Abide With Me ~ Elizabeth Strout Tyler Caskey, a young minister in West Annett, Maine, is mourning the loss of his wife. He has two daughters, Katherine and Jeannie. Katherine is in Kindergarten, and is acting up at school and church. Jeannie lives with Tyler’s mother while he figures things out. Connie Hatch works as a housekeeper and helps with Katherine as well. It’s late 1959, and Tyler is struggling to make sense of his loss, to help his daughter through her grief, to guide his congregation, even as the gossip around town turns mean. Charlie and Doris Austin are congregants in the church, and Doris is the organist during…

Pictures from the Little Free Libraries that I pass on my walks. The picture at the top of the post is of the children’s garden in a nearby park, which is right next to one of the LFL. I am enjoying using them for part of my decluttering project, though I will donate some to our library as well. Do you have many Little Free Libraries near you? Do you enjoy straightening them out and making them look better? Do you make deposits and withdrawals?

Orbital ~ Samantha Harvey YOU GUYS – I LOVED THIS BOOK. 6 astronauts/cosmonauts from various countries and continents are floating 250 miles above the earth, scientists on the International Space Station. The Space Station orbits Earth 16 times in 24 hours, and Orbital is a one day, 16 orbit slice of life. Is there a plot? Eh. There is shit going on down on Earth and there are astronauts heading to the Moon, but none if it affects them directly in the here and now. Does a lot happen? A couple of things. Is this a gorgeous, quiet, beautifully written love letter to our planet? Absolutely. The inhabitants of the…

I Who Have Never Known Men ~ Jacqueline Harpman, Translated from French by Ros Schwartz The unnamed protagonist of I Who Have Never Known Men has no memory of life outside of the underground bunker where she lives imprisoned with 39 other women. They were all adults when they were captured, but she was a baby and was raised by them. They have no idea why they are here, the only interaction with other human beings is with the harsh guards who watch over them, bring them food, and prevent them from breaking any of their arbitrary rules. Then one day, while the guard has the keys in the lock…

Good Dirt ~ Charmaine Wilkerson Ebony (Ebby) Freeman is 10 years old when she is witness to a home invasion gone wrong, where her 15 year old brother, Baz, is shot and killed. Because her family is one of very few wealthy Black families in a tony Connecticut neighborhood, the crime is the subject of a lot of media attention. Whenever Ebby meets someone new, she waits for that realization of who she is to dawn on them, for the pity and curiosity to make itself known. We first meet her almost 20 years later, when her (white) well to do fiancé ghosts her on their wedding day. 9 months later,…

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) ~ Jesse Sutanto Vera Wong is back in this sequel to Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, and I couldn’t be happier. A year after Vera came downstairs in her San Francisco Chinatown tea shop and found a dead man, her life has new meaning. She has a group of found family, young people who were actually her suspects in that murder, and her son Tilly is living with Selena, the detective who was working on that case. Her shop is bustling. But she is bored and needs a challenge. If only another person would end up dead so she could…