“The Reading List” by Sara Nisha Adams

If you love libraries, and know how books can sometimes be life-changing, you will enjoy this story about Aleisha, a young girl in need of relief from a difficult home life, who isn’t a reader, but begins working at a small local library and finds relationships and support in very unexpected places, including from an elderly widower, Mukesh Patel.  Although it perhaps gets a bit syrupy or bogged down in a few places,, it is nonetheless a heartfelt, readable story of a mysterious booklist that leads several people to read great books and illustrates the power of stories to unite people of various ages, ethnic backgrounds, and experiences with themes common to the human experience.  4 Stars

“Horse” by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks authored one of my favorite novels (“People of the Book”) so I was thrilled to read her latest book, which races back and forth in time encompassing the topics of painting, art history, art collecting, zoology, racism, (not only during slavery but also in present times), and thoroughbred breeding and racing in antebellum life.  The main story of Jarret, a young 1850s slave and groom dedicated to Lexington, (called the greatest thoroughbred of all time), is expertly woven with other narrators including, Thomas Scott, who paints Lexington, Mary Barr Clay, daughter of an anti-slavery activist,  Martha, a 1950s art gallery owner,  Jess, a present-day, Australian scientist reconstructing skeletons at the  Smithsonian, and Theo, an historian from Africa, studying at Georgetown, and as all the narratives emerge, they combine to create a splendid, spellbinding novel that is thought-provoking, deeply researched, and well worth reading.  5 Stars