The Book Club: Latest Bill Clinton-James Patterson’s collaboration is a page turner
Editor s note The opinions of the smart well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables So we demanded them and all Denver Post readers to share their mini-reviews with you Have any to offer Email bellis denverpost com Barbara Ellis The First Gentleman by Bill Clinton and James Patterson Little Brown and Company THE FIRST GENTLEMAN by Bill Clinton and James Patterson Little Brown The third collaborative novel by this duo is definitely a page-turner The president s husband is on trial for murder while she simultaneously orchestrates a grand congressional coalition behind closed doors to save major entitlement programs for future generations While a young investigative company scrambles to uncover the truth bodies continue to fall left and right My only nit to pick Patterson should have wielded a heavy editorial pencil on Clinton s wonky everything-including-the-kitchen-sink presidential address Aspirational perhaps but jarring against the rest of the novel stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver Hamnet by Maggie O Farrell Tinder Press Although titled for Shakespeare s son this novel s protagonist is Agnes Shakespeare s wife and Hamnet s mother An unconventional woman for the end of the th century Agnes is bright and quick and competent she fairly dances off the pages O Farrell s words skip lightly on various pages then pace with anxiety then at last trudge along despairingly Her writing can be luminous or tenebrous as the mood requires One section is the preponderance apt depiction of sorrow that I ve ever read The final scene is I believe as close to perfect as feasible The novel has been made into a film coming out in November starring Paul Mescal stars out of Neva Gronert Parker Careless People A Cautious Tale of Power Greed and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams Flatiron Books Careless People Author Sarah Wynn-Williams Pages Publisher Flatiron The author presciently realizes the anticipated for Facebook as a political force and doggedly pursues a job there eventually landing as the Facebook director of global citizens program That seat at the table provides her unique access to observe the strategic decisions by and the personal proclivities of Facebook s C-suite of players Fleetly jaded she nonetheless soldiers on thinking she can effect change from within This is also the story of Facebook s coming of age politically Small wonder that the social media giant sought to block its publication stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman Atria Praise be there are fiction writers who can capture the bodies and souls of entirely normal individuals their uniqueness charms highs and lows Backman is one of the rarities Britt-Marie struggling to make a living after splitting from her self-centered cheating husband heads out to a tiny isolated town where she somehow lands a job managing a dying recreation center peopled by underprivileged kids She cultivates her unique gifts for evolving a diverse group of townspeople into a cohesive mutually supportive crew Somehow Britt-Marie gains her sense of self and becomes a curious energetic self-directed adult ready to cultivate her own way in the wide world stars out of Bonnie McCune Denver bonniemccune com All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton Harper This novel set in Australia at the outset of World War II is gut-wrenching Molly Hook the gravedigger s daughter is on a quest to reverse the curse on her family that turns their hearts to stone Molly s mother leaves her assuring her that she will have signs from the sky That promise begins with a gold-panning bowl with an etched map and continues when Molly and her friend Greta are joined in their walkabout by a Japanese pilot and then a baby This fable includes abuse and hatred darkness magic love It is a roller-coaster ride stars out of Jo Calhoun Denver
