Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. This month’s theme is water, which turned out to be pretty easy (I wrote about books featuring bodies of water in this recent post) and the letters this month weren’t challenging despite needing two books starting with “u”. These are books that are set near bodies of water and where water is meaningful to the story. I tried to use books that might be unfamiliar to most readers.
A
Aloha Vietnam by Elizabeth Nguyen: In this book, Anh is the daughter of two Vietnamese refugees. She is raised in Oahu, Hawaii and moves to California for college. Ahn struggles with manic episodes and is soothed by the ocean. Despite its cover, water isn’t prominent in the story, but waves represent the place Anh is most comfortable.
U
Unpacking for Greece by Sally Jane Smith: This is a memoir about Smith’s travels through Greece, following a travel journal written by her mother years ago. While not specifically about water, Smith travels from mainland Greece to the islands of Santorini and Rhodes and the Peloponnese Peninsula.
G
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss: In this powerful book, a group of anthropology students are studying the Iron Age in Britain where human sacrifices have been found in the bog. The professor brings his wife and daughter to learn from the experience. This is much more a book about the dynamics of a troubled family, but the setting and research make for a fascinating backdrop.
U
Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden: This book is about a true life event in September 1878, when a pleasure boat collides with a ship transporting coal. In the horrific crash, 470 passengers were killed. This is the second Inspector Corravan mystery, in which Odden explores the effects of this crash on the Irish hopes for Home Rule.
S
Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga: Another true story about a river, this book is the tragic telling of a series of drowning deaths of indigenous teens in Ontario. These deaths, though suspicious, were routinely ignored by police and blamed on alcohol, until an investigative journalist took an in-depth look at the challenges faced by indigenous teens and the ways in which they were mistreated by the authorities.
T
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett: Another Patchett novel I loved (there are at least three), this book is about a mother telling her three adult daughters about her time as an actress. Tom Lake, Michigan is the setting of their summer theater company and her romance with a man who became a famous actor.
Please see Reviews from the Stacks (link above) for more Spell the Month posts. Have you read any of these books or do you have other suggestions?