I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger is a hope-filled adventure tale set in the not-too-distant future on and along the shores of Lake Superior. The novel is Odysseus meets Orpheus mixed with a touch of Treasure Island in an increasingly illiterate society where a small ruling class makes and enforces all rules with cruelty and vengeance. Enger is best known for his character-driven, poetic novel Peace Like a River and his other tender novels set in the upper Midwest. This is his first foray into apocalyptic fiction, where he retains the beauty of the luminous descriptions and strong characters we love from his earlier books.

Lark is a used bookseller who buys and loves books in a world that both bans and burns them. Her husband Rainy, who’s madly in love with her, is a bass player who shows the reader the healing power of music. They take in Kellan, an escaped indentured servant (yes, indentured servitude has returned to the U. S.), who arrives at Lark’s shop with an advance copy of a mid-20th century unpublished manuscript, I Cheerfully Refuse, by her favorite poet/essayist. The foreshadowing in that title lets us know that these characters won’t readily give up what they consider essential. 

The first third of the book sets up the new world order and the incandescent landscape Lark and Rainy inhabit. Soon oligarchs and their followers, searching for what they believe Kellen has stolen, kill Lark, so Rainy flees into Lake Superior on an ancient sailboat with an unstable motor. This is where the book veers and Lake Superior becomes what Enger agrees is “the beating heart of the book.” Rainy’s journey there mirrors the coming of the Tashi Comet as he, a kind and virtuous character, begins to thaw from his frozen state of grief on the unpredictable waters of the inland sea when he rescues Sol, a ten-year-old girl also escaping demons, and he further endangers himself. Like Orpheus, Rainy and Sol travel through a frightening underworld chased by an evil villain as Rainy uses his music to overpower that evil. Their travails also mirror those in Treasure Island with its inebriated cast, elusive treasure, and mutineers. 

The novel celebrates the transformative power of learning to love and care for another and the importance of being true to oneself. This sailing adventure attacks the consequences of climate change and the threat of absolute rulers and their intoxicating temptations. Rainey sums up his music with its power to calm even the most horrible and powerful in this musing: “Eventually, I came down on the bedrock of an old American hymn. An earnest chant from before my time, when the church was briefly other than an instrument of war. I liked it for its clarity and yearning, its warm dawn of a chorus.” Then he observes, “What scares me is the notion we are all one rotten moment, one crushed hope or hollow stomach from stuffing someone blameless in a cage.” 

Summing it Up: Read this hopeful sailing adventure with its conniving characters chasing the kind, courageous people who are fighting against what seems to be an impenetrable controlling class. Stick with the beginning of the book as it builds the new world, then soar with speed under a heavy wind when Rainy sets sail to save himself and rescue Sol. Ron Charles of The Washington Post calls it “the sweetest apocalyptic novel yet” and “an alluring itinerary toward hope.” I agree.

Rating:  5 Stars 

Publication Date: April 2, 2024

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Gourmet, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Book Club

Author Website: https://www.leifenger.com/ 

Interview with the Author: https://youtu.be/sSGOOrzFWkI?feature=shared 

What Others Are Saying: 

Bookpage: https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/i-cheerfully-refuse-leif-enger-book-review/ 

Foreword Reviews: https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/i-cheerfully-refuse/ 

Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/9780802162939 

The Star Tribune: https://www.startribune.com/duluths-leif-enger-returns-with-stunning-novel-i-cheerfully-refuse/600353824/ 

The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/04/02/i-cheerfully-refuse-leif-enger-book-club/ 

A book that reads like music, both battle hymn and love song for our world. A true epic—heartbreaking, terrifyingly prophetic, but above all, radically hopeful.  — Violet Kupersmith, author of Build Your House Around My Body

“There’s a playfulness and a seriousness of purpose to the latest from the Minnesota novelist, a spirit of whimsy that keeps hope flickering even in times of darkest despair.” — Kirkus Reviews

The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell

The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale-like rendition of a rural noir narrative with exquisite descriptions of the land and the people formed by it. Hermine “Herself” Zook has three daughters. Primrose, the eldest, is a driven, justice-seeking California lawyer. Mary Rose, called Molly, is a rigid, church-going nurse who lives nearby. Rose Thorn, who’s lazy and beautiful, is desired by most men in their area of southwest Michigan. Eleven-year-old Dorothy, Hermine’s granddaughter called Donkey, because she was fed donkey milk when she was born, lives with Hermine on her island in the midst of vast wetlands. Donkey is a genius who loves math, has never been to school, and has the characteristics of a woodland sprite. The Waters is set within 6,000 acres of state-protected land near the fictional town of Whiteheart, Michigan where Hermine cleverly restricts access to her island home.

