Marches
March is here and spring is just around the corner! Will it be warm enough for you and your book club to meet in the great outdoors? (Socially distanced, of course!) Let’s hope so. In the meantime, we present to you our BookTrib Book Club Network picks of the month.
This month’s batch spans history — from ancient times to the near (and possibly very unsettling) future — so we’ve put them on a handy-dandy timeline for your reference.
Amora by Grant J. Hallstrom | ClearStone Publishing
Ben Hur meets Gladiator in this Christian historical novel based on the true story of the noblewoman who inspired Justin Martyr’s petition to the Roman Senate, way back in the second century AD.
Amora follows the story of Leo, a stern Patrician, who finds his life turned upside down after he betrays his wife — a newly converted Christian — to die in the arena alongside her slave. The slave’s fiancé seeks revenge, and Leo’s crippled son struggles with the loss of his beloved mother. In this tale of forgiveness versus vengeance, tragedy versus grace, Hallstrom explores the path to healing through the pain of loss, betrayal and guilt. The result is a sweeping action-adventure story and a moving examination of spirituality and faith.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
On the Road Less Traveled: An Unlikely Journey from the Orphanage to the Boardroom by Ed Hajim | Skyhorse
Ed Hajim was born in 1936, the son of a Syrian immigrant who, after his parents’ divorce, kidnapped him from his mother when he was only a toddler. Relocated cross-country and told that his mother was dead, Hajim begins an incredibly difficult journey of physical and emotional survival. His father soon abandons him in order to seek employment on the seas as a Merchant Marine, leaving Hajim behind in the care of numerous foster families and, later, orphanages. The lonely boy learns the value of self-reliance and perseverance despite deprivation and trauma.
Eventually, though, he is awarded a college scholarship and builds a life for himself as an accomplished Wall Street executive, philanthropist, model family man and, fittingly, recipient of a Horatio Alger Award. Filled with human drama, wisdom and timeless life lessons, Hajim’s memoir will touch your heart and inspire your soul.
Read our full review here.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
La Sylphide Volume 1 by Madelaine Chaproll | Barnes & Noble Press
In this first book of a sweeping multigenerational family saga, we learn of the history of the Ambrosius family. The story begins just after WWII in the historically German settlements of Transylvania. The inhabitants enjoy a bourgeois life; they treasure their heritage but find themselves uprooted by the turmoil of war in their Soviet-occupied country. The male members of the Transylvanian-Saxon Ambrosius family are deported to Russia to work in labor camps, leaving the rest of their loved ones behind, and most do not return to the village afterward.
The protagonist of the series is the orphan Esther Ambrosius, a dancer whose crowning achievement — and act of sacrifice — is a single performance dancing the lead role in the ballet, La Sylphide. She, is in a sense, herself a sylph who sacrifices herself for love. Thus, she becomes the symbol of the purest passion that can exist: the devotion of one’s life for others.
Her Mother’s Grave by Lisa Regan | Grand Central
Denton, PA; present day. A decades-old murder resurfaces, and the town’s police chief, Josie Quinn, begins to unravel a mystery that has shocking reverberations through her own personal history. When two young boys discover human bones buried beneath a tree in a trailer park, Josie races to the scene. She used to play in those woods as a child, happier outside and away from her abusive mother, Belinda Rose.
Josie’s past crashes into her present when the bones are identified as belonging to a teenage foster child who was murdered 30 years ago. A girl named Belinda Rose … Josie hasn’t seen her mother in years, but with an undeniable connection between her mother and the dead girl, does she dare try to track her down? When another body is found, it’s suddenly clear that someone very close to Josie will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried forever. As she battles the demons from her past, can Josie stop the killer?
Read our full review here.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
Unfettered Journey by Gary F. Bengier | Chiliagon Press
Writer, philosopher and technologist Gary F. Bengier transports us to the year 2161, imagining what life has in store for humankind. His work of speculative fiction crosses genres, combining action, adventure and a love story into a narrative that examines important social, spiritual and philosophical issues. Joe Denkensmith is an AI scientist who seeks to create true robot consciousness, leaving everything behind to find answers. But a mysterious woman on a personal mission interrupts his search. Fighting unjust forces, Joe and the woman are swept into an evil plot neither can elude.
Their struggles against machines, men and nature test the resilience of the human spirit and asks big questions: How does the will to survive bring clarity to the human experience? What would you sacrifice to achieve social justice? How do we find purpose in a rapidly evolving world of technology? Can we survive on our own without it?
Watch our interview with the author about the book here.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Bookshop
For Deep Thinkers Only: How Culture Manipulates Your Reality by John J. Ivers | Barnes & Noble Press
Here is a book that spans place and time, from the dawn of civilization to the future of humanity. In it, Languages and International Studies professor John J. Ivers tackles cross-cultural differences from a unique perspective. His work demonstrates how all people, in a sense, are victims of their cultural paradigms and how a deeper understanding of these manipulative models can lead to a more fulfilling existence and a more rational and healthy self-concept.
We are born into cultures that impose on us specific values, beliefs, social mores and ideals that can leave us feeling like we don’t “fit in” or “measure up.” Only when we can see these cultural constraints for what they are, can we free ourselves to be ourselves. From the ancient Greeks and Romans to today’s diverse and evolving cross-cultural currents, this book delves into the deeper psychological realm of our distinct cultural realities in an engaging, accessible and provocative way. As for the future? Perhaps we can build a better one with what we learn here.
Read our full review here.
—∞—
Visit our March Book Club Network page for more information about the titles above.
Not a member of our Network? Find out how your book club can receive a free copy of each of our monthly picks here.
