This novel by William Landay has plot points that approach numerous other thrillers — such as the missing title character in Gone Girl — but takes things just a bit further in telling the tale of a missing mom who is presumed killed by her husband. You hear from various family members in the first person, but again it is done to introduce some interesting plot twists that I don’t want to spoil you with here. Initially I was a bit annoyed by the mixed narrator style but came to appreciate it about halfway through the novel. The narrative arc covers decades as we move way beyond the actual missing/murder conundrum and into the finer aspects of the children and other family members’ personalities, relationships, and whether they think the dad did the deed or not. Having the dad as a criminal defense lawyer is also a nice touch too!. Highly recommended.

This book is the work of a mother’s separate travels with her two daughters: one visits Nepal and Bhutan, the other to Colombia. The two kids take the trips for specific reasons: to learn about total happiness and to work for an NGO that is helping with war-torn conflicts. The travels are enlightening for all parties concerned and are what Meg Stafford — who has written a regular column for years — says is an ongoing kaleidoscope of learning together with her daughters. She is a therapist, so her work listening and analyzing people comes through quite loudly in this memoir.

The travels aren’t your usual tourist romps through colorful foreign lands, but offer real insights into both the people they encounter along the way and the lessons they have learned about themselves and their own family relationships. “The more we know ourselves, the easier it is to connect with others, and the more connected we are with them,” she writes.

Regarding happiness, “the best way to predict it is to follow the example of someone who is currently where you will be in the future.”

There is also a lot describing problem-solving.  “everything depends on how you use your mind. The way to solve the problems in your life is to open your heart to others.”

And this insight: “Parents cannot eliminate risk. We can shore up our children so that when they encounter it they can make better and more informed choices.

The women learn that tragedy is the same in any language, but humor doesn’t translate so easily, and there are lots of moments across this spectrum.

The title comes from answering the question about who we will accompany, not just in physical travel across the world but across our life. “We cannot always know but we can hold them close when they are near, so we can still hold them when they are far with arms outstretched.”

For those who enjoy memoirs and appreciate travel, this is a very appealing book.

My stepson died last year of throat cancer, brought on by years of alcohol and tobacco abuse. I say this because I thought this was going to be a hard book to read — part memoir, part 12-step navigational handbook, part Big Thoughts. That doesn’t sound like I liked the book, but I did, and thought Levy spoke to me about my stepson and his various demons that he fought and lost. She fought and has won, but it was a hard fight, filled with many missteps and disastrous mistakes.
Alcohol abuse isn’t pretty. Those of us who have been touched by it can’t really understand why it happens to the people we love, and our feeble attempts at trying to help are often doomed from the start. Levy’s book shows how she had the strength of character to fight back — and while she had many years of dismal failures, eventually she figured out a plan. It may not be the plan that you can get behind, but like I said, the navigational aspects of this book are useful guideposts. Even if you are lucky not to have someone you know with these circumstances, I think you will find this book interesting, engaging, and at times pretty darn funny. Highly recommended.

In this novel by Allegra Goodman, we follow the life of Sam during 15 or so years of her young life as she grows up in a dysfunctional family with a special-needs younger brother and her single mother who is trying to make ends meet working two low-end jobs. Sam is a talented rock climber: the story takes place on Boston’s North Shore and we see her grow into some prowess as she develops her climbing abilities and strength. Sam is an interesting character: nothing comes without a lot of pain and hard work, which makes her accomplishments all that more satisfying, both to her and to the reader. The family dynamics: the kids have two different but deadbeat dads that come in and out of the narrative. I really enjoyed the plot, characters, and situations as Sam grows up, finds love and adventure. Highly recommended.

This was a difficult novel for me to get into for some reason. You don’t really know the four central women that are part of a very toxic and twisted relationship: Two are sisters, both interested at different times in the same man, one of whom she marries and is about to have her second child with when they are both found early on in the book dead in their house. The other two women are friends of the sisters at varying times over the course of ten years. One of them was the murdered husband’s lover shortly before his death, and is eviscerated by the press over that relationship. It took me several tries to get past the first couple of chapters before I could interested in the book, and then the plot thickens. We find out what happened the night of the murder, how the four were introduced, how their lives took various turns and how this novel is really the poster child for bad friendships and relationships. The venality of the women involved is breathtaking and fascinating — it is like watching a huge traffic pile-up on a snowy freeway — but the setting in the modern social media era where oversharing your life can lead to disasterous consequences rings quite true.

The boys in this novel are from two families and tracks their lives. One chooses a life of crime, the other of public service. We see the boys as they compete in school sports together and then gradually grow apart into their respective careers. One of the things that I like about Grisham is that his characters seem so true-to-life: we are witness to their triumphs and challenges, loves and friendships both won and lost to moments of critical decisions and fate, The plot takes place in and around Biloxi Miss. and the decades around its infamous coastal “strip” of bars, brothels, and gambling parlors. I found the book as engaging as his other novels, and while a bit heavy on the court scenes, no more so than necessary to move the narrative and characters along. Highly recommended.

A bookstore in a small Colorado ski town is at the center of a murder. The sisters who own the store imagine themselves as amateur sleuths and you meet many of the townsfolk, all of whom have secrets to keep and interesting lives that unfold over the course of the following days. The characters are all charming in their own special ways, and there is a lot of classic drawing room murder mystery setups as one or another comes under suspicion. If you are a fan of bookstores or ski towns, you will appreciate the setting even more so.

The book is available on AMZ here.