What’s it about?
The novel begins with the line, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist."  So the story had me from the first line.  Tayari Jones is most well-known as the author of An American Marriage, but I enjoyed this earlier book as well.   The story is told from two different points of view. James Witherspoon's has two daughters from different marriages and they each serve as narrators. Both stories are compelling.  

What did it make me think about?
 Secret lives...

Should I read it?
Tayari Jones can tell a story!  This novel takes place in Atlanta in the 1990's and portrays a world I didn't know much about.  That is always appealing to me.

Quote-
"And this is how it started.  Just with coffee and the exchange of their long stories.  Love can be incremental.  Predicaments,too.  Coffee can start a life just as it can start a day.  This was the meeting of tow people destined to love from before they were born, from before they made choices that would complicate their lives.  This love just rolled toward my mother as though she were standing at the bottom of a steep hill.  Mother had no hand in this, only heart."

If you liked this try-
​Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
​The  Turner House by Angela Flournoy
​The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinit
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

8 1/2 stars

What’s it about?
 Isma has been living in London and caring for her younger brother and sister since her mother died years ago.   Isma and her siblings are British citizens of Pakistani descent. They have grown up in a city that increasingly wants the Muslim community to become more assimilated.  Now that the twins have reached adulthood it is finally time for Isma to follow her dreams and go study in America.  After arriving in America Isma meets a fellow traveler from London in a coffee shop.  Eammon is the son of a member of Parliament and also of Pakistani descent.  When Eammon returns to London he will meet Isma's sister and the story will begin in earnest.

What did it make me think about?
 So with all the talk of nationalism and immigration it is good to remember that life is not that simple.  Problems are often complicated and do not have an easy answer. What happens when you are 19 and make a mistake...  a big mistake.

Should I read it?
 YES!  This was an amazing book and a page turner as well.  It will be one of my favorites this year. 

Quote-
" 'I'm driving at the fact that habits of secrecy are damaging things', Hira said in her most professorial voice.  'And they underestimate other people's willingness to accept the complicated truths of your life.' "

If you liked this try-
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Moshin Hamid
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
​A Place For Us by Fatima Farheer Mirza
*The Map of Salt and Stars bt Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar

9 1/2 stars

What’s it about?
Frances is a 21 year-old university student who writes poetry and then performs her poems with her charismatic ex-girlfriend, Bobbi in Dublin.  Bobbi and Frances are pulled into an older crowd when Melissa, a well-known photographer, decides to do an article about them.  The novel centers around the relationship between Frances and Nick.  Nick is Melissa's 32 year-old husband....
 
What did it make me think about?
I wrote the following about "Normal People" also written by Sally Rooney.   I would write much the same about "Conversations With Friends".  "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?
 This was a book that moved a little slowly, but what an interesting concept.  I am eternally fascinated by how we all perceive the world so differently.   

Quote-
"At the beginning I thought it was playful, maybe kind of sarcastic, like she wasn't his real wife at all. Now I saws it differently.  He didn't mind me knowing that he loved someone else, he wanted me to know, but he was horrified by the idea that Melissa would find out about our relationship.  It was something he was ashamed of, something he wanted to protect her from.  I was sealed up in a certain part of his life that he didn't like to look at or think about when he was with other people."

If you liked this try-
​*Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
*Life Drawing by Robin Black
Normal People by Sally Rooney
​The Heart's invisible Furies by John Boyne

8 stars

What’s it about?
 Washington Black is an eleven year-old field slave living on a sugar plantation in Barbados when he is summoned to help serve guests for dinner at the big house.  He is subsequently loaned out to the master's brother to help with a science experiment he is undertaking.  Washington Black and Christopher Wilde's paths become intertwined and this relationship changes Washington Black's life.

What did it make me think about?
 Is the good we do about ourselves more than about those we choose to help?

Should I read it?
 This book was so beautifully written.  Edugyan managed to write this novel in a style that evoked the time and place she was writing of.    So the novel is beautifully written, the characters are interesting, and the plot is part historical fiction and part adventure novel. So Why didn't I love it?  The first half was so promising, and then it just kind of never fulfilled that promise for me.  It was a good book- but not one I would label as a great book...
 
Quote-
"It had happened so gradually, but these months with Titch had schooled me to believe I could leave all misery behind, I could cast off all violence, outrun a vicious death.  I had even begun thinking I'd been born with a higher purpose, to draw the earth's bounty, and to invent; I had imagined my existence a true and rightful part of the natural order.  How wrong-headed it had all been.  I was a black boy, only- I had no future before me, and little grace or mercy behind me.  I was nothing, I would die nothing, hunted hastily down and slaughtered."

