The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

A teen with autism investigates the murder of a neighbor's poodle and learns way, way more.

We chose this for the library's book discussion group. I read this in 2003 when it came out - and I remembered that I loved it - but on reread I discovered that I remembered NOTHING about this book. So it was pleasantly like the first time all over again!

Since the book came out, there have been a lot of depictions of Aspergers and autism in books and TV and film, and I think the general public has a better understanding today. But I know that when I first read this book, Christopher's thoughts and perceptions were groundbreaking. I'm always fascinated by how other people's brains work, and this book gives amazing insight.

I loved it just as much the second time around, and now I'll even remember why I'm recommending it.

Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan

Telling the story of one family and two generations of siblings, this novel flips back and forth in time between the 1950s when two sisters immigrate from Ireland and the modern-day as the family deals with the sudden death of an oldest son.

It's a story full of secrets and the way secrets rarely stay hidden. As a naive girl in Ireland, Nora makes a hasty decision (to marry the neighbor boy) that sets in motion everything that comes after. But as often happens, she's daily reminded of those decisions and sometimes feels like a martyr for the sacrifices she's made.

In the next generation, the kids are a tight bunch but are holding their own secrets. Coming together in the wake of Patrick's death brings them closer and also offers an opportunity for change.

The book is engaging and very well done. While satisfying, the ending is left open and unfinished, with the rest of the story for you to imagine. I highly recommend it!

Blessings by Anna Quindlen

On a fading family estate, an abandoned newborn baby changes the lives of both the troubled young caretaker who finds her and the home's former socialite matriarch.

A main theme of the book is secrets - everybody's got 'em - and how the weight of those secrets affects their lives. Nearing the end of her life, Lydia Blessing is starting to have a different perspective on the choices she's made in life. Even the baby is both a mystery and a secret.

Skip's a good guy with bad friends and decisions to make on the direction of the rest of his life. He went to jail rather than rat out his friends, but now that he's on parole he's inspired not to fall back into the old comfortable ruts. His raising the baby is destined for failure, but everyone seems willing to overlook that fate for awhile, anyway.

We chose this for the library's book discussion, and I worried this book was would be too saccharine for my taste. It is sweet, but I loved that it didn't work out as tied-in-a-bow as I'd worried, and the characters were more complex that anticipated. It's more a slice-of-life story than the parable for clean living I'd anticipated.

Also, I listened to the audiobook, which was read by actress Joan Allen - quite the A-list talent!

Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo

I love funny, true, heart-tugging literary fiction about small towns and the people you meet who live in them. Every town's unique, yet there's a commonality in all of them.

Sully's a crusty geezer with a short life expectancy due to a bad heart. Rub is Sully's needy best friend - Rub's also the name of Sully's mangy little dog because he loves barking orders and seeing which of them responds. Then there's Sully's former lover Ruth, who owns the diner, and her husband the junk man. Get the picture?

The other part of the story lies with police chief Doug Raymer, who's coming unraveled faster by the minute as the story goes on. He starts out by obsessing over his dead wife while standing at attention in the sun in uniform during a funeral, where he eventually faints and lands in the fresh-dug hole. That's just the start of his problems.

I loved, loved, LOVED this book. I adored this book. It's smart and funny, and the audiobook narration by Mark Bramhall was stellar. That's not to say I couldn't see through the plot in several places (I right away knew the identity of Becca's lover), but I was willing to overlook that for the startling turns the plot made elsewhere.

There are a few loose ends not wrapped up at the end, but I'm also OK with that. This was the second time Russo has presented us with life from North Bath, New York, so perhaps we can hope for more someday (but I won't hold my breath: there were 22 years between "Nobody's Fool" and this one).

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Two week's vacation with family - or even friends - can be a lot of time together, and the fractured relationships in the Post family make their big Spanish adventure to the island of Mallorca a memory they'll never forget.

Everyone on this trip is at some turning point in their lives: Jim has been unceremoniously "retired" from his job, Franny isn't ready to forgive Jim his sins against their marriage, daughter Sylvia is about to leave for college, older son Bobby is in a serious financial crisis - and Bobby's girlfriend has doubts about their whole relationship, plus Franny's life-long best friend Charles and his husband Lawrence are awaiting the call to start a family.

This is a great vacation book filled with sun and lots of beaches ... and way too many people, in way too little space, with way too much drama in their lives. I loved it, and I really enjoyed the various storylines - the fact they're all at different places in their lives, but everyone's experiencing change.

Actually, I can imagine this novel as a fantastic movie, too!

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Even in a marriage, there are two sides to every story. But unlike other books that tell two sides of hardly-the-same-marriage, in this novel it's not about twisting the scene or misrepresenting a shared experience - it's all about the secrets and lies of omission.

Lotto lives a blessed life - his family has money, he's a true lover of the ladies, and he's got a charisma people just can't deny. When he meets and marries the ethereal Mathilde, it looks like his charmed life is on it's way through the stratosphere.

