Good Reads & Views

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Fiction

What it’s about: Retired math teacher Olive is back, and like its predecessor, Pulitzer Prize winning Olive Kitteridge, the novel is told in interlinking stories. Olive is now older and dealing with various changes in her life. Has age mellowed her? You be the judge of that.

Want a taste? “But we’re both old enough to know things now, and that’s good.” “What things?” “When to shut up, mainly.”

Reviewers say: “Beautifully written and alive with compassion, at times almost unbearably poignant. A thrilling book in every way” (Kirkus Reviews); “Exquisite” (Library Journal).

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Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Fiction 

What it’s about: Pride and Prejudice has been transported to modern-day Cincinnati!  Liz Bennet is a magazine editor and Fitzwilliam Darcy is a neurosurgeon in this hilarious retelling of Jane Austen’s classic. Level-headed Liz and sweet-tempered Jane come home from New York City after Mr. Bennet has a heart attack and find the family’s finances are in terrible shape.  Mrs. Bennet’s solution? Getting her oldest daughter married to an ER doctor who had appeared on a reality TV dating show.

Is it for you?  If you like character-driven stories with bantering dialog and witty narration, this book will keep you smiling, if not laughing out loud, all the way through.

Reviewers say: Sittenfeld’s “charming retelling is a delightful romp for not only Austen devotees but lovers of romantic comedies and sly satire, as well” (Booklist); “Sittenfeld's inclusion of a Bachelor-like reality show is a brilliant parallel to the scrutiny placed on characters in the neighborhood balls of Jane Austen's novels” (Library Reads).

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Donna Has Left the Building by Susan Jane Gilman
Fiction

What it’s about: A married couple hits a midlife crisis when recovering alcoholic and suburban mom Donna stumbles on her husband in flagrante with his dominatrix. Donna sets off on a wild road trip to reclaim her lost self, touching back on some of her major life points along the way. Another family crisis changes the direction of Donna's trip, and she is forced to look at her own troubles from a world perspective.

Is it for you? It’s larger than life, outrageously bawdy, and over the top, but relatable. If you appreciate racy humor and characters that make bad decisions with the best of intentions, you’ll enjoy Donna’s crazy road trip.

For fans of: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple and Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner.

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The River by Peter Heller
Fiction

What it’s about: A late summer wilderness canoe trip challenges the friendship and survival skills of two college friends as they attempt to avoid white-water hazards and outrace a wildfire. And then they encounter a man alone, who says he lost his wife in the fog. When the friends find her, she is so severely injured she can’t explain what happened. Was it the husband, or something else? Part heart-pounding adventure story, part lyrical and elegant nature writing, this is taut storytelling that will grip you to the very end.

Reviewers say: “The real delight is the nature writing. The River is a fiction addition to the New Landscape writing of Robert Macfarlane and Rebecca Solnit, prose so vivid and engaging that a city-dwelling reviewer can feel the clammy cold of a fog over a river or the heat of subterranean tree roots burning underfoot in the aftermath of a fire.” Denise Mina, New York Times, 4-9-19

Want a taste? “Late August, a clear night becoming cold. There was no aurora borealis, just the dense sparks of the stars blown from their own ancient fire.” Or this, “And the eagles. They seemed to mark the canoe's progress from the gray spires of dead spruce, spaced downriver like watchmen on some lost frontier...”

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Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Fiction

What it’s about: Lyrical vignettes reveal the inner life of each family member in this #ownvoices novel about three generations of an African American family. Through subtle, impressionistic character portraits, the reader gets to participate in the knitting together of this story about family traditions, love of parents for their children, and dreams for the next generation.

Why you might like it: If you enjoy reading books written from multiple perspectives and reading between the lines, this book’s structure and nuances will prove satisfying. Also, if you appreciate books that are short but powerful, this book is for you.

Reviewers say: “Woodson channels deeply true-feeling characters, all of whom readers will empathize with in turn” (Booklist).

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This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel
Fiction

About the author: Laurie Frankel is an American author who writes warm, witty mainstream and domestic fiction with characters whose personalities ring true. Frankel often writes about serious topics from love, loss, and our need for companionship, to unplanned pregnancy and the difficulties of raising a transgender child.

Reviewers say: "Well-plotted, well-researched, and unflaggingly interesting...As thought-provoking a domestic novel as we have seen this year."―Kirkus (starred review)

You might also like: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng or Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

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The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
Fiction

What it’s about: A loving couple, their four grown daughters, and a large dose of family dysfunction fill this big-hearted novel set in the Chicago suburbs. Alternating between past and present, the family’s story unfolds gradually as each character faces a defining crisis—an unexpected pregnancy, law school rejection, or the death of a loved one. And because their family seems almost perfect from the outside, covering up imperfections is all too tempting.

Why you might like it: If you enjoy falling deep into realistic stories about sisterhood, parenting, marriage, and other family dynamics, this book will carry you away.

You might also like: The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney is another character-driven family story that shows siblings under pressure making difficult decisions.

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Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane
Fiction

What it’s about: In this gently humorous novel, May, a professional gardener, visits four old friends in an effort to expand her quiet world. This is a story of friendship and of a likeable, slightly quirky character stretching outside her comfort zone. 

Why you might like it: If you like character-driven novels told through clever and observant first-person narration, this book may be right up your alley. 

You might also like: Try the novels of Elinor Lipman, especially Isabel’s Bed and On Turpentine Lane—for their wry storytelling and relatable female characters. Anne Youngson’s Meet Me at the Museum shares this novel’s everyday wisdom and calm tone.

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The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close
Fiction

About the author: Jennifer Close is the bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses and The Smart One. Born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago, she is a graduate of Boston College and received her MFA in fiction writing from The New School in 2005. She now lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches creative writing at George Washington University.

Reviewers say: “Hilarious…A pleasure to read…[Close] has a light, precise touch about the way a young marriage works when the partners are caught between old ideals and new realities.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post 

You might also like: All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin or Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen

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Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Fiction

What it’s about: In this fast-moving, fictional oral history about the ’70s rock band Daisy Jones & the Six, you’ll meet all seven band members, who tell the story in their own words. Also interviewed: their spouses, managers, music reviewers, and others—who provide their own wry, tell-all angle on the band’s rise and fall.

Why you might like it: If you like creative, compulsively readable stories told in an unusual format, this book might be for you. Brimming with grim humor, this is a stark look at the creative life of rock stars and the relationships that grow and strain within the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll lifestyle.

Reviewers say: “The book ’s prose is propulsive, original, and often raw. Readers will accept and appreciate why and when the narrator’s identity is finally revealed. Reid’s gift for creating imperfect characters and taut plots courses throughout this addictive novel.” (Publishers Weekly)

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