FICTION
Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone. Newlyweds arrive in Lisbon, where the husband disappears. The local police, the American Embassy, and the CIA get involved. This is a riveting page-turner with an unexpected ending.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. On her 40th birthday, a woman finds herself at the bedside of her much loved, terminally ill father, questioning her life choices. She gets a unique chance to revisit the past when she discovers a portal back to the day she turned 16
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. This book explores the Dust Bowl years in Texas through the eyes of Elsa Martinelli and her family.
Funny Story by Emily Henry. This rom-com has real understanding of friendships of all kinds. What can go wrong when two people – who were ditched when their respective others fell in love – decide to share an apartment?
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. A teenager vanishes from a summer camp in the Adirondacks, exposing the dark secrets of a wealthy family and the working-class family that surrounds it.
The Spare Room by Helen Gardner. A woman offers her spare room to an old friend in town for a last-ditch treatment of terminal cancer. The woman does not foresee the struggles ahead in this short, powerful novel by an Australian writer.
Monkeys by Susan Minot. This novel is about a large, privileged Massachusetts family in the 1960s and 70s.
The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. A newlywed husband throws himself over Niagara Falls. After his widow remarries, tragedy overtakes her life.
The Poe Shadow by William McDermott. This well-researched novel is set in the mid 1800s following the death of Edgar Allan Poe. A young lawyer is determined to find out the circumstances of Poe’s death.
NONFICTION
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. This is the author’s first book, published in 2000. He painstakingly illustrates his theory that small changes can make very big differences. This work and his following books are well worth reading.
The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr. This is a balanced, in-depth study of the complex supply system that gives us the modern food supermarket.
Finding Me by Viola Davis. Davis tells her remarkable life story, going from desperate childhood to her position as an actor at the peak of her profession. At Home:
A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. This is a history of how people lived over the last 1,000 years or so, mostly in England. It covers a wide variety of topics and is rich in detail. The work is by the always-entertaining Bill Bryson.
Spain in Our Hearts by Adam Hochschild. This is the story of the brutal Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). One side included Franco and was supported by Hitler and Mussolini. The other side was Communist and supported by Russia. The war was used as a training ground for weapons later used in World War II.