Book Review: The End of October by Lawrence Wright

The End of October
by Lawrence Wright (Wright)

 

A novel of a pandemic – and apparently prophetic. I don’t usually read disaster stories, especially while in the middle of one, but I’d heard that this tale Wright had written just before our current predicament ended up recounting nearly point by point what we’ve been going through with Covid-19.

 

Talk about hair rising on the back of your neck.

 

Wright pulls you into the story immediately. He includes some interesting pandemic history, along with multiple characters you will bond with and worry about. Don’t let the 400 pages deter you, I read half of it in one sitting. There were no boring parts, every page kept me riveted.

 

This is a fascinating, worldwide story of people and events that I couldn’t put down.

 

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton or The Stand by Stephen King.]

 

[ official The End of October page on the official Lawrence Wright web site ]

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Fever by Mary Beth Keane

Fever
by Mary Beth Keane

I knew nothing about Mary Mallon, known as “Typhoid Mary”, before reading this historical fiction. The novel follows her life from the time she left Ireland at age fifteen, through her two forced quarantines on North Brother Island (1907-1910 and 1915-1938). It also described other historical tragedies of the time: the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911; the preparation for World War I; the debate of medical ethics in imprisoning a carrier of disease (and of trying to force a gall bladder removal surgery against her will); and the end to doctors prescribing cocaine, heroine, opium, and morphine for pain. She was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the disease. Through her cooking she infected fifty-three individuals, causing three known deaths. Fever was written by the author of the current bestseller Say Again, Yes.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Say Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane, The Andromeda Strain by Michel Crichton, or The Stand by Stephen King.]\

[ official Fever page on the official Mary Beth Keane web site ]

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

New Booklist on BookGuide: Pandemics & Plagues in Fiction, DVDs & Non-Fiction

As the world continues to live under pandemic circumstances during the Coronavirus/COVID-19 crisis, a lot of readers are gravitating towards past (and present) fiction that is set during times of a pandemic or plague.

We've added an extensive booklist to the resources on BookGuide, listing several dozen novels in the Lincoln City Libraries' collection that feature this subject. In addition, we've got a list of non-fiction titles that addess plagues and pandemics, and a list of movies that has spiked in interest lately.

Check out the list of recommended materials at the following link: 

Pandemic & Plague Literature