"The Waters" by Bonnie Jo Campbell starts out slow but gradually the reader finds themselves sucked into the lives of Hermine (Herself) Zook and her three daughters just like the swamp that surrounds their island.
Although the geographic location is northern Michigan it feels more like the South. Dark and mysterious, filled with descriptions of the natural habitat, the island is another main character in this story. Although the book is set in modern times, it's female characters and the secrets revealed in the book are ageless. Set just outside the rural community of Nowhere, the mysterious "Herself" is a provider of natural ointments, tinctures and teas that serve the community's needs. The women of Nowhere are frequent seekers of these natural remedies but their menfolk and the local church community are not so approving despite their own secretive pursuit of Hermine's natural remedies.
I loved all the characters, their personalities and their secrets. I could hear the wildlife, vividly picture the rich, muddy environment and smell the fertile soil. "The Waters" is a thoroughly enjoyable book.

Anne Enright's latest book, "The Wren, the Wren" is filled with beautiful prose with gorgeous sentences and descriptions of the landscape, flowers and birds. It's also a generational story told by mother and daughter in styles reflective of their personalities and the social norms of their time. Carmel's father, an Irish poet of some renown, walks out on his sick wife and two young daughters leaving them to make some sense of their own lives and their emotional development.

This book is not a story told in traditional narrative form but, rather: a stream of consciousness as each character ponders their own thoughts and choices and relationships with men, their peers and each other. Despite their life choices and their struggles with relationships, mother and daughter each come to realize their inheritance from their father/grandfather and how it ties them together despite their own emotional differences. This book invites a different kind of discussion, one that focuses on the beauty of language, words used to describe sound, nature, art and landscape. There is also another discussion point of view centering on relationships between men and women and self judgement. In the end, the poetry and the language won me over.

I couldn’t put this book down. Melinda Moustakis wrote a love story, Alaskan style. “Homestead” tells the story of Alaska in the 1950’s pre-Statehood and a newly met and wedded couple carving a dream out of the Alaskan wilderness. In beautiful spare language, the story describes the harsh realities of two people, still strangers learning to survive together as well as learning to know one another as they attempt to build a life together. You will care about these two people as the author slowly reveals the back stories of Lawrence and Marie and why they are driven to create a legacy despite all the hardships they encounter. It’s not just the story that makes this a good read, it’s also the language. I look forward to telling all my friends, you must read “Homestead”.

Remember her name, Fatin Abbas. "Ghost Season" is her debut novel but I anticipate more stories to follow. I could visualize Saraaya, smell the dust, hear the noise of the crowded marketplace and imagine the people. Fatin Abbas's five main characters introduce the reader to Sudan and through a well written story allows us to see the humanity and tragedy and challenges of living in a conflict torn country.
These characters will be remembered and invite some great discussion for book clubs.

I'm not usually drawn to dystopian settings but this book is so much more than that. It's a brilliant story about Indian family culture and the rise of a young Dalit child to world reknown in the computer age. The author cleverly reveals past and present in her storytelling as she draws the reader deeper into the success and fall of King Rao. Vauhini Vaka uses the ubiquitous computer and imagines a world turned upside down with political upheaval and challenges the reader to think about the world around them. I loved it.

I loved the language in "Flesh and Blood" Infertility with its pain, both physical and emotional, is frankly discussed with sadness, reflection and wit. This book deals with the reality of the physical symptoms of heavy and ongoing menstrual bleeding. Something usually not discussed, usually hidden and considered taboo for open discussion. I think all women would benefit from reading this deeply personal and honest story. It's a beautiful story

Olivia Laing has taken a unique approach exploring the human body and it's freedom from the points of view of several controversial figures from the late 30's through the 70's. From Freud and Wilhelm Reich, prominent writers and activists the author writes how psychoanalysis and sexual identity, illness and freedom of the body itself evolved across decades of time from the 1930's and the feminist and civil rights movements of the 70's. Ms Laing presents a disturbing and thoughtful point of view about how society reacts to social upheaval and change when those perceived norms are threatened. Most alarming is how the body and it's freedom are once again being threatened and how history really does repeat itself.
Excellent read.

Stuart Evers novel "The Blind Light, " offers the reader an intriguing story of two men from different classes bonded by their common shared national service at "Doom Town". The effects of the aftermath of a nuclear strike are the background for their relationship and their formative years and each man finishes his service believing their friendship will endure. The writing is beautiful, the characters are not.
I found myself intrigued by the writer's stream of consciousness style and third person narrative intertwined to tell a story covering the story of the two men's families across a span of decades. The story is a slow starter but I found myself drawn into a story curious how each of the characters reveal their inner thoughts and their actions and hungry to learn more. A story well told. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

"The Smallest Lights in the Universe" a memoir by Sara Seager is a thoughtful read. Sara, an astrophysicist, discovers her life's passion for stars as a child on her first camping trip. Despite a challenging childhood, shuttled between two different and less than ideal parental homes, Sara successfully pursues and achieves a career in science. Sara reveals a very human story, imparts a lesson in astrophysics that isn't overwhelming with technical language and leaves the reader with admiration for her achievements and her tragedies. Book clubs would enjoy this book. We're all different, we all have a unique place in our universe just like the stars.

