crusty exterior and the nicknames he assigned to others may have helped him to remain intentionally isolated from society. By the end of the book we knew Ove to have a big heart, both figuratively and literally. We liked all he characters and how their lives were intertwined, and thought this book had great story development. Most of us liked it immensely and it even scored an elusive "10" from one of our readers.

Author's website: http://www.fredrikbackmanbooks.com/

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Judy chose the book and hosted the meeting. She received this book in our annual book exchange.

This book told the story of a woman who had amnesia as a result of a head injury. She'd forgotten everything that had happened in her life for the previous ten years. This included the births of her three children, estrangement from her sister, and most significantly, the breakdown of her marriage. Memories came back gradually at first, then completely by the end of the book. The book explored Alice's relationships with her family, friends, newfound love interest, neighbors, community members, children, and husband.

We enjoyed learning about Alice's life as she rediscovered herself. We were mystified by the apparent radical changes in her behavior and personality. Though we attributed much of the behavioral change to her friendship with Gina, we thought that such a drastic change to some of her core values was not entirely believable.

Some of us thought the format of the book was a little confusing and mildly irritating because the story jumped around to the perspectives of several ancillary characters. Some thought it started out very slowly because it took Alice so long to get out of the hospital. But we all agreed that it was a quick, easy read, creative, and very entertaining even though some parts of it (IVF, pie construction, personality changes) were not entirely realistic.

This book gave us all a lot to think about in the way we handle our current personal relationships with family and others. It also prompted us to pause and reflect on our own lives, especially events and decisions that have occurred during the past ten years.

Author's website: http://lianemoriarty.com.au/

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Lucia chose the book and hosted the discussion. She read this book before and remembered she loved it enough to read it again. When you walked into Lucia's home, you could smell bread baking just as though it was a bakery. She even made Minka's rolls using the recipe in the back of the book which were delicious served with a salad and other assorted breads.

In this book an insecure young woman with a scarred face (Sage) learned about the horrors of the Holocaust from her grandmother and from an elderly gentleman she met in a grief support group. The elderly man eventually enlisted her help to commit suicide, but instead, Sage contacted officials to turn him in for his past crimes. when pressed, Sage's grandmother reluctantly told of her experiences at Auschwitz, and in a third storyline, a fictional tale was woven through this book that moved back and forth from the World War II era to the present time.

Most of us enjoyed this book. We thought it presented good ethical issues that led to interesting discussion. It told the story of what it is like to be human despite all adversity. We wondered what the interaction would have been like if the two individuals that outlived the Holocaust had been able to meet. Some of us struggle with reading about such a terrible time in our history, but the book kept our interest enough that we wanted to know what happened next, especially regarding Sage's relationship with Leo. 

In typical Jodi Picoult fashion there was, of course, a twist at the end of this story. The twist related to Sage's decision whether to assist in the suicide and the question of the identity of the elderly man. Most of us were surprised by the ending, though a few of us suspected the truth.

Author's website: http://www.jodipicoult.com/