Shred Sisters - Betsy Lerner

A fast read about mental illness, families, self-image, and loss. Betsy Lerner has been a literary agent for many years, so I was expecting a little more. But, the story of sisters Amy and Ollie was interesting enough to keep me reading. Read on a plane and in hotel rooms, it was ok for a travel book.

Blue Light Hours - Bruna Dantas Lobato

Since my mother is about to turn 92 and is in rehab after breaking her hip, this book was exceptionally poignant. Usually I talk to my mother twice a week, but for the past 10 days we have spoken daily, much like the mother and daughter in Blue Light Hours. When the daughter leaves Brazil for college in Vermont, she stays in contact with her mother over Skype. The book is mostly an account of their online connections. Their love is strong and meaningful in both their lives, but the daughter is falling in love with her life in the states. This is one of those novels where not much happens, but the depth of feeling the characters have for each other is enough to carry you along. Short, moving and sweet. 

Orbital - Samantha Harvey

Reading Orbital felt like floating. There is something dreamlike about riding a space station round and round the Earth. The sun rises over and over, and the moon keeps on setting. As the world goes by and the space station goes around, the astronauts absorb the beauty, fragility and violence below. The six space station inhabitants are enamored with the world of the stars and the world of nature. Orbital reads like poem as it carries you along on an earthly and unearthly ride.

Our Spoons Came from Woolworths - Barbara Comyn

 

I’m not sure where I heard about this book, but it was an odd story of poverty, loneliness, and stamina, mixed with hope. Sophia marries a selfish artist, has children, is very poor, and suffers. She survives, and manages to find love. The novel is short and to the point. 

Fire Exit - Morgan Talty

Fire Exit is a story of secrets, complications, family history, and mental illness. Taking place in Maine near the Penobscot Reservation, Charlie, who is Non-Native, is raised in his youth on the reservation by his Native American step-father and White mother. This circumstance shapes his life. With beautiful writing, debut novelist Morgan Talty draws us into Charlie's sadly lonely life. From Louise, his mother with dementia, to Bobby, his alcoholic buddy, and the friends of his youth, the character are all heartfelt and heartbreaking. Charlie's main dilemma, his relationship with his daughter, propels the story. A moving tale that carried me along. 

Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story - Patrick McDonnell

If you have a rescue pet, if you love animals, if sad/heart-warming stories are your thing, this book is for you. This broke my heart, then made me smile.

Amazing Grapes - Jules Feiffer

A fun, but somewhat confusing and meandering ride into the land of Jules Feiffer. The cartoonist is now 95 years old. While this work has some of the feel of The Phantom Tollbooth, the masterpiece that he illustrated for Norton Juster, I'm not sure young people will understand this search for identity. Still, I had fun reading the tale of Mommy, Curly, Pearly and Shirley's journey to find Truphoria, where Mommy will be the Empress. I really liked Kelly, the guide dog who is really half cat. The dance of the dog/cat reuniting as one consciousness was my favorite part of the book. I hope that at 95, I can express this much joy.

My Ántonia - Willa Cather

It's been quite a while since I read a classic. I kind of liked it...pretty slow going, but it did have lovely descriptions of Nebraska scenery, it was interesting learning about the history of that area of the country, and I liked the narrator, Jim Burden. The young women, immigrants to the American West, make their way in this country to various success. Ántonia, especially, symbolizes the ups and downs of their hard life. Glad I read it, ready to move on to modern times. 

Small Rain -- Garth Greenwell

When I was reading Small Read I kept thinking what an oddly fascinating book. Some may find this story slow going, but I like medical stories (think Washington Post Medical Mysteries or NYT Diagnosis columns), which this is, and, I also like poetry, and the main character and his partner are both poets. The unnamed main character experiences intense pain and winds up in the ICU during Covid. The story follows his experiences with illness, hospitalization, and of course his thoughts on the meaning on life, love and poetry. Unlike the hazy days of being in a hospital, I was carried along. Dwight Garner found this novel to be interminable, I don't agree. I found it to be daring and profound. 

Tell Me Everything - Elizabeth Strout

First off, I should say that I love Lucy Barton. She is one of my favorite literary characters. I should also say that I have not read any other of Strout's novels besides the Lucy stories. So, I was entranced with the panoply of the Strout universe who populate Tell Me Everything. My, what a book. I can't remember when I was so moved. I cried often, and the characters took residence in my head. There is not a lot of action in Maine, where the novel takes place. Bob Burgess, the main character who is poignantly real, will break your heart; Lucy remains delicate and astute at once; while Olive Kitteridge chimes in as the aging observer. I was absolutely swept away by the love and brilliance of life this novel reveals.