Furious Hours by Casey Cep
314 pages

What’s it about?
 This book is part crime novel, part courtroom drama, and part biography.  In the 1970's, in rural Alabama, Reverend Willie Maxwell has relatives that are dying under mysterious circumstances.  Adding to the unease is the fact that all those relatives lives have been insured by Reverend Maxwell shortly before they die. Many relatives breathe a sigh of relief when Maxwell is shot dead before 300 people at his latest victim's funeral.  Robert Burns is arrested for the crime.   Who is at Burn's trial day in and day out?  Harper Lee of "​To Kill a Mockingbird" fame.  She makes no secret that she is writing again and her new book will be titled "The Reverend".    This is the story of insurance fraud, murder, and Harper Lee.

What did it make me think about?
This book had three distinct sections.  The first part of the book looked at the early insurance industry and how it operated in the deep South.  The second part of the book concentrates on the trial of Robert Burns and how the judicial system operated in that time.  The last part of the book concentrates on Harper Lee and her struggle to write again after "the bird" takes on a life of its own. 

Should I read it?
 This was an interesting book in many different ways.  it really was like three books in one.  I especially found the last part of the book about Harper Lee fascinating. 

Quote-
 "Money does wonders for misfits."
" '​Mockingbird' had been read as a clarion call for civil rights, but Lee's real views were more complicated than any editor wanted to put in print."

If you liked this try-
Ghettoside A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
One Summer by Bill Bryson

8 stars

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
532 pages

What’s it about?
 This is the story of a marriage and the family that follows.  Marilyn and David meet in the 1970's and fall in love.  They subsequently marry and have a family.  This is their story.

What did it make me think about?
 Marriage, love, family, children, loss.  This is a novel with many characters that have pretty good lives.  But as is true in real life- no one gets away with out some heartbreak.

Should I read it?
 I think most readers who enjoy literary fiction will find something to like about this book.  Lombardo has written vivid, unique characters that practically jump off the page.  I really liked this book- but I must admit that sometimes I just wanted to shake these characters and tell them to "get it together"!  Having said that,  I appreciated that each character in this book had a unique perspective and a set of problems that go along with that perspective.  

Quote-
"It was in moments like this that Wendy remembered how much she loved her sister- her prissy, perfectionist, annoying-as-all-get-out sister- because Violet was the only person on the earth who had experienced the world in almost the exact same way, in real time, step for step, save for those first few months of life, but even then she'd been accompanied by Violet for most of the time, Violet growing inside of their mother."

If you liked this try-
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheer Mirza
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

9 stars

The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
282 pages

What’s it about?
 Katherine is an exceptional child with a gift for mathematics.  Growing up in the 1950's her gifts are not always encouraged.  Katherine feels different from those around her, not only because she is exceptionally bright, but because her family is different as well.  As a young adult she embarks on a quest to solve the Riemann hypothesis- a famous and difficult Mathematics problem.  Her journey to solve this problem is at the core of the novel.    

What did it make me think about?
 This novel highlighted the obstacles a smart, ambitious woman would have faced in the world of Mathematics in the early 1950's.  "HERE WAS THE PROBLEM: I WAS AMBITIOUS.  I WANTED a career.  I wanted accolades and validation.  More than anything, I wanted to do something that mattered.  At a time when it was unseemly for a woman to want these things (is it really so accepted now?), I wanted them desperately."  This novel is a reminder of how much we owe the actual women who broke down those first barriers.

Should I read it?
 This was really almost two different books to me.  I struggled through the first half of the book.  I did not particularly like Katherine and the plot was did not hold my interest.  BUT- it picked up.  The second half of the book moved right along. The plot ended up saving this book for me, maybe because I never grew to like Katherine- although I did feel for her.  I did find the plot predictable at times but I still enjoyed it.  The math was interesting as well...  This book would make for an interesting discussion-  book clubs perhaps?

Quote-
"But she'd been the one to get married.  She'd been the one to have children.  And I'd been the one to have the dazzling- by any measure- career.  Both our lives, it occurred to me, had come with their own disappointments , their own specific kinds of loneliness."

