Thanks to fellow blogger and friend LA from Waking Up on the Wrong Side of 50 — for recommending Demon Copperhead. It’s one of the better books I’ve read lately.
I finished it in time to share it with my lunch bunch yesterday. My lunch bunch are two friends I worked with in PR and Advertising 30 years ago. We ended up moving to Arizona a few miles apart. We reconnected after years of not seeing each other. Now we go to lunch once a month together. We share books and talk about TV shows we like.
Here’s what Amazon has to say about Demon Copperhead:
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
What books have you read lately that you really liked?
Please share, because I’m putting together a list of books to read this year.
I’m so glad you liked this book. I just thought it was beautiful and thought provoking
Parts were hard to read, but overall it was so good.
I loved that book
It was so good!
It sounds like a good read.
It’s good but difficult. So much drama and tragedy for one young man. But there’s enough good and hope to make it work.
Thanks cool.
👍🏼
I haven’t read any Kingsolver books in years but I know many people really liked this one. I don’t think I have any “great book” recommendations but I did read Sipsworth not long ago. Endearing story of aging, loneliness, purpose and unexpected friendship.
This was the first Kingsolver book I’ve read. My lunch bunch friend just finished one set in Mexico. I’m going over to her house to pick it up. Your recommendation sounds good.
Oh, thanks for the book recommendation, Elizabeth.
You’re welcome. LA had it at the top of her list for 2024.
Oh, thanks for the suggestion. Another to add to the list!!! Yikes. ha, ha.
It was hard to read in places. At one point, I put it down for a week, not wanting to find out what happened to the poor kid next! Overall it was excellent.
After I told you that I hadn’t heard of this book, I started thinking that it did sound familiar. Now I know why. it’s because of LA! LOL! I am glad you reminded me of it. I am writing it down on my list.
Songbirds was the first book I read by that author, but I would like to read her other one now. The Beekeeper of Aleppo.
Have you read any books by Charles Martin? The WaterKeeper was really good!! It has to do with sex trafficking.
West with Giraffes is another good one I recently read. Based on the true story of two giraffes surviving a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic and then going on a 12 day road trip to the San Diego Zoo during the Depression. Its based on those true facts. Real life figures blended with fictional ones. I enjoyed it!
Yes, Demon Copperhead was LA’s top read of 2024. I’m interested in all the books you mentioned. I haven’t read any of them. I’m on the board for a small group of women who raise funds for sex trafficked victims. The stories I’ve heard are unbelievable. Thanks for your book ideas, too!
You are welcome. 🙂
Yes, I thought you would be interested in WaterKeeper because of the group you are in which I think is such a worthy cause to raise funds for!!❤️ I am sure you have heard unbelievable stories!
Thank you! Absolutely will put it on my reading list. The worst fact I’ve heard so far, is the most prized sex trafficked victims are boys under 12 years old. Last week, Phoenix had their huge car show. Next week is the PGA tournament. These men-centered events put the issue front and center in our area with 5 percent of men wanting to pay for underage sex. UGH!!!
Horrible! Soo sad!! I know the Superbowl is a huge event where a lot of sex trafficking happens, too. 🥺
Exactly. Last year we had the Superbowl in Phoenix too. A trifecta of events in one month.
😱
I loved “Demon Copperhead” and consider it a modern-day classic. It’s probably one of my all-time favorite books. I don’t think I’ve ever read “David Copperfield” so I had nothing to compare it to. I would also recommend “Sipsworth,” “West with Giraffes,” and “The Beekeeper of Aleppo.” I didn’t understand what was going on in Syria until reading the latter where the author describes a divided country where there are no real good guys.
I read David Copperfield in high school but barely remember it. Also, I think we only read excerpts and not the entire book. Must have been in a textbook. I’ve gotten recommendations for all three books you mentioned! With more than two people recommending them, they’re on my list!
I read all her books. This was very good, but not my favorite.
I just finished “The First Ladies” by Benedict and Murray. It’s a novel about the friendship and activism of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune.
I recently read a historical fiction First Lady book. It was about Edith Wilson called “The President’s Wife.” I will have to look at “The First Ladies” too.
This sounds intriguing! I’ll have to put it on my list at the library! I love that you grab lunch with your friend from PS now that you’ve reconnected in Arizona! That’s so crazy you ended up so close to each other. Destiny…hugs, C
It was a good but difficult read. Yes, my friends moved to Arizona close to 15 years ago. Another friend in common told me where they lived and I immediately reached out to them. It’s such a large area with a population of more than 6 million in the greater Phoenix area. It’s so strange to find friends within a couple miles. They’ve been my Arizona guides for stores, restaurants, etc.
I in a FB book lovers group and so many people have raved about this particular book. It’s on my TR list!!
Oh, and how fun to have a Lunch Bunch each moth-I love that.
It was such a good book. In some ways difficult to read. It’s fun to reconnect with old friends. Our monthly lunch makes sure we get together.