Someone by Alice McDermott

How would you summarize any one life? A long narrative or glimpses of the best times, the worst times, the ordinary times - sometimes leaping across decades to make the connections?  McDermott has chosen the second alternative to share the life of plain but sturdy Marie Commeford.  Born in pre-Depression Brooklyn she begins her observations from the stoop of here largely immigrant neighborhood.  Her profoundly Irish Catholic family struggles no more or less than most.  The neighbors all share in the kind of tragedy that comes of poverty and disappointment as well as the comfort that comes with the sharing.  It is life daily lived but the language of the novel elevates the telling.  Each of us, it turns out, is someone.  We become someone from observations and life experiences we would often count as inconsequential.  Marie watches the boys playing stick ball in the street and never questions that Billy, blinded in WWI, is called upon to make the calls from his chair outside his door.  Years later it will figure into her understanding of both caring and grief.  So many little details, so often exactly the right word, so many moments of recognition - a very thoughtful read.

Crooked River by Valerie Geary

Two young girls are visiting their father outside of Bend, Oregon.  One summer day they discover the body of a young women in the river outside the rural property where they share a teepee with their dad.  This has been a summer adventure for older sister Sam for a few years but with the death of their mother, her younger sister Ollie has joined her.  Ollie has not spoken since her mother's death out of fear that her voice will be replaced by the voices of the spirits she sees all around her. When their father is accused of the murder of the women, Sam begins a search for the real killer.  An intriguing mystery with an interesting local connection. 

The Tin Horse by Janice Steinberg

Elaine was a pioneering attorney for civil and women's rights.  Now in her eighties, she is getting her papers in order to donate to USC.  In the process she discovers some documents that might lead her to her long lost sister Barbara.  Growing up, Elaine was the smart one but Barbara was the charming beauty.  Both fell in love with the same boy but Elaine was sure her intellect and political passion during WWll won his heart.  When Elaine goes to say goodbye before he marches off to war, she discovers she is wrong.  Elaine goes off to college and Barbara is never seen again.  Her disappearance changes the family dynamics forever.  As the mystery unfolds, we learn much about the adage that siblings all grow up in very different families. It also explores what it takes to become the person we feel we were meant to be. 

At the Waters Edge by Sara Gruen

Maddie, her husband Ellis and their long time friend Hank are all members of the young
Philadelphia's partying elite, the men having avoided participation in WWII.  When their antics get them in trouble they decide to make the dangerous ocean crossing to travel to war torn Scotland to photograph the Loch Ness monster. Years earlier Ellis's father was involved in a reputation damaging hoax involving Nessie and Ellis hopes new proof will repair both their positions in society. At least that is what Maddie is led to believe.  As the European conflict approaches its end, the discord among the three friends increases. Arrogance, lies, drunken stupidity all replace the initial sense of adventure and Maddie must find the strength to rise above it all.  An interesting tale that did not end they way I anticipated.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Family, friendship, Vietnam, the absurdity of war in general, religion, faith, the possibility of miracles - this is THAT book.  I read it somewhere in the 90's and because it is "my generation" it is still relevant to me but may be universal enough to speak to even the millenials.  Not to mention that fact that it appears in high school required reading lists in many places even today.  It is the same Irving cast of quirky characters in weirdly believable situations.  In fact he acknowledges that he recycled some of the characters from his earlier books.  Can you plagiarize yourself?   As usual, there is fodder for many good conversations.

Benediction by Kent Haruf

In this slice of life in the high plains of Holt, Colorado, Dad Lewis is dying. He has lived an honest upright life but his narrow view of what is right has led to some unfortunate consequences.  He is afraid he will die without reconnecting with his gay son.  He bears a certain sense of guilt related to his behavior toward a man who once worked at his hardware store.  The other disturbance in this small town is the new preacher who challenges this patriotic town to consider the consequences of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  This story has a bigger picture if read with the other books about the people and events that happen in Holt.

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

This is the story of a house and the Whitshank family who lived there.  There is a prodigal son and generations of relationships sometimes based on passion, sometimes merely on patience.  There are secrets and sad truths but no great drama or mystery.  I had heard so much about this book, I was expecting something more dramatic and less Anne Tyler.  If you like the members of the Whitshank family, you might be interested  in exploring similarities between your family and this one.  If you don't, it's not about much.

Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Lila is the third book in the Gilead series but is really a prequel to the Pulitzer prize winning Gilead.  The style is the same - one long story-telling - no chapters, one voice, a story that goes back and forth in time.  Lila is the second wife of John Ames, the 76 year old narrator of Gilead.  Younger than John by decades, she is the mother of the son he is writing to in that novel.  To say that Lila's life was difficult is an understatement.  Taken from an abusive home she barely remembers by the mysterious Doll, Lila is probably not even her name.  Homeless during the Depression, she and Doll attach themselves to a group of itinerant workers from whom Doll disappears and Lila is abandoned.  Lila's last escape is from the life as a prostitute to the steps of the church where John is preaching.  A decidedly internal story in which Lila asks all the big questions:  What is the purpose of a life of struggle? Is love a feeling that can be trusted?  What makes someone a survivor?  I went in search of this book because it was number one on a list of the most frequently recommended books of 2014.  I am not sure I can understand why.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Although this novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001, I had a hard time with the style.  It is essentially one long letter written by 76 year old John Ames to his very young son who Ames imagines will read it when he is long gone.  As a third generation member of the clergy who has lived almost his entire life in Gilead, Iowa, his story is sprinkled with biblical references and life affirming observations.  It is also a story of poverty and personal struggle that leads from the Civil War to the depression to the 1950's.  Although it is one long telling, it sometimes rambles as one memory leads to another through different times and places.  It is a great deal about the relationships of fathers and sons and the hope that the son who reads this will learn from the experiences of the men who have come before.  It is a book that lends itself to pondering, questioning, and personal reflection.  I just found myself wanting another voice - even more than I wanted chapters or even logical places to stop.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

