I’m surprised that Oprah has not picked up on Attenberg’s The Middlesteins as it is perfect for
her book club. It is about an extremely
dysfunctional Jewish family in Chicago-the mother, a lawyer, is eating herself
to death, her husband has given up on his marriage much to the consternation of
their daughter, and their son and daughter-in-law are planning a double Bar/Bat
Mitzvah which will feature vegetables and other dietetic food. The
idea of exploring the implosion of a family through its food choices is
interesting and guaranteed to make the reader a little uncomfortable and a bit
hungry.
Seventeenth
century Swedish politics, tarot cards, and the art of the fan artfully combine
in the novel The Stockholm Octavo by
Karen Engelmann. Larrson, a young
customs officer who excels at card games has insinuated himself into the lives
of his betters. After consulting a
fortune teller who uses the octavo spread to map out his love life and
political connections, Larrson participates in court intrigue that could topple
King Gustav himself.
Mary
Bowser was a young house slave in pre-civil war Richmond, Virginia. Her abolitionist mistress decided to set her
free and send her to Philadelphia to become educated. While in Philadelphia she
met a black family who was an integral part of the Underground Railway. As she
begins to help other slaves gain their freedom she realizes that her education can
be used to further the cause and she becomes a spy in the heart of the
Confederacy. Based on true events, The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois
Leveen is a very personal introduction to a slave’s view of the Civil War.
