Spring Into a Great Read
By Tari Hendrickson, Reviewer
The Overstory by Richard Powers
You may begin this book unprepared for the depth and breadth of the stories that make this entanglement with trees its touchpoint. I’ve never been so enthralled with a collection of nine meaningful characters and their interconnections. The stories begin with a tale of seeds that travel with immigrants from New York City to grow a magnificent chestnut tree in rural Iowa. We learn the ways in which over generations it binds their family together in tradition and purpose. You’ll never look at trees the same way again – or, more deeply, at the ways that humans affect nature.
Lincoln City Libraries (10 copies)
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
For those who prefer an audiobook, I recommend you try this one, read by the author. Best-selling author Patchett tells of her childhood, her complicated relationships, and very personal experiences in a series of 24 essays. Her style is charming, but she cuts to the bone with candor as she tells of the people in her life who have meant the most: her three fathers, her dogs, and her doctor-pilot
husband, Karl.
Her essays bring to mind the ones I love and remind me to savor the dwindling days and moments I have with them.
Lincoln City Libraries (12 copies)
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
If you’ve heard of this award-winning book, you’ve likely heard it compared with Dickens’ David Copperfield. Kingsolver hits both somber and light notes with her first-person narrator, Demon, a boy entangled in the Kentucky foster care system, striving, sinking, and rising through his grit. The parallels with Copperfield work, but this novel offers insights about a unique region of our country. Kingsolver writes with humor and love about its culture, thereby tempering a difficult journey through poverty and drug abuse.
Lincoln City Libraries (72 copies)
Tari Hendrickson is a member of two book clubs, one of which she founded 20 years ago. Her appreciation of good books is doubled when shared with others. She remembers the thrill when letters and words came together and made sense in First Grade at Sheridan School. Tari works at Eastmont Senior Living.