The first half of the book (fates) tells Lotto's story: about his family, his marriage, his successful career. The second half (furies) reveals Mathilde's origin story, plus her life with and without Lotto.

It's a fantastic story, absolutely captivating - I listened to the audiobook while I quilted, and I was really taken by the characters, the friendships, and the story of their lives. And even knowing there was a twist in the unfolding of the story, I was still surprised at the end! A truly remarkable novel.

Angels Burning by Tawni O'Dell

Dove Carnahan has done pretty well for herself despite staying in the town where she grew up - she overcame the shame of her bloodlines, made sure her siblings survived after their mother was murdered, and has become the liked-if-not-always-respected chief of police.

The horrific murder of a local teenager is stirring up all kinds of emotions and memories in Dove, but it's not just the job that's causing her turmoil: the man who went to prison for her mom's murder is back from prison, and her long-lost brother returns with a surprise. A lot of the things she's been trying to forget are springing up right in front of her face.

I've read several of O'Dell's books - she gives great voice to interesting characters with profound struggles in modern-day Appalachia - and I was excited to take this one home. I read it in about 2 sittings, and I really enjoyed the shifts in the story from the modern murder investigation to Dove's teen years.

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm

Spending the second half of the summer at Grandpa's in Florida isn't exactly what Sunny had planned. But that was before what happened on July 4th.

This bright, full-color graphic novel was authored by the same sibling pair who do the Babymouse and Squish books. It's still a kids' book, but it's a more realistic style and subject matter - a major theme is family secrets. Plus it's set in the 1970s, so adult readers will appreciate the cultural references (Dorothy Hamill hair, the bicentennial).

Sunny learns a lot in Florida - she makes friends (of all ages), evades an alligator, discovers comic books, and learns to trap lost cats. It's a great story, and it builds tension by flipping forward and backward in time.

I'll be curious to see if the 1970s timeframe makes it less interesting to 2010s kids, or if it doesn't matter because the story is still relatable.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

When teenaged daughter Lydia dies, the hairline fractures in the Lee family shatter into insurmountable caverns between them. How did this happen? How many secrets do they each carry, anyway?

American-born Chinese James wants popularity and "common" experiences for his family, not the unique apartness he always felt. Marilyn wants her daughter to do everything she didn't. Nathan wants to reinvent himself at college, away from his family. Lydia wants to be free of the crushing expectations of her parents. And Hannah just wants to be noticed.

All this want, and no one's any good at expressing it. But that's true of many families, isn't it?

A strong theme in the book is the burden of expectations: what parents expect for and of their children, how children believe they should act to make parents happy, what we expect of others based on our preconceived notions. Ultimately it's that weight that wrecks them all.

I loved this book! While the book takes place in the 1970s, it's still a modern story with current themes and problems. You feel for each of the characters and the boxes they're trapped in; how can they burst free to really live? It's a familiar challenge.

The Hawley Book of the Dead by Chrysler Szarlan

When a Las Vegas magician with true magic is hunted by a fetch, she whisks her children away to the place where she was born - a New England ghost town and haunted forest thick with family secrets. But all the secrets make this "safe" place dangerous too in unexpected ways.

It's a good book with a unique angle in the very crowded genre of supernatural novels. Reve is a well-drawn character, flawed but also likeable, and her kids act like typical kids ... even though Nana is not your ordinary kind of grandmother.

It looks like Szarlan is working on making this a series called The Revelation Chronicles (this book ends well, but leaves it open for more stories). I'll be interested to see where she takes this.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

In a desperate act, an unemployed professional takes a job night-clerking in a weird old bookstore. Customers are rare - most visitors instead stop to borrow from an immense and mysterious not-for-purchase collection shelved in the store. Then Clay's customer-less boredom and his attempt to impress a cute girl-hacker cause him to bumble upon the answer to a puzzle he didn't even know he was solving - and the start of an epic quest.

This book is like Dan Brown's stories ... but replace the religious iconography with book nerds and typography: old-school books versus new-fangled computers, a secret underground library, a shadow sect, and the ultimate search for truth in a coded codex vitae. Intrigue, suspense and a secret book club!

But I'm being unnecessarily flippant about it: this is actually a good book that I enjoyed immensely. Despite the unlikely trajectory of the story, it's not cheesy and the characters are all very true to life. Clay's biggest asset is the same as that of any good librarian: he doesn't have to know everything, he just has to know how (or with whom) to find it. Facilitation as super-strength!

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

At seven, Libby Day survived an attack that left her two older sisters and her mother dead and put her brother away for life in prison. Twenty five years later, she never recovered: Libby can't hold a job, can't maintain a relationship - she can't even manage the where-with-all to keep the power on in her rental house. She's eeked out a life on her savings (thanks, murder-survivor donations!), but now the money's gone.

When a true crime fan club contracts her to for a speaking engagement, Libby find there's an underground network of theorists who believe her brother is innocent. And they'll pay her for access to people who may know the truth. Is visiting the "Darkplace" worth the cash? Does she even have a choice?

