The History of Great Things by Elizabeth Crane

This is a conversation (?) between Betsy Crane and her mother Lois.  Betsy appears to be writing a biography of her mother based on Lois's successful career as an opera star.  They seem to be looking in the same mirror but seeing different reflections.  Is Betsy looking for the truth or the best version of her mother?  Does Lois agree on what the best version or the truth is?  Sometimes witty, sometimes brutally honest, sometimes melancholy, they discuss both personal memories and events around those memories.  Not sure if this was just a very strange way to write a memoir or something completely other.

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

This is apparently one in a series of books about the Schuyler sisters (not the Hamilton ones).  I am guessing they are all of the light beach read variety but this one has a WWll connection which, I imagine, is why it landed in my reading stack.  Pepper Schuyler is a socialite member of the 1966 Washington D.C. political scene who finds herself pregnant and unwilling to identify the father and therefore out of a job.  To raise money she decides to sell an old Mercedes that has been stored in a family shed.  The buyer is an intriguing woman named Annabelle.  It turns out that this car once belonged to Annabelle and it is her story that makes the novel interesting.  In the 1930's Annabelle was living in France in love with the charming Stefan.  Then he disappeared in the Nazi sweep of European Jews.  Hoping to save Stefan and others, Annabelle married the German General von Kleist.  At different points each of the characters must make a moral choice.  Something or someone will be saved and as a result something or someone will be lost.  Not a Pulitzer contender but a satisfying read anyway.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan

Lydia Smith loves her job at the Bright Ideas Bookstore in Denver.  She even enjoys the irregular regulars she calls BookFrogs that find a welcoming place to huddle in the reading nooks and crannies of the store.  She is particularly fond of the young lost soul Joey who seems to follow her around throughout her day and is often the last person to leave.  It is quite a shock then when they find Joey hanging from the rafter of the top floor of Bright Ideas and even more surprising when she learns that Joey has left the few things he owns to her.  Her discovery of what appear to be secret messages hidden in carefully altered books leads to one mystery but Lydia has a dark history of her own.  The reconnection with Raj, a childhood friend, and her estranged father add to her particular mystery at the center of which is the Hammerman.  Although I was drawn to this book by its title, there is little that is "bright" about it - more a dark tale of what some of us must do to survive,

The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis

In 1928, Clara Darden teaches illustration at the Grand Central School of Art located in the upper floors of opulent Grand Central Station. She aspires to serious art but she is a woman and therefore not taken seriously.  Eventually her illustrations earn her significant wealth but still not the acceptance into the art world she seeks.  Enter Levon Zakarian, fellow staff member and renown artist who recognizes her talent but provides road blocks nontheless. But this is just the back story.
In 1974, Virginia Clay finds that her divorce from her wealthy husband has changed her social position drastically.  She is forced to take a position in the information booth at the greatly diminished Grand Central Station.  As she wonders through the building she spies a painting shoved behind a cabinet. It is signed "Clyde" but it is in the style of Zakarian.  She also notices that the signature "Clyde" bears a striking resemblance to Darden's signature.  And so the mystery unfolds between the lives of these two women.  The other important character in the story is the Grand Central Terminal.  Years ago I took the official tour and the building stands testament to a fascinating history.  Much of that plays out in this story and we all know what happens in 1974. Or maybe you don't.

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell

 Agnes Shanklin was the homely one in the family.  Destined to be single, she was expected to learn a living and take care of her aging parents.  All that changed with WWl and the Great Influenza of 1919.  At the age of 40 she finds herself the sole survivor of her family and the heir to a comfortable amount of money.  Ready for a change, she thinks about the adventure her younger sister had as a missionary in the Middle East.  She plans a Cooks tour and heads for Egypt.  Arriving during the Cairo Peace Conference of 1921,  she encounters Gertrude Bell, T.E. Lawrence and Winston Churchill who are all embroiled in the carving up of the Middle East.  That part is fascinating history.
Agnes meets the charming German Karl who offers to show her the real Cairo and, although she suspects he is hoping to gain information about her British connections, she falls in love. 
There is a lot more tour guide to the story than I would have liked but the history and the role each historical character plays makes for thoughtful reading and great insight into the situation today.

The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone

In 1916, Elizebeth Smith is hired by the eccentric George Fabyan to prove that Francis Bacon was responsible for the work assigned to William Shakespeare.  At Fabyan's Riverbank compound she meets William Freidman.  While she searches through the absurd clues to the Bacon/Shakespeare conundrum, she reveals herself to be a talented puzzle solver much like William.  Otherwise an unlikely pair, they fall in love and for the next 50 years, become the most significant code breakers in America.  WWll, the Enigma, the Cold War, the beginnings of the NSA, Hoover - name the event or the individual connected with espionage from WWl to the 1960's and they were somehow connected.  The auditorium at Fort Meade was named after William but Elizebeth's contribution has been largely ignored.  This well researched book corrects that situation.  Intriguing history and a worthy subject but I wish it was clearer how they did it. Still classified?

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

This Pulitzer Prize winner is really many small stories - most of lives of quiet desperation - all in the small Maine town where Olive taught math - all a part of her life or the butterfly wings that create the storms that blow us where we go. Many feel like folks you know or folks you are. Folks with secrets or small disappointments or struggling with the fear that their lives are hopelessly off track. Not a lot of sunshine here but there is the sense that the desire to survive can overcome most of the bumps in the road.