Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Much lighter month than last month:

* Bad Neighbours by Matthew Costello and Neil Richardson -4 (audio)
Another installment in the Cherringham series.

* A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power-5
The book covers three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from 1888 until current time, the impact of Indian boarding schools, and the dolls the girls carried as children. Told in 4 parts (the last being a bit fantastical), this story hit me hard. I grew up just two hours away from the Carlisle boarding school and had never heard of it...

* Seeing People Off by Jana Beňová -2
Translated from Slovakian, a book I had nominated for my reading the world group and man, what a weeeirrd book! The writing is experimental in nature and centers around a group of four friends, all artists of a sort, who survive by one member at a time of the group working while the others are "free to create". The book was so odd, that I took a break to research the city of Bratislava and the Petržalka neighborhood, that was once known as the Bratislava Bronx.

* The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie -4 (audio)
Ah. A great respite. Experienced Agatha Christie for the first time in audio with this one. I have never been a fan of Hercule Poirot (pompous little ...), but listening to someone else's voice instead of my own prejudiced voice may have changed my mind. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

* The Teacher by Michal Ben-Naftali -5
Translated from the Hebrew, this one blew me away. You know immediately that the Teacher, at age 65, has ended her life by jumping from her apartment building in Tel Aviv. The rest is a story that will invade your soul. A teenager with everything to live for. Becomes educated. Marries. A train ride to a "relocation camp", that not long afterwards becomes a concentration camp. A rescue. A "new" life in a new location. A bully (imagine calling a concentration camp survivor a "Nazi" because you don't like her). A trial and a murder. A story of survivor guilt. The writing is beautiful. The story is gut-wrenching and should never be forgotten. Learned about the Kastner Train from this one through additional research.

* A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers -5
Decided to finish the month with this calming bit of sci-fi. A young "tea monk" is searching for his place in the world when he meets a robot who has been tasked with "checking in" on the humans his ancestors had walked away from 200 years before. His task is to get an answer to the question "what do people need ?". The book is dedicated to "...anybody who could use a break."

Good looking month Gail! I read A Council of Dolls and agree it hits hard and was a powerful story that needed telling even though it was hard to read about the way they were treated.
I see I need to remember to get to the Becky Chambers book. I have enjoyed other series by her thanks to Dan’s recommendations.

The Carlisle School was infamous. Almost 200 graves of children were found when it closed. Unfortunately, many other Indian reeducation schools were modeled after it.

Dan and Gail, Indian boarding schools with the devastating intent to force children to assimilate have been important recent reading with disturbing and horrific details. I just listened to a podcast interview of Tommy Orange whose book, There There I recently finished and heard that his follow-up book was in part driven by his research into his family’s history including the initial idea for the Indian boarding school concept. I’m 13 weeks away from my turn to get Wandering Stars. The NY Times Book Review podcast.

Some powerful entries this month, Gail, incuding A Council of Dolls and The Teacher.

nice month, gail. adding The Teacher to my list