Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

 This sat on my shelf for years but watching The Medici series on Netflix finally inspired me to read it.  I am sure that King simplified the math and engineering, which is the book's focus, but still it mystifies me that with so few tools such magnificent architecture was possible. AND why now, with access to machinery even the genius Brunelleschi couldn't imagine, we build such sterile boxes (yeah I know energy, efficiency, inability to terrorize the masses to pay for things...).  This is a great slice of Renaissance history that celebrates the best minds of the time and gives hope that intelligence is still a human quality.

I have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

 In1995 Bodie Kane, graduated from Granby, a New Hampshire boarding school,  defiant, isolated, resentful of the life that landed her there. It is also the year her roommate was found dead in the school swimming pool and Omar, the Black athletic director was found guilty of her murder.   In 2018, journalist Bodie returns to Granby to teach a class in podcasting. Her own podcast is about women in film - mostly about what the male dominated Hollywood culture required of women to succeed in film. As those early Granby memories return, she becomes convinced that Omar did not commit the murder. Some of her students agree and a class project becomes a tangled mystery.  But Bodie brings so much more to the conversation - the MeToo movement, the confusion of cancel culture dynamics, how race stands in the way of truth. The "you" in the title is another teacher Bodie believes may hold the key to justice.  But maybe for the big injustices in the world, justice is hard to find.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

 715 pages - an epic tale of 3 generations. In1900 a 12 year girl is sent to be the bride of a 44 year old widower with a young son. Her family is one of the St Thomas Christians who live in Kerala, a state on the southwestern coast of India.  They will grow to love each other and create the next generation. The cloud that hangs over each generation is the Condition - an unexplained family trait that leads to death by drowning. Each generation will suffer many great tragedies but always faith, family and the power of medicine allow them to prevail. Colonialism, the caste system, and India's independence are all shared as incentives for change.  Verghese's characters are so rich, you ache and rejoice with them. Of particular interest are the strong women that emerge from a culture which appears to require submission but relies on female strength and wisdom. I should have anticipated the ending but thankfully did not. I guess if you are only going to write one novel every 10 years, you ought to make it 715 pages worthy.

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

 The Dellawisp Apartments are almost hidden on Mallow Island off the coast of South Carolina. Five people, three ghosts and many secrets live there.  The arrival of Zoey to live in the apartment left to her by a mother who died when Zoey was very young and the mysterious death of one of the residents set everyone and everything on a new path to the truth in all their lives. Zoey is eighteen - lively, optimistic and chatters constantly to her best friend - an invisible bird named Pigeon. This is not a ghost story but the atmosphere in the apartment complex hangs heavy with magical realism. Intriguing characters, more than a few surprises and only 285 pages. What's not to like!

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

 If you revel in every minute detail of 16th century deMedici court intrigue, this is your book. For me, it would have made a better short story. The main character is Lucrezia - 15 year old daughter of Cosimo. She is forced to marry a man betrothed to her older sister following the sister's death. There is a lot of cruel sex, deception, and weird imagery involving tigers. Lucretia's independent thinking does nothing but aggravate the situation. There is a lot of internal dialog, that I found repetitive. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood. Again, if you love the deMedici intrigue, this is right up your alley - although Farrell would never  state anything so simply.

Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver

 The style of this book harkens back to Kingsolver's early novels - quirky characters, witty dialog, dark humor, brilliant turn of phrase.  Although this is supposed to be a riff on David Copperfield, she takes on many of today's contemporary ills - the social welfare system, industrial tyranny, drugs - even football.  Our narrator is cheeky Demon - abused by the foster care system, Appalachian loser stamped on his forehead, teased by good intentions of the adults around him who do not get it, gifted and talented when it doesn't count for nothin'.  Spoiler alert - it all works out in the end which I only share because knowing that (he is, after all, the narrator) is the only thing that kept me reading through the darkest parts of his story. This will be the book club book of the year once it comes out in paperback - but worth the price of the hardback.

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.