I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
271 pages
​
What’s it about?
This collection of essays is arranged in chronological order so it read a little like a memoir.  Maybe a memoir in essay form?  Mary Laura Philpott shares that as a child she learned she was a 'type A' personality.  ​"It's an exhausting way to live, but try as I might, I can't turn it off.  My brain seeks tasks to check off, i's to dot and t's to cross (not to mention x's to slash, e's to loop, and z's to zag), the way a sort-of-but-not-really reformed smoker sucks in deep lungful of nicotine when walking past a crowd of smokers outside a bar.  Like any high-functioning addict, I have learned to sneak a hit wherever I can.  When the pediatrician gives my kids' growth charts, I look for percentages first.  When the water meter guy handed me a report with our latest meter reading, I scanned it for a score and asked, 'Is that good?'  I can sustain a buzz for hours after anyone tells me that something I've done was 'the best'- even if it's just a colleague at the bookstore where I work saying, 'Hey Mary Laura, you're the best at changing the toilet paper roll in the employee bathroom.'  Bam.  Better than a shot of tequila."  We see her move through her life to the forty something year-old woman she is today.  

What did it make me think about?
 I love reading a thoughtful author that still doesn't take herself too seriously.  
 
Should I read it?
So maybe Mary Laura Philpott is the Gen. X version of Nora Ephron...   It was so interesting to hear the voice of a woman in her forties who is willing to honestly share her struggles with the rest of us.  If you like essays with a little humor and a little wisdom then don't miss this book.

Quote-
​"In school we're taught to do our best, but we're limited by the bounds of what we understand to be right- and 'right' looks different to everyone, apparently.  Maybe we all walk around assuming everyone is interpreting at the world the same way we are, and being surprised when they aren't and that's the loneliness and confusion of the human experience in a nutshell (er, lobster shell)."

If you like this try-
​And Now We Have Everything by Meaghan O'Connell
Maeve in America by Maeve Higgins
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hillary Mantel

8 stars

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
476 pages

What’s it about?
This book begins in 1939 as Hitler is beginning to march across Europe.  The novel was inspired by the life of New York socialite Caroline Ferriday.  Three main stories are featured simultaneously in this novel.  Caroline's story is based in the United States and highlights what one woman did to help those in Europe.  The next story highlights Kasia- a Polish teenager who is caught in occupied Poland and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp.  Kasia is loosely based on the real life stories of two sisters who lived at Ravensbruck.  The last story is based on a young German doctor that actually practiced at Ravensbruck during the war.  

What did it make me think about?
 I always have conflicted feelings when I read Holocaust stories.  On one hand we should never forget.  Telling these stories personalizes what happens when racism and evil are allowed to flourish and maybe that personalization will change someone's heart.  BUT- I read "In Paradise" by Peter Matthiessen a few years ago and it changed my perspective.  He suggested that words can never capture the true essence of evil and could actually diminish what truly happened.  Something to think about....

Should I read it?
 This novel is a book club selection choice and I doubt I would have picked it up otherwise.  It is not my favorite holocaust book, but I think many people will appreciate it.  For me personally, character development was lacking. I would have liked to understand what drove each of the characters to act as they did.   However, the history was fascinating and I learned things that I did not know before.  I had no idea that the women who had been used for medical experimentation were left after the war with very little help or compensation.  If you are a fan of "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah then you will probably want to pick this book up as well.

Quote-
“Somewhere in a corner of our hearts, we are always twenty,” I said.” 
​
If you like this try-
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
​The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Love & Treasure by Ayelet Waldman

​7 stars

The Lost Night by Andrea Bartz
311 pages

What’s it about?
 This psychological thriller takes us to present day New York City.  Lindsey is a fact checker for a large men's magazine.   As 2019 approaches she starts to look back at her first year in New York and the group of friends she has since left behind.  It has been almost ten years since her best friend Edie committed suicide.  Lindsey and Edie had been a part of a "hipster" group of young adults living in Brooklyn in 2009.  Lindsey just wishes she could remember what happened to Edie the night she died.  Why does she always feel so guilty when she thinks of that night?  Was she responsible somehow?  Her quest leads her down a path of broken memories and fractured thoughts.  How did Edie really die?

