The Cafe with No Name - Robert Seethaler

A sweet story of a little cafe in Vienna in the 1960s. Robert, the owner, has a life of its own patterns of candor and resilience when he is not tending to his Cafe with No Name. Mila, his one employee, also has an inner realm of meaning. As these two tend to business, customers and friends come and go and the world changes. A quiet little novel with a poignant tone that carries you through until the end. 

Some Bright Nowhere - Ann Packer

Some Bright Nowhere is a cancer story, a marriage story, and a story of confidence. Eliot has been taking care of his wife Claire who has metastasized lung cancer for nine years. As they reach the end of this journey, their wishes for, and understanding of each other, swirl around them. Eliot questions himself when Claire's friends move in, and their children express themselves. While Claire is the patient, Eliot is the main focus of the story, and he really tries to be a good guy. Death in a close-knit family is a very hard thing, I'm sure every family story is different, this was an interesting take. 

Discontent - Beatriz Serrano

Marisa, the surprising narrator of Beatriz Serrano's debut novel Discontent, is a mid-level manager in an advertising agency in her thirties. Adept at avoiding work and escaping into YouTube videos, Marisa possesses a depth of feeling about her place in the world that is both sad and engaging. She is a woman on the brink who is struggling to find a way to relieve her existential dread. As she teeters between finding connections and dissolving Ativan under her tongue, Marissa tries to breathe. Discontent is laugh-out-loud funny, but also deeply disconcerting. If you enjoyed Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, this will be right up your alley.

Wreck - Catherine Newman

Catherine Newman writes somewhat saccharine family stories. Rocky, the main character in two novels, LOVES her family. Joy for her children oozes out of her, she misses her mom, her husband has a lovely warm back, and her elderly dad happily dodders around. It's all a little much. But, she does incorporate humor and pathos that kept me going. I'd pick up another of her books if I was on an airplane for a few hours, otherwise, I think I'll pass. 

Audition - Katie Kitamura

Both novels I've read by Katie Kitamura (Intimacies and Audition) are cool, intellectual, and mesmerizing. There is a distance in her tone, but she deftly draws you into the story. Minimalist and intricate, Audition weaves together family, identity, artifice and theater. The unnamed main character is an accomplished actress. The two sections of the novel radically change our understanding of who is who, bringing into question our own comprehension of those we love. While for some the coolness of her writing may be off-putting, I couldn't put it down.

Among Friends - Hal Ebbott

Among Friends is Hal Ebbott's debut novel. In this story of male friendship, families, and self-worth, Ebbott strives to show us the value in longtime friends, and also the danger of delusion. Emerson and Amos have been friends since college, and Emerson and Claire, Amos' wife, have been friends since childhood. When they gather with their families for Emerson's 52nd birthday, both dark and light are revealed. Ebbott loads his story with metaphor and imagery, making this a lyrical read. As you flow through the realities that must be faced, you are in a timeless world where history and emotion both overwhelm and resolve. 

The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller

Two young neighboring couples in rural England in the 1960s during a freezing cold winter are the bones of The Land in Winter. Miller, however, imbues this novel with such awareness of character that you are in their homes and heads right beside them. The young women are both pregnant, the husbands are men of action, but disruption and deception is lurking in the corners. Irene and Eric are well-off. He is a doctor, their house is warm, yet a wrinkle in their good fortune crashes into their peace. Rita and Bill are farmers contending with family mysteries and illness. I found these four characters fascinating. Their thoughts, confusions and pains clearly resonated with me. I heartily agree with Miller's Booker nomination. 

Heart the Lover - Lily King

If you have memories of college romance and the way those early moments of youthful love can impact the rest of your life, then Heart the Lover will speak to you like it spoke to me. The college scenes of Sam, Yash and Casey (who is nicknamed Jordan by these two), are moving, sweet and believable. You can see the dinghy college rooms, the rumpled beds, the books all over the floor. As they mature and their personalities solidify, the pull of their college experiences shapes their future decisions. At times their actions gave me pause, but I was swept along by this story of friendship, creativity, and eventually forgiveness. 

The Doorman - Chris Pavone

The Doorman is kind of a thriller, but it is more a view of a classic old New York doorman building and the wealthy who reside there. Described as a pulse-pounding novel of class, privilege, sex, and murder, to me it was more of a character study of the mixed bag of owners at The Bohemia whose lives intertwine in uncomfortable ways. There is a mystery at the core, but it was more fun to read it as a view of New York privilege, coupled with the lives of those working at the building and the backdrop of New York today. A fast, fun, read. 

Mercy - Joan Silber

In the three Joan Silber novels I've read she links together the lives of her character through thin threads that connect one to the other. In Mercy, some of the links are unexpected, but each life works both as a piece of the larger whole and as an individual tale. Starting with Ivan and a drug induced mishap gone awry, each character has regrets, but each is also enmeshed in a full life. Mercy is a facile book that swiftly carries you from one story to the next. While I may not have been always moved by each character, I certainly stayed interested. If non-linear is your thing, give Mercy a try.