First Summer Reading Choices

Our book selections for our first book of the summer are provided by Jen. Your choices are:


Doc, by Mary Doria Russell


Bones that Float: A Story of Adopting Cambodia, by Kari Grady Grossman

A Dog's Purpose, by W. Bruce Cameron

Oxygen, A Novel, by Carol Cassella


Please send your vote to me at kzmclain@comcast.net by Sunday, June 3.

"I Want To Be a Surgeon"

This initial review of My Name is Mary Sutter is from Bec:

My Name is Mary Sutter was not my first choice of the books suggested, but I did think it sounded interesting and I looked forward to reading it. I’m glad it was chosen, because I really enjoyed it.

One reason I didn’t pick it was that I’ve read quite a few books set during the Civil War. That period in American history isn’t one I’m especially interested in, and I wasn’t sure whether I would find it easy to engage in the story. But, this was a different perspective of that war, in several ways.

For one thing, I liked that much of it took place right where I live, in Northern Virginia and Washington. Manassas, Fairfax Court House, Centerville, etc., are all places I’ve visited or driven past many times, and, of course I’m familiar with many of the spots mentioned in D.C. I’m always fascinated with what a small and un-lovely place Washington was at that time. So, the setting helped me get interested, because I learned a lot about what was going on in the city. I had no idea, for example, that many of the government buildings and hotels were turned into medical facilities.

I also enjoyed the focus on medicine and especially on the fact that the protagonist was a woman trying to establish herself in the medical field. I wasn’t surprised at the brutal descriptions of the wounds and sicknesses caused by the war. I was surprised that there were doctors and other medical people trying to do research to find out how some of the problems could be lessened.

In other words, I liked the book because it wasn’t what I expected from a “Civil War Novel.”

Mary Sutter was a good character. I could identify with her frustration at being shut out from a profession that she knew she would love and could excel in. Her persistence was almost comical, but it’s probably the only way she could have broken into that good old boys’ club. It was nice, but probably not realistic, that some of the doctors accepted her pretty quickly. On the other hand, considering the conditions, perhaps their desperation would have helped Mary break down the barriers. I found the depiction of Dorothea Dix very surprising! She’s always painted as someone quite saintly, but she certainly had some character defects in this book.

The character that bothered me the most was Mary’s mother. So many times in the book she didn’t give Mary the support she needed. Her attitude was that Mary was very strong, so she could take care of herself. Mary was strong, but everyone needs support, and Mary didn’t always get it from her mother. When Mary failed to save Jenny, she felt a lot of guilt. The fact that her mother not only didn’t help her get over it, but actually made Mary feel even guiltier was, for me, unforgiveable.

Finally, I liked the book because it was so well written. I read it quickly, and, in fact, had trouble putting it down. It wasn’t a page-turner in the usual sense, but I cared a lot about Mary and always wanted to find out how her life would turn out. And, can I just say that I like the happy ending! Good for you, Mary!

I would recommend this book to just about anyone. The female protagonist, the setting, and the medical plot thread all set it apart from most other books written about the Civil War period.

My question to everyone is this: What, if anything, surprised you?

Back to the Civil War

Votes are in, and we selected My Name is Mary Sutter: A Novel, by Robin Oliveira. Discussion will begin Friday, May 11.

Back to Book Club

Ethereal Reader has taken a brief respite, but it is back! It appears only a couple of members read the last book, so it is with great hope that more will participate in this month's selection and subsequent discussion. If you can think of ways to liven us up, please let ER know.

Thanks to Andrea, here are our book choices for April/May:

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larsen
What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safra Foer
My Name is Mary Sutter, by Robin Oliveira

Please email your vote to kzmclain@comcast.net by Tuesday, April 3.

Another World

The thing I like most about reading is that a good book can take you away to a different place and time. Teresa Mendoza -- the main character of The Queen of the South -- described it really appropriately. She said that you are changed somewhat every time you read a good book.

I read a lot, and I can really become absorbed in a good book. It can take me away; however, generally, the books I read take me to someplace that I can imagine being and with people I can imagine being with. The Queen of the South was altogether different.

This was a world I can’t imagine even existing, though I am certain it does. When you stop to think about it, every character in this book was despicable, caught up in a life that was cold and heartless and full of hate and drugs and remorseless killing. It is from this world, and from this cast of characters, that we had to choose our heroes and our villains.