If you liked this try-
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
​Exit West by Moshin Hamid
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
​To Keep the Sun Alive by Rabeah Ghaffari

8 1/2 stars

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday 271 pages

What’s it about?
This book is divided into three distinct sections.  In “Folly” we meet Alice and Ezra.  Alice is a young assistant editor living in New York City.  She meets the much older Ezra at the park one afternoon and immediately recognizes him as a well known award-winning writer. This section of the book is about their relationship.  The next section “Madness” is narrated by Amar.  Amar is an Iraqi born American who is on his way to visit his brother in Kurdistan in 2008.   When he arrives in London for a 48 hour stopover he is detained at Heathrow for the weekend.  The last section is an interview with Ezra a few years after his relationship with Alice has ended.  Some loose ends are tied up and the connection between the stories makes more sense after reading the interview.

What did it make me think about?
Can we ever see past our own particular perspective?

Should I read it?
The structure of this book is really different than most novels.  I liked the way Lisa Halliday wrote her characters and I found the stories easy to read.  What takes some thought is what the collection means as a whole.  I would put this book down as thought provoking. Probably not a book for those looking for easy entertainment, but for literature fans this one is a treat. 

Quote-
“ The more you learn, thought Alice, the more you realize how little you know.”

“There’s an old saying, he said, about how the foreign journalist who travels to the Middle East and stays a week goes home to write a book in which he presents a pat solution to all of its problems. If he stays a month, he writes a magazine or newspaper article filled with ‘ifs’, ‘buts’, and ‘on the other hands’. If he stays a year, he writes nothing at all.”

If you liked this try-
The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
Transatlantic by Colum McCann
​Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon by Anthony Marra

8  stars

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler 
308 pages

What’s it about?
This book centers around the Cooke family from Bloomington, Indiana. Rosemary Cooke narrates the story of her family- but be forewarned that Rosemary starts in the middle of the story. I was expecting a family drama, but this novel is much different than what I expected.

What did it make me think about?
So as I mentioned this book was totally unexpected. I did not read the back cover of the book before I started so I went into the book blind.  Maybe that was a good thing. This book was about childhood, memory, psychology, research, and animal activism.   This book has a point of view.

Should I read it?
I thought this was an interesting book. If you read to see issues from a new perspective then you will be open to this book. I was informed, educated, and made to feel by Fowler's story.  At times the message was heavy handed and that might bother some readers.  This  is a book that will resonate will all animal lovers out there.  

Quote-
“ It seemed to Lowell that psychological studies of nonhuman animals were mostly cumbersome, convoluted, and downright peculiar. They taught us little about the animals but lots about the researchers who designed and ran them.” 

If you liked this try-
Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
​​​The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
​

 Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
260 pages

What’s it about?
 Yedjide and Akin meet and fall in love while at the university in Nigeria.  After marrying, Akin's extended family begins to put pressure on the couple to have a baby.  When four years goes by without children the strain on the relationship begins to show.  This is the story of a marriage under pressure.

What did it make me think about?
 Nigeria- and the differences and similarities to the way we live in America.

Should I read it?
Thank you to my daughter-in-law Kristen for this suggestion.   I think this a book that many people would enjoy. It was such an interesting and quick book.  I love a story that gives you cannot predict.

Quote-
"I loved Yejide from the very first moment.  No doubt about that.  But there are things that love can't do.  Before I got married, I believed that love could do anything.  I learned soon enough that it couldn't bear the weight of four years without children.  If the burden is too much and stays too long, even love bends, cracks, comes close to break​ing and sometimes does break.  But even when it's in a thousand pieces around your feet, that doesn't mean it's no longer love."

If you liked this try-
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
​​Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
​The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon
​
9 stars
​

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
242 pages

What’s it about?
 Their is no mistaking that Ocean Vuong is a gifted poet.  This is his first novel.  The book is written in the form of a letter- from a son to his mother.  It explores the complicated relationship between “little dog” and his Vietnamese mother and grandmother. It is about being heard in a world that does not want to acknowledge you.  It is about the power of endurance.

What did it make me think about?
How War changes not just the generation that lives through it, but generations to come.

Should I read it?
This was an uneven book for me.  The writing is poetic and beautiful but the story is told in different rhythms .  That may be just what Ocean Vuong was going for but it made for a different reading experience.  At times the sheer sadness of this story made it hard to read.  Some might be bothered by the graphic gay love story.  I myself found this relationship integral to the story...  I would recommend this coming of age story to anyone who likes a poetic novel.

Quote-
There’s a word Trevor once told me about, one he learned from Buford, who served in the Navy in Hawaii during the Korean War: kipuka. The piece of land that’s spared after a lava flow runs down the slope of a hill- an island formed from what survives the smallest apocalypse. Before the lava descended, scorching the moss along the hill, that piece of land was insignificant, just another scrap in an endless mass of green. Only by enduring does it earn its name. Lying on the mat with you, I cannot help but want us to be our own kipuka, our own aftermath, visible. But I know better.”

If you liked this try-
*A Little Lif​e by Hanya Yanagihara
​Exit West by Moshin Hamid
​Girl At War by Sara Novic
​​The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach

8 stars

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