The Shore by Sara Taylor

The shore is a collection of three islands off the coast of Virginia--Accomack, Chincoteague, and Assateague. And the aptly named The Shore by Sara Taylor is a collection of stories about the inhabitants of these islands, ranging from 1876 to 2143. The stories jump back and forth by decades, only vaguely connected by characters with a common ancestor--Medora, daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and one of his Native American servants. Medora employs violence and alcohol to escape from two abusive men, her father and her first husband, thus setting a connecting theme for the stories of many of her descendants--alcohol, drugs, and abuse. Most of the inhabitants of Accomack are poor and poorly educated. Many turn to sex, drugs, and alcohol to relieve the boredom of life in a small community. Women and children suffer most from the resulting neglect and violence, beginning with thirteen year old Chloe who must use every shred of her resourcefulness to protect her younger sister from violent men, including her own father. Other young women make poor choices, particularly regarding the men they associate with. They wind up living in fear, in poor circumstances, tied down with unwanted pregnancies. Yet they, or their children, survive and Medora's line continues. The stories, which move disjointedly for present to past to future and back again, prove this. One of the greatest pleasures in reading this book is connecting characters in one story to those in other stories. Ultimately, far in the future, a pandemic leaves the population of the shore isolated, returning to a primitive, communal lifestyle, basically relying on fishing and gathering to sustain life, only barely in touch with the past. However, when an artifact from the twentieth century is discovered and its use is puzzled out, it seems history may eventually repeat itself.

He Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker

K.A. Tucker's new book He Will Be My Ruin follows Maggie Sparkes and Celine, who have been best friends since Celine's mother Rosa began working as the Sparkes family nanny over twenty years ago. Though they came from completely different lives, it didn't matter when it came to their friendship. Maggie grew up wealthy and privileged and Celine was the daughter of a hardworking Latina who lived paycheck to paycheck. Yet no matter where life took them, they remained friends.

Now when Celine has been found dead, of an apparent prescription drug/alcohol suicide, in her New York apartment, it's Maggie who is responsible for tying up the loose ends of Celine's life. Finding it hard to believe that Celine would ever be capable of suicide, Maggie starts searching her apartment for clues. When she stumbles on a few diaries and a locked box with the photo of a mysterious man in it, Maggie begins to question the idea of Celine having a double life.

Did Celine really commit suicide or is there a killer out there who will do anything to silence the people that get in the way?

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Sympathizer is a book which examines the post-Vietnam War era from the perspective of the Vietnamese, both the victors and the vanquished. The narrator, The Captain, is a spy for the North, a mole serving as a trusted aid to a South Vietnamese general. He is excellent in his role. Neither South Vietnamese officers nor American advisors suspect him to be a spy. At the behest of his North Vietnamese handlers, he accompanies the general to the United States after the fall of Saigon. This was necessary because Vietnamese army officers and certain Americans hoped to retake Vietnam by staging an armed invasion through Laos. The Captain has an astute eye when judging everything American. He sees corruption and the shallowness of American culture. But when he returns to a united Vietnam, he discovers that the new country is not the country he had expected.

Vietnamese-born and American-educated, Viet Thanh Nguyen's master of the English language and knowledge of American culture make this book a pleasure to read.

Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles

Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles is a slaptstick movie in book form, a book-long definition of Murphy's Law. Although he is a neat freak and a control freak, Oskar asks a rather lackadaisical friend to housesit his elegant East European apartment while he spends several weeks in the United States. He should realize he is asking for trouble. Since their college days at Oxford, Oskar and the unnamed narrator have known that they are opposites in temperament and taste. Nevertheless, Oskar extends, and his friend accepts, the invitation. Oskar is gone by the time his friend arrives but has left notes, multiple detailed notes with instruction regarding virtually everything in the ultramodern apartment: the bed, the couch, the dishes, the books, the piano, the care of the two cats and most particularly, the care of the pristine, elegant, expensive custom-made wooden floors on which nothing, particularly red wine, should be spilled. The reader can see what's coming and so, apparently could Oskar, who leaves many notes where one would look only if there had been an accident. On the first day, a few drops of red wine spill on the floor. Later there is a big splash. As the week goes by, a cat rakes the leather could with his claws and vomits under the bed. An entire bottle of red wine leaks across the kitchen floor. The cleaning lad chastises the narrator in a language he cannot understand. One death occurs in the apartment, then another. Finally, the narrator must call Oskar and confess to most of his transgressions. This book consists of one surprising twist after another, and the biggest shocker is the last conversation between Oskar and his house-sitting friend. Emotions run high but not the emotions the reader expected.

Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson

Alice Whitley is a twenty-something administrative assistant to a publisher in New York. Her boss sends her to Bel Aire to make sure that reclusive literary legend M.M. (Mimi) Banning finishes the draft of her first new book in over twenty-years. What Alice doesn't realize is that she'll be acting as a full-time companion to Mimi's eccentric nine year old son Frank.

Frank isn't like other nine year old boys. He has a penchant for dressing as a 1930s movie star, often right down to the top hat, monocle, and pocket square. With a higher IQ than most adults, Frank displays characteristics of a child on the Autism spectrum, but that doesn't stop Alice from loving Frank as if he were her own.

Full of love and classic movie quotes, Be Frank With Me is sure to tug on your heartstrings and make you laugh at the same time.