An injured girl is recovering in the hospital, while two regular visitors quietly sit by her bedside and forge their own relationship apart from her. This girl goes on to live with a family member, as she has no apparent nuclear family to take her in. The storyline ping pongs back and forth, from her early years, to the "present" (the 1980s), and to the past of one of her hospital visitors. Gradually these threads all coalesce, and you realize what they've all lost, gained and are seeking. With elements of racism, classism, homelessness, mental illness and abandonment, I can't say this is an uplifting book, but there are triumphs, too.

This book has such a cool premise: the Alaskan town of Point Mettier is so remote (reachable only through a tunnel carved through a mountain) and the climate is so harsh that everyone lives in one apartment building. There's no downtown--the store and everything else is in the same building. The school. The police. Everything. The military base next door is abandoned, so even that stands as only a ghostly memory of more lively times past. Well, there's a murder, and whaddya know? A storm blocks the tunnel. So an Anchorage detective, Cara, ends up stuck there, trying to piece together the fragments of the puzzle, while finding out what the back stories are of the people she's investigating. There's plenty of fodder there, held captive by years of habit, lore and fear. And maybe Cara has a secret or two of her own . . . A great read. There were two metaphysical references in the book that didn't ever seem to get addressed, but maybe the author is leaving things open for a sequel. I'd read it!

I know most people will disagree with me here. But I did not like this book, Being Mortal. The first part should be subtitled: Being Judgmental. Because the author most definitely is. He regales us about his grandfather's glorious life in India up to the truly impressive age of 110, revered by the family, contributing wisdom regarding business decisions and riding around on his horse pretty much right up to the end, and surrounded by supportive and loving kin, as one's parents should be. Or at least that's the way it read to me. Over and over. Let's keep in mind, though, that Dr. Gawande, the author, grew up in freaking Ohio. That's pretty far from an aging grandpa back in the homeland who is probably incontinent at times, forgetting to turn off the stove, and likely wandering the house at night. I'd love to get the report from the folks who were actually shouldering that load. Then we move on to the next recommended subtitle: Being Dismal. You thought you were pretty healthy? Um, no! You are dying as you read, and have, in fact, been doing so since your 30s or so. Every system is described in gruesome detail about how it starts to fail before you're probably even done having children. Then, you think, "Well, that's okay. There are lots of great options for aging people nowadays compared to years ago." Ha. That's what you think. You might as well be in prison they way they treat people in elder care facilities, and in fact, you'll decline faster by being there. Every. Dang. Page. So. Bleak. I received this book as a gift, so I read it from cover to cover, but honestly could read no more than a page or two at a time for the first 65% or so, and it made me longingly consider signing up for euthanasia. I'll save you the pain and give you the bottom line: If [your loved ones] need to go to any kind of assisted living, independence, privacy and autonomy seem to make all the difference in happiness, and despite family’s and health officials’ fears about safety, they tend to live longer, even without being hovered over. Talk to your peeps about their wishes in case they have a serious illness—what’s important to them, what would make their life worth living. Dr. Gawande could have made his point in an online article (1/2 page of an old-fashioned magazine) with bullet points and skipped the suicide-inducing initial 150 pages. If he’d done that, though, he wouldn’t have achieved what apparently makes his life worth living—making a whopping pile of $. Those two bullet points are valid and valuable, but the rest is horrible.

Adoption takes many forms, and is done for many reasons. This true story of three adopted girls describes the many ways in which culture, family dynamics, privelege, greed and love can all play roles in why we do what we do and make the decisions we make. Two girls from an orphanage in Viet Nam are adopted by an affluent U.S. family and are given all one would expect to have in that situation, including older sisters born to the adoptive parents--a ready-made, flag-waving American family. In the meantime, one of the adoptees' identical twin sister was being raised by blood relatives back in Viet Nam. This girl had a very different upbringing with few creature comforts but abundant love and a feeling of belonging. Which was better? The answer isn't as simple as it may seem. The story traces the process of all the adoptions, why the twins' birth mom surrendered them as she did, and the subsequent journey of their gradual paths back to each other. Interesting and thought-provoking.

The author who gave us Slaves in the Family now turns his attention to his family's "klan" history. Although white supremecist groups went by other names then and now, I think we all associate "KKK" with the hate groups associated with lynchings, burning crosses, and their dress-up clothes, the iconic and cowardly white hood. The author estimates that eighty million of us living here in the U.S. have at least one ancestor in the Klan, and my great grandfather's membership in that dubious organization definitely puts me in that camp. I understand Mr. Ball's need to plumb that family tree and explore what would make his ancestor feel such hatred for a whole group of people. And although they wore the hoods, and did atrocious things by twisting logic and faith around to the breaking point, has anything really changed? Or are they just not wearing costumes anymore?

A.J. Fikry owns a bookstore in a touristy town. Sales are slow, and he is mourning his late wife. He tends to keep people at arm's-length, until the unexpected happens. At turns heartwarming and melancholy, but ultimately sweet.

Mary Roach is my new favorite author. She teaches you while entertaining, and isn't heavy-handed about any of it. Seems she's written a slew of stuff which will soon be on my shelves. If you like reading about animals, nature, travel or humor, you'll like this. From now on, I'll read anything she writes.

This story tells the tale of the Armenian genocide through the frayed edges of a family. The horrors, and ultimately, triumphs of the ones lucky enough, brave enough, and strong enough to survive lead to a legacy initially hidden from view. When the elderly owner of a fading textile business dies, his will is a mystery to those who consider themselves his closest relatives. Eventually, the family secrets are bared, and the threads twist back together. Darkly riveting.

This mystery was originally published in 1934, and other than a few cringe-worthy moments, it has stood the test of time pretty well. A man is found murdered in a hotel room, and all is not as it seems. This one had me guessing up until almost the end, although I was only about 60% committed to the solution, or story. A quick read.

For some reason, we seem to be drawn to the horror of crime, reading, watching or listening when stories are told of attacks, fraud or killings. John Wayne Gacy has received his share of press, and although this book tells the story of his heinous crimes, it uses a different vehicle in that it starts with the young men who were his victims. And there were a lot of them. Their stories are sensitively told, along with that of their families. It's a different perspective than one usually finds in this genre, and I appreciated it. However, there were so many victims that it was, frankly, hard to keep them all straight. Lots and lots of characters, many of whom were intertwined, made me finally just float over the narrative and not really worry about whether I knew exactly who they were or not. It didn't really matter. It's all just so sad.

Systemic classism and racism are alive and well in Mississippi. If you have any doubt about this, read this book. It tells the true and horrific tale of how the criminal justice system in that state collaborated with two self-serving medical professionals, a pathologist and a dentist, churned victim after victim into prison with their "expert" testimonies. Suffice it to say that they could not have achieved what they did without the complete support of a system that wanted to keep a specific type of person behind bars, truth be damned. Sheds a lot of light on the happenings of the day.

Stories of seafaring daredevils in the days of yore have always fascinated me; consequently I was delighted to get this book as a gift. It didn't disappoint. Taking place in the mid-17th century, this tale chronicles the true events of the British ship the Wager, part of a small fleet of warships tasked with chasing down a treasure-laden Spanish galleon. Sounds like something from a Disney ride, but not so much. Pretty much every step of this journey spelled doom for these sailors. Robinson Crusoe meets Castaway, meets Lord of the Flies is the best way I can describe it. Well-written and riveting.