A book to read with a pot of tea at your side in a comfy chair. "The Last Train to Key West" is the story of three very different women at a crossroads in their lives each challenged in a unique way to survive a natural weather disaster. The storm's magnitude and it's aftermath set the women on a course for their future. I enjoyed the author's writing style and ability to physically describe the people and their surroundings. The plot of the story allows all three women to cross paths then interact once again in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane. Overall a very entertaining read.

The deeper I got into the book, the more I liked "Creatures" and it's deeply flawed characters. It's a powerful story about love. Not the romantic kind, not the kind with a fairy tale ending but the messy kind. Loving someone despite their flaws, their inability to parent and inability to communicate. Loving when it's hard. I really enjoyed this book and the author's style of slowly revealing Evie's story, her love for the creatures in the sea and her love for her island home. I loved the inhabitants of Winter Island.

An homage to Paris and the river that flows through its heart. Elaine Sciolino writes a wonderful book about the Seine and how it became so closely identified with the City of Romance. Readers will discover lots of well researched facts and interesting historical anecdotes that drew so many people to Paris and made the River Seine world renowned. The book will appeal to both armchair travelers and provoke memories for those people lucky enough to have lived or traveled to Paris. This is a lovely book and a must read for the Francophile.

Sarah Rose reveals the back story of the D-Day Girls and the secret organization they worked for, the SOE. The extraordinary decision (for the time) to recruit women to act as spies and saboteurs, to send them behind enemy lines was born out of necessity and a terrible truth, there weren't enough men available to recruit and England was the lone country standing in Hitler's path.
The stories of these women (and men) are reminders of the courage, ingenuity and love of country that drove these people to volunteer despite the danger and poor odds they faced.
These names should be revered and acknowledged for we owe them a great debt. Kudos to author, Sarah Rose for giving us a well researched, well written book that deserves to be read and discussed. Loved it.

Reading House of Stone was a challenge. The author uses the mystery of the missing son, Bukhosi, against the backdrop of the fall of Rhodesia and the bloody birth of Zimbabwe. Zamani, a foster son of Agnes and Abednego will do whatever it takes to learn the family history as he insinuates himself into the Mlambo family's story. It's a dark story filled with rape and massacre, dreams and secrets almost an allegory-of the birth of Zimbabwe after the civil war and riots of a people taking back their story and country once ruled by colonialists.
I enjoyed the storytelling but did find it difficult to follow the story line and the characters. I would have preferred a more direct history telling using the same characters. I hope this author continues to write.

Beautiful language echoing two different life journeys for two very different individuals both in Paris seeking similar resolutions. Hannah, researching women's lives in World War II and Tariq, drawn to Paris to learn more about his mother's roots. Two different paths, cleverly intertwined with the rich history of Paris yet similar in their search. Lots of discussion points for book clubs are raised in this book. The moral choices faced and made during Nazi occupation but also the same choices created by the French Algerian crisis in the 60's. This book is filled with rich imagery juxtaposing Tariq's Paris journey in the immigrant neighborhoods and Hannah's world of academia. Loved experiencing Paris through both sets of eyes.

I read Christina Dalcher's book "Vox" in one sitting. This dystopian novel relates an eerily believable story of how women and girls lose their right to speak. Although a work of fiction, the author creates an environment, born in a time of conflicting values that results in a country taken over by a religious fanatic and how rights are slowly taken away. A great story for everyone, not just women. Book clubs should look to put this book on their must reads upon it's release. Christina Dalcher is a master storyteller. I loved this book.

It's a lovely treat meeting the family in this book. "A Place For Us" is the story of an American Indian Muslim family replete with all the typical problems raising a family can bring in today's world. It's a wonderful insight to a Muslim family, devoted to raising their children in the principles of their religion, but the more I read the more I was struck by how we are really all the same. There is a softness to this book, a pervasive sadness in all the characters but I enjoyed the book. The author has achieved a strong sense of feeling throughout her story whether intentional or not.

Reading "The Girl Who Smiled Beads" hurt my heart. How does a 6 year old even have the vocabulary to describe the nightmare world she experienced? This book is a must read, beautifully written, disturbing and eye opening. We all need to know, on a personal level, what happens when human beings find themselves in the middle of conflict. Despite the ugliness of genocide, this book describes human resilience and the strength of love and goodness and the determination to be counted. This book should be read and discussed.

A fun read but sometimes a bit too filled with geographical facts that distract from the flow of the story. Auntie Poldi is an eccentric "Auntie Mame" like character, larger than life and bent on solving a crime. The story was entertaining and I would recommend it as a good beach or travel read. For those that have visited or lived in Sicily, familiarity with the towns might be better appreciated.

Loved the writing style of Jane Harper, moving back and forth, slowly revealing the story. Ms Harper creates strong characters juxtapositioned with a harsh and unforgiving landscape. Readers will keep turning the pages until the end. A wonderful storyteller, the author uses the modern world with all it's social issues and character flaws to tell this tale. I look forward to reading more books by this author.