Still looking for the 'best book ever'...

By Mary Reiman

My first venture into writing a 5 Women Mayhem blog was on February 23, 2020.  I named it: ‘How and Why’ I Read.

The introduction from that first blog: “As I write my blogs, I’ll probably always include a sentence or two from the book I'm reading at the moment. They have framed my world, my story, and I hope in some way they will speak to you... I believe we’ve all found phrases that guide and sustain us.”

Today I am writing my 50th mayhem blog. Still contemplating. Still reflecting. Still putting aside the house projects and avoiding deep cleaning, because it's so much more important to read! Yes, still reading, knowing the current book might be the 'best book ever.'

‘Will you be my friend?’ That’s what I would say to author William Kent Krueger if I met him at a local bookstore. Authors are fascinating, aren't they. How do they construct their stories? How do they weave their ideas together? When they are writing, do they realize they will be capturing our attention and our hearts as we become absorbed in the lives of their characters? 

Most of Krueger’s crime/mystery novels are set in the beautiful north woods of Minnesota. He is the author of well-known titles: Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land. However, I admit that I am fixated on Cork O’Connor, the main character of his mystery series. You have many titles to choose from as Cork weaves his way from sheriff to private investigator, the protector of family and friends both on and off the Ojibwe reservations. Some would say you should read the books in order. I flip back and forth, reading whichever one I can locate in the library at any given moment. Trickster’s Point, Tamarack County, Lightning Strikes and Fox Creek, to name a few. 

Becoming Madam Secretary written by Stephanie Dray

“Miss Perkins, sometimes there's a man—or a woman— who is made for a moment. I happen to think you were made for this one.”

Frances Perkins’ story wasn’t in our American History textbooks when I was a child. It should have been. I hope it is today. Everyone should know of Frances Perkins. The first female Secretary of Labor. Long before she was chosen by Franklin D. Roosevelt for that position, she was an advocate for human rights. Besides being the first woman to be appointed to a cabinet post, she also served one of the longest terms of any Roosevelt appointee (1933–45). He trusted her. He gave her major responsibilities in spite of those who felt a woman’s place was not in our national government. Her most important contribution came in 1934 as chairwoman of the President's Committee on Economic Security, implementing the Social Security Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, establishing minimum wage and prohibiting child labor in many workplaces. Definitely worthy of a chapter in our history books.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

“Stories don’t die, they just wait in silence to be told.”

Julia Alvarez, author of many novels, including In the Time of the Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, has again woven a mesmerizing tale focusing on a writer named Alma Cruz. A writer and a storyteller, with many stories she’s started and not yet finished. So, when she inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, she decides to turn it into a place to bury her untold stories. Literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her. She wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas. 

As one reviewer says: “The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried?... Julia Alvarez reminds us that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end.”

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

“In the darkest moments, hope shines the brightest.”

Lucien Bernard is an architect in Paris in 1942 who is keeping his head down, looking for more work, recognizing the brutality inflicted on the Jews in France but choosing not to act on their behalf. That all changes when he is asked to use his knowledge and skills to create hiding places. 

This book was written in 2014 and it’s a page-turner. I can’t believe none of you told me about it sooner.

The Women by Kristen Hannah

“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words. We were there.”

JoAnne Young wrote about this book last week. What we should remember ... how "The Women" reminds us. Please read her post if you have not done so already. Indeed, this is a story that needed to be told.

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci

“The world does not all look like we do, Robert. And if you want to live in that world you need to understand what all of it looks like. Not just our piece of the pie.”

Searching for a fair trial in 1968 in southern Virginia. A murder case sets two lawyers against a deeply unfair system as they work to defend their wrongfully accused Black defendants in this courtroom drama. Another Baldacci page-turner. 

Yes, the characters in ‘A Calamity of Souls’ were hoping for change. 100 years after the Civil War, still hoping for change. 

Speaking of the Civil War...

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

From Erik Larson’s note to readers: “I was well into my research on the saga of Fort Sumter and the advent of the American Civil War when the events of January 6, 2021, took place. As I watched the Capitol assault unfold on camera, I had the eerie feeling that present and past had merged. It is unsettling that in 1861 two of the greatest moments of national dread centered on the certification of the Electoral College vote and the presidential inauguration.”

This book is narrative non-fiction. Every word, every conversation corroborated from historical documents, ledgers, plantation records. The amount of research is immense and as always, Larson brings the historical figures to life. Dissatisfaction, dissension, the call for secession. Beginning with the election of 1860 and explaining the almost daily activities, conversations, communications, strategies developed among representatives of the north and the south leading up to the events at Fort Sumter in April, 1861. 

And as I finish The Demon of Unrest, I need to take a reading break to reflect on the lessons we did, or didn't, learn from the Civil War.  

But I'll be back. I’m not sure where to go next on my reading pathway, so you can help me. If you have a great title you know I MUST read, let me know. Always looking for the next ‘best book ever’!