Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult FIC Pic

I have read all of Picoult's books (some more than once) and she is one of my favorite authors.  Her characters always have such depth.  Her themes always make me think - sometimes about society and sometimes about what I would do in such a circumstance and sometimes questioning if I did or said things in my own past that showed a lack of understanding of others. This book will certainly make everyone think about racism in this country. In the back of the book she writes about how difficult this book was for her to write.  I would recommend that you read that first for a bit of background.

Her storytelling was prompted by an article about a white supremacist who asked a nursing supervisor not to let any African-American nurses touch his new baby.  The woman in question had twenty years of experience in the field but that didn't matter to him.  In this book that woman's name is Ruth.  Unlike in the article, Ruth ends up in the nursery with the new baby and there is a medical emergency.   She finds herself on trial for the baby's death.  The story is told from many points of view but mostly by Ruth, the white supremacist and the public defender who takes Ruth's case.

 At times the book made me uncomfortable as I saw life and society from the perspective of Ruth and of her son.  I think it is an important book.  As always there is a twist at the end that I didn't see coming.  Read it!

Click for availability.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware FIC War

In a review I read about this book, it was mentioned that it was like an Agatha Christie book.  So immediately I knew that I had to read it!

Lo Blacklock became a journalist who ended up writing for a travel magazine.  She is usually not given any plum jobs until her boss isn't up to going on a week-long cruise on a small but luxurious ship.  This is her chance to show what she can do.  But things don't go smoothly before she leaves.  Two nights before she is to leave she falls asleep in her bed after drinking too much and is awakened when she realizes someone is in her apartment.  So her nerves are on edge when she goes aboard the ship.  One night she hears a scream and a splash.  Did someone go overboard?  When she decides to follow up on it she discovers that no one is missing.  Did she imagine it?

I enjoyed the twists and turns.

Click for availability.

Happy People Read and Drink Coffee by Agnes Martin-Lugand FIC Mar

This is a novel that was translated from French.  It is the story of Diane who was enjoying a great life.  She was happily married with a wonderful daughter.  She was also the owner of a small literary cafe in Paris which bears the same name as the novel.  But as we all know, life can change in a split-second.  As the novel begins she tragically loses her husband and daughter. Diane can not find a way to go forward in life.  After a year of living in a deep depression she decides to make a change and move to Ireland.  She never wanted to even visit Ireland - that had been a dream that belonged to her husband.

Even though Diane keeps her story to herself and tries to keep a low profile, she is eventually enveloped by some of the people living in this small town.  I thought the book was well-written and it was easy to feel all of the pain and despair of Diane.

Click for availability.

The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag MYS Hoa

In the cold, bitter night of a Minneapolis winter there is a shocking double murder.  A university professor and his wife are killed in a very brutal way with a samurai sword from their home.

Sam Kovac is the detective assigned to the crime.  Sam's former partner, Nikki Liska, is beginning a less hectic job with a newly-formed cold case division.  The first case chosen is 25 years old. It was the death of a member of the police force.  He was shot in cold blood outside his home.  There was no physical evidence so it seems like a long shot.

In the meantime there is Evi Burke.  Although she had a hard life in the beginning she is now living a wonderful life.  She lives in a nice house with her family and has a job she loves in social services.  And then she receives a cryptic letter which shakes her up.  Someone doesn't think she deserves this good life.  There are many parts of her past life that she hasn't shared with her husband and she doesn't want to start now.

Obviously these two cases are going to be intertwined but it takes a while to get there - and that is what makes it entertaining to me!

Click for availability.

On My Own by Diane Rehm BCD 791.44 Reh

This is an audio book that was written and read by the author, Diane Rehm.  I don't listen to NPR where Rehm had a program, but I wished I had after listening to this book.  I think I would have enjoyed it a lot.  This book has several different themes running through it.  Ms. Rehm lost her husband of 54 years a few years ago - and thus the title of the book.  She talks about the abrupt changes that happen when one is left alone to deal with life's usual challenges.  She talks about the depth of pain that comes with losing a spouse.  What was unexpected and made her pain seem so raw was the truth she told about the marriage.  Often after a death the lost one becomes a saint.  Ms. Rehm tells about the wonderful parts of their marriage but doesn't hold back when telling about the hard parts.

