You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz

[Lesley]  What a perfect summer book! This is the story of a therapist who is about to publish her first book titled “You Should Have Known” all about how women could see the clues to the problems in their marriages or relationships early on if they would just pay attention. Her own life is neatly stable: Married to a pediatric oncologist, raising one smart, sensitive, musically-inclined 12-year old son, involved with her son’s private school (of which she is an alum). She lives in the apartment where she grew up and has everything under control.

With that set up, you can guess some of what starts to unravel in the story. We discover what is happening along with the main character and I was totally wrapped up in what was happening. Grace’s reactions and emotions are easy to identify with and we really care what happens to her and her son Henry. I also found her theories about relationships interesting and loved the portrayal of snobby nouveau riche New Yorkers. Grace learns a lot about family – her own parents & stepmother, her in-laws – and the whole book left me with a real respect for the strength we carry within us.

The story moves along fast – I often couldn’t stop at the end of a chapter and stayed up way too late reading!

Available on audio on Hoopla

FaceOff edited by David Baldacci

[Cindy]

FaceOff is a collection of short stories by a bunch of huge names in the thriller book world clashing head to head in battles with some of their best characters. Some were new to me authors, others it has been a while, and then there were my favorite authors (John Sandford, Dennis Lehane….etc). What I found the most interesting was the background story about how the two authors met and came up with the short stories.  This is an excellent way to get introduced to new authors and their leading characters. Among my favorites were “Red Eye” – pairing D. Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie vs. M. Connelly’s Harry Bosh – and of course J. Sandford’s Lucas Davenport vs. J. Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme in “Rhymes with Prey”.  This is a great read!

Available on audio on Hoopla

All the light we cannot see, by Anthony Doerr

I expected to read a historical fiction novel about WWII, but this book was so much more. The self confidence of Marie-Laure, a blind young girl growing up in Paris with her father, learning to orientate herself through a model of her neighborhood and passionate about the treasures of the Museum of Natural history, contrasts with the doubts Werner is having when he finds himself working for the Wehrmacht because of his innate talent at repairing radios. Both those youngsters ‘s lives will eventually intersect in St Malo, when they find themselves facing death. Marie-Laure and Werner show how despite all odds, influences or circumstance, humans can be good and think of the others first.

A very profound and philosophical read.

Available on Libby/Overdrive