Campbell’s Once Upon a River is one of my long-time favorite novels and The Waters is reminiscent of that book in its gorgeous rendering of the land, the people who populate it, and the strength and resilience built into the main characters. The Waters opens like a fairy tale with “Once upon a time M’Sauga Island was the place desperate mothers abandoned baby girls and where young women went seeking to prevent babies altogether.” The Waters highlights the importance of women having the right and ability to determine if they should have children while also celebrating women who choose to have them and caring for the children themselves.

The Waters is slow to build and readers desiring a fast-paced novel won’t find it here. What they will find is a deep and abiding concern for taking care of our land and for making sure that we heal the earth and those it harms when our byproducts do damage. Campbell explores the elusiveness of these tasks:

“In the Michigan state government, environmental protections were relaxed, and the plans to clean up the mounds of paper mill waste in the Waters were delayed for lack of funding. The legislature justified these decisions by saying they would instead institute tax breaks to benefit businesses, although no business in Whiteheart benefitted from the lower taxes. 

The Whiteheart post office closed that winter, so everybody now had to drive eight or ten miles around the Waters to the Potawatomi branch, and people missed talking to their neighbors while waiting in line. Teenagers, always the most creative and innovative members of any community, learned how to cook methamphetamine over burn barrel fires. A handful of girls cut themselves secretly with razor blades for the rush of sensation it gave them, and one boy shot himself in the head with his father’s pistol because of how some other kids talked to him at school. He didn’t die, but people said maybe he should have, given how he ended up.”

Summing it Up:

Read The Waters to enjoy its portrait of rural southern Michigan, reap its environmental insights, and meet Donkey, a unique, otherworldly character. Stick with it for its caring ending and the way it tells the story slant. If you haven’t read Once Upon a River, rectify that immediately. Campbell is one of our best writers, a National Book Award finalist, and a strong supporter of the environment. The Waters is a “Read with Jenna” Book Club selection.

A Note: Jenna Bush Hager of the Today Show’s “Read with Jenna” Book Club says “if you loved Where the Crawdads Sing, you’re going to love, and I’m saying love, our first read of 2024.” I didn’t find the books to be that similar other than on the surface. Yes, both feature precocious girls in rural settings, but The Waters is a meditation with an otherworldly feel whereas Where the Crawdads Sing is primarily a murder mystery with a realistic exploration of flora and fauna. 

Rating:  4 Stars 

Publication Date: January 9, 2024

Category: Fiction, Gourmet, Super Nutrition, Book Club

Author Website: https://www.bonniejocampbell.net/

What Others are Saying:

Foreword Reviews: https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-waters/ 

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bonnie-jo-campbell/the-waters/ 

Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2024-01-03/an-off-the-grid-herbalist-hits-the-skids-in-an-earthy-new-bonnie-jo-campbell-novel 

The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/12/27/bonnie-jo-campbell-waters-book-review/ 

“Baggy writing, drawn-out scenes, and twee character names aren’t doing this story any favors, but Campbell’s immersive descriptions manage to suck the reader into its swampy setting. Patient readers will be carried away.” —Publishers Weekly

California Bear by Duane Swierczynski

California Bear by twice Edgar-nominated Duane Swierczynski is my first of Swierczynski’s books, but it won't be my last. I can't wait to read everything he’s written. The mystery begins when Jack Queen, who’s served ten years in prison for a supposed revenge killing of running over a man implicated in Queen’s wife's death, is released from prison. Cato Hightower, a wild ex-cop, spearheaded the effort to overturn Jack’s conviction and Hightower expects Queen to reward him by helping him blackmail the infamous “California Bear.”

