Don't Be a Stranger by Susan Minot

 

From Amazon: 

Ivy Cooper is 52 years old when Ansel Fleming first walks into her life. Twenty years her junior, a musician newly released from prison on a minor drug charge, Ansel’s beguiling good looks and quiet intensity instantly seduce her. Despite the gulf between their ages and experience the physical chemistry between them is overpowering, and over the heady weeks and months that follow Ivy finds her life bifurcated by his presence: On the surface she is a responsible mother, managing the demands of friends, an ex-husband, home; but emotionally, psychologically, sexually, she is consumed by desire and increasingly alive only in the stolen moments-out-of-time, with Ansel in her bed.

Don't Be a Stranger is a gripping, sensual, and provocative work from one of the most remarkable voices in contemporary fiction.

I enjoyed this book very much.  It's been compared to "All Fours" by Miranda July (which I have not read, but want to.)

Behold the Dreamers

I read this book with my book club and then never got to the meeting. :-(  They had a great discussion about it!

The story involves two very different families and how the financial crisis of 2008 impacted them...in very different ways.

One is an immigrant family with no papers allowing Jende (the father) to stay in the U.S. The other is a wealthy family whose father, Clark, is a Lehman employee. 

The book delves into many different issues and presents sympathetic characters on "both sides of the fence."

I really enjoyed reading it and it was quite a relevant book for today, even though it was written in 2016. The issues still exist - even more so today!

Leaving by Roxana Robinson

A good friend recommended this book and I truly enjoyed it. It's about two long-lost lovers who meet later in life and reconnect.  She is divorced; he is not.  Families come into play and complicate the romance, obviously, and they struggle to figure things out.  The ending is quite a shocker!

The major obstacle to the two being able to stay together (he is married but not satisfied), is his daughter.  The demands she places seem unreasonable, and very selfish. As the daughter of divorced parents, I could not relate to her feelings and concerns.  I wanted my parents to be happy and although I was unhappy that they split up, I did not fight it one bit. I would never have done what this daughter did.  But I came to accept that given in this story and it did make the ending make much more sense. 

Very beautifully written. I had never read anything by this author before but I will seek out more of her work.

God of the Woods by Liz Moore

 

An excellent thriller with a message. I really enjoyed this book and understand why it's on everyone's "BEST" list, including Obama.  The characters are diverse and deep; there are plot twists that take you by surprise; the ending may surprise you. I felt I knew what was going to happen, and I was just partly right. I learned a bit about the Adirondacks and how they came to be so undeveloped.  Yes, we appreciate that now, but the reasons date back to when the upper class decided to declare this area "theirs" for rest and relaxation and bascially kicked all of the farmers out, or made it hard for them to make a living.

This is a crime story but it's also a story of class division, power, corruption and privelege.  Really enjoyed!

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

We read this for book club - decided to read a "classic" and this was chosen.  Since the group I am in consists of educators, it was an interesting conversation. We all really enjoyed reading this again and discussing severeal issues that are pertinent today.  "Why were there no females in this book?" If there had been, how would the story be different.

We talked about peer pressure, violence, prejudice and more. It was a lively discussion and I'm glad we revisited this classic book, read by many middle schoolers.  Is it still used today? That I need to find out!

Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

 

I enjoyed this book a lot.  It's a family story - which I love - and focuses on a woman grappling with her past and present.  She's got a really toxic relationship with her mother .... for good reason, and she punishes her mom in various ways. And none of those ways are good or productive.

I like the writing style and the way the author brought out the details of the story over the span of the rather long novel. Sometimes I had to go back a little bit to see what the author was referring to when she revealed plot twists. She adores her two children and spoke of them in ways that a mother can understand! It's over the top but I get it!

Overall, a very enjoyable book. It does have a lot of sadness and regret described, but that's life!

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

 

This was an interesting read, which I wanted to read as soon as I heard about it. Not sure why it did not captivate me the way I wanted it to.  

From GoodReads:

When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina, least of all her complicated, contradictory, ruthlessly probing mind. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world with no place for the undocumented. Her sense of doom intensifies her curiosities and desires.