What did it make me think about?
This book was a story from a writer of a certain generation.  From the hipster vibe to the references to Ritalin being prescribed in childhood.   I kept thinking someone had taken the cast of "Friends" and turned them into drug-addled alcoholics and then written a story about them.  

Should I read it?
This book was a somewhat different take on a psychological thriller.  The story took turns I did not always expect.  I feel like the copious amount of dialogue somewhat got in the way of the flow of the plot, but I still kept turning the pages.  If you like a psychological thriller then this may be your summer book!

Quote-
"When you pull up a memory, you're actually recalling the last time you remembered it- not the event itself." 

If you like this try-
Tangerine by Christine Mangan
​The Caretaker by AX Ahmad
The Girl on a Train by Paula Dawkins
Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin

7 1/2 stars

Self-Portrait With Boy by Rachel Lyon
374 pages

What’s it about?
 Lu Rile is a struggling artist.  A photographer who works hard and has big dreams.  One day she is taking a self-portrait at the same time a young boy falls by her window.  She accidentally captures the moment.  The beauty of the photograph is everything she has been hoping for.  This photograph could finally get her into the art world- if she has the stomach to use it.

What did it make me think about?
 Ambition.

Should I read it?
 This book just flat out surprised me.  I did not think I would like it much.  I certainly did not like the main character.  Lu Rile is no hero.  However, the pages just flew by and the book certainly had a viewpoint.  If you are looking for a book that makes you think- look no further.  This book would make for a great discussion!

Quote-
"The thing about remembering is that each time you retrieve an event from he past it alters the memory itself.  If to tell a story is to repaint the [ast, to remember is to crumple; to fold, unfold, refold, and inevitably rip.  If to tell a story is to renovate, to remember is too destroy."

​If you like this try-
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
​Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

8 1/2 stars

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
343 pages

What’s it about?
 It is the summer of 1969 and the four Gold children decide to seek out a psychic who can supposedly tell each of them the exact date they will die.  Each child meets with the woman alone and the few minutes they spend with her will change the trajectories of their lives.  

What did it make me think about?
 What an interesting premise for a book...

Should I read it?
 This book is told in four different narratives by the four different characters.  I thought the book was uneven.  Some characters and stories resonated more for me than others.  In some ways it seemed liked the author was trying to highlight too many serious struggles in this one book- OCD, bipolar disorder, homosexuality, depression.... It sometimes felt disjointed to me- overwhelming.   It was a good idea for a book- but somehow it just missed the mark.  It was still an enjoyable read- just not noteworthy.

Quote-
"For so long he hated the woman, too.  How, he wondered, could she give such a terrible fortune to a child?  But now he thinks of her differently, like a second mother or a god, she who showed him the door and said: Go."

If you liked this try-
​Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brown
​Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Khong
The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman
Faithful by Alice Hoffman

​7  stars

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
351 pages

What’s it about?
 This book is written as an oral history of a fictitious rock band in the 1970's.  Billy Dunne is the lead singer and undisputed head of The Six- an up and coming rock band.  Daisy Jones is a wild child with talented singing voice and a desire to do things her own way.  When a producer decides to pair the band with Daisy Jones- a legend is made.  

What did it make me think about?
 The 1970"s!  I came of age in the 70's and just enjoyed this love story wrapped up in a drugged filled,  rock n' roll package.

Should I read it?
 After reading Milkman I was so ready to just enjoy a book.   ​Daisy Jones & The Six was like the perfect anecdote.  It reads like an interview from lots of different perspectives.  It just flies by.   Very enjoyable- not necessarily thought provoking, but just so much fun!  By the way- it is basically a good old-fashioned love story.

Quote-
​"You have to have one person in your life that you know would never do anything to steer you wrong.  They may disagree with you.  They could even break your heart, from time to time.  But you have to have one person, at least, who you know will always tell you the truth."