New Bremen, Minnesota is the kind of small town where life should be idyllic.  But the summer of  1961 was one of tragic deaths and misunderstandings.  For 13 year old Frank and his young brother Jake, sons of the town's Methodist minister, it is also a crisis of faith.  Although it is on the surface a mystery, for Frank our narrator, it is a coming of age story.  The grey areas between right and wrong, the nature of love, the connection between grief, anger and forgiveness are just a few of the struggles Frank and Jake seek to understand.  Although wisdom frequently comes with Jake's observations,  it is Gus, their Dad's old army buddy, that is fortunately there to provide reason when the apparent randomness of God's intent is not explanation enough.

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

This is Trigiani's tribute to her own hometown in southern, very Appalachian, Virginia.  I believe there is a movie coming out soon but it is perfect for a Hallmark special on television.  Ave Maria has inherited the town pharmacy from an emotionally cold father.  She believes that marrying her best friend might save her from being the town spinster but life has other plans.  The Pulitzer committee would never look at this book but the quirky town characters and plot twists make it a perfect beach read.

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Mitra brothers grow up in a neighborhood outside Calcutta. Many hours are spent exploring the marshy lowland near their home. Subhash the older brother, embraces the traditions of his Indian culture and wants to do the right thing. Udayan, the passionate and idealistic younger brother, finds himself caught up in the political turmoil of the 1960's.  When Subhash leaves for the United States to study, he expects to return someday and marry the woman his parents have chosen for him.  Instead his brother is brutally killed and Subhash finds himself escaping to America with Udayan's widow in order to make sure her unborn baby will be safe.  All these lofty goals.  All these attempts to do the right thing.  So many ways it can go wrong.  As their lives unravel, it is hard to identify who makes the right and wrong choices.  It is not so much an Indian story as it is a clash between cultural expectations and personal ambition that would resonate in any setting.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

June is just 14 when her beloved uncle and renown artist Finn Weiss dies of AIDS.  When his partner Toby reaches out to her, she is unsure how to respond.  Her mother believes Toby has caused Finn's death.  June is angry that her family and Finn kept Toby's existence hidden from her.  In addition, June is also mourning the change in her relationship with her own sister.  Always the perfect and beautiful one that June adored, Greta has grown hurtful and cruel.  Neither of the girls seem to be the ones in the final portrait painted by Finn.  But they are not the only ones in the family who are not what they seem to be.  Both generations suffer from their own resentments, secrets and regrets.  While it is Finn's death which brings many of these to light, it is Toby's that allows the healing to begin.  This is a story of grief, family and the AIDS of the 1980's told through the voice of a young girl trying to make sense of any of it.

Colony by Anne Rivers Siddon

There was a time when people "summered".  The men in the family worked hard making money or managing family fortunes while the women and children escaped the heat of the eastern cities in small exclusive oceanside communities.  This was the world of Peter Chambliss and his aristocratic Bostonian family.  It was not the world of 19 year old Maude Gascoigne of Charleston, South Carolina.  But when these two fall passionately in love and marry, Maude must learn to manage the social minefield of Retreat on the Maine coast.  While she learns to love the ocean and the wilderness around Retreat, she bristles at the inequality of the communities social mores.  Maude tells this generational story from the perspective of the aged doyenne of  Retreat with pride of place ownership of the best rocker on the yacht club porch.  But wealth did not guarantee happiness and there were many struggles along they way.  The exquisite description of the Maine coast and the accessibility of the characters make it more wonderful escapism than a total romantic beach read.

Buster Midnight's Cafe by Sandra Dallas

I can't get enough of the strong quirky female characters in Dallas' novels.  This one is no different.  Effa Commander, Whippy Bird and May Anna Kovaks have been friends since they met as young girls in the dusty mining community of Butte, Montana at the dawn of the 20th century.  Even though May Anna recreates herself as Marion Street and goes on to Hollywood stardom in the 1940's, it is their friendship that drives the story.  Effa shares their stories as young women, wives and mothers that are both tragic and oh so funny.  Buster's unwavering love for May Anna leads to events that Effa Commander knows have long been misunderstood and she intends to set the record straight.  The voices of the "Unholy trio" are classic rural homespun - sarcastic and loyal and wise.  They make you wish you could claim friends like these, ones who have known you for all the versions of your life.  Oh and there is the "who dunnit" element to Effa Commander's story that leaves you wondering just how far we would go for love or friendship.