The book begins with the Bear himself ruminating: 

“The California Bear, a serial torturer-murderer who had eluded justice for close to four decades, wanted a cookie.

He really shouldn't. Not with the diabetes and all. And he knew his wife would kill him if she found out he had raided her secret stash. But what was life without the little indulgences?

The man was seventy-two years old. Back when he was the Bear, he liked to bind his victims with ligatures he found around their homes (extension cords, shoe laces, medical tubing) and beat them senseless with his meaty fists. But right now, all this man cared about was pushing aside the rows of grease-flecked cookbooks on the top shelf over the fridge to gain access to the motherlode: a family-size package of Nutter Butters—his wife’s favorite.”

Jack Queen’s only desire is to see his fourteen-year-old daughter Matilda who’s in the hospital after recently being diagnosed with leukemia. Matilda, a genius who refers to herself as “The Girl Detective,” doesn't know if her dad is a killer:

“And when the Girl Detective looked him in the eyes in a couple of days, she would ask him the question she’d been too young (and too frightened) to ask at the time of his trial:

Did you do it?

To truly believe him, however, and repair their fractured relationship, the Girl Detective would have to discover the truth for herself.”

Queen and Hightower are inept blackmailers and the California Bear seems likely to escape their “gang that can't shoot straight” attempts to get the money Hightower thinks the Bear possesses until a twist that only someone with Swierczynski’s talent and creativity could imagine takes place. 

Summing it Up:

Each character in this tour de force is unique, entertaining, and like no other you've encountered. This phenomenal, intelligent mystery has enough plot twists, engaging characters, and “aha” moments filled with both compassion and desert-dry humor to please even the most discerning reader. And that ending: it's clever, kind, and exceptional. I’m begging Mr. Swierczynski for a sequel with Matilda in the starring role. 

Rating: 5 Stars 

Publication Date: January 9, 2024

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Mysteries and Thrillers, Sushi with Green Tea Sorbet, Book Club

Author Blog: http://secretdead.blogspot.com/

What Others are Saying:

Library Journal: https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/california-bear-1802499 

Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/9780316382977

“This book was written straight from the heart and I won't ever forget it.” Eli Cranor, author of Don’t Know Tough and Ozark Dogs 

Murder Outside the Box by Saralyn Richard

 

Murder Outside the Box is the fourth entry in the Detective Parrott mystery series that began with Murder in the One Percent. Set in the Brandywine area near Philadelphia, the mystery begins when Detective Oliver Parrott responds to a call about a baby left in a cardboard box with two bottles of breast milk on the doorstep of a caretaker’s cottage on a sprawling estate. When Parrott sees the longing in the reaction to the baby from the childless young woman who lives with her caretaker husband in the cottage, he wonders if her desire for a child might have anything to do with the baby. He later ponders whether he might be viewing the scene through his own circumstances as he has recently learned that a possible fertility problem may interfere with his wife’s and his ability to have children. 

The plot intensifies when a young woman who’d recently given birth is found dead in a remote area on a nearby estate owned by a billionaire Scotch whiskey baron. DNA evidence shows that the baby and the woman are not related and Parrott seeks clues in the breast milk left with the baby. Parrott and the forensic team supporting him engage with sophisticated tools and a clever collaborative effort to determine the identities of the woman and child and to find the woman’s killer.

Author Saralyn Richard offers convincing red herrings that add to the suspense while providing the reader with information leading to the determination of whodunit without sacrificing character development or insight into why the murder was committed. The book also shares fascinating information about fertility, DNA, and databases.

Summing it Up: Read Murder Outside the Box to follow one of my favorite characters, Detective Oliver Parrott, as he solves another mystery. Settle in on a long winter’s night to a tale that will challenge your detecting ability while offering an escape from the dreary days. Play along with Detective Parrott as he looks for evidence and clues “outside the box” to solve a murder that seems impossible to resolve.

