More Stunning Reads from Wine, Books & More

A fair bit of non-fiction found its way to Wine, Books and More’s January session, some of it making for some pretty solid reading. First up was this engrossing bio: The Many Lives of Mama Love: a memoir of lying, stealing, writing and healing by Lara Love Hardin. This is a powerful story of shame, self-forgiveness and redemption. The author describes her life of crime to support an opiate addiction, her time in prison and return to civilian life.

Hold On to Your Kids is a parenting classic by physician Gabor Maté and psychologist Gordon Neufeld. The gist of their book is that while kids learn a lot from their peers, their parents are important too for helping their children feel safe and understood, important for fostering family cohesion. The new edition also addresses parenting challenges due to the rise of digital devices and social media.

Simon Burt was a guest speaker at last year’s Hawke’s Bay Readers and Writers Festival. His book, Route 52: a big lump of country unknown describes the characters, old pubs and interesting histories the author discovered on the tortuous back road between Masterton and Waipukurau. A really good read says our reviewer.

Far more serious was Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. If a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon, what would happen next? The book looks at the decision-making process in this worst-case scenario and argues that now is the time like never before that we need to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Our reader said it makes you a bit nervous.

Ilan Pappé’s book The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1947 - 1951 takes you back the origins of the ongoing conflict between Arab countries and Israel. It argues that opportunities presented at the UN sponsored Lausanne Conference could have brought about a lasting peace. No doubt an authoritative work, but our reader found it rather hard work.

Another war, but fiction this time is the setting for The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. This was aheart-stopping read that takes you back to a quiet French village during World War II where Vianne says goodbye to her husband when he enlists in the French army. Meanwhile her headstrong younger sister, Isabelle, is sent away from Paris by the girls’ father, only to determine to join the resistance when France falls to German occupation.

Another reader enjoyed two books by local author Charity Norman. The Secret Life of Luke Livingston is about a man, a father, grandfather and respected member of the community who has always felt in his heart that he’s a woman. The novel follows how the decision to reveal this secret impacts on his family.

Home Truths, also by Charity Norman, is about a family torn apart. Her son’s life hanging in the balance, a mother makes a desperate decision when her husband’s sense and logic are swayed by conspiracy theories. Just how far would you go to save your child’s life?

Trent Dalton adds a bit of fantasy in his most recent novel, Gravity Let Me Go. As a severe storm heads towards Brisbane, Noah Cork has just published the scoop of his career, a true-crime story where the killer communicated with Noah as the murder mystery unfolded. Our reader had mixed feelings about this story which was maybe just a bit too fantastical.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans on the other hand got a rave review. It’s an epistolary novel following retired high-flyer Sybil Van Antwerp, a keen writer of letters to friends, relation and authors she admires. When she receives letters from someone from her past, she’s forced to reexamine a painful period in her life.

Among the crime fiction was Matthew Dicks’ humorous novel, Something’s Missing, which follows Martin, a thief with OCD. He’s good at what he does, a successful burglar whose crimes go undetected, until he begins to take an interest in the lives of the homeowners whose houses he visits. Poring over photo albums and reading their journals, he starts meddling in their lives as a kind of neurotic guardian angel. A really enjoyable read.

Killing the Shadows is Val McDermid’s original take on the serial killer story, when psychology professor Fiona Cameron gets involved in a case where someone is killing crime writers. Not just any crime writers, but those that make heroes of psychological profilers. As you can imagine, this puts her in the killer’s headlights in a race against time to catch the murderer before it’s too late. This is a nail-biting standalone novel from the acclaimed author of the Karen Pirie, Allie Burns and the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series.

The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly is the latest Lincoln Lawyer novel featuring Mickey Haller. In his new case, Mickey’s fighting an AI company which may have been responsible for the death of a young girl. Haller puts to work the journalist who wants to write a book about the case, assigning him the hard yards of endless research to find a key witness. With billions of dollars at stake, it’s not surprising that there’s danger lurking. Another really enjoyable read.

For a bit of light relief, one reader enjoyed The Housemaid by Freida McFadden. It’s the story of a new housemaid at Nina and Andrew Winchester’s house, where she cleans, does school runs and cooks dinner. But things turn sinister when Nina discovers the maid trying on one of her dresses and reacts in a way that is unexpected. A gripping story with plenty of twists, there are two more in this series to enjoy.

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker is a tale of murder, revenge and retribution set in Cape Haven, California. It all begins when Vincent King is released from prison after a thirty-year stint for homicide. We’ve also got Duchess Radley, the fierce 13-year-old protector of her mother and five-year-old brother, and Walk, the chief of police, who at one time testified against Vicent, his former best friend. So many interesting strands interconnected in a gripping story. Recommended.

Wine, Books & More meet on the third Tuesday of each month at Hastings Library, at 5:30 pm. Light refreshment included.

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