Senior Book Break
July 11, 2023
Subject: An Author New to You
Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
A female scientist becomes a hit television cook. A single-minded woman who always tells the truth and cooks using facts from her life with chemistry. Our reader enjoyed the book which had some funny parts to it. Have you ever cooked using a test tube for a measuring cup? Only problem our reader had was the intelligence of the dog. Read it to find out.
The book is available at the Grover Beach Community Library
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Two stories intertwined. Marian and Jamie Graves are orphaned and sent to live with their uncle near Missoula, Montana. There they join up with a neighboring child, Caleb Bitterroot. Marian grows up with a passion for flying, while Jamie is an artist. Caleb is a loner and mountain man. The era is around 1927. The story is how they became the people they grew up to be. Hadly Baxter is a movie star, also an orphan, who is to play Marian in a movie of her life. Marian attempts to circle the globe via the polar routes, whereas Amelia Earhardt did it on the east/ west route. The plot is hard to describe, and the ending is not anyway near what our reader imagined or for that matter one other member who had read the book. This is not an easy book to put down.
This book is being donated to the Grover Beach Community Library
Maame by Jessica George
The author’s first book. It is about immigrants to Great Britain from Ghana where the women “knew their place.” The author had a sheltered life until age 20/21 when she moved out on her own. The story follows her as she matures and becomes a success. Although, people stole ideas from her family, but they stoically found a way to survive and succeed.
The book is available at the Grover Beach Community Library
The Experiment by Richart Setlowe
The time period is the 1970s/80s. The main character, Harry Styles, in this story has lung cancer. An experimental surgery is performed, and he wakes up with gills, meaning hemust live under water. The military is doing research on lung cancer and deep-sea diving focusing on taking oxygen out of water. Harry becomes part of the study looking into what would happen if people were given gills instead of lungs?
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
The book takes place in 1969 Brooklyn. A funny book about a deacon who shoots drug dealers, junkies, and Italian mobsters. It crosses many cultures in a humorous manner.
The book is available at the Grover Beach Community Library
A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé
A couple, Ivan and Francesca meet at a ski resort. Both like books, though he likes heavier literature and she lighter subjects. They decide to open a bookstore in Paris, and it is wildly successful. Literary people, unnamed, suggest books to sell, but like most things, competition rears its ugly head and their clientele falls. It tells what it takes to start a bookstore and the intricacies of bookselling.