The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

A brilliant book!

From Westchester Libraries:

Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days.

The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom.

Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are.

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

 

“A touching and generous romp of a novel . . . Wilson makes a bold and convincing case that every real family is one you have to find and, at some point, choose, even if it’s the one you’re born into.” — New York Times Book Review

The Names by Florence Knapp

I really enjoyed this and think I should read it again. I didn't concentrate enough on what was really going on with these different characters and how their names signified their personhood.

From Amazon:

In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she'd like to call the child, Cora hesitates...

Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora's and her young son's lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.

With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family, told through a prism of what-ifs, causing us to consider the "one . . . precious life" we are given. The book’s brilliantly imaginative structure, propulsive storytelling, and emotional, gut-wrenching power are certain to make The Names a modern classic.

Tilt by Emma Pattee

 

I am not sure where I heard about this book, but I was drawn to it for a reason: earthquake! Having a son and grandkids in San Francisco, it's a natural disaster I think about often.

This was a page-turner and a gripping story, but I must say, I did not love it. Too gritty, too upsetting. Characters not developed enough for me.

But I read and listened to it (while walking) and I am not sorry I did.

Here is what Amazon says about it:

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she’s determined to change her life.

A propulsive debut, Tilt is a primal scream of a novel about the disappointments and desires we all carry, and what each of us will do for the people we love.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

 

I chose this book for our book club when we decided to read a "classic." We had visited "the Mount" the Edith Wharton home in western Massachusetts last summer and I bought the book.

I had a hard time at first, but I really enjoyed it in the end.  It reminded me of the Gilded Age on HBO.  Set in the same period in the same city - NYC.

It was a great depiction of a society in the midst of change.  There were a lot of descriptive paragraphs of what the city was like, what the interiors were like, how the people dressed, etc. But more important, it depicted NY society at that time. There were too many characters to keep up with, but I managed to make a connection with some of them. Some in my book club felt very differently about the book and the characters than I did.  Made our conversation quite lively and interesting!

James by Percival Everett

 What a brilliant book. That is about all I can say. Read it. It deserved to win the Pulitzer Prize. It's inventive, gripping, funny, tender, perfect!