Man Overboard
By Kathleen Rooney
Kick, buff bro and former Division 1 collegiate swimmer, falls overboard while on a family cruise. While treading water, and hoping to be rescued, he revisits past slights, traumas, and bad decisions. How, exactly, did Kick end up in the drink? What happens next?
The Hounding
By Kenobe Purvis
It’s a hot and very dry summer in a 18th century English village. Five sisters are suspected by villagers of turning into dogs—barking at night and running amok. Characterized by a sense of foreboding, this novel calls to mind Shirley Jackson’s classic short story, The Lottery.
84, Charing Cross Road
By Helene Hanff
A brash NYC author writes to a bookshop in London to purchase rare books. The bookstore buyer, the model of decorum, writes back. A relationship based on the written word develops. Over the course of 20 years, what starts as a business relationship between two wildly different individuals evolves into a series of deep personal connections. The book is a compilation of the letters actually exchanged between NYC and London. A slim, moving gem.
Man Overboard
By Kathleen Rooney
Kick, buff bro and former Division 1 collegiate swimmer, falls overboard while on a family cruise. While treading water and hoping to be rescued, he revisits past slights, traumas, and bad decisions.
Today We’ll be Eaten
By Alan Barillaro
Dragonfly and Ladybug are caught in a storm and land in a stream. They fear the worst but something else happens. This is a delightful take on anxiety and the value and importance of living in the moment. Dreamy, sweet illustrations in this children’s book expertly complement the simple text.
The Tenant
By Freida McFadden
A financial setback requires Blake and his fiancée to take a tenant into their Manhattan brownstone. After she moves in, all hell breaks loose. Life in the brownstone becomes unsupportable for Blake and things spiral downwards from there. Who is responsible for this turn of events? That is the central question in this fun, pacey, and twisty read from McFadden.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
By Kiran Desai
How do family, past loves, the places we are from, and the places we land, haunt us and complicate our ability to find and accept love? Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, The Loneliness chronicles the journeys of Sonia and Sunny, two Indians who study in the US but meet back in India. It provides a vivid rendering of life in India and insights into the immigrant experience in the US.
The Shriek I Do Remember
By Brian Sluga
Pekin native Brian Sluga chronicles his battle with testicular cancer in this honest, straightforward, and ultimately hopeful memoir that also reads as a coming-of-age story.
We Burned So Bright
By TJ Kline
Husbands Don and Rodney face the end of the world (literally) and embark on a cross-country journey to complete one final task rooted in their shared family life. Kline’s evocative imagining of the impending apocalypse is truly disturbing. Don and Rodney’s relationship is layered and loving but they project an underlying anger, understandable, towards past injustices.
Millie Fleur Saves the Night
By Christy Mandin
With her sweet-smelling moon garden, little Millie Fleur gets the residents of the over-illuminated town of Garden Glen to turn off their lights and love the night with its unique creatures and mood. A clever story with charming illustrations, Millie Fleur Saves the Night is a perfect read for a child who fears the dark.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
By Toshikazu Kawaguchi
There is a café in Tokyo, where, if you sit in a specific chair, you can go back in time. You must follow a number of rules. Most importantly, you must return to the present before your coffee grows cold. The novel chronicles four café customers who time travel. Part of a genre I call Asian Café lit, it explores loneliness, regret and things left undone and unsaid.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Unabashedly sentimental, Theo of Golden is an exposition of how goodness can radiate from one man and impact a community. Theo comes to a small town and sees a series of portraits hanging in a coffee shop. He purchases the portraits and sets about uniting them with their subjects. This leads to an ever-deepening set of relationships with his neighbors. One of the most moving and enjoyable novels I have read.
The latest by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout, this compelling novel explores the complex inner lives of folks in Crosby, Maine as they deal with aging, death, and love. Bob Burgess is one of the most compelling and honorable characters I have come across in a long time.