If you like this try-
Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach
​Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller
The Nix by Nathan Hill
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson

8 stars

Milkman by Anna Burns
348 pages

What’s it about?
 This very unusual novel takes place in an unnamed city, with unnamed characters, and an unnamed war going on.  The author is from Belfast and it does not take long to realize that the main character, "middle sister", is living in the Belfast of the 1970's.  Middle sister is a bit of an oddity.  She steers clear of most people and is often seen walking through town while reading old novels.   She suddenly becomes "interesting" when a known local paramilitary hero named "Milkman" begins to show interest in her.  The sudden attention threatens her relationships and her own world view.

What did it make me think about?
 This is a novel about living in a war zone.   How one young woman chooses to remove herself emotionally from her family, her community, and even from herself to keep life bearable.  "At the time, age eighteen, having been brought up in a hair-trigger society where the ground rules were- if no physically violent touch was being laid upon you , and no outright verbal insults were being leveled at you, and no taunting looks in the vicinity either, then nothing was happening, so how could you be under attack from something that wasn't there?  At eighteen I had no proper understanding of the ways that constituted encroachment."

Should I read it?
 Milkman won the Man Booker Prize in 2018.  I should have known it would be difficult.  It was difficult!  I can't say it was without merit but it wandered around and around and had SO many words....  It was just a drudge to get through.  Having said that- it is a novel with a point of view and something to say.  I liked middle sister and was somewhat interested in her story- but it just crawled along.

Quote-
The truth was dawning on me of how terrifying it was not to be numb, but to be aware, to have facts, be present, be adult."

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Driftless by David Rhodes
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
Open City by Teju Cole
Census by Jesse Ball

6 stars

Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak
534 pages

What’s it about?
 The five Dunbar boys are living on their own with a wide range of pets and very little supervision.  Matthew is barely old enough to serve as guardian to the other four boys and chaos and order seem to exist in equal measures.  
Towards the beginning of the book Matthew writes,
"Let me tell you about our brother.  
The fourth Dunbar boy named Clay.
Everything happened to him.
We were all changed through him."
And so we are introduced to Clay.  The heart of the book. This novel is about a family being held together by stories, love, and loyalty.  

What did it make me think about?
 This is a story of family- specifically a story of brothers.   I will miss the Dunbar boys!  They may be some of my favorite literary characters of late.  I must add that although "The Book Thief" was a young adult book- this selection is not!

Should I read it?
 OK- so this is one long, big, hot-mess of an extraordinary book.  This one will not be for the faint of heart.  You have to be willing to sacrifice to make it through this book and then you will be richly rewarded.  Markus Zusak is a beautiful, brilliant writer and although I am not sure exactly what this book is- it touched my heart and I would highly recommend it to anyone willing to put in the effort!

Quote-
"People got it ​wrong.  
​They thought it was Penny's dash and our father leaving that made what we were- and sure, it definitely made us rowdier and harder and hardier, and gave us a sense of fight- but it isn't what made us tough.  No, in the beginning it was something more.  
It was the wooden, the upright.
​The piano."

If you like this try-
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Beartown by Frederik Backman

8 1/2 stars

November Road by Lou Berney
299 pages

What’s it about?
 It is 1963 and JFK has just been assassinated in Dallas.  Frank Guidry might know a little too much and is on the run from the mob.  Along the way he meets Charlotte and her two young daughters.  Charlotte has decided to leave her alcoholic husband and make her way to California.  When car trouble leaves Charlotte and the girls stranded- Frank jumps in to help.  After all the mob is looking for a single man on the run....  

What did it make me think about?
 This made me think of what a tumultuous time the 1960's were.  Some ways of life were coming to an end, and yet it was a new beginning for many.  

Should I read it?
This was a good book- mainly because Charlotte was such a strong character.  I thought the book portrayed a changing era very well.  I really enjoyed "The Long and Far Away Gone" by Lou Berney and was not disappointed in this book.  Be aware it is a quick read!

Quote-
"'Do you think people can change?' Charlotte said.
The question took him by surprise. 'Change?'
​'Who they are,' she said.  'Their character, I suppose. How they act, what they believe.  After years of being one sort of person can you just decide to become a different sort?' "

8 stars