The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

In this very 19th century Northwest story, young William Tallmadge finds himself the soul caretaker for an fruit orchard in the foothills of the Washington Cascades.  His solitary life is interrupted by the appearance of two young girls -  both almost feral in their behavior and both obviously pregnant.  His attempts to care for the girls draw the three together in a life story that is both tragic and full of human kindness.  As they move in and out of each others lives, it may be the child that is born, Angelene, that most affects the course of William's life but never can he stray far from the pull of the orchard.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

The emails fly fast and furious between characters in this droll, sarcastic, humorous saga of Bernadette, brilliant architect turned nutsy Seattle housewife and the bane of Galer School moms Audrey and Soo-Lin (whom Bernadette not so affectionately calls the "gnats").  Sometimes the emails switch to narrative by 13 year old Bee (short for Balakrishna), daughter of Bernadette and the equally brilliant Microsoft computer wizard, Elgin.  Things start to go awry when Bernadette removes the blackberry bushes which were apparently holding back the hillside that comes crashing through Audrey's window.  It's all downhill from there (pun intended).  A promised trip to Antarctica holds the promise of getting the family back on track but there is the small matter of the Russian mob posing as an Indian internet travel agent.  There are many ways that Bernadette disappears but she always leaves just the right amount of crumbs in case someone wants to come looking.  Using the email format to expose all the absurdities of the affluent-Seattle-Microsoft-Internet culture is just the right amount of quirky.  Either a light or insightful read depending on your mood.  I think the regional connection is the reason for it's popularity here.

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

The subtitle of this book is: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.  I have a feeling that the objective our book group had in mind when we chose this book was to learn some techniques for bridging the liberal/conservative divide - or at least how we might have a civil conversation across that divide.  We should have paid closer attention to that subtitle.  Although Haidt offers some insights in the end, this is mostly a story about why the divide exists and will probably continue to exist - and about "elephants" and their drivers. His field of study is moral psychology and he starts from a premise of the existence of 6 or maybe 7 distinct moral matrices.  Although my pages were bursting with lime green important point indicators, I was glad to be done.  It wasn't that it was a slog or possible psyco-babble as much as I found myself looking for ways to dispute his arguments and of course discovering major flaws.  The discussion between myself and haidt being profoundly one-sided, we will never know.  However once his ideas get inside your head, it is hard to let them go.

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Two very different couples are brought together on the University of Wisconsin campus in 1938.  Both men are writers and teaching at the University.  Both of the wives are pregnant but their personalities are very different.  Still they become the best of friends.  Friends that are there for each other through many challenges and many shifts in the balance of success.  Sid and Charity Lang have access to great wealth but they aspire to something more.  Larry and Sally Morgan struggle to find a way to support the life of a writer but find life more joy than difficulty.  It is in many ways a simple gentle story of four lives connected in multiple ways although there are challenges to be met.  For me the strength of this book is in the quality of the writing.  These four are in many ways people you know, people you are, but Stegner has just the right turn of phrase to provide both insight into the way of relationships and an awareness of their mystery. The story ends in 1972 and the reader has to fill in many missing chunks of time but Stegner's writing keeps everything perfectly on track.  I thought it lack the power of Angle of Repose but is missing none of the quality.

Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Tony looks back at the life he has lived beginning with his school days in England.  He searches for old friends, learns of a tragedy he may have inadvertently contributed to, and tries to make sense of loves lost.  Mostly it is about memories.  Are the real events more true than the ones we filter through our own history?  Which of the two has greater value as a memory?  A short odd book that inspired a lot of book group discussion.

Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

To escape the Jim Crow South, thousands of African Americans left for the cities of the north and west.  It was a migration from one world to another and changed both the life style of the South and the look of cities in the North.  Wilkerson follows the life of three of these individuals: Ida Mae left the cotton fields of Mississippi in the 1930's for Chicago, George left the orange groves of Florida in the 40's to escape possible death for his role as a labor organizer, and Robert, a trained physician and a member of the black elite of Louisiana and Atlanta, still dreamed of real freedom beyond Jim Crow in L.A. in the 50's.  Their stories are interspersed with a more general history of the times and events.  It is powerful, passionate, troubling writing and definitely worth reading all 700+ pages.

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

This may be one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. The style is often poetic even biblical.  The story should be dated since it is South Africa pre-apartheid but the sense of place and history is powerful and struggle shared is heart-breaking.  Truly a classic.

Before I go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

Christine looses all memories when she sleep.  She wakes every morning with no idea who or where she is.  Her husband Ben reintroduces himself and tries to make her safe in her world.  Her doctor urges her to keep a journal but a message in the front of the journal tells her to keep it a secret from Ben.  She does not remember why.  Ben discourages her from seeking medical treatment for her memory loss.  She is not sure why.  One of them is lying to Christine.  How do you discover the truth when your world starts over every day?  This is not great literature but I could not put it down.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Although the translation is stark, the story is fascinating and the ending a touching surprise.  A brilliant Japanese mathematics professor suffers a brain injury and his short term memory recycles every eighty minutes.  His sister-in-law hires a housekeeper to take care of him during that day.  He draws a cartoon figure of her and adds it to the collections of notes that hang on his worn black suit to remind him of things he can no longer remember.  His life continues to be defined by numbers and the complex mathematical ideas have always intrigued him.  The housekeeper's young son becomes a pupil of sort and a special friend.  What defines us more - our past or present?  What if the present started new again every 80 minutes?