Amherst by William Nicholson

This was an amusing quick read about a young woman writing a screenplay about the love affair between Emily Dickinson's brother and Mabel Loomis Todd.  I guess it's all based on fact and it was a pretty interesting story. The novel jumps back and forth in time, sometimes as Alice, the young writer, and sometimes to Mabel, the young woman who has the affair with Austin Dickinson.

There are parallel stories here as Nick, the older man that Alice stays with when doing her research in Amherst, is married (as was Austin).  Of course, Alice falls for him.  Some of this was predictable, but it was entertaining and had some interesting discourses on love, marriage, fidelity, and more.

Orient by Christopher Bollen

I heard about this book on NPR and read some reviews and was intrigued.  It's a LONG book for a "summer read" but it's interesting, captivating and very well written.  Here's a review from the LA Times that says it all.
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-christopher-bollen-20150510-story.html

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

I have always loved Anne Tyler's novels and this is no exception.  Read what the NYTimes reviewer says:

Give or take a few details, this extended/blended/fouled-up family could be any of ours. That makes it cliché territory, risky for an ambitious novelist. It’s also quintessential Anne Tyler, as well as quintessential American comedy. Tyler has a knack for turning sitcom situations into something far deeper and more moving. Her great gift is playing against the American dream, the dark side of which is the falsehood at its heart: that given hard work and good intentions, any family can attain the Norman Rockwell ideal of happiness — ordinary, homegrown happiness.

So true....and I love the way the story unfolds....a bit at a time.  The reader learns things about the characters as Tyler wants them to. You know from the start that Denny is the "problem" child, but then you learn new things along that way that make you understand why he is the way he is.

And Junior and his wife - that story unfolds at the end of the book

It's a really enjoyable read. I highly recommend!

Pretty is by Maggie Mitchell

From the last paragraph of the very favorable NewYork Times Review:

What a satisfying novel, with its shifting perspectives and competing stories and notion that our relationship to the truth changes with time and distance. And what a relief to read a kidnapping thriller that is not an extended piece of fetishistic torture porn, that does not end with some nice young woman lying dead and dismembered in a pit.

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

I really enjoyed this book and read it quickly.
I had no idea about the 3 plane crashes in Elizabeth, NJ in the early 50's but, I was a toddler and wouldn't know. But I wonder if those events were the cause of my mom's fear of flying. She was a fearful person, in general, but especially fearful of flying. And at the time of these three crashes, she was a young mother living in Buffalo, NY.
Review from Library website:

"...the story of three generations of an Elizabeth, New Jersey, family: her protagonist, 15-year-old Miri; Miri's mother, Rusty; and Miri's grandmother, Irene. Their lives and those of their friends are impacted when a plane falls out of the sky over Elizabeth, and, in the course of the next 58 days, two others follow. Miri's friends are sure it's the work of aliens or zombies or, more simply, sabotage. Miri's reporter uncle, Henry, who will make his reputation covering the crashes for the local newspaper, says they're coincidences. But who is to say? In the meantime, Miri's boyfriend, Mason, becomes a hero in the wake of the third crash, but will their relationship survive? Like many family stories, this one is not without its life-changing secrets and surprises. There is no surprise that the book is smoothly written, and its story compelling. The setting the early 1950s is especially well realized through period references and incidents: God Bless America sung by Kate Smith, praying in public schools, reading the new novel Catcher in the Rye, watching Your Hit Parade on TV, and more. With its focus on Miri's coming-of-age, this could have been published as a YA novel, and it will doubtless reach a wide crossover readership.

Golden State by Michelle Richmond

I remember LOVING The Year of Fog by this author so was excited to find this online from the library. I was a little disappointed. I wanted to love it considering its location and the author, but the characters didn't really thrill me.
Here is the review from Library System:

Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and Anna Quindlen, Golden State is a powerful, mesmerizing new novel that explores the intricacies of marriage, family, and the profound moments that shape our lives. Doctor Julie Walker has just signed her divorce papers when she receives news that her younger sister, Heather, has gone into labor. Though theirs is a strained relationship, Julie sets out for the hospital to be at her sister's side--no easy task since the streets of San Francisco are filled with tension and strife. Today is also the day that Julie will find herself at the epicenter of a violent standoff in which she is forced to examine both the promising and the painful parts of her past--her Southern childhood; her romance with her husband, Tom; her estrangement from Heather; and the shattering incident that led to her greatest heartbreak. Infused with emotional depth and poignancy, Golden State takes readers on a journey over the course of a single, unforgettable day--through an extraordinary landscape of love, loss, and hope.Praise for Golden State "A stirring look at the ties that bind husband-wife, mother-child and even sisters, and what happens when they're torn asunder. Set in a San Francisco chafing with unrest both political and personal, the world Richmond creates is exquisitely charged with regret and hope."

The Arsonist by Sue Miller

From Westchester Libraries:

From the best-selling author of While I Was Gone and The Senator's Wife, a superb new novel about a family and a community tested when an arsonist begins setting fire to the homes of the summer people in a small New England town.Troubled by the feeling that she belongs nowhere after working in East Africa for fifteen years, Frankie Rowley has come home--home to the small New Hampshire village of Pomeroy and the farmhouse where her family has always summered. On her first night back, a house up the road burns to the ground. Then another house burns, and another, always the houses of the summer people. In a town where people have never bothered to lock their doors, social fault lines are opened, and neighbors begin to regard one another with suspicion. Against this backdrop of menace and fear, Frankie begins a passionate, unexpected affair with the editor of the local paper, a romance that progresses with exquisite tenderness and heat toward its own remarkable risks and revelations. Suspenseful, sophisticated, rich in psychological nuance and emotional insight, The Arsonist is vintage Sue Miller--a finely wrought novel about belonging and community, about how and where one ought to live, about what it means to lead a fulfilling life. One of our most elegant and engrossing novelists at her inimitable best.

I enjoyed this very much!  Have to get back to reading Sue Miller again!