Another theme that she weaves in and out the entire book is the question of the "right to die".  Her husband, John, had suffered a long time with Parkinson's.  He wanted to die but could no longer physically commit suicide.  His state does not allow physician-assisted suicide.  So desperate to die was John that he did the only thing he could to bring an end to his suffering.  One of Ms. Rehm's passions now is to help change the culture so that people can have control over their own deaths.

Click for availability.

Coffin Road by Peter May MYS May

Three plots converge in an isolated location in Scotland:

1.  A man washes up on the seashore with no memory of who he is, what he does, or how and where he got the gash on his forehead;
2.  Karen, a lonely 17-year-old in Edinburgh continues to mourn her father's suicide two years ago and feel, somehow, responsible for it.  If only her last words to him hadn't been "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!";
3.  Detective George Gunn investigates the murder of a man who's body is found at a lonely and hard-to-reach lighthouse on an island located twenty miles out in the Outer Hebrides.

Loaded with tons of Scottish atmosphere, this book hooked me from the beginning and kept me reading.  I was anxious for the mystery man, felt sorry for troubled Karen, and enjoyed the solution to the mystery.

The author is new to me but I will go back to read some of his other mysteries.

Click for availability.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple FIC Sem

     

I loved Ms. Semple's previous book "Where'd You Go, Bernadette", so I was eager to read her newest book - and I was not disappointed.  Her characters are a bit quirky which makes them so much more interesting.  I tend to think that since tomorrow is a new day, it is the perfect time to clean my house, eat more veggies, pull weeds and so forth.  So from the first page I felt I had found my literary soul sister.  Yes Eleanor Flood had a long list of things she was going to do so that "today will be different".

Eleanor is supposed to be writing her graphic (in the picture sense!) memoir.  She is married to Joe who is an outstanding hand surgeon.  After ten years of living in Manhattan they are ready to start a family and Joe doesn't want to raise a child in the city.  He has a lot of job offers.  Their deal is that he will choose where they are going to live for the next 10 years.  And then they will move back to New York for ten years.  He picks Seattle.  They are almost to the ten-year mark but Joe hasn't mentioned moving.  They also are parents to 8-year-old son named Timby (you'll love the way he got his name!)

Well Eleanor's day didn't go the way she planned.  Her poetry lesson (which she loves) is interrupted by a call from the school to come pick up Timby (even though Eleanor knows he really isn't sick), she finds out that her husband hasn't been to work all week, and her son finds out about a family secret that Eleanor has been keeping from him.

A wonderful book!

Click for availability.

Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris FIC Par

This is a debut novel.  The problem with debut novels is that when you read a good one you can't run back to the library to check out others by the author!  Oh well, I'll wait.  This is a 'psychological thriller' which I love to read.  Grace and Jack seem like the perfect couple.  Jack is always solicitous of his wife.  He is always praising her.  He seems eager to welcome Grace's down-syndrome sister into their home when she finishes her schooling.  And the home?  It's a beautiful house in a wonderful  location.  Everyone is envious.

But behind closed doors not everything is perfect. A fast read that will keep you interested and wondering how this will end.  I was reminded of the movie "Sleeping with the Enemy" - but on steroids!

Click for availability.

The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood FIC Hoo

I loved this book as I have other books by Hood.  Ava Tucker had a lot of trauma in her childhood.   She married a guy named Jim and they had two children Will and Maggie.  Will was an easy kid to raise. Maggie wasn't.  She was a wild child into trouble all the time.  When Maggie finally survives to the fringes of adulthood things seem to be okay and Ava feels confident that Maggie will be okay studying in Italy for the next year.  Will is off doing good works in Africa.  And Ava finds herself alone - because Jim has left her for another woman. Desperate for some social life she bugs her librarian friend, Cate, to let her join the book club when an opening is available.  (Only ten are allowed!).  This year the theme is "the book that matters most". Members are supposed to come to the next meeting with their selection.  Except that Ava forgets and under pressure she blurts out the name of a book that she read and reread after the deaths of her sister and then her mother.

