Hi everyone, just kicking things off with a reminder, our March book club gathering will be on Friday, March 10, 2023 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

And our March Read is:

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray

(Copies of the March Read are available at the Circulation Desk)

And here is the plot: A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

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SSCL Book Club for Adults: February 2023

First Off: Great Reads Recommended by Members:

Barker and Llewelyn Mystery Series by Will Thomas (Books in series, to-date, 13 with a 14^th title, Heart of the Nile coming out in April 2023)

Book One:

Some Danger Involved: An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London’s Jewish ghetto.

When the eccentric and enigmatic Cyrus Barker takes on the recent murder case of a young scholar in London’s Jewish ghetto, he realizes that he must hire an assistant, and out of all who answer an ad for a position with “some danger involved,” he chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man with a murky past.

As they inch ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder, Llewelyn is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker’s peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the heart of London’s teeming underworld. Brimming with wit and unforgettable characters and steeped in authentic period detail, Some Danger Involved is a captivating page-turner that introduces an equally captivating duo.

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Bryant & May Mystery Series by Christopher Fowler (Books in series, to-date, 18.5; most recent full book in series London Bridge is Falling Down (2021).

Book One: Full Dark House: Edgy, suspenseful, and darkly comic, here is the first novel in a riveting mystery series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department’s Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case—and how along the way the unlikely pair of crime fighters changed the face of detection.

A present-day bombing rips through London and claims the life of eighty-year-old detective Arthur Bryant. For his partner John May, it means the end of a partnership that lasted over half-a-century and an eerie echo back to the Blitz of World War II when they first met. Desperately searching for clues to the killer’s identity, May finds his old friend’s notes of their very first case and becomes convinced that the past has returned . . . with a killing vengeance.

It begins when a dancer in a risque new production of Orpheus in Hell is found without her feet. Suddenly, the young detectives are plunged in a bizarre gothic mystery that will push them to their limits—and beyond. For in a city shaken by war, a faceless killer is stalking London’s theaters, creating his own kind of sinister drama. And it will take Arthur Bryant’s unorthodox techniques and John May’s dogged police work to catch a criminal whose ability to escape detection seems almost supernatural—a murderer who even decades later seems to have claimed the life of one of them . . . and is ready to claim the other.

Filled with startling twists, unforgettable characters, and a mystery that will keep you guessing, Full Dark House is a witty, heartbreaking, and all-too-human thriller about the hunt for an inhuman killer.

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Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James Mystery Series by Deborah Crombie (18 books, with a 19^th scheduled for publication in 2023; the most recent book in the series is A Bitter Feast (2019).

Book One: A Share in Death: In this “thoroughly entertaining mystery with a cleverly conceived and well-executed plot” (Booklist), Edgar Award-nominated author Deborah Crombie introduces us to Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard and his partner, Gemma James.

A week’s holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard’s Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid’s vacation before it’s begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid’s keen sense of duty won’t allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised dramatically when a second murder occurs, and Kincaid and James find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much.  

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The Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack. 
 
New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.
 
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse—one studying the stallion’s bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
 
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

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Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America by Dahlia Lithwick:

When it comes to legal challenges to human rights in general and women’s rights in particular, it is sobering to note that threats against them are coming from inside the house. From the lowest rung of the judicial ladder to the Supreme Court, legal decisions that protect fundamental freedoms are under assault in existential ways. Since the mid–twentieth-century, more and more women have been attracted to law as a career, and a stellar cadre of social-justice-focused lawyers has recognized the courts as the linchpin in protecting fragile rights. The battles have been arduous, the defeats aggravating, and the victories often disconcertingly ephemeral. Lawyer and legal journalist Lithwick, a self-described “professional court-watcher,” profiles the best-of-the-best women lawyers whose dedication, drive, and determination have led to monumental changes. Some are household names, such as Sally Yates, Stacey Abrams, and Anita Hill. Others are less well-known, although their advocacy is equally pioneering, including Latinx vote strategist Nina Perales and ACLU reproductive rights attorney Brigitte Amiri. Whip-smart and wickedly acerbic, Lithwick shines a reassuring light on the essential interconnectivity between women and the law and champions the vital role women lawyers must continue to play if American democracy is to persevere. – Booklist Review  

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The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

From the author of the sensational bestseller The Lost Apothecary comes a spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead.

1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.

Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…

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Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (and the corresponding move was good too: A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks)

Here is an overview of the plot: Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

Fredrik Backman’s beloved first novel about the angry old man next door is a thoughtful exploration of the profound impact one life has on countless others. “If there was an award for ‘Most Charming Book of the Year,’ this first novel by a Swedish blogger-turned-overnight-sensation would win hands down” (Booklist, starred review).

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The Winners by Fredrik Backman

Billed as the conclusion of the Beartown series, the new novel by the award-winning Swedish author Backman (A Man Called Ove, 2014) is set two-and-a-half years after the town of Bjornstad was torn apart by the rape of a teenage girl by a junior hockey player. Readers unfamiliar with Beartown (2016) and its sequel Us against You (2017) need to know one thing: Bjornstad and the nearby Hed are, above all, hockey towns. After the tragic events recounted in the first book, Bjornstad’s hockey team faltered, allowing Hed’s to rise to prominence. Now, as the town still struggles to put itself back together, things happen that will force each resident to confront his or her darkest thoughts. This is a dramatic and highly satisfying novel, building on themes introduced in the first two books and brilliantly drawing the reader deeply into the story. The translation by Neil Smith (who has also translated novels by Lars Kepler and Liza Marklund) is nimble and idiomatic, perfectly conveying Backman’s love of language and his wonderful sense of humor. If this really is the last Beartown novel, it’s a hell of a conclusion to an outstanding series. – Booklist Review

The Winners is third book in the Beartown trilogy, preceded by Beartown (2017) & Us Against You (2018)

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Secondly, here is the February Read Overview:

The SSCL Book Club for Adults met on Friday, February 10 and discussed our February Read:

The Matrix by Lauren Groff.

The book, despite the modern science fiction connotations of the title, is set in the 12 Century, the protagonist a fictionalized version of a real historical person, the poetry writing nun Marie de France.

The protagonist Marie was born in France, the illegitimate daughter of a French noblewoman and a member of the French Royal Family. She spent her early years surrounded by her widowed maternal grandmother, mother and aunts who lived together on the family estate. In that era, women were usually treated as property so the freedom Marie and her female relatives enjoyed in those years was not typical.

After Marie’s mother died, she spent several years managing the family estate before it was discovered a young woman was managing the estate, which wasn’t allowed; and then the French, and future English Queen, Eleanor called her to court and told her she was too awkward, tall and uncouth to be an acceptable bride and instead, she was being sent to an English convent.

Marie, who as the novel opens was not especially religious, was intelligent, hardworking and industrious. When she arrived at the convent she found a small number of nuns at the abbey; and those nuns were starving for a lack of gathering resources.

Over time Marie worked her way up in the ranks at the abbey, implementing more efficient ways of doing things and the abbey prospered. Marie also had religious visions that she used to get her own way when implementing changes and improvements at the abbey. And she created a female-centric place at the abbey where women were able to prosper. Marie was eventually promoted to the top position at the abbey, becoming the abbess, a position she held until her death.

The Matrix was a detailed historical fiction novel but without any mysteries or major league surprises in the plot. The novel was liked by some members of the book club, while others thought it was too detailed and contained too many descriptions that needed to be looked up to comfortably carry on reading the in-depth historical plot.

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Have a great day!

Linda Reimer, SSCL