"This is, in part, what makes mathematics so powerful- the ability to see the same thing from a different perspective, the ability to see it transformed." 

If you liked this try-
The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Milkman by Anna Burns
​Women Talking by Miriam Toews

​7 1/2 stars
​

Woman Talking by Miriam Toews
216 pages

What’s it about?
Between 2005 and 2009, in a remote Mennonite community in Bolivia, a series of sexual assaults were perpetrated upon the women and girls of a Molotschna.  The victims are sprayed with a cow anesthetic while they sleep and then are violated.  Upon waking they know that something has happened but can not put the pieces together.  A man is finally caught breaking into a bedroom in the middle of the night and he confesses to the crimes.     He also implicates seven other men who had been taking part.  It is believed that in this community at least 130 women and children were raped in this time period. The victims ranged in age from 3 to 60.  The perpetrators, and other community members, tried to make the women believe that the attacks were being made by ghosts.  Further on,  it was said that God was punishing the women for their sins.  This actually happened.  This novel is an imagined conversation between a group of the victims.  The women must decide about how to go forward with their lives in the aftermath of these attacks.  

What did it make me think about?
So- with a little research I found that Miriam Toews was raised in a Mennonite community in Canada.  Interesting.   She says, "What is harmful in the Mennonite tradition resembles what’s harmful in any religion—when religious leaders use the authority of God to scold, shame, punish, silence, and shun people. In extreme cases, they use God’s authority to justify the most depraved crimes. It’s that abuse of authority—and witnessing first hand its destructive effects—that alienated me from the church."  ​This story is all about what complete and authoritarian power can do in a community.
 
Should I read it?
I loved Toews earlier book,  All My Puny Sorrows,  and was looking forward to reading this.  This novel is an imagined conversation between a group of women who have been consistently denied any type of autonomy over their own lives.   It is an interesting book that will appeal to some readers, and not to others.  This book is not plot driven but it is very thought-provoking.  

Quote-
"I remember how my father, two days before he disappeared, told me that the twin pillars that guard the entrance to the shrine of religion are storytelling and cruelty."

If you liked this try-
The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon
​​The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
The Animals by Christian Kiefer
The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez

8 stars

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman
347 pages

What’s it about?
Lillian is a single mother of two young girls.  Her husband died in a car crash three years ago and Lillian is doing her best to acclimate to her new life as a widow.  Her sister Rachel helps her as much as she can, but Lillian still desperately misses her late husband.  An assignment for work has her sign up for a gardening class on Saturdays.  Lilli will discover more than just gardening on these Saturday mornings.

What did it make me think about?
Just how unexpected life is....

Should I read it?
 SO- every once in awhile everything just clicks- right mood, time to read, and a book that just hits the spot.  This was one of those books for me.  Abbi Waxman has written a book that makes you laugh, cry, and is life-affirming.  Who doesn't need a book like that every now and then?  Some may say the story was predictable or too sweet- not I!  Ms. Waxman has a gift for really bringing her characters to life.   I for one am going to miss this cast of characters.  I will be waiting for the next Abbi Waxman book. If you love a character driven book, with a little romance thrown in for good measure, then I HIGHLY recommend ​The Garden of Small Beginnings.  

Quote-
"Yet again, back in the car.  I should buy myself one of those beaded seat covers that are supposed to be good for your back, but I'd end up with the pattern permanently embedded in my ass, and the last thing I need back there is more texture."

If you liked this try-
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
​How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Moshin Hamid
​Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
​Less by Andrew Sean Greer

9 stars

The Porpoise by Mark Haddon
294 pages

What’s it about?
This book is based on the ancient story of Antiochus.  Mark Haddon has chosen to use the story in a very different way.  The book begins in the present day with a plane crash.  A very pregnant Maja is traveling on the plane and is gravely injured in an accident. Maja is kept alive just along enough to give birth to a young girl.  Philippe (Maja’s wealthy and powerful husband) is grief stricken.  As the girl grows older Philippe seems to view his daughter, Angelica, as an object meant for his pleasure.  Much like in the earlier story of Antiochus, an adventurer comes along and discovers Philippe's secret.  Just when we are hooked on this story (about page 80) we are introduced to new characters in a similar story- but this story is happening in ancient times.  William Shakespeare once reimagined the story of Antiochus in a play he wrote.  In Shakespeare's play Pericles is the young adventurer who discovers the secret.  So now in Mark Haddon's story we meet a new Pericles.  Sound confusing?  Wait until Mark Haddon throws in the character of William Shakespeare...

