LAVA, a book group of the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY, reads a variety of books, especially literary fiction.    Reading and discussion resources are available for our selections since 2004.

2024
Apr 12 The Cold Millions by Jess Walter, 337 pages, 2021

In 1909, two orphaned brothers in Spokane, Washington become involved with the radical Industrial Workers of the World. One of them is pressured to switch his loyalties to the local power broker in exchange for his brother's release from prison. San Francisco Chronicle: "The Cold Millions feels timed perfectly to this moment of stark income inequality, where the crevasse between billionaires and workers widens and activism increases ... I haven't encountered a more satisfying and moving novel about the struggle for workers' rights in America." Washington Post: "A work of irresistible characters, harrowing adventures and rip-roaring fun ... One of the most captivating novels of the year." Named by Bookmarks as one of the 20 best novels of the year.   LAVA's reading resources

May 10 Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang, 224 pages, 2022

Joan is a workaholic doctor who flies to Shanghai for her father's funeral and returns before the weekend is over so she won't miss any shifts. Her mother then travels to her in the US just before the pandemic hits, despite the lack of a driver's license and a good command of English. New York Times: "Joan ... is solitary, literal-minded and extremely awkward - all of which contribute to the hilarity of this novel." New York Times Book Review: "Wang masterfully balances the many terrors of provocative questions about motherhood, daughterhood, belonging and the many definitions of 'home.'" The author, who has a PhD in public health from Harvard, won the PEN/Hemingway Award for her first novel.

Jun 14 Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout, 288 pages, 2022

As the covid lockdowns begin, Lucy Barton is taken by her ex-husband William, who is still, more-or-less, her friend, from Manhattan to a little house in a little town in Maine, where they stay for several months and try to deal with their complex past lives. This is the fourth novel in which Strout features Lucy Barton. Irish Times: "If, like me, you find you're 'over Covid', to the extent that you've no interest in reading a fictional retelling, Lucy by the Sea will change your mind ... The strangeness of the pandemic is made fresh through the kind of considered detail and clarity of insight that is so often missing in the moment." Boston Globe: "I didn't just love Lucy by the Sea; I needed it." The author won the Pulitzer Prize for a previous novel.

Jul We do not meet during this month.
Aug 9 Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane, 425 pages, 2020

Publisher: "Traveling through the dizzying expanse of geologic time - from prehistoric art in Norwegian sea caves, to the blue depths of the Greenland ice cap, to a deep-sunk 'hiding place' where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come - Underland takes us on an extraordinary journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind." The Irish Times: "This is ... an account of adventure, terror, discovery and hope. In fact, this is a plea for the world seen in mythic proportions." The Guardian: "There is throughout a transcendent beauty to Macfarlane's prose, and occasional moments of epiphany and even ecstasy ... One of the most ambitious works of narrative non-fiction of our age." The Guardian named it one of "100 Best Books of the 21st Century."

Sept We do not meet during this month.
Oct 11 Horse by Geraldine Brooks, 401 pages, 2022

This novel, which jumps around in time, is based on an actual racehorse. In 1850, an enslaved groom bonds with a record-setting racehorse named Lexington. In 1954, an art gallery owner examines a mysterious painting of a racehorse. In 2019, a scientist studying Lexington's skeleton befriends a Nigerian-American art historian who is unearthing the story of the Black horsemen who were critical to Lexington's racing success. The Wall Street Journal refers to "Ms. Brooks's almost clairvoyant ability to conjure up the textures of the past and of each character's inner life ... Above all, she makes us both impatient to see and fearful to learn what might befall Theo, the black graduate student who rediscovers the painting, and, centuries earlier, Jarret, the enslaved horseman whose story forms the heart of the novel." Boston Globe: "Brooks is herself an ardent horsewoman, and her knowledge of and personal investment in the topic shine through Horse."

Nov 8 During this month, we discuss the book chosen by Writers and Books for their "Rochester Reads" program.
Dec 13 The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylvainen, 368 pages, 2023

In this story of cultural collision, a Lutheran minister tries unsuccessfully to convert native reindeer herders to his religion in the far north of Scandinavia in the 1850s. His daughter falls in love with one of the herders and accompanies him on the herd's arduous annual journey north to the sea across newly drawn national boundaries. Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The best type of historical fiction - electrifying, edifying, and set in an utterly enthralling time and place." Christian Science Monitor: "An exquisite story that combines historical fiction, romance, and social commentary ... With her lush prose and balanced perspectives, Pylvainen tells the story with a fairness that does not cast one culture as 'advanced' and the other as 'primitive'. This novel was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Jan Instead of a book discussion, we hold our annual business meeting and party during this month.
Feb 14 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann, 329 pages, 2023.

In 1742, a British ship named The Wager wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia in southern Argentina. One group of survivors made their way to Brazil, where they were treated as heroes for overcoming extreme hardship. Months later, another group landed in Chile, where they told a very different story about the first group. Los Angeles Times: "A testament to the depths of human depravity and the heights of human endurance, and you can't ask for better than that from a story ... The Wager will keep you in its grip to its head-scratching, improbable end." The Guardian: "He fixes his spyglass on the ravages of empire, of racism, of bureaucratic indifference and raw greed ... one of the finest nonfiction books I've ever read." Washington Post: "Glorious, steely ... a tightly written, relentless, blow-by-blow account that is hard to put down."