Hello
Two of the three featured books in this issue are shoo-ins for Anglophiles and historical fiction fans: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, set in 17th century London and the present day; and The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry, set in Victorian London. We then move closer to the present day and the other side of the Atlantic with Gypsy Moth Summer, one of the most anticipated books of 2017 according to The Millions, Nylon, Huffington Post and others. I hope you'll also enjoy trying your hand at our latest Wordplay and catching up on book related news. You can also enter for the chance to win an ice cream social for your library courtesy of our friends at Read it Forward! Your Editor, Davina
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  First Impressions: Members Recommend
Each month we give away books to U.S. resident members to read and review (or discuss). Members who choose to participate receive a free book about every three months. Here are their opinions on one recent release.  The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: Jun 2017
Historical Fiction, 592 pages
Number of reader reviews: 18
Readers' consensus: 4.2/5.0
Members Say "Each character was so believable, their voices so distinct, that I was sure that they were real. I recommend this book to every lover of literature." - Ann D. (Clearfield, PA) "If you like a novel that encompasses richly drawn characters and a historical mystery, you will enjoy this book as I did. As for the style, both the 1660 narrative, as well as the 2000 storyline are equally compelling. Ester's restricted role as a woman, the confines of the Jewish community and the horrors of the Plague are examples of how descriptive writing transports the reader to everyday life in 1665 London. Over three hundred years later, even though they possess more freedom, Helen and Aaron mull over their inner thoughts, fears and actions. They face restraints of a modern nature. Whenever a book makes me curious enough about a subject to do more research, it has a lot to recommend it. This novel is a great reminder of the legacy of the written word, ink on paper." - Colleen A. (Rome, GA) "So much to discuss, it would be a perfect book club selection. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction." - Kate S. (Arvada, CO) More about this book | Read all the reviews Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
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First Impressions: Members Recommend 
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Publisher: Custom House
Publication Date: Jun 2017
Historical Fiction, 432 pages
Number of reader reviews: 20
Readers' consensus: 4.3/5.0
Members Say
"A smash 2016 best-seller in Britain, The Essex Serpent should be equally popular in its American edition." - Julia E. (Atlanta, GA)
" The Essex Serpent is a beautifully written novel that explores such themes as love and friendship, science and religion, reason and superstition, freedom and powerlessness, and poverty and wealth, set against the divergent backdrops of bustling London and rural Essex in the late 1800s. Sarah Perry skillfully brings to life a cast of late Victorian characters that are far from the buttoned-up prudes one might expect, endowing them with complicated interior and exterior lives. ... This book would be a great choice for book clubs and would appeal to fans of Tracy Chevalier and Charles Dickens." - Terri O. (Chapel Hill, NC)
" The Essex Serpent was one of the most outstanding reading experiences I have had in a very long time. I read many, many books across a variety of genres and this one is truly superior. I found myself entranced by the incandescent use of language - and either stopped frequently to savour a word, a sentence, or an idea; or read on a few pages and went back to re-read something that had caught my attention... Everybody should read this one!" - Lynda C. (Sault Sainte Marie, MI) More about this book | Read all the reviews Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
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First Impressions: Members Recommend
 The Gypsy Moth Summer by Julia Fierro Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: Jun 2017
Novels, 400 pages
Number of reader reviews: 26
Readers' consensus: 3.4/5.0
Members Say
"Read Gypsy Moth Summer for the plot, the richly drawn characters, the evocation of atmosphere, and the emotional impact." - Julia A. (New York, NY)
"Unlike the monarch butterflies facing extinction in Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior, the fate of the butterflies' cousins in Julie Fierro's The Gypsy Moth Summer are in the midst of a procreative orgy that engulfs New England's Avalon Island and its residents. In their own biological echo the teenagers of the island, more or less ignored by their parents, are caught in their own frenzy ... The story's backdrop pits the island's main employer, war plane manufacturer Grudder, against the sharp divide between the well-paid, well-educated and white management and the lower-paid ethnic factory workers. What happens at the end of the summer to the main characters the reader will grow to care for, will seem logical and surprising at the same time." - Barbara G. (Lisle, IL) "Fierro does a remarkable job creating tension in this book from the get go. It kept building and building. I wanted it to end just so I could breathe! At the same time I didn't because it was so apparent something horrific would occur. In spite of my 'knowing', I was shocked by the ending. Fierro's beautiful prose, vivid descriptions, and glimpses into the different 'realities' of various characters from their own viewpoints allow her reader to feel the unsettledness of the story deeply." - Amy S. (Tucson, AZ)
More about this book | Read all the reviews Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
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 Wordplay
Solve our fiendish Wordplay puzzle, and be entered to win the book of your choice!
This week's Wordplay
Solve this clue: "T's A S B Every M"
The answer to the last Wordplay: T W Don't M A R
"Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right"
Meaning: It is not acceptable to do a bad thing just because someone else has done it.
The expression has a great many uses as it can be used in the context of it not being okay to do wrong to someone else because they have wronged you, such as it is not right to vandalize a person's property because they have vandalized yours. It can also be used in the context of it not being acceptable to justify something because one sees others do it - for example a politician justifying his untruths because others also lie.
It could be argued that this seemingly simple expression is at the heart of civilization as a whole. For example, a society that believes in the law of retaliation ("an eye for an eye") holds, at a legal level, that two wrongs do make a right. While the society that believes that, as Martin Luther King, Jr once put it, "the old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind," is built on an entirely different ethical norm.
The first known citation in the USA is in a 1783 letter by Benjamin Rush: Two wrongs don't make one right: Two wrongs won't right a wrong.
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 News Jun 06 2017 An Amazing World of Dr. Seuss museum opened in Springfield, MA last weekend. Springfield is the home town of Theodor Geisel - better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss - who wrote and illustrated dozens of rhyming children's books including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. The museum features interactive exhibits, artwork never before displayed publicly and explains how his childhood experiences in the city about 90 miles west of Boston shaped his work. (more)
Jun 06 2017 Helen Dunmore has died aged 64 of cancer. She authored 12 novels, three books of short stories, numerous books for young adults and children and 11 collections of poetry. She was also Chair of the Society of Authors until shortly before her death, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She lived in Cliftonwood, Bristol, the setting for her poignant last novel, Birdcage Walk (already published in the UK and due to publish in the US in November). (more)
Jun 05 2017 On Monday, the Nobel Foundation released Bob Dylan's lecture (which he gave just shy of the 6 month deadline in order to receive the award and cash prize of US$900,000. In his 27 minute speech, Dylan explored the topic that was on many people's minds when he was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, can song lyrics be literature? (more)May 28 2017 The U.S. Postal Service is honoring Henry David Thoreau (b. July 12, 1817) during the bicentennial year of his birth with a Forever Stamp. A first-day-issue stamp dedication ceremony took place last week at the the Walden Pond State Reservation Visitors Center in Concord, Mass. (more)
May 26 2017
Denis Johnson, the prize-winning fiction writer, poet and playwright best known for his surreal and transcendent story collection "Jesus' Son," has died at age 67. (more)
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