It was really a very weird experience for me, but I became thoroughly caught up in Teresa’s story. I can’t say I ever became fond of her, but I was absorbed in her life. She was a girl with no family, save the mobsters and narcos with whom she lived. Patty became her sister. Oleg Yasikov became her father.

If I could put her in a different life, I might have liked her. I certainly admired her keen intelligence and the way she made something of herself – more than something, actually (keeping in mind the world in which she made something of herself). And, within her own sordid little world, she had scruples. She didn’t kill Pote Galvez for example, because he had been loyal (in his own weird way) to her boyfriend and hadn’t raped her. In fact, she made him her bodyguard, and he became utterly loyal to her. But imagine being able to have someone killed without even giving it a second thought. I don’t mean having the ability to do it. I mean having a conscience that would allow it.

The ending took me by surprise. At the beginning, I had theorized that Teresa had looked at the list that her boyfriend Guero Davila had told her to give to his godfather. But since it never really came up again (until the end), I sort of forgot about it. What I didn’t forget about, however, was my confusion about the telephone call that begins the entire book. I wondered all along who would have made that phone call. If that phone rang, it meant Guero was dead. But if his enemies killed him, then who would have called her? Voila! The answer became clear when it was revealed that Guero was an agent for the United States.

Keeping in mind that Teresa lived in an evil world, I must say nevertheless that I loved reading about her rich existence. I loved hearing about the clothes she wore and the house in which she lived, and the people with whom she surrounded herself. It’s hard to imagine having that much money.

I found Patty to be a very sad character. She loved Teresa so much that I think she really gave everything to her so that she could be happy. Then Patty herself, because she knew that Teresa would never love her back in the same way, tried to find happiness through cocaine and the fast life. I was very afraid that Teresa was going to have her killed, and I’m glad that didn’t happen, though her demise was sad enough.

Patty and Teresa. Aren’t those funny names for women in this particular world? They sound like 1950s cheerleaders.

I really liked the Russian mobster Yasikov. Again, funny to say that, since he also lived within this sordid world – killing people without a second thought. But he was so kind to Teresa.

When I started the book, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. The author used a lot of words. But I found his writing caught me hook, line, and sinker into the world of the drug cartels. The first few sentences of the book created perhaps my favorite beginning of any book I have read. It didn’t take long before I was caught up in this book, despite its darkness.

I also thought that the transition back and forth from third person (the story of Teresa) and first person (the journalist’s gathering of facts) would be confusing. However, I found the transitions to be smooth, and provided a way for the journalist to tell the story of Teresa without having witnessed it himself. His interviewees told the story.

I will definitely read something else by Perez-Reverte. Perhaps the book The Club Dumas that I have had on my shelf for years..

February Book Choice

We will spend the next month or so in the drug world of Mexico, since we chose Queen of the South, by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I'm guessing this to be a rather long book, so lets give ourselves six weeks, beginning discussion March 5. 

Enjoy your February.

January/February book vote

I took a trip to Costco and found lots of interesting books to read, so I'm sorry, but we have six from which to choose:

Carry Yourself Back to Me, by Deborah Reed; I know nothing about this author, but it sounded interesting to me. What the heck. I like Florida and country music (or as my husband would say, I like both kinds of music -- country and western).

Queen of the South, by Arturo Perez-Reverte; I'm not sure I've ever read this author, though I have Club Dumas at home on my to-be-read shelf. Sounds like a big epic thriller, which always appeasl to me. Totally different from the above choice.

The Dispatcher, by Ryan David Jahn; How can you resist a "bullet-strewn cross country chase," especially when it's on I-10, which many of us have traveled. I can't help it. I love mysteries. And bullets. And cross country chases.

The Bungalow, by Sarah Jio; I seriously second-guessed this one because Kristin Hannah was one of the authors they quote as liking the book. Not a Kristin Hannah fan. Still, Bora-Bora and all.....

The Well and the Mine, by Gin Phillips; I have offered this book before and I will continue to offer it until you all give in! I am a sucker for books that take place in the south, though this sounds admittedly rather dark.

Salt: A World History, by Mark Kurlansky; random, but perhaps interesting.

Let's have our votes into me (kzmclain@comcast.net) by Monday, January 23.