The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

I can certainly see why this book is on everyone's "BEST" list this year. Not only is it a great read, but it's so damn relevant!

The Fall Guy by James Lasdun

This thriller, suggested by a good friend, was a fast and fun read.  Here's what it says on Amazon:

It is summer, 2012. Charlie, a wealthy banker with an uneasy conscience, invites his troubled cousin Matthew to visit him and his wife in their idyllic mountaintop house. As the days grow hotter, the friendship between the three begins to reveal its fault lines, and with the arrival of a fourth character, the household finds itself suddenly in the grip of uncontrollable passions. As readers of James Lasdun’s acclaimed fiction can expect, The Fall Guy is a complex moral tale as well as a gripping suspense story, probing questions of guilt and betrayal with ruthless incisiveness. Who is the real victim here? Who is the perpetrator? And who, ultimately, is the fall guy? Darkly vivid, with an atmosphere of erotic danger, The Fall Guy is Lasdun’s most entertaining novel yet.

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

This was a fascinating book that was a little hard to get used to at first. (My husband was reading it at the same time as I was - a little behind me actually - and he had the same issues at first.)
I didn't know that the story would jump around so much and I had to go back a bunch of time to figure out who was who and when everything was happening.

From the NYTimes:

Like “Bel Canto,” the best-known of Patchett’s six earlier novels, “Commonwealth” starts with an unexpected kiss at a party — in this case a kiss at the christening party for the infant Franny. Because the kiss in “Bel Canto” happens at the exact moment the party is overtaken by terrorists, it’s tempting to wonder if Patchett means to imply with “Commonwealth” that family is its own longer-term hostage situation: The embrace at the christening party between a man and woman married to other people leads soon enough to multiple divorces and remarriages. Patchett follows the two semi-connected families for the next 50 years, as the children become adults and the grown-ups become old.

After I read the book I listened to a podcast from KCRW (Bookworm) which changed my thinking about the book - but didn't change my enjoyment of it!

The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky

I'm not sure where I heard about/read about this little book, but I am sure glad that I learned about it. It was a short, little book, perfect after having just finished  The Nix.  I needed something short and sweet, but I am not sure that you can call The Red Car sweet. It packs a punch in those short 206 pages.  Here's a quote from Daniel Handler in the NY Times Book Review that says it well:

I slammed down “The Red Car,” Marcy Dermansky’s sharp and fiery new novel, in tense fits and jumpy starts, putting down the book to ponder it, but not pondering long because I had to know what happened next.

 I read this in two sittings and then went back and re-read some parts, because there really is a lot to digest in those 200 pages. I am going to look at Dermansky's other work!

The Nix by Nathan Hill

This LONG book really kept my attention. The story line drifted in time periods but was held together quite well by the characters, for the most part. There were times when I lost track of who was who and had to look back to reacquaint with the story and characters, but that didn't bother me.
Here is a synopsis from Westchester Libraries:

The Nix is a mother-son psychodrama with ghosts and politics, but it's also a tragicomedy about anger and sanctimony in America. . . . Nathan Hill is a maestro." —John Irving From the suburban Midwest to New York City to the 1968 riots that rocked Chicago and beyond, The Nix explores—with sharp humor and a fierce tenderness—the resilience of love and home, even in times of radical change.It's 2011, and Samuel Andresen-Anderson—college professor, stalled writer—has a Nix of his own: his mother, Faye. He hasn't seen her in decades, not since she abandoned the family when he was a boy. Now she's re-appeared, having committed an absurd crime that electrifies the nightly news, beguiles the internet, and inflames a politically divided country. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high-school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain: she's facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel's help. To save her, Samuel will have to embark on his own journey, uncovering long-buried secrets about the woman he thought he knew, secrets that stretch across generations and have their origin all the way back in Norway, home of the mysterious Nix. As he does so, Samuel will confront not only Faye's losses but also his own lost love, and will relearn everything he thought he knew about his mother, and himself.

I think this book could have been shortened by about 100 pages. I would have left out the parts involving the video games.... but maybe that dates me and says something about my generation. It may be crucial to the story of a person 20 years younger.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

From the LA Times:

“Today Will Be Different” has a simple premise: Eleanor Flood, a wealthy, middle-aged Seattle resident with a penchant for negativity, decides to be better. She sets seemingly reasonable, attainable goals that actually hint at her need for a total life overhaul and personality change: to be a better wife and mother and friend and human being. Told in the span of one day, with a few well-placed flashbacks, “Today Will Be Different” reminds us that self-improvement is gradual and way more difficult than we’d like for it to be, even under the best of circumstances."

I liked this book but not NEARLY as much as the other by Maria Semple that really hooked me:  Where'd You Go, Bernadette?"

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

I liked this book a lot.  Read about it here:

From Westchester Libraries

This heartfelt and intimate portrayal of African immigrants trying to make it in New York City around 2007 focuses on the family of Jende Jonga from Cameroon. He lands a job as a chauffeur for a wealthy finance industry boss and is then able to bring his wife, Neni, and their young son over from Africa. Neni enrolls in college and is hired as a cleaner and nanny for the family for whom Jende works, and they become more involved with these super-rich people who have problems of their own. As the Wall Street financial crisis deepens, Jende loses his job, and their application for asylum is rejected. The incredible pressures of poverty, limited opportunities, and the grind of New York City and an uncertain future stress the family to the breaking point as a new baby is born and they struggle not to lose sight of their dream. -Mbue's debut portrays these individuals realistically and sympathetically as the stresses of surviving in New York City lead to marital difficulties and physical confrontations. VERDICT A fast-paced, engaging read with an interesting cross-cultural background.