American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
289 pages

What’s it about?
On page one of this novel Marie Mitchell is awakened by a sound in her house.  By the second page the intruder is dead.  It is 1992 and we quickly learn that Marie is black, smart, a former FBI agent, and a mother.  The story is being told in letter form to her two sons. She wants her sons to understand what has happened in her life to bring them all to this point in 1992.   To tell the whole story Marie must swing back and forth in time.  She tells of her upbringing in the 1960's, an unexpected assignment in 1986, and then back to present day 1992. This book will keep you thinking...

What did it make me think about?
 Lauren Wilkinson not only writes an espionage thriller with a good plot and interesting characters, but she also asks really thoughtful questions- all without preaching at you (I think that is hard to do).  She asks global questions- What were the repercussions of moving the cold war into Africa?  Did we do more harm than good?  What about these private security companies that are now being hired in the third world?  She also asks more personal questions- What does it mean to be a "true American".  What was it like to be a black woman in an all-white male profession in the 1980's?  "Very few of those men understood having no choice about whether they were political or not:  Unlike me, they weren't people who'd had their existence politicized on their behalf."  She even brings up the fact that African-Americans have been practicing subterfuge for an awfully long time in this country.  Interesting things to think about...

Should I read it?
 I was impressed by this book.   First and foremost- American Spy is an espionage-thriller.  It is just a smarter thriller than most.  I love reading books that broaden my mind and make me think about the world in a different way.  This book shines a light on so many issues I never think about- and of course the plot kept me turning the pages.  Lauren Wilkinson is a first time author and I can't wait for her next book!

Quote-
"I loved Robbie, which meant he could truly make me furious.  In too much of what he said, I heard an overconfidence about his limited life experience and  in his aggressively average intelligence..  He was the type of guy that, had he been born white, would probably have wound up at an excellent business school."

If you like this try-
The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
​​The Caretaker by AX Ahmad
​The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
​
9 stars

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