A note: I first met Saralyn Richard on a baseball field when both our sons were young. She later moved to Texas and I became reacquainted with her when a favorite publicist sent me a review copy of Murder in the One Percent believing I would enjoy it, which I did. I share that and the fact that when I begin reading a book, I immerse myself in the characters and setting and rarely think about the author or anything else. So, when I came across a minor character, a journalist named Trina Hayes, in Murder Outside the Box, I first considered it a simple coincidence. A paragraph later, I recalled that Saralyn was the book’s author and realized that she had most likely used my name with intention. I am grateful for the honor. I also applaud her sharing information about fertility in the novel. As one of many grandparents of children who exist because of science and the team at Northwestern Medicine Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine Chicago, I am most appreciative.

Rating: 5 Stars 

Publication Date: January 5, 2024

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Mysteries and Thrillers, Book Club

Author Website: http://www.saralynrichard.com/index.html 

Author Insight: https://blackbirdwriters.com/saralyn-richard-on-all-about-babies/ 

Interview with the Author: https://youtu.be/Up-ogLNc9g8?si=sJo_bZ8jcM5an440 

What Others are Saying:

“A masterful mystery. move it to the top of your reading list.” Avanti Centrae, best-selling author of the VanOps thriller series

“When an abandoned baby is found outside a cottage, not far from where a woman who might be the mother lies dead, Detective Parrott displays out-of-the-box thinking, as he endeavors to solve the murder and determine the baby’s parentage. Richard keeps the reader guessing while conveying the meticulous nature of police work. Reproduction and parenthood are just a few issues Parrott must deal with in the case and in his own marriage. Full of twists and surprises, Murder Outside the Box is a great addition to this series.” Debbie Mack, New York Times best-selling author of the Sam McRae and Erica Jensen mystery series

The Best Books of 2023

 

Still Life with Books and Candle by Henri Matisse

In 2023, I read over 70 books that I thought were outstanding, so narrowing them down to just a few is an arbitrary choice based on my personal preferences in this moment. Ask me tomorrow, and the list might change. Presented below are my favorites—those I found phenomenal. Whether you’re in a position to sit down and read without distraction or if you can only snare the time to read or listen to a few pages without having to attend to the duties that keep you afloat, this list has something for you. There are books to comfort you, books to challenge you, books to make you laugh, and those that will make you cry. Wishing you a year in which you find the right book for the space you inhabit at the time. Descriptions of each title appear here.

My Top Five Novels of 2023:

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea

Hello, Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

The Honorable Mention Best Novels of 2023: 

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai

The Caretaker by Ron Rash

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (2021)

Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet (2022)

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Maame by Jessica George

The Measure by Nikki Erlick (2022)

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller (2021)

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro (2022)

Take What You Need by Idra Novey

Tandem by Andy Mozina

The Best Debut Fiction of 2023:

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

The Honorable Mention Best Debut Fiction of 2023:

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai

Countries of Origin by Javier Fuentes

Maame by Jessica George

The Measure by Nikki Erlick (2022)

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller (2021)

Memphis by Tara Stringfellow (2022)

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

The Best Historical Fiction (Pigeon Pie) Books of 2023:

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller (2021)

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

The Honorable Mention Best Historical Fiction of 2023:

Absolution by Alice McDermott

Because I Loved You by Donnaldson Brown

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

The Forger of Marseille by Linda Joy Myers

From Dust to Stardust by Kathleeen Rooney

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Horse by Geraldine Brooks (2022)

Künstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Schine

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

The Best Dessert, Pick-Me-Up Books of 2023:

Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

500 Miles from You by Jenny Colgan (2020)

The Music of the Bees by Eileen Garvin (2022)

The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

The Best Mysteries, Suspense, and Thrillers of 2023:

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby

Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor (2022)

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka (2022)

Ozark Dogs by Eli Cranor

The Honorable Mention Best Mysteries, Suspense, and Thrillers of 2023:

Distant Sons by Tom Johnston

Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

Reykjavik by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrin Jakobsdóttir

Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

The Best Nonfiction of 2023:

The Art Thief: a True Story of Love, Crime and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

Class: a Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land

Grateful: the Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass (2018)

A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung

Smile by Sarah Ruhl (2021)

Best Young Adult Novel of 2023

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (2022)