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 asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.
“The Library Book,” by Susan Orlean (Simon & Schuster, 2018)
Book lovers, try this. Orlean, a magical purveyor of insights into esoteric topics, writes an ovation for libraries. A massive fire heavily damaged Los Angeles’ public library in 1987, and in seven hours consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. The perpetrator has never been identified, but through Orlean’s simple yet compelling investigative prose, she spotlights this library’s history, the fascinating details in its life, and the larger, crucial role that libraries play for us. She leaves us wondering about the blond-haired actor suspected of the dirty deed. Orlean here maintains the excellent reputation established in her superb novel, “The Orchid Thief,” which was made into an Academy Award-winning film adaptation, by making you proud to be a library patron. — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism,” by Tim Alberta (Harper, 2023)
Alberta, who grew up in the evangelical faith tradition, seeks to understand the apparent contradiction in the puzzling intersection of evangelical religion and politics. His approach is to tell the stories of individual evangelical leaders or institutions, with each chapter taking the reader to a different location, some familiar, some lesser known. But each chapter successively leads the reader down the path toward understanding how American evangelicals came to see themselves as victims and outsiders, unjustly marginalized if not threatened and persecuted. And then it was not such a stretch to exploit those raw feelings politically. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Close to Death,” by Anthony Horowitz (Harper, 2024)
In this fifth installment of the Hawthorne & Horowitz mysteries, author Horowitz is finagled into writing about an old case with an uncertain ending. Murder has come to a gated community, and within the six homes everybody is a suspect. Although the police are done with the matter, has justice been served? I enjoy these stories immensely, as Horowitz writes with immediacy, humor and flair. This is not quite a cozy mystery, but it does incorporate locked-room elements and nods to the greats like Agatha Christie. (Note: Reading the series in order is not required.) — 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Burma Sahib,” by Paul Theroux (Mariner, 2024)
Theroux, best known as a travel writer, shines a unique light on a little-examined period of George Orwell’s life in this work of historical fiction. While in his early 20s, Orwell (whose real name was Eric Blair) served as a police officer in British Burma (today’s Myanmar). Theroux’s skills of observation and experience writing travel books translate into richly drawn scenes that take the reader into the world of young British expats with outsized power in a colonial culture they do not fully appreciate or understand. Along the way, he leads the reader to a better understanding of the early experiences that helped shape writer Orwell. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
