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. – Barbara Ellis
“The Original Daughter,” by Jemimah Weh (Doubleday, 2025)
“An existence animated by anger is not the same thing as living a life.” When she is 8, Genevieve suddenly gets a 7-year-old sister, Erin. The girls eventually bond — perhaps too tightly — as they grow up together in Singapore. Erin becomes a media star and Genevieve — well, read the book to see what she becomes. Written well enough to keep my interest, I still was annoyed at times with the characters and the arc of the story. Genevieve is often petty and vindictive. Will she redeem herself? Weh establishes time and place adroitly; the cultural elements add authenticity. This contemporary novel would make for good book club discussion material. — 2 1/2 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Sons and Daughters,” by Chaim Grade, translated by Rose Waldman (Knopf, 2025)
Some reviewers have called this “the last great Yiddish novel.” Set in the 1930s, this epic novel was originally serialized in the 1960s and 1970s in New York-based Yiddish-language newspapers. It explores the dissonance between long-held, Orthodox Jewish traditions and secular modernity through the story of one Jewish family with roots in Poland and Lithuania. The young generation rejects the “safe,” familiar paths preferred by their parents and abandons life in the shtetl, to the parents’ consternation. Readers with a historic sensibility will hear the relentless drums of war that will further destroy these characters’ lives. — 4 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” by Timothy Snyder (Crown, Random House, 2017)
These are uncertain, even scary times when it comes to politics. The author has a definite perspective, and doesn’t hesitate to spell out what he sees as current and pending dangers in our society. Are we doomed to repeating the human race’s vacillation between despots and tyrants with democratic, even liberal and representative autonomy? Really, why can’t we all just get along? Lots of lessons in this little treasure of a volume thatap so concise, so absolutely self-contained. “Lesson 18: be calm when the unthinkable arrives. … Modern tyranny is terror management. … Authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power.” Whether you agree or not, you’ll think about today’s world and your place in it. — 4 stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“Hotel Ukraine,” by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster, 2025)
This is, sadly, the final installment of the Arkady Renko series, which was launched memorably with “Gorky Park” in 1981. Now Renko (like the author), is dealing with the relentless progression of Parkinson’s disease. As ever, Renko skirts the rules, operates in the shadows and protects those he loves to challenge the powerful and take down the corrupt. Smith kept the series fresh and relevant to the very end. Hotel Ukraine is set in Moscow, Kyiv and Bucha in the early days of the 2022 Russian invasion into Ukraine. We all need to believe in unyielding, moral heroes. I am sorry to bid Renko — and Smith, who died in July — farewell. — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Medgar & Myrlie,” by Joy-Ann Reid (Mariner, 2024)
A deeply moving biography of Medgar Evers and his wife, Myrlie, and a fine accounting of the NAACP, the Ku Klux Klan and segregation in Mississippi in the mid-20th century. This is an incredibly painful account of Evers’ work, the continuing threats that he and his family faced; James Meredith’s fight to enroll at Ole’ Miss; the Freedom Riders; protesters; and those who came to Mississippi to do “direct action,” as contrasted with the NAACP’s more conservative commitment to voting rights. Add the reluctance of the Kennedy brothers to provide leadership to pass a sweeping civil rights bill and it all amounts to an important historical book. — 3 stars (out of 4); Jo Calhoun, Denver
