Amid the chaos following a massive earthquake and tsunami, a dog appears to a man with a nefarious employment history. Despite his other bad choices, he has a soft spot for the dog and takes him along, realizing soon that this dog is smarter than the average mutt and seems to have a goal in mind, always seeming to aim his nose in one direction. The dog, whose tag says his name is Tamon, gradually makes his way from one foster owner to another in his quest, always seeking, while being everything each caretaker seems to need during his stay. A lovely book of the love and profound loyalty of dogs, and the healing power that love can bring to anyone, no matter how broken.

First of all, I love Rinker Buck, or at least I think I do. His respect for all of humanity is admirable, and he exemplifies his bonhomie as he traverses hill and dale (or in this case, wave and wake) during his adventures. While I ate up the Oregon Trail experience, for some reason, this odyssey down the Mississippi in a flatboat just fell a little, well, flat for me. It felt like he had to have a certain number of pages and was fulfilling that quota with lots of nautical jargon--not my forte and I'm guessing I'm not alone there--and at times I was scanning forward to see where the thread would end. As a result, the culmination of his trip felt a little anticlimactic, in that I'd wanted him to hurry up and get there for a while. I'll read his next book, for sure, as I would for any "friend", but I won't beat myself up if I skip some pages.

Protagonist Astrid returns to the seaside getaway of her youth, even though she's vowed to stay away, since her little sister died there as a toddler. Her aging but admirable aunt has summoned Astrid to discuss a letter which will reveal information about the drowning accident so many years ago. The poor aunt, however, has met with some violence, and is in the hospital, unresponsive. Once Astrid sets herself up there to get her aunt squared away, suspicious things start happening, creating more questions than answers. Astrid starts to dig a little, to try and find out the exact circumstances of her sister's drowning accident, to determine if she was, in fact, responsible, and to uncover her parents', and the neighbors' pasts.

Told in two times and places, stories intertwine as this captivating book progresses. Janani, born and raised in Madurai, India, is a skilled seamstress, and traditional woman, trying to be a "good" wife, daughter-in-law and mother. Unfortunately, being a model woman hinges on producing a son. This, in 1992, when you'd think science had cleared all of that ridiculousness up. Nila, a young woman finding her way in Sydney in 2019, has her own struggles, and also wants to make everyone happy around her. What if making everyone else happy means heartbreak for her? Both women reach a crisis of decision and a turning point which will change their lives forever. Sadness, systemic prejudice, happiness and joy all intermingle in this well-written tale.

I'm not a huge graphic book fan, but on the recommendation of a friend, picked this one up. Author Thien Pham tells, in his bouncy, cartoony way, of his family's journey from Vietnam to the United States, and their trials once they arrive. From the depths of horror to the lofty ingenuity of a family who always finds a way, his pages are packed with layers of nuance. It can be a quick read, or one you read over and over, seeing things in a different way with each view. Very thought-provoking.

Part history lesson, love story, tragedy, and victory, this story pulls you in and holds you close throughout. It is surprisingly direct and harsh, but also beautifully meandering at times, yet there are no wasted words. The heroine is a teenager when we meet her, and she grows up in every way as the story pages by. Poignant, deep, sad and sweet.

I thought reading this book by a hospice nurse about caring for those in their final days would be painful to read and just kind of depressing. Nothing could be further from the truth. From lessons imparted by those who wish they'd done things a little differently to mind-bending revelations from those with one foot in each world, each page softens the perceptions of what we tend to fear--the unknown. Hadley was clearly destined to do this work, and her stories give us an inkling of how we can do ours, up to and during our own finale.

Amy Schneider! This book is a kaffeeklatsch in printed form. Amy's journey to Jeapordy stardom, becoming a woman and incidental things along the way are touched upon in a chatty, unpretentious style that makes you kinda wish you worked the cubicle one over from her. I could have done without (and did--skimmed over it) the longish chapter on tarot, which is an obvious interest. Overall a light, easy read from someone who seems to have truly found herself.

Charlie is autistic, brilliant and loyal. That's why she doesn't say anything when her boss is found murdered, and it is clear from the security footage that Charlie was witness to something that night. Her life isn't easy--raised in a hardscrabble style by a single mom until a selfish stepdad enters the picture, Charlie knows that she has only herself to rely on in many ways. So who does she trust when she has to navigate the twists and turns of a murder investigation? I didn't see the solution right up until it was revealed. Brava, Wendy Walker, who by the way, looks like she could be Blake Lively's sister, and, oh yeah, she's an attorney who used to work in child advocacy. Once I got over my inferiority complex, I decided I'd like to read everything she's ever written. Maybe I'll just skip the bio page next time.

The Long Haul remains one of my favorite books--the first chapter alone made me laugh so hard it hurt. With that in mind, I was excited to read this next project by Finn Murphy about his foray into the hemp "space" (world/agricultural endeavor/whatever) and dove in with gusto, just knowing I was in for another great ride. Instead of the easy banter of his former book, this reads more like an informational manual, slogging along and laden with data. If the first book was a white water ride, this was a plod through a plowed-up field dragging a 50 pound weight. While I'm all for learning something as I read, I also want the book to be enjoyable. This just wasn't, for me. It was clear that after his first success, the publisher thought another gold mine could be milked from Finn's latest adventure. Or perhaps Finn thought he'd try to salvage some of the wreckage of his failed farming attempts by luring loyal fans into buying this book. Could have been an amusing article, at best. Sorry, Finn.

This exhaustively researched book will give you yet one more reason to be ashamed of our past. Built in 1911, Crownsville Hospital in Maryland was designed for Black patients, built by Black patients (yes, that's right), and certainly funded at the expense of Black patients. Patients (called everything but that) who were brought to Crownsville, say for speaking with a British accent, protesting against racism (peacefully), and for not answering questions at a police station. Or mainly, for just being Black. Of course, we know that mental health assessment was quite subjective for anyone in that era, but there was an unapoligetic disparity between funding and staffing for local white hospitals and Crownsville, unsurprisingly. This book tracks this hospital, its workers, therapists and directors, the populace that surrounded it, and weaves the saga of what abject racism can do to hold people back in all sorts of ways.

My husband has always said, when frustrated by someone's behavior, that "80% of the world is idiots." A scathing summation of his fellow man, but at times, he believes it. I laughed when I learned that a similar declaration by a client is how author Thomas Erikson named his book. Believe me, I let my husband know that he's a "red"! Divided into four colors: red, yellow, green and blue, the "DISC" system breaks us all down into our dominant characteristics and explains what makes us tick, and how we can communicate effectively with each type. I found myself mentally assigning colors to myself, the people I know, and also to those I was just meeting. A guy sitting on a plane next to me saw me reading the book and informed me that his place of employment uses that system to enhance collegial communication (no surprise, he's a yellow--we ended up talking for the entire flight). It's very interesting, and an easy read. I did find myself wishing to be able to take the test, but alas, it's not included in the book. All in all, fascinating and enlightening, and as it turns out, we're not idiots at all.