Varina by Charles Frazier

So what do you know about Jefferson Davis other than he was the President of the Confederacy? I am not even sure I ever got past the lists of battles in the Civil War to know what happened to anybody - blue or grey.  And for sure I did not know that Davis had a wife named Varina and that she might have felt the need to escape with her family from Virginia after the war as a criminal.  Frazier brings a wealth of historical research to this book just as he did to Cold Mountain.  Her story is gradually revealed over six days in discussion with a teacher named James Blake who, in 1906, is trying to fill in the hazy memories he has of a childhood when he was known as "Limber Jimmy."  He is convinced that their stories are connected.  Every book of historical fiction is a reminder of how many holes there are in my knowledge of history.  Add this to the list.

Chez Moi by Agnes Desarthe

The title translates literally as "my house" or "home" but the title in the original French is "Eat Me".  Hmmm.  Is this a sensitive book of self revelation or one of whining self indulgence? Myriam has done something she believes to be unforgivable but the customers in her tiny restaurant in Paris are prone to caring and forgiveness even of things they know not of.  The stream of consciousness style will certainly be off putting to many and the characters are few.  A foody would have plenty to think about.  I took it off my shelf simply because it was the shortest book. Not sure how it got there.  Now I wonder, if I knew Myriam would I be one who says, "Who am I to judge?"

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Anna's lives near busy New York City but her only connection with the outside world is through an online chat room for agoraphobics.  She fills her days with her favorite movie genre - film noir - and phone calls to ???.  Oh yes - were Hitchcock alive, he would be making the movie.  Then a family moves in across the street.  They seem friendly - particularly the teenage son.  One day, watching from her window, she sees something terrifying through theirs.  Or does she?  She tries to convince the police of what she saw but things just don't add up.  Reality starts to mix with all those movie plots until it is hard to tell one from the other.  As in all these novels of building psychological terror, it is always fun to discuss just when did you as the reader figure it out.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Really Moriarity is mailing it in with this one.  Nine quirky people at a luxury spa operated by the messianic and sinister Masha.  You might care about the lives and personalities of these people as they are gradually revealed under the most terrifying of conditions - or they might just seem like whiners.  Masha made have had a plan to improve this lot but it doesn't include rest and relaxation.  I kinda thought the whole premise was lame.

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

Nora Eldridge is a well liked third grade teacher in a town outside Boston.  She is also angry.  Her dreams of an illustrious art career we’re thwarted by a life of caring for her mom and a choice of the "safe".  She sees herself as the nice almost invisible lady at the end of the hall.  What is her name? That is until the arrival of the Shahid family.  Charming Skandar Shahid is on a fellowship at Harvard and eight year old Reza is in Nora's class which is how Nora meets his mom Sirena - exotic, fiery, and best of all, a fellow artist.  Eventually they decide to share a studio space although their work couldn't be any more different. Nora loves having a artist friend and glows in the warmth of this friendship.  But.  As in many relationships, this one is not viewed equally by the two women and as they move in and out of each other's lives, we learn the source of Nora's anger.  Lots to explore here - thwarted dreams or not.

What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg

This is typical Berg.  Women - their unique emotional glue, the unique lens through which they watch the world, the memories they choose to keep.  Ginny begins her story in an airplane having been called home by her sister to try and reconnect with the mother she has not talked to or seen for 25 years.  When they were young, wild and beautiful Jasmine moved in next door with her teenaged son Wayne.  What starts as a series of friendships, becomes the driving force behind Ginny's sense of abandonment.  As one might suspect early in the story, the perceived reality is not the actual truth.  Berg's books can affect a reader as a worthwhile beach read or a real spark for discussion.  It kind of depends on your own life story.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan

This story of a family in WWII Italy is based on real people.  Pino Lella is 17 in 1943 and ready to fight all the wrong minded forces controlling his country.  His family, wanting to save him from certain death, send him into the mountains where he is able to help people escape the Mussolini / Hitler horror.  After an unusual set of events, he finds himself as the driver for one of the important Nazi figures in Italy.  But then it may be that neither of them are who they seem.  At the heart of the story is the unimaginable decisions one must make when trying to survive and make sense of a world gone horribly bizarre.  The real life connections add to the depth of the story.

The Velveteen Daughter by Laurel Davis Huber

In 1922, Margery Williams Bianco became famous for her children's book, The Velveteen Rabbit.  She had an equally gifted daughter, Pamela, who became famous as an artistic child prodigy.  Growing up in Europe in a world filled with literary illuminati, the pressure of her early fame led to depression and strained relationships.  Told in alternating view points from both mother and daughter, it is a fascinating look at both the time and the lives of these two women in a Sylvia Plath-ish kind of way.

Tangerine by Christine Mangan

Think Hitchcock.  Think gothic psychological thriller that happens in 1956.   Alice and Lucy met at Bennington College years before and became inseparable until the mysterious death of Alice's boyfriend.  Alice - always the fragile one - is now married to the slightly obnoxious John whose job has taken them to exotic Tangiers.  Then Lucy appears - uninvited but anxious to renew the friendship.  Then things get really strange - and mysterious.  Getting the drift?  It doesn't take long to figure out who is the most disturbed but even that person is not as disturbing as the ending.