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 Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again,” by Robert D. Putnam with Shaylyn Romney Garrett (Simon & Schuster, 2021)
There are many parallels between America’s Gilded Age of the 1890s and today’s unequal prosperity, political polarization and the emphasis on individual rights over the common good. Between these two eras came the upswing from the Gilded Age’s focus on the “I” to the “we,” starting with the social programs of the Great Depression era, through the unity of will in World War II, to the equal rights movements of the 1960s. I had hoped to find a basic blueprint for a positive path forward here, but there are enough dissimilarities between the Gilded Age and now to make a simple blueprint elusive. Nonetheless, it is reassuring to be reminded that our country has survived bad times — and bad actors — before. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“A Study in Scarlet,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Penguin Classics, 2001 reprint)
Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes book (originally published in 1867) introduces the detective and his sidekick/helpmate Watson. It has been banned on occasion for its negative views of Mormons, who are the bad guys in the plot. Because the book contains in many ways two parallel plots — the first the development of the detective partnership, the second the study of the death of a young woman and murders of the villains — the reader needs to keep her balance as she learns about the various characters. In a twist of the highest order, the hero turns out to be the villain, if a revenge killing can be excused. From this point onward, Doyle’s popularity continued until he became the model of a private detective that still influences writers today. — 2 stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“Audition,” by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead Books, 2025)
Opening this book is like stepping into a hall of mirrors. Told from the perspective of a middle-aged female actor, “Audition” explores the difference between performance and real life. But, what, in this book, is the reality and what is the play? Who are the real people in her life and who are the characters in the play? Is there a difference between the private self and the public self? The protagonist claims to find her fleeting bliss in the collapse of these two into a single, unified self on stage. But this novel left me with more questions than answers. — 2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Tell Me Everything,” by Elizabeth Strout (Random House, 2024)
No one writes characters like Elizabeth Strout (a Pulitzer winner in 2009 for “Olive Kitteridge”), and readers are always happy to revisit Kitteridge, now 91 years old. This stunning book is about listening and love, integrity, boundaries, suffering, abuse, compassion. Bob Burgess is an incredible protagonist, living a quiet, unrecorded life of sadness and love. The New York Times wrote: “The tie that binds all of Strout’s characters is their shared yearning, not for a reprieve from their suffering but for just one person to really see it.” Not all agree, but I found it a breathtakingly good read. (An Oprah Book Club selection in 2024.) — 4 stars (out of 4); Jo Calhoun, Denver
“So Far Gone,” by Jess Walter (HarperCollins, 2025)
Embittered ex-journalist Rhys Kinnick retreats alone from his fractured family and his fractured country to family property in Washington state shortly after the 2016 election. After seven years in a primitive cabin, Rhys’ young grandchildren — unrecognized by him — are brought to him by a stranger for safekeeping. This starts an odd quest for Rhys’ missing daughter. I was perplexed by the mixture of menace and violence with light-hearted family scenes and a running joke about the zygomatic arch. Walter’s scenario includes Christian militias, Native struggles, a drug-centered music festival, the death of a beloved ex-wife, a murder, and a foul-mouthed but compassionate ex-girlfriend. It all ends, improbably, fairly well. But I expected better from such an accomplished writer. — 2 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker