If you’re reading this, it’s safe to guess you’re fond of books, reading, and being transported to different times, places, experiences, and viewpoints. We invite you to check out what others are reading and share your recommendations of favorite titles with us. To see the complete list of books from 2019 through 2022, go to the Tidelines website here and look for the Seabrookers Read tab.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
On February 22, 1862, two days after his death, Willie Lincoln was laid to rest in a marble crypt in a Georgetown cemetery. That very night, shattered by grief, Abraham Lincoln arrives at the cemetery under cover of darkness and visits the crypt, alone, to spend time with his son’s body. Set over the course of that one night and populated by ghosts of the recently passed and the long dead, this is a thrilling exploration of death, grief, the powers of good and evil, a novel – in its form and voice – completely unlike anything you have read before. It is also, in the end, an exploration of the deeper meaning and possibilities of life, written as only George Saunders can: with humor, pathos, and grace. (2017, Fiction)
Waterland by Graham Swift
Set in the bleak Fen Country of East Anglia, and spanning some 240 years in the lives of its haunted narrator and his ancestors, this is a book that takes in eels and incest, ale-making and madness, the heartless sweep of history and a family romance as tormented as any in Greek tragedy. (2013, Fiction)
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida–war photographer, gambler, and closet queen–has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers, and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to the photos that will rock Sri Lanka. (2023, Fiction)
Empire of Ice and Stone by Buddy Levy
In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry for fame. Just six weeks after the Karluk departed, giant ice floes closed in around her. As the ship became icebound, Stefansson disembarked with five companions and struck out on what he claimed was a 10-day caribou hunting trip. Most on board would never see him again. Twenty-two men and an Inuit woman with two small daughters now stood on a mile-square ice floe, their ship and their original leader gone. Under Bartlett’s leadership they built make-shift shelters, surviving the freezing darkness of Polar night. Captain Bartlett now made a difficult and courageous decision. He would take one of the young Inuit hunters and attempt a 1000-mile journey to save the shipwrecked survivors. It was their only hope. (2022, Nonfiction)
Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder
When he graduated from Harvard Medical School, Jim O’Connell was asked by the medical school Dean to spend one year setting up a program to care for the homeless population in Boston. It became Jim O’Connell’s life calling, to help people known as “rough sleepers.” For the past three decades, Dr. O’Connell has run the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program, which he helped to create. Affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, the program includes clinics and a van on which Dr. O’Connell and his staff ride through the Boston streets at night, offering outreach of medical care, socks, soup, and friendship to a marginalized community. (2023, Nonfiction)
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The teenage son of an Appalachian single mother who dies when he is eleven uses his good looks, wit, and instincts to survive foster care, child labor, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. (2022, Fiction)
We look forward to hearing about the books you or your book club recommend.
- Include your name (although it will not be published), the title, and the author of the book you are recommending, and email this to Tidelines at seabrookislandblog@gmail.com. (You may be able to click on the email address to open a new message.)
- For audiobooks, include the name of the narrator.
- Tidelines editors will provide a blurb to tell a little about the book and add the book jacket image.
- Publication is at the discretion of Tidelines editors.
–Tidelines Editors
(Image and bibliographic credit: CMPL)