Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

I really enjoyed this book, even though it took me a long time to read it.  Because the reader knows the outcome, there is no compelling "plot line" to keep you guessing and reading.  But there is SO much that I didn't know, and learned, from reading this compelling book.

I highly recommend it (even if the NY Times did not!)  Here is a review from the Washington Post that reflects my feelings on this wonderful historical novel.

An interview with the author, and her afterword at the end, explains just why this book is so important now...today...in this politically charged polarized America we live in.

Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin

Read this for book club. I liked it, but did not love it.  A bit too long and disjointed.  Others in the group loved it. 

Here's a synopsis from Amazon:

Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Her life is lived to the predictable rhythms of the often funny, always moving confidences that casual mourners, regular visitors, and sundry colleagues share with her. Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of Julien Sole—local police chief—who has come to scatter the ashes of his recently deceased mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger. It soon becomes clear that Julien’s inexplicable gesture is intertwined with Violette’s own complicated past.