Community Life Back-to-School 2025 | Page 23

Lose yourself in a nook with a book

With the kids headed back to school, it’ s time to catch up on quiet time with a good book. Here then are several must read suggestions from the Times-Review staff to help you get started.

THRILLER“ THE GOD OF THE WOODS” BY LIZ MOORE

When a 13-year-old girl goes missing from her summer camp in the Adirondacks in 1975, it feels like one tragedy too many for her well-heeled parents, whose son, then age 8, had disappeared 14 years earlier. Setting the story in two different and absorbing timelines, Moore explores class dynamics, generational guilt and the difficulties of coming of age in a dynasty of secrets. It’ s a gripping page-turner that will keep you engrossed until the end.

MEMOIR“ PATRIOT: A MEMOIR” BY ALEXEI NAVALNY

For those of us who followed the trial— and trials— of Alexei Navalny, his memoir adds invaluable depth and humanity to his story. He began writing the book shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020, sharing anecdotes from his journey into activism through his end-of-life correspondence from prison.

In vivid, page-turning detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime.

Compiled by his wife, Yulia Navalnaya,“ Through its pages, readers will come to know the man I loved deeply— a man of profound integrity and unyielding courage. Sharing his story will not only honor his memory but also inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter.”

HISTORICAL FICTION“ THE WOMEN” BY KRISTIN HANNAH

In 1965, nursing student Frankie McGrath left southern California for the Army Nurse Corps in Vietnam. As exposed to the combat and wounds of war as many of her male counterparts, the experience of women on the frontlines was nevertheless often overlooked, particularly upon their return.“ The Women” honors the contributions of women during Vietnam and the challenges they, too, confronted in receiving post-deployment mental healthcare and recognition for their bravery as nurses, intelligence officers and more.

FICTION SATIRE“ JAMES” BY PERCIVAL EVERETT

This novel is a radical reworking of Mark Twain’ s“ Huckleberry Finn,” telling the story from the point of view of the enslaved man who accompanies Huck down the Mississippi River: Jim.

So much more than a secondary character, James is a complex protagonist forced to codeswitch as illiterate as he fights for his freedom. Everett’ s novel is a literary hat trick— a book that complicates an American classic and emerges as a work of exquisite originality.

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’ s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

The Published Page Bookshop

Historic Downtown Cleburne

The“ Old School” Bookstore

More Books Than, WOW!

10 E. Chambers St-On the Square • 817-349-6366 • publishedpage. com

Community Life 23