Small Things like These by Claire Keegan

This is a short novella which I think raises some very big questions.
Bill Furlong delivers coal in a small Irish town.  It is 1985 and the Magdelene Laundry system, cruelly run by the Catholic Church, still exists for young women .  Bill is a good man.  Loving to his wife and five children. Responsible to the workers he employs.  A man of faith.  One day, while delivering coal to St. Margarets Home, he encounters a young woman who is hiding in the coal chute.  She is cold and afraid. She claims it's a game played by the girls in the home.  It's not his problem.  When it happens again, he becomes concerned.  Does he leave her there? Is something bad happening? How complicit would he be, if he does not get involved? It's not anything he has done, and interfering might affect his business and eventually his ability to care for his family. Are there decision points in our lives that move us from being good to doing good?  Are we required to act on them to continue seeing ourselves as good people.  Things to think about.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

 Klara is an Artificial Friend - a human like robot assigned to help her real child Josie get through the difficult years from 14 to college.  Josie is "lifted" - a process available to the privileged members of society to give them advantages in life.  Josie's best friend Rick is not among the privileged but he has been loyal to her through all of her vague, unspecified illnesses.  Klara learns through observation and believes the sun to be a source of power that can help all of them.  But what is she really? She is purchased in a shop where she converses with other AFs.  She is to act like a friend but is compared to a vacuum cleaner.  The book is an interesting exploration into the range of AI possibilities in a time that seems not so far in the future.  There is also the question of what is it about being human that makes us different from machines that exhibit intelligence.  What is the role of memory? of history? They all play out in the relationship between Klara and humans around her.  Interesting? Foreboding? Inevitable?

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

 At the age of 105, Woody Nickel decides to tell his story of a trip he took in 1938 with a pair of giraffes.  The giraffes had survived a storm on their journey by sea from Africa.  Riley Jones was hired to get them across the country to the San Diego zoo.  Woody, then 17, had hit a serious rough patch in his life and by telling just a few small lies (like sure I can drive a truck) is hired to help Riley.  Woody loved the giraffes and in the magical way that animals can tell good from bad people, they surrendered to his care.  In 1938 there  were not many ways to get from the east to west coast and there was a lot of nothing or dangerous something along the way.  They encountered both good and bad, much of it recorded by reporter Augusta (Red) Lowe who served as a worthy partner in discussions about life, choices, and giraffes.  It is quite the story and the best part is that much of it is true!

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts

 "The true Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America"

In 1954, 62 year old Annie Wilkins is given 2 to 4 years to live if she lives a quiet life - not so easy to do as a struggling farmer in Mynott, Maine.  Instead she decides to act on her dream of seeing the Pacific Ocean before she dies.  With no money, she buys an older horse named Tarzen, packs a few things and heads west - well, south then west - sort of.  Riding with her is her small dog, Depeche Toi (aka Hurry Up).  Some bad but mostly good things happen on the way.  It is an interesting view into a time when people were less afraid to welcome a stranger particularly after she becomes a news worthy story. Heart warming along the way but not the ending I expected.