“Left On Tenth” by Delia Ephron

Although this is a nonfiction memoir, it reads fluidly and tells the heartbreak and joys of screenwriter and author, Delia Ephron as she navigates the grief of her sister Nora’s and her husband’s death, the unexpected joy and surprise of finding new love at the age of 72, and her subsequent fight with leukemia. While the descriptions of the grieving process and the horrors of cancer treatment and medical procedures are both difficult parts to read, Delia still manages to infuse the story with the blessings of finding a second soul-mate, the value of friendships, the acceptance of yourself, the strength you gain from others, and the power of positivity. 3 1/2 Stars (A good read)

“Glass Houses: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel 13” by Louis Penny

I will never understand how Louise Penny uses the same characters and this same little town of Three Pines and still manages to write gripping stories that keep one coming back time and again to find something new, even in this, the 13th book in the series. Inspector Gamache is after the drug cartel this time and the appearance of a mysterious, black-robed, menacing figure in town, looming like a conscience for someone’s wrongdoing, leads Gamache and his team into desperate territory that puts many in peril and has him deeply examining the strength and purpose of his own conscience. 5 Stars

“Migrations” by Charlotte McConaghy

This strange, haunting book is set sometime in the future when animals and birds are nearing extinction, and main character, Franny Stone, a woman who has faced tremendous tragedies, sets off to follow the migration of the last known group of arctic terns. In vivid, stunning writing, the author paints a disturbing picture of mankind’s destruction of wildlife, and as the somewhat confusing storyline jumps to and from different time periods of Franny’s life, we start to recognize the allegory in the circumstances of Franny’s life, in which things that happened to her left her without a safe habitat, emotionally unstable, and unable to quell her own instinct to keep migrating. 4 Stars

“The Marriage Portrait: A Novel” by Maggie O’Farrell

Set near Florence, Italy in the 1500s, this book, part historical fiction, and part psychological thriller, fictionalizes the facts of 15-year-old Lucrezia Medici who was married off to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara and then was declared dead within a year of the marriage.  The book jumps around a bit from Lucrezia’s childhood, to her marriage, and from the early months of her marriage to later that year, and while the transitions confused me at first, once I paid attention to the setting of each chapter, the plot, writing style, and suspenseful tone kept my attention and provided a very good read. 4 Stars

The Nature of the Beast: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (#11) by Louise Penny

As I continue to work my way through this wonderful mystery series, I have reached the eleventh book, in which Inspector Gamache is recuperating from his past injuries, and living in Three Pines in semi-retirement, when a young boy, Laurence LePage, known for telling wild tales, tells everyone he found a huge gun.  When the boy is found murdered, and his parent’s questionable past comes to light, Gamache races against time with his two associates to ferret out the truth in the murder case while sorting through lies and subterfuge of several visitors who are hiding what they know about the gun, its sordid history, and its serious implications. 4 Stars