John of John by Douglas Stuart

Excellent literary fiction! I did not read Shuggie Bain, an earlier work that was on my TBR list but never made it to my real reading list.

This book was not a fast read, but it was a good read, mostly for the writing. His descriptions were amazing and describes a place I know little about - the Outer Hebrides.

The plot was slow but steady and the ending very compelling. It's a novel full of secrets.  It describes conflicted characters who are stuck and can't move out of their present stagnant lives, bound to duty. Family is important but the family relationships are strained.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves reading good literary fiction. But don't expect to be swept away by plot - expect to explore characters, settings, moods, and societal pressures.

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.