Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta

 

Copied from NPR's Maureen Corrigan's review.

Tom Perrotta's latest novel is a memory piece set in the summer of 1974. Jay Perry, a once serious writer who has struck it rich with a kids book series-turned-TV show featuring a paranormal crusader called Ghost Teacher, is invited back to his suburban New Jersey hometown, which he left some 50 years earlier. Most of the novel follows the life of young "Jimmy" during the life-changing summer when he lost his mother, experimented with sex and a Ouija board, and learned the consequences of hanging out with the wrong guys. Perrotta's view of strip mall suburbs as places where banality, goofiness, grace and tragedy converge is singular. 

I enjoyed but did not think it was that compelling. 

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins-Reid

 

This was entertaining and kept my attention, but I think it was a bit too long.  I learned a lot about NASA and the space program and the challenges women faced in making it into the program.  It also dealt with LGBQT and how in the early days of the space program, astronauts had to be straight as an arrow, and even more so for women. So when two of the protagonists in the story discover that they are gay and in love with each other, they face yet another struggle to make it in the space program.

Enjoyable and relevant.

Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

I enjoyed reading this, and expecially enjoyed because if was set in Rochester! But as I write this post now, 4 - 6 weeks after finishing the book, I realize I don't know what happened to Clara in the end! I guess I have to borrow it again!

From Amazon, a summary:

It’s 1977 and an air of restlessness has settled on the residents of Cambridge Road in Rochester, New York, a place long fueled by the booming fortunes of Kodak and Xerox and, for some, the mores of the Catholic church. When Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly nonexistent intimacy of her marriage. Just as her oldest child, Clara, is falling in love for the first time, Nina finds herself longing for the forbidden: a midlife awakening. An intoxicating fling with a prominent neighbor brings Nina a freedom she never thought possible—but also risks the reputations of both families and unravels Clara’s world, just as she stands on the threshold of adulthood.

Years later, Clara, now a successful food stylist in New York City, has never been able to move past the long-ago scandal. Drawn back home by the pull of a family wedding and wrestling with her own demons, she makes a pivotal decision that turns her life upside down. Written with Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s signature humor and insight, Lake Effect is a wise and probing look at love and desire, mothers and daughters, loss and grief, and what we owe the people we love most.

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.