The Anomaly ~ Hervé Le Tellier, translated from French by Adriana Hunter In March of 2021, an Air France flight from Paris to New York hits extreme turbulence. The plane is damaged but lands safely. In June of 2021, an exact duplicate flight (both the plane and the passengers) attempts to land at JFK. Alarms go off when air traffic control realizes something very strange is going on, and brings in the US Department of Defense. The Anomaly follows the passengers and crew, both before the second plane lands and after. We hear from both the versions who land in March, and those who land in June. We see their…

Foreverland ~ Heather Havrilesky In Foreverland, Heather Havrilesky explores her 15 year marriage to her husband. It’s a memoir told in essays, from their first meeting, falling in love, marrying and having children, and aging together. Are we really meant to sleep next to the same person every night, put up with all of their annoying habits, care for them when they need it, let them take care of you when you need it? She’s not sure that marriage is for everyone. She doesn’t seem entirely sure it’s for her. But here she is, and she loves her husband more than she is frustrated by him. I think anyone in…

Heartwood ~ Amity Gaige Valerie Gillis is hiking the Appalachian Trail alone. Well, sort of alone, as there are a lot of hikers on the trail, and people sometimes hike together for days or weeks on end, and her husband is following along in his car, meeting her every few days to give her provisions. When she doesn’t show up on time, he’s not too worried at first, but after a day goes by and she still doesn’t appear, he starts to worry. The search is on, led by Beverly, the Maine State Game Warden with a perfect record for finding lost hikers. She doesn’t always find them alive, but…

The Three Lives of Cate Kay ~ Kate Fagan Annie Callahan and her best friend Amanda Kent are inseparable. They are both involved in their High School theater, and dream of getting out of upstate New York and moving to Los Angeles in search of fame and fortune. After a horrible accident, Annie leaves town. Her shame at leaving is so great, she does not go back. Instead, she becomes… Cass Ford, a barista who dreams of becoming an author. On a whim, she audits a writing class at her local college, where she meets Sidney Collins, a lawyer who also wants to write. They become involved romantically, and Sidney…

Black Cake ~ Charmaine Wilkerson Benny and Byron Bennett are estranged siblings, brought together by the death of their beloved mother, Eleanor. Eleanor, with help from her lawyer, has recorded a message for them, and she wants them to hear it together. This is the beginning of Black Cake, and from there we are taken back and forth in time, to learn the deep secrets that Eleanor has kept from her children. Listening to her recording, Benny and Byron discover that while they knew the essence of their mother, they did not know the details of how she became to be the woman they admired and loved. The trials she…

Meet Me in Another Life ~ Catriona Silvey Thora and Santi meet under a clock tower in central Cologne, and quickly feel a connection. They will be friends, they think, but then there is a tragic accident. Santi is a teacher who dreams of the stars, so when his young student, Thora, says she wants to be an astronaut, he does everything he can to encourage her. Santi is an infant, and Thora is close friends with his mother. Thora and Santi are lovers. Santi and Thora are enemies. Again and again, Thora and Santi come together in Cologne, near the clock tower, and eventually they start remembering these past…

Woodworking ~ Emily St. James Erica is a recently divorced 35 year old High School teacher who is trying to come to terms with her identity. She lives her life as a man, has a mustache, wears men’s clothing, all of that. She has never felt right as a man, and keeping that fact a secret succeeded in destroying her marriage. Her ex-wife is now married to a Trump lover, and is pregnant. Erica befriends Abigail, the only other trans person in their small South Dakota town. Abigail was kicked out of her parents’ house and lives with her older sister and her sister’s boyfriend. She is secretly hooking up…

The Adults ~ Alison Espach At the beginning of The Adults, we meet Emily Vidal, a teenaged girl from a wealthy Connecticut suburb. The setting is a 50th birthday party for Emily’s father, Victor, and the entire neighborhood is there. Emily is a wry sort, making all sorts of internal observations about how absolutely dull it must be to be an adult. Then she and her best friend Mark spy her father embracing Mark’s mother, Mrs. Resnick. Later that night, Emily’s parents tell her that they are divorcing, as Mr. Vidal’s job is taking him to Prague, and Mrs. Vidal doesn’t want to go. Also, the affair. A few weeks…

These Silent Woods ~ Kimi Cunningham Grant Cooper and his daughter, Finch, live in a remote cabin in the woods. Their only human contact is an annual visit from Cooper’s friend, Jake, who brings them supplies, and a nosy neighbor, Scotland, who spies on them with his binoculars. When Jake doesn’t arrive and supplies are low, Cooper is forced to go into town. He worries that he and Finch will be recognized, an occurrence that would bring devastating consequences for their secretive way of life. Why did Jake not come? Why is Cooper so afraid that they might be discovered? Why does Scotland keep such a close eye on them?…

The Bright Years ~ Sarah Damoff Ryan Brighton is a child from a broken home. His mother takes him away from his abusive, alcoholic father, and raises him on her own. Ryan vows that he will not be like his father, starting with abstaining from alcohol. Lillian Wright was orphaned young, one parent killed by a drunk driver, the other from cancer. When she learns she is pregnant as a young adult, she decides that she isn’t ready to become a parent, and gives her baby boy up for adoption, a decision that she hopes was the right one, even as she aches with the loss. Ryan and Lillian meet,…

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…