This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman

I just loved this book! It was almost like a series of short stories, linked by common characters.  The book starts out as the youngest of three aging sisters is dying. She is a spitfire! Her sisters are each unique personalities, too. and the tone is sharp, witty and humorous, even though one of the sisters is on her deathbed.

The book proceeds chapter by chapter, or should I say, story by story, elaborating on the family dynamics of this Jewish family from Brookline, MA.

It's poignant and funny and sad and beautiful. I highly recommend, especially if you are Jewish! So much Jewish culture in this book.

Good People by Patmeena Sabit

I really enjoyed the way the author brought this story to life, with alternating first-person narratives by a variety of "people" who were friends or acquaintances of the Saraf family.

 
From Good Reads:

Like a literary game of ping-pong, Good People compels the reader to reconsider what might have happened even on the previous page. Told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, it is a riveting, provocative, and haunting story of family - sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and the communities that claim us as family in difficult times.

Perhaps the book was just a little bit too long; toward the end when I realized what was going to happen, I thought that the author may have wrapped it up a little sooner. But I was never bored reading this and at times, it was a real page-turner, as the reader waited to find out what was going on. And learning the story through accounts told by a varied group of observers, many with such different opinions and perspectives.

More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen

 

I am an Anna Quindlen fan so was excited when this book finally came in and I did enjoy it.  

The story starts as Polly gets a letter from a 23 and Me type service that a match has been found!

She is flabbergasted because never would she have guessed that she has a cousin, or other distant relative that she is unaware of. So she starts the exploration. At the same time, we learn that she has been trying to conceive for years....unsuccessfully.

So this book takes us through Polly's travails with some humor and pathos and also a good bit of sadness. Polly has a group of friends, in a book club that never reads the book, who are her "rocks" through the experiences she deals with, so it's a good read about friendship, too.

I won't give anything away, but I will say that I was not surprised by anything at the end. 

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

This book is a HUGE hit right now, but not with me!

Preachy, predictable and not well-written. I understand its popularity right now. We need a "feel good" book about human beings who are caring and thoughtful and philanthropic. But this book didn't do it for me.  

Preachy, with flat characters whose behaviors were entirely predictable. I kept waiting for something to happen, and it took at least 3/4 of the book before it did. 

In my book club, more than half of them LOVED it and the other half were not fans. I was the most vociferous critic and felt guilty not liking this book based on what it did for them. I was almost afraid to voice my opinion, but once I did, I was on a rant.

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

 

This was a very engaging book and a timely one.  It deals with AI and its impact on our lives.  The story begins as a family of five embark on a car trip and the son, who is driving, is using the self-driving feature of the family car and gets in an accident. The accident kills the two people in the other car, but their family members all survive, some with injuries.
Who is responsible for this accident?
From Amazon: 

During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident—suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.

Lots of moral issues are brought up in the book. The wife, Lorelei, is an expert in the field of AI and there are sections that captured my attention, bringing up real consequences and moral dilemmas of AI in society. Some of the plot twists were unnecessary, I thought, but to make it makes the book more readable.

Venetian Vespers by John Banville

I enjoy Banville's writing and certainly there were aspects of the book that I really loved, but overall, I would say I was a bit disappointed.

 

From Westchester Library System:

1899. As the new century approaches, struggling English writer Evelyn Dolman--a hack, by his own description--marries Laura Rensselaer, daughter of an American oil tycoon. Evelyn anticipates that he and Laura will inherit a substantial fortune and lead a comfortable, settled life. But his hopes are dashed when a mysterious rift between Laura and her father, just before the patriarch's death, leads to her disinheritance. The unhappy newlyweds travel to Venice to celebrate the New Year at the Palazzo Dioscuri, ancestral home of the charming but treacherous Count Barbarigo. From their first moments in the mist-blanketed floating city, otherworldly occurrences begin to accumulate. Evelyn's already jangled nerves fray further. Where has Laura disappeared to? How to explain the increasingly sinister circumstances closing around him? Could he be losing his mind?

Venetian Vespers is a haunting, atmospheric novel from one of the most sophisticated stylists of our time.

The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovitz

 

I waited for this book for a LONG time.  Was it worth the wait? 

Yes, but I was not overwhelmed.  Perhaps I should read it again. Finalist for Booker Prize

From Westchester Library System:

When Tom Layward's wife had an affair twelve years ago, he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest child left the nest. Now, while driving his college-bound daughter to Pittsburgh, he remembers his promise to himself. He is also on the run from his own health issues and a forced leave from work. So, rather than returning to his wife in Westchester, Tom keeps driving west, with the vague plan of visiting people from his past--an old college friend, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, his son--en route, maybe, to California. He's moving towards a future he hasn't even envisioned yet while he considers his past and the choices he's made that have brought him to this particular present. Pitch-perfect, tender, and keenly observed, The Rest of Our Lives is a story about what to do when the rest of your life is only just the beginning of your story.