Reviews

The author of the celebrated novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and, my personal favorite of his novels, “Ignorance,” Milan Kundera is a writer whose work I always look forward to reading. His new book, “Encounter,” is a mix of essays and short stories. In it, Kundera offers his personal reflections on artists and writers who have been important to him.

 Erica Falck returns to her hometown of Fjallbacka, Sweden after the funeral of her parents, and instead of finding the peace and quiet she craves, she finds a community full of secrets.  The secret lives are as hidden as the omnipresent ice hides reality from the  casual observer.

Mibby Garrett is holding on the best she can without her beloved husband Scott, but it isn’t easy being a widow with a teenage boy determined to act his age. Her garden design business is their only means of support, and the continuous skyrocketing temperatures and drought are threatening to deal it a final blow. If not for her friends and neighbors Mibby would not have the moral support she needs, nor would she have their numerous attempts at matchmaking.

Mrs. Octavia Darcy and her husband Captain Darcy were living in India when the Captain took ill and left Octavia widowed. Nearly penniless because of the entailment on her late husband’s property in England, Octavia returns to London to live with her half sister and family. It is not a pleasant situation. None of Octavia’s half brothers and sisters have ever been the least bit kind to her. Nor did they ever forgive their father for marrying a nobody half his age, a woman who died while giving birth to Octavia.

Sara Lapp, known in the Amish community as Spinster Sara and shunned because she studied to be a midwife, thinks she has been summoned to assist her best friend Abby during birth. But when Sara arrives, Abby is dead. Abby’s husband, “mad” Adam Zuckerman, tells Sara she must take the children and leave but she refuses. Obviously, the death of his wife has not changed his usual manner; ill-tempered, cold and totally indifferent to everyone’s feelings including those of his children.

During this time of year when the leaves start to turn and the wind gets a chill, it makes you want to curl up in bed and read a good book. Halloween is this weekend, and readers are always looking for horror tales to thrill and chill them.

After reading many news stories through the years about Ted Kennedy and his family, I looked forward to the release of his memoir. In the media, Ted Kennedy was often portrayed as a stereotypical, hard-drinking, womanizing politician. His father was portrayed as a philanderer, a power-hungry man who pushed his sons into politics and who was willing to play dirty in business and politics.

Bess Crawford, battlefield nurse, is witness to the devastating casualties of WWI, and her dedication and compassion for the wounded and dying in her care prompt her to agree to the deathbed request of one patient she has grown particularly fond of, Arthur Graham. She is then duty-bound to personally deliver his cryptic message—“Tell Jonathan I lied. I did it for Mother’s sake.

This very “readable” biography should be a must-read for all biology and medical students. HeLa cells, taken from Henrietta Lacks when she was in treatment for cervical cancer in 1951, are still alive and have been used in developing the polio vaccine, in vitro fertilization, cloning, gene mapping and much more.

First, let me apologize to those readers who are on the waiting list for Half the Sky. While certainly compelling, it is not a quick read, and I took more than my fair check out period. As a conscientious borrower, let my overdue status serve as a testament to the weight of this book.