Welcome to the books our Chat’n’Chew book group discussed in December 2023.
We would love to see new and old faces at our next gathering. You can meet with us in the Ellsworth room in the library or from the comfort of your home. Register on our calendar and you will be sent a link to connect for that day. We don’t select one book, but share what everyone has been reading the past month. We hope to see you in this new year on Wednesday, January 17, from 12:30-2:00. We love all those who are passionate about books and reading like us.
Tastes like War a Memoir by Grace Cho
A fantastic memoir and hard to put down says this reader. The author is a mesmerizing storyteller and you will be moved by the author’s changing relationship with her mother as she navigates her mother’s schizophrenia. She richly and seamlessly blends memory and the present to attempt to piece together her mother’s history from Korea to the United States. The author relates the unspeakable traumas that her mother faced: as a young girl under Japanese colonial rule, the death of two of her siblings in the Korean War, working as a sex worker to survive and pay off her family’s debt, the stigma of having a biracial child in a country for whom Korean citizenship would be denied because “children born to Korean mothers and foreign fathers, (a serviceman) would not be allowed to register as South Korean citizens.” Her mother survived all of this to come to the US only to settle in a small town in Washington State where she faced racism as the only non-white person with two mixed-race children. This author, Grace Cho goes on to get a Ph.D. and study what schizophrenia is because her mother developed the disease in the ’80s at the age of 45. In the process, she discovers who her mother was, and what pasts she and other Korean women like her lived through. This book is beautifully written and thoroughly engrossing.
Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahari
This is a collection of 9 stories. You may not be a fan of short stories or even novellas because as soon as you get to know a character the story is over. And while not all the stories are memorable, the writing is well done, and the observations of people and places are exemplary slices of life. The short stories are about Rome as well as the Roman countryside, but what pulses throughout the stories is the rhythm of the city and the people who both live in that city and who visit this city. Start with “The Boundary,” about one family vacationing in the Roman countryside where we see their lives through the eyes of the caretaker’s daughter, who nurses a wound from her family’s immigrant past. Then move on to “P’s Parties,” about a Roman couple, who are now empty nesters and find comfort and community with foreigners at their friend’s yearly birthday gathering—until the husband crosses a line. The book is divided into three parts. One of the most intriguing groups of short stories this reader found, was entitled “The Steps.” It is a set of public steps overlooking a panoramic view and connecting two different neighborhoods. The many diverse stories, with the steps as a commonality, reflected the tensions of a changing city and the changing diverse populations and cultures particularly the meaning of home. This reader found it to be a very engaging collection. The writer has found her niche as a short story master.
Apothecary Rose by Candace Robb
This book is the first in this historical fiction series that also contains a mystery. Set in the 14th century, this is a medieval period mystery for the ages. Ms. Robb captured the time in such a tangible way that you will feel transported into that small village in York, England. The main character is Owen Archer. He is a former ex-soldier/warrior with a real knowledge of herbal healing. He is asked by the Lord Chancellor and Archbishop to investigate the mystery of a mysterious soldier who shows up badly wounded at the local Apothecary. This soldier suddenly dies after seeming to be on the road to recovery. It is up to Owen to find out the circumstances behind his puzzling death. Was it the Apothecary himself or was it someone else in the village who may have a motive to see that the soldier does not ever get to speak of his identity? The attention to historical detail is wonderful and unlike many other mystery books, you aren’t kept in suspense as to who did it. You get to follow Owen as he unravels the many threads to discover why this happened. The Apothecary Rose is an excellent mystery that is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys medieval mysteries or just stories set in the medieval period.
You will feel like you are part of the story and part of a different world that will leave you with the desire to keep reading.
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
This is a riveting mystery and character-driven/plot-driven drama. There are two main female characters in the book whose story is told in alternating chapters. It is a tale of immigration, adoption, and the trauma of China’s one-child policy. Beginning in China after the Cultural Revolution, Jasmine Yang is from a rural Chinese village. She is sold to a rich, controlling, and abusive husband at the age of 14. She finally escapes her husband to New York through a human trafficking ring. Her principal objective in coming to New York is to search for the child, a daughter, taken from her at birth.
The second main character is Rebecca Whitney who is an executive at a publishing firm in NYC and married to a college Professor; a wealthy power couple. They are a loving family with a young daughter FiFi who was adopted from China through a connection with Rebecca’s husband. Rebecca seems to have it all, but demands from her job and marriage are interfering.
These two women from different backgrounds and cultures are intertwined and soon you will learn how they are connected. An excellent story of motherhood, told from two women’s points of view. They are two tenacious, inspiring, and fearless women. You will be on the edge of your seat hoping for a happy ending.
And a quick second mention and kudos to the Fredrick Backman book Anxious People It has been discussed and reviewed in earlier months. This was recently read by one of our members in the group and comes with high recommendations. This might be just the book to read at this time of year because it is a quirky comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined. This book will make you laugh so hard and then cry. And then you have a surprising and unexpected ending. Try it.