Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

If you want to know everything possible about all the art Da Vinci produced than the 500+ pages are definitely worth it.  Isaacson has borrowed from many earlier biographies to see Da Vinci as more than an artist and he is just as interesting a person as we have come to expect.  My favorite section was on the Vitruvian Man and the authors's own take on the legacy of Da Vinci.  His attitude of Michelangelo is also an interesting read. Such a big person surely deserves such a big book.

The Ghost Writer by Alessandra Torre

Helena Ross is a famous writer of successful romance novels and she is dying.  With just months to live she has one more book she needs to write and it is to be her confession.  Readers of her novels could not have imagined her life of isolation.  When she realizes that she is not well enough to finish the book, she decides to hire a ghost writer.  Surprisingly, her choice is Marka Vantly, her major writing competitor.  But Marka is not who Helena imagines.  There are secrets everywhere that make the book hard to put down.  The clues to the "confession" are slowly released mixed in with back story of a life that is unravelling.  This is easily a one sitting read.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

There has been a trauma early in Eleanor's life that, as the reader, you think you have figured out.  It has made  her a decidedly socially awkward person. She has a job she does quite well but is the butt of many office jokes.  She spends her weekends drunk so she won't have to think about how lonely she is. All of that changes.  Eleanor's directness is in humorous conflict with a world that seemed to function more on politeness than truth but there is also a lot of sadness.  It turns out that one friend can make all the difference in the world.

Bear Town by Fredrick Backman

As much as I loved A Man Called Ove, I hated this book.  It was not that it was badly written but I hated having to read about the jock culture.  I hated the bullying.  I hate the price Maya must pay to try and fit into this culture.  I guess the fact that this story of playing hockey in a small town in Sweden has the capacity to make me so outraged is probably a good thing if that was Backman's intent.  To be fair, there is a lot to think about in terms of family and community and personal responsibility but the argument that being good at a sport is an excuse for bad behavior just doesn't fly for me.

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Caught up in the Great American Read frenzy, one of my book groups decided to up the ante and read an old classic. Can't remember how the conversation lead us to this one.  Seymour Levov aka Swede was the high school hero of Newark, New Jersey before WWII.  He comes home after the war to marry Miss New Jersey and take over the family business.  All is well until his lovely daughter Merry gets sucked into the protests of the 60's with tragic consequences.  How do we know all this? Roth's favorite narrator, writer Nathan Zuckerman went to school with his brother, Jerry.  When they meet at a high school reunion, Jerry shares that life for the Swede has not gone so well.  When Swede gets in touch with Nathan and asks him to write a story about his father, the telling begins.  There is very little room for the reader's thoughts here because every possible internal dialog is shared.  More than I wanted to hear/read actually.  I think this book has been described as the modern Job story.  I get that.  It won the Pulitzer which I wonder about.  I also wonder if I am supposed to think that Swede is to blame for Merry's mistakes.  Or maybe all the people like Swede are to be blamed for the 60's. Guess I should go back and read Job.

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

Someone recommended this book to me because, as a teacher, they thought I would enjoy the character of the non-neurotypical young boy in the book.  Matthew's struggle to make friends is oh so familiar but this is not his story.  The marriage of his upper middle class, New Yorker, parents is.  Graham is 15 years older than out-going Audra.  While she has her pulse on the neighborhood and no apparent verbal filter (which is sometimes very funny), he sometimes misses the quieter although colder life he shared with his first wife.  When he runs into his first wife again, they begin a Audra approved purely intellectual affair with Graham's internal musings providing much of the thoughtful meat of the story.  There are many delightful moments of quirky detail - some having to do with the fact that Matthew is considered a "folding genius" by the mostly over 35 members of his origami club.  Mostly it is a beach read for people who also like the NYT crossword puzzle but maybe can't finish it past Wednesday.

Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna

Aah those lazy summer mystery reads.  Alice Vega is an expert at finding lost children.  She is 18 for 18 - but not all of them were happy endings.  When 10 year old Kylie and 8 year old Bailey go missing from their small town grocery parking lot, the deadbeat dad seems an obvious candidate for the guilty party.  But there are a whole host of questionable characters to suspect and even a few cold cases to throw in before this case gets closed.  Definitely worth the shady afternoon with my feet up.