Like "Gone Girl," nearly every page-turn had me reassessing what I thought happened. I don't know how many books Flynn will be able to write in this dramatic style, but I'm aboard as long as it lasts: she's a master at manipulating the storyline and the reader.

Highly recommended. I consumed this book in just a couple days.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

June Elbus is lost and lonely. It's tax season so her accountant parents are mostly gone. Her slightly older sister is busy with the school musical - plus, she hates June. The one persons she could always count on loving her exactly, perfectly, and weird as she may be - her uncle Finn - just died of AIDS.

So when a hand reaches out to offer friendship, June tentatively grabs on. It turns out Toby was Finn's partner - a secret kept so thoroughly hidden from June that she can hardly believe it. Together, this unlikely pair try to find truth and a place in the world.

While written about a 14-year old, the book's being marketed for adults - really, either teens or adults will find something of value here. June's search for friends and love are a universal plight. Her misperceptions will ring true for all readers. And while we don't all mutilate priceless art, don't we all struggle to leave a lasting mark on something?

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

A fictionalized history built around a true-life artifact, this novel illuminates the fantastic journeys of one Jewish manuscript from its creation through several wars and persecutions into modern times.

As the main character, rare books expert Hanna Heath, analyzes and stabilizes the ancient manuscript for exhibit, we the reader are transported through time to discover the stories behind the clues. As Hanna speculates on the science behind each "fingerprint" in the book, we learn the stories she'll never know.

We can never know the full provenance of an inanimate item - Where did it come from? Who touched it? What has it been through?  But the long history of the Sarajevo Haggadah and the persecutions of the Jewish people throughout history offer Brooks a wealth of opportunities to weave an imagined fiction for this novel.

I found it fascinating, educational, and lush with description about places and peoples I'd never before encountered. You'll speculate differently about "things" you encounter in life after reading the secret life of this one object.

22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

In the aftermath of World War II, everyone had something they wanted to forget, and it was especially true for many immigrants displaced by war - including the family portrayed in this book.

Six years after he left them as a soldier, Polish immigrant Janusz Novak is reunited with his wife and six-year-old son in Ipswich, England. They work to make a new home together, but each has secrets from the war years that haunt them still.

Chapters shift between the voice of each family member, and bounce back-and-forth through time. While I thought I understood some of the secrets from early-on, more information is revealed throughout the book that may surprise the reader - it did, for me.

I really enjoyed the book, although I considered quitting part way through. I'm glad I stayed on - the story trajectory changed more than I thought they would, and I was very curious about the end.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

I got utterly and thoroughly sucked into this world and these characters - and then the action just ENDS! No conclusion, everybody's under investigation, no answers. Not even a temporary conclusion before the next book's action! Argh!

The first book in a new series, Clare is continuing her Shadowhunter mythology here but stepping back in time to the Victorian age. Some common Shadowhunter family names pop up here and the immortal Magnus Bane features into this story as well, but for the most part it's a stand-alone series.

This book has a steampunk feel to it - the bad guys is creating humanoid robots and trying to animate them with demon energy. It's got another great lead female character who isn't quite human but until now has never suspected anything was different. And there's always the allure of a sexy Shadowhunter (or two).

But where Clare's past books have wrapped up a storyline yet led you into the greater story of the series, this one has nothing completed when it ends. And second book doesn't come out for six months.

Can You Get Hooked on Lip Balm? by Perry Romanowski

Ultimately skim-able and sure to bust the myths you've believed for years, this book may change the way you shop the beauty counter, drug store and salon.

Yes, you can get hooked on lip balm. Not addicted, but certainly dependent. The book explains why, but it has to do with skin cell regeneration.

No, the salon brands you find at the big-box store aren't different than the ones in salons - they just lie and say they're different so they don't anger the salon owners.

Biore pore strips may be the most fun, beneficial thing you can do for your face. In moderation.

I certainly didn't read every word of this book, but I did read every question and the bottom line answer (conveniently highlighted). If you're interested in the details, every response is given several paragraphs or more of scientific explanation into the fact or fiction.

The Brave by Nicholas Evans

Told in two parallel storylines at two different points during Tom Bradford's life, this book tells both the story of a boy growing up and the tale of a man growing mature.

Growing up in England, Tommy is obsessed with American TV cowboys. The lessons they teach concerning bravery, strength, and honor help him navigate a confusing world - until Tommy meets one of his heroes and learns that real life may be a kind of different story.

Modern-day Native American history scholar Tom is struggling to bridge the divide between himself and his estranged Marine son, who the military has returned to California and accused of Middle-East war atrocities.

I have always enjoyed Evans' books - they're creative, and filled with beautiful geography and well-drawn characters struggling with real-life demons. Until the very end, I wasn't quite sure I knew where the story would lead me: a major kudo to any author that can keep me guessing.