Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Two half-sisters are born in the Gold Coast in the late 1700's.  Raised by different African peoples, neither is aware of the other.  One stays behind in Africa and becomes the "African wife" of a young British officer involved in the slave trade.  The other  is sold and sent to America on a slave ship.  And so begins a story told through generations.  Esi's generational story is one of slavery, hard won freedom, the sad consequences of segregation and Jim Crow,  Civil Rights,  and eventual success.  Effia's story is one of the development of Africa from tribal wars to colonialism and the eventual independence of the country of Ghana.  And then generations later - without the benefit of Ancestry.com - the worlds of the Fante and Asante come together again.  This is history from multiple perspectives and multiple decades with enough revelatory detail to span the missing years. There is an authenticity to both stories that may come from the fact that the author was born in Ghana and raised in America.

A Gentleman in Moscow

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life.  "House" in this case is the luxurious Metropol Hotel across the street from the Kremlin.  He must also leave the elegant suite he was occupying for a room in the attic of the hotel.  But the Metropol is a world unto itself and the charming Rostov is a well respected member of its society.  Historical changes outside the hotel doors as well as a whole host of interesting characters that come through the doors do much to expand Rostov's "prison".  But Rostov himself is a fascinating observer of the world.  There are so many occasions of wit and wisdom that I just wished I could be sitting at his table for dinner or sharing an evening drink at the elaborate bar or cruising the back stairways with him while we explored all the hotels secrets.  And then there is the great ending. It is a book that you don't expect to be about much but turns out to be worthy of multiple page markers.  One of my favorites this year.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

To say this is a non-traditional novel is to make a gross understatement.  It is true that in 1862, President Lincoln's young son Willie died of Typhoid fever.  It is true that "bardo" is a real term used in Tibet to indicate a place between physical death and a final resting place of the soul.  So this is a story of Willie's death and Lincoln's return to the cemetery to grieve - sort of.  The style of the book is one of continuous narrative - narrative from ghosts of people buried in the cemetery - lots of people although we get to know three of them better than the others.  The speaker for every part is identified and through their comments some of their stories are revealed line by line with the appearance of a movie script.  Interspersed between these ghostly narratives are lists of short selections from various actual historical sources providing what is often a conflicting historical context.  It's a jumble that eventually becomes a debate about the future of Willie's soul.  It is a jumble that raises questions about an accounting of our lives.  It is a jumble about what is important and what is not.  I think it is a book that would be even better in the audio version where each voice is distinctive - although it still might be a jumble.

The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood

 Ona Vitkus, age 104 and cranky, has come to look forward to the young Boy Scout who comes every Saturday to do things around the house.  She finds his obsession with entries in the Guiness Book of World Records intriguing - even more so when he seems determined to find a way to make sure Ona becomes a record holder.  Then one day, the boy's father, Quinn, shows up to do his chores.  Quinn, a hardly successful musician never quite warmed to his son - this odd boy who counts everything; who has a freakishly good memory; who has died.  Ona and Quinn eventually form a bond over the memory of "the boy".  Both look for a way to grieve the boy's death and a way to honor his life.  The choices they make about how to do either drive this sometimes humorous, often thoughtful story.  Something about each character puts them outside the "normal" box but they eventually confront the reality that no matter how odd we feel or how odd we appear, we all struggle to find connections.