The books flips back and forth between Ava's story and the horrific adventures of Maggie in Europe.  I loved reading the parts about the book club meetings when they discussed their books and how they were influenced by them.  A good read!

Click for availability.

Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica FIC Kub

       

I enjoyed this book although it was a bit hard to follow sometimes because it flips between two stories - but it might just have been my brain that was the problem!   One part of the book is focused on Quinn Collins.  She has been working in downtown Chicago for a year and was fortunate enough to answer an ad that led to an affordable shared apartment.  Her roommate is Esther and they have developed a great friendship.  One Saturday night Esther begs off going to a new bar because she thinks she is coming down with something.  On her own, Quinn ends up bringing a man back to her room.  It isn't until the next day that she realizes Esther is missing.

An hour from Chicago there is another story unfolding.  Alex is 18.  His childhood has been horrible.  At the moment he is earning money by working in a coffee shop.  One day he sees this mysterious woman.  When he finally gets to talk to her he is completely smitten.  But 'true love never runs smooth' to quote Gene Pitney (for those of you who are old enough to know who he is!).

Everyone is keeping secrets.  Not everyone will survive the next week!

Click for availability.

Hope For A Cool Pillow by Margaret Overton 362.175

  

It is the autumn of the year and for some of us, or maybe for someone we love, it is the autumn of our lives.  Dr. Overton wrote this book because she is an advocate of planning for end-of-life care.  This may sound like a dry subject but she has written a great book.  She writes about it from different points of views - financial, emotional and physical.  Interspersed is the story of her life and how she dealt with the deaths of her parents.  Her father died of cancer.  Several years later her mother is suffering from dementia when she finally dies.  Two ways of dying and each has its own challenges.

It won't take you long to read this book but I think what you read will stay with you and maybe start a dialogue that everyone needs to have.

Click for availability.

The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders MYS Sau

At 52, Laetitia Rood has been widowed for two years.  Faced with reduced circumstances and with few options available to her in London in 1850, she lives with her landlady and confidante, Mrs. Bentley, and earns additional money as a highly discreet private investigator.

Her most recent case involves an investigation for her brother, Frederick, who is a successful criminal barrister.  The son of his client is determined to marry a very unsuitable woman.  Laetitia moves into the family home as governess to investigate the love interest and to decide if the rumors about her (that she is still married) are true.

It soon becomes obvious that this simple case is far from it.  In relatively short time, Laetitia is investigating a series of murders that are all somehow tied into the family's past.

Written in the first person and in a conversational style, this mystery kept me guessing.  Laetitia is a sympathetic character who relies on her instincts and good sense to solve cases.  Her brother is also likable and the relationship between them fun to observe.  This is the first in a series.

Click for availability.

A Good Killing by Allison Leotta FIC Leo

Anna and Jody Curtis are sisters.  The older of the two, Anna, has left their hometown in Michigan, attended law school, and is now working as a prosecutor in Washington D.C.  Her life was perfect as she planned her wedding to Jack and looked forward to a life with Jack and his daughter.  Then Jack's ex-wife decided she wanted to try again.  Her anger and grief over this situation is interrupted when she gets a call from a friend of Jody's begging her to come home because Jody has been arrested.  She was charged with the murder of Owen Fowler - normally called Coach and one of the most popular men in town.

Anna immediately goes to Michigan and prepares to help Jody with the aid of a high school friend named Cooper.  There are lots of secrets being kept in that town and soon they are all going to come out!  Can any killing be a good one?

Click for availability.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty FIC Mor

Three couples - Sam and Clementine who are parents of two little girls; Oliver and Erika - oldest friend of Clementine; Vid and Tiffany who live next door to Oliver and Erika.   Erika and Clementine have a friendship with a lot of baggage and from the opening pages you will notice the strain between them.  A spur-of-the-moment invitation is extended by Vid for everyone to come for a barbecue.  Later everyone will regret going.

This isn't a story that begins at the beginning and goes straight through to the conclusion.  What happened at the barbecue is revealed in very small pieces for most of the book.  The friendship between the women is explained as we learn about Clementine's childhood - again in small snippets.

The reviews of this book are not as good as for her previous books but I was entertained enough to read it in two sittings!

Click for availability.