What did it make me think about?
I thought about how much life has changed since we believed in mythology- and how much it has stayed the same.    Also, how privilege has always had the ability to shelter the powerful from the consequences of their own actions.  So- some really great themes.  That Mark Haddon brings this all together is a testament to his skill as a writer!  

Should I read it?
This book was really disjointed so I was surprised at how much I still liked it. The first 80 pages went by quickly and I was sorry to leave that storyline.  However, I quickly became interested in story number two.  I could have done without the William Shakespeare part- but what do I know?  This book is ambitious and will be liked by some and probably hated by others.  I am firmly in the favorable category.

If you liked this try?
​​Circe by Madeline Miller
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His yeats of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeymii
The Buried Giant by Kazoo Ishiguro
​
​8 stars

Out East by John Glynn
243 pages

What’s it about?
This book is a memoir; but it is also a coming of age story and a coming out story.   John Glynn was a 27 year-old assistant book editor working in New York City in 2013.  Like many of his generation he struggled with feelings of isolation and loneliness- despite his many friends and a loving family.  In the summer of 2013 he scrapes together $2000 to join a share house in Montauk. He spends his weekends that summer partying with friends, struggling with anxiety, and coming to terms with his sexuality.  

What did it make me think about?
I love reading books so I can see different perspectives.  This story is far from my life experiences. This is a book about being a young adult of a specific time, place, and status.  We always read that depression and anxiety are on the rise with the Millennial generation.  This book is a window into the life of a privileged young man who still struggles.  I also couldn't help but think- Wow these people drink a lot!  "Why did I get wrecked like that?  I drank to have fun, to slow my anxious thoughts, to amplify my humor.  But mostly I drank to connect.  I wanted to feel a part of something.  I wanted to be loved.  I longed for someone to know me in all the ways I couldn't know myself.  But the drinking didn't always get me there.  It often netted out at oblivion."

Should I read it?
 I enjoyed this book.  I would put it in the quick summer read category.  Many people will not get past the world of privilege and indulgence that we read about on these pages.  I admit that it is often hard to relate to these people.  "In this cocoon of fortune our perspectives flattened. All of our problems existed in one dimensions.  Monior vexation and true hardship were one and the same.  Small annoyances- an unanswered text, a sold out SoulCycle class, a crippling hangover- rendered us inert.  A Starbucks drink made incorrectly was a personal attack."  Really- do we really care about these people?  It is a testament to John Glynn's honesty and writing skill that I still rooted for him- even though I could not always relate to him.  

Quote-
"At night my thoughts turned dark:  I was surrounded by friends, but deeply lonely.  Time seemed to pass with no meaning.  I worried that life would only get worse.  That all the good things- friends, family, nice apartment, good job- would eventually disappear, and I would be left with nothing.  I was single because their was something wrong with me.  Something hard-wired into my DNA>  Something I jdidn;t know how to fix.  Either that or I wasn't good looking  Or couldn't feign confidence.  Or if not one of those things, then something less tangible, some invisible force that bailed my whole  being and was entirely exclusive to me.  I would die alone  I would never find love.  i hadn't before and I never would.  I would grow old and  be poor and have no one and this would happen quickly, because life accelerates, just ook.  Yesterday I was seventeen and now I was twenty-seven."

