This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
This fictional account of a couple and their five children is absorbing. The parents and the children grapple with some serious issues and become involved in keeping a secret for one family member. It would be easy to say, "This is a book about (insert issue here)", but it's ultimately a book about the excruciating pressure of getting it all wrong as a parent.
Iced by Robert Grindy
Full disclosure, I actually know the author of this one. His son was in my class for second and third grade, so that's part of the reason I read it. I'm glad I picked it up. I've been very disappointed with some local authors in the past, but there was no letdown here. A community college professor, Henry Streator, is cynical when a slacker student tells him about his idea for a book in which a local billionaire is murdered in a somewhat bizarre fashion. When the student turns up dead, Streator gets to thinking that maybe he could make a go at the student's idea himself. He finds himself caring about something for the first time in a very long time as he launches into writing his first novel. Things become a bit more complicated when the local billionaire actually winds up dead in exactly the same way the now deceased student described. I really enjoyed how the amateur detective got almost everything wrong but still came across as someone I was rooting for.
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
85 year old Lillian sets out on a walk in her New York City neighborhood on New Year's Eve 1984. We are treated to the story of her life during this walk. I did not know that this was loosely based on a real person as I was reading it.
Artemis by Andy Weir
Sometimes I like science fiction, and sometimes I do not. I can say that so far, I always like Andy Weir. His new novel is set on the moon with a female protagonist. I really enjoyed this one.
That's it for January!
I have been wanting to read Lillian Boxfish and need to get to it soon!
ReplyDeleteIt's a good one!
Delete