Hello, reader…
*Note to first time readers: the following is a summary of a discussion by friends who gather monthly in a virtual space called Second Life. Reading notes are lightly edited reflections shared in real time via text chat.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea – by TJ Klune
This is the sequel to The House on the Cerulean Sea. FireWoman really enjoyed this book. It was different, but Klune said many things that the trans community feels and knows and wishes the cis community would accept about them. Words that needed to be gathered up in one place and read out loud. FireWoman felt that the story was satisfying and thought provoking.
Akin by Emma Donoghue
A retired widower from New York is planning a trip to his childhood home in Nice, France. A social worker contacts him asking for emergency care for a great nephew, age 11, whom he has never met. He doesn’t want to miss the trip so he takes the boy along. It makes for interesting conversations between the two.
A mystery gets involved when he studies old photos of his mother during wartime, because he can’t decide whether she was a French Resistance worker or a German conspirator, but the nephew helps him figure it out!
Veyot said that this book has good characters and good scenery descriptions.
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction by Henry Gee
Sierra is nearly done with this book – which she had just started at our last gathering.
The first part of the book is basically a quick history of various branches of humans and how homo sapiens is the last one standing. A lot of this was familiar but along the way he points out things like, humans were actually kinda rare. Hunter-gatherers need a lot of territory to support themselves so the population simply can’t get that big. Until you get to the agricultural revolution which increased the effective carrying capacity of land. Not without its own set of downsides though.
Fast forward a bit to later in the book he also talks about the Green Revolution around the 1960s. That improved a lot of our key crops. But one of his points is that human population kept growing and we’re now probably maxing those gains out.
The group brought up current population trends. Sierra said that Gee discusses the possible decline around the world in male fertility. Another key part of his argument is that populations are aging and a lot of our advanced tech and know-how is due to having a large populations with smart folks working on stuff. When the population starts declining then sustaining development becomes harder. He’s projecting out a ways but it is an interesting ( I would call it fun ) thing to speculate that humans might go extinct 🙂
Gee then gets to the last point which is that if humans can expand into space then that may provide benefits to avoid such extinction.
Overall, Sierra felt this was an interesting read. It’s a book that could be combined with a few others to make a more interesting survey.
Smothermoss by Alisa Alering
This is about two sisters living 1980s Appalachia. Both very different but both struggling with poverty and those pesky teen hormones. The oldest sister is left to run the house while their mother works at the nearby asylum. So she is more than resentful while also dealing with some paranormal occurrences. Dani said that it is beautifully written and haunting. The end left her wanting more.
Are you There God, It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
This was a re-read for Emm. She couldn’t remember how old she was when she first read it, but discovered that she still enjoyed it.
My Friends by Frederik Backman
This is a book that Emm felt she had to sit with when she was done. It’s about how art touches the soul and has the power to heal and transform, even when we don’t know it.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
This is a book about a man, Harold, who receives a letter from someone in his past. He writes a short letter in response and walks to their nearest post to mail it – but then somehow ends up walking across England to deliver his message in-person. The friend he is delivering it to has cancer and Harold is convinced that he can save his friend with this walk. Zoe is only a few chapters in but is highly enjoying it.
The Tokyo Suite by Giovana Madalosso
This book has nothing to do with Japan. It’s by a Brazilian author and is set in San Paulo. It’s the story of two women – a television producer and her nanny. The nanny kidnaps the producer’s young daughter. But, Zoe said that the book is more about how these two women are exploring their interior lives…and somehow find themselves doing things that are completely unlike their typical behavior.
It was short. And witty. Zoe bought it because it was slim and fit nicely in her purse (she was traveling when she bought it). She also liked the cover. She was glad it turned out to be a good read.
The Names by Florence Knapp
Veyot brought this one up but didn’t go into detail because it was already on Emm’s list. We might discuss it next time!
Our next gathering is on July 13 at 1pm SLT.
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