​If you like this try-
A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
Our Little Racket by Angelica Baker
The Swans of New York by Melanie Benjamin
The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus

8 stars

Normal People by Sally Rooney
273 pages

What’s it about?
 Marianne and Connell are high school seniors in a small town in Ireland.  Both are impressive students- but Connell is popular with the other kids in his high school class and Marianne is a complete loner.  Since Connell's mom works as a cleaning lady in Marianne's house they slowly begin a friendship of sorts.  They end up at the same college and we watch this relationship evolve over the years.  "Being alone with her was like opening a door away from normal life and then closing it behind him."

What did it make me think about?
 So this novel explores some fascinating questions.  One of my favorite sayings over the last several years is, "We are the stories we tell ourselves."  No novel captures the essence of this phrase as well as Normal People.    Marianne and Connell both make up narratives to explain the behavior of the people around them.  Often these narratives are wrong. We also see how isolated individuals can feel- even when they are in relationships. The book also explores how relationships in our formative years can influence our future choices.  Fascinating stuff!

Should I read it?
 YES!  Marianne and Connell are both flawed characters- but two of my favorite characters in a long time.  This story is all about relationships and I found it thought provoking and extraordinary.  This novel would make a great discussion book!  Great summer book- beach, rainy day, anywhere!!!

Quote-
​"Not for the first time Marianne thinks cruelty does not only hurt the victim, but the perpetrator also, and maybe more deeply and more permanently.  You learn nothing very profound about yourself simply by being bullied; but by bullying someone else you learn something you can never forget."

9 1/2 stars

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
258 pages

What’s it about?
I cannot even begin to explain the plot- or the characters.  It has something to do with fairy tales....   The writing is very pretty- just don't ask me what it is about.  

What did it make me think about?
 This book made me think about Ulysses by James Joyce.  I hated that book!  I must have tried to read it three or four times.  Yet, it is always sited as one of the best books of all time.  So I actually took a class on Ulysses.  When you go paragraph by paragraph and really take the time and effort to understand what is behind each passage, you can see the brilliance. I am sure this is another such novel.  I am sure it is brilliant- but it left me dazed and confused.   

Should I read it?
I predict it will win the Booker Prize this year.  Like all Booker Prize winners it is weird and somewhat hard to get through- but who knows...  you might love it.  Lots of critics loved it.

Quote-
"So Harriet maintains her point, which is that joining isn't a question of effort or overextension thereof.  You miss your chance to join several generations before birth."

If you like this try-
Milkman by Anna Burns
Census by Jesse Ball
The Animals by Christian Kiefer
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

4 stars

Biloxi by Mary Miller
254 pages

What’s it about?
 Louis is a sixty three years-old and his wife has left him.  He spends his days watching TV and avoiding people.  His only company comes when his ex brother-in- law Frank brings him his leftovers from Chili's.   One day Louis is out in the car and takes a wrong turn to avoid running into his ex-wife.  He stops and sees a sign about a free dog.  Louis and the dog (Layla) take to each other immediately.   Soon Louis and Layla are inseparable and life seems to hold new adventures.
 
What did it make me think about?
This novel was such a Southern book.  It takes place in Mississippi and the quirky Southern characters are of that particular place.  Louis is quite the character study.  

Should I read it?
 So I am a dog person and that is what appealed to me about this novel.  I really thought I would love this book.  Think- ​The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry with a dog!  But Louis is not Harold.  In fact, Louis just does not care much for people.  This book is long on character and short on plot.  If you like a quirky, Southern novel then you will enjoy reading about Louis and Layla. I did like the book, but must admit to wishing it would just be done... Louis just tired me out.

Quote-
"I asked her some questions: Was she happy?  Did she love  me?  Was I the most handsome man she'd ever seen?  Would we love each other forever?  I liked the way her ears went up simply because whatever silly thing I'd said had been phrased as a question.  She would accept my faults and ask for nothing in return besides some bologna and a bit of attention whenever I felt up up giving it to her.  She didn't need me to tell her I would never love anyone else or that I'd die for her.  But I could tell her those things and they'd be true.  It was easy with a dog.  I didn't have to give her flowers or remember her birthday, didn't even know her birthday.  She would never be disappointed in me.  I felt like I'd never loved anyone more."

If you like this try-
Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Khong
Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
French Exit by Patrick DeWitt

6 1/2 stars