The following books have been selected for discussion in 2022.
January (1-27-22): The Golden Thread: The Cold War and the mysterious death of Dag Hammaersköld, Ravi Somaiya.
On September 17, 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld boarded a Douglas DC6 propeller plane on the sweltering tarmac of the airport in Leopoldville, the capital of the Congo. Hours later, he would be found dead in an African jungle with an ace of spades playing card placed on his body. Hammarskjöld had been the head of the United Nations for nine years. He was legendary for his dedication to peace on earth. But dark forces circled him: powerful and connected groups from an array of nations and organizations—including the CIA, the KGB, underground militant groups, business tycoons, and others—were determined to see Hammarskjöld fail. A riveting work of investigative journalism based on never-before-seen evidence, recently revealed firsthand accounts, and groundbreaking new interviews, The Golden Thread reveals the truth behind one of the great murder mysteries of the Cold War. Nonfiction, 304 pages, published in 2020.
February (2-24-22): Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art, Christopher Moor.
Vincent van Gogh’s friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—vow to discover the truth about van Gogh’s untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris. Fiction, 421 pages, published in 2012.
March (3-24-22): Northland: A 4000-mile journey along America’s forgotten border, Porter Fox.
Travel writer Porter Fox spent three years exploring 4000 miles of the border between Maine and Washington, traveling by canoe, freighter, car, and foot. In Northland, he blends a deeply reported and beautifully written story of the region’s history with a riveting account of his travels. Nonfiction, 272 pages, published in 2019.
April (4-28-22): Salt Houses, Hala Alyan.
Spanning decades, Salt Houses depicts the absorbing story of a multigenerational family in the Middle East beginning in Palestine in the early 1960s. Salt Houses does not focus on the wars of the Middle East, but rather provides us with an intimate view of how these conflicts affect individuals and family units. Fiction, 312 pages, published in 2017.
May (5-26-22): The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain, Bill Bryson.
In a sequel to his classic best-selling travel book, Notes from a Small Island, after 20 years, Bryson returns to Britain to see what has changed—and what hasn’t. With his matchless instinct for the funniest and quirkiest and his unerring eye for the idiotic, the bewildering, the appealing, and the ridiculous, he offers acute and perceptive insights into all that is best and worst about Britain today. Nonfiction/humor, 382 pages, published in 2015.
June (6-23-22): Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu.
Written in the format of a screenplay, Interior Chinatown tells the story of Willis Wu, an American actor of Taiwanese descent, the “Generic Asian Man” who is stuck playing “Background Oriental Male” and occasionally “Delivery Guy” in the fictional police procedural Black and White, but who longs to be “Kung Fu Guy” on screens worldwide. After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family, and what that means for him, in today’s America. Fiction, 288 pages, published in 2020.
July (7-28-22): Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch, Dan O’Brien.
Part memoir, part nature-writing, this book describes the story of a cattle rancher who hits bottom, and makes the transition to herding buffalo for economic and ecological reasons. Nonfiction/memoir, 262 pages, published in 2001.
August (8-25-22): The Night Watchman, Louise Erdich.
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, DC, this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman. Fiction, 464 pages, published in 2020.
September (9-22-22): Carnegie’s Maid: A Novel, Marie Benedict.
With captivating insight and heart, Carnegie’s Maid is a book of fascinating 19th century historical fiction. Discover the story of one brilliant woman who may have spurred Andrew Carnegie’s transformation from ruthless industrialist to the world’s first true philanthropist. Fiction, 354 pages, published in 2018.
October (10-27-22): Miss Burma, Charmaine Craig.
A beautiful and poignant story of one family during the most violent and turbulent years of world history, Miss Burma is a powerful novel of love and war, colonialism and ethnicity, and the ties of blood. It tells the story of modern-day Burma through the eyes of Benny and Khin, husband and wife, and their daughter Louisa. Khin comes from the Karen, a long-persecuted ethnic minority group. Based on the story of the author’s mother and grandparents, Miss Burma is a captivating portrait of how modern Burma came to be and of the ordinary people swept up in the struggle for self-determination and freedom. Fiction, 368 pages, published in 2017.
November: This month will be skipped.
December (12-1-22): Dare to Disappoint, Özge Samancł.
As a child in Izmir, Turkey in the 1980s and 90s, Özge Samancł watched as her country struggled between its traditional religious heritage and the new secular westernized world of brand-name products and television stars. Even in her own family, she struggled to figure out where she belonged. Her older sister was a perfect student, and her dad hoped Özge would study hard, go to good schools, and become an engineer to find stability in their country’s uncertain economic climate. But Özge was a dreamer and wanted adventure. Nonfiction/graphic, 190 pages, published in 2015.
The NHLC Book Club meets monthly on the fourth Thursday at 7:00 pm in the church Courtyard. During this time of Covid, masks are required to be worn. In warmer months, the group may meet outside in members’ backyards. Everyone is invited to read the books and join the discussion!
