Strangers in Time by David Baldacci

I have never read anything by this popular author before and I guess it is not his usual type of book. I liked it - but felt it was a bit predictable in the end. It is set in London in 1944, and deals with a bereaved bookshop owner and two teenagers scarred by WWII, and the healing and hope they find in one another.

I've read lots of WWII books; this is not my favorite. But I recognize why it is so popular.  

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Compelling and timely, relevant. I loved this book!

From Kirkus:

The reality of climate change serves as the pervasive context for this terrific thriller set on a remote island between Australia and Antarctica. Four family members and one stranger are trapped on an island with no means of communication—what could go wrong? The setup may sound like a mix of Agatha Christie andThe Swiss Family Robinson, but Australian author McConaghy is not aiming for a cozy read. Shearwater Island—loosely based on Macquarie Island, a World Heritage Site—is a research station where scientists have been studying environmental change. For eight years, widowed Dominic Salt has been the island’s caretaker, raising his three children in a paradise of abundant wildlife. But Shearwater is receding under rising seas and will soon disappear. The researchers have recently departed by ship, and in seven weeks a second ship will pick up Dominic and his kids. Meanwhile, they are packing up the seed vault built by the United Nations in case the world eventually needs “to regrow from scratch the food supply that sustains us.” One day a woman, Rowan, washes ashore unconscious but alive after a storm destroys the small boat on which she was traveling. Why she’s come anywhere near Shearwater is a mystery to Dominic; why the family is alone there is a mystery to her. While Rowan slowly recovers, Dominic’s kids, especially 9-year-old Orly—who never knew his mother—become increasingly attached, and Rowan and Dominic fight their growing mutual attraction. But as dark secrets come to light—along with buried bodies—mutual suspicions also grow. The five characters’ internal narratives reveal private fears, guilts, and hopes, but their difficulty communicating, especially to those they love, puts everyone in peril. While McConaghy keeps readers guessing which suspicions are valid, which are paranoia, and who is culpable for doing what in the face of calamity, the most critical battle turns out to be personal despair versus perseverance. McConaghy writes about both nature and human frailty with eloquent generosity. Readers won’t want to leave behind the imagined world of pain and beauty that McConaghy has conjured.

Among Friends by Hal Ebbott

I LOVED his writing! Very elegant and lyrical. Reminded me of John Banville or someone like him. The story kept my attention, too. It was a powerful book.

From Amazon:

It’s an autumn weekend at a comfortable New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the host’s fifty-second birthday.

Together, the group forms an enviable portrait of middle age. The wives and husbands have been friends for over thirty years, their teenage daughters have grown up together, and the dinners, games, and rituals forming their days all reflect the rich bonds between them.

This weekend, however, something is different. An unforeseen curdling of envy and resentment will erupt in an unspeakable act, the aftermath of which exposes treacherous fault lines upon which they have long dwelt.

Written with hypnotic elegance and molten precision, and announcing the arrival of a major literary talent, Hal Ebbott’s Among Friends examines betrayal within the sanctuary of a defining relationship, as well as themes of class, marriage, friendship, power, and the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds.

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

This stated out strong for me. I was listening while walking and the audio version was great. Then it ran out and I got the hard copy book. The experience was different. I did not enjoy the book as much. Interesting. 

It was a good, fun read. Characters are quirky and interesting. Plot line is a caper.  Enjoyable summer read.  Not as literary as his book Beautiful Ruins, which I read long ago and loved.

Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh

I was drawn to this book because of the author; she wrote Mercy Street, a favorite book of mine.  This book drew me in instantly and I found the narrative compelling but disturbing. Basically, a young American woman gets hit (a hit and run) in Shanghai and is in a coma in a Chinese hospital. Her parents (divorced and estranged) come to China to try to unravel the story.  And a story it is! There's a younger sister, Grace, who adores her older sister Lindsay, and Grace was adopted during the period of time when Chinese couples were restricted to the "one child rule." Many gave up their daughters in favor of trying again for a male.

I will say that the last 50 pages or so were a bit hard to handle. I was surprised at a development that occurred in the story at this point and I was therefore distracted, or unengaged a bit for the last 50 pages. I think this was a mistake on my part, however, and if I did not have 4 or 5 books waiting for me at the Library, I may have gone back and re-read these pages again.

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

Great reading!

Here's a good review. 

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

I liked this. Many others loved it.

Amazon's write-up:
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.