The narrator is an American man who after graduating college takes a job as an archivist for a 92 year old baroness in Tuscany. He meets a number of interesting people during his six month stay at Villa Coco. He also learns Italian and gradually discovers much about these characters as well as about himself.

Villa Coco is a good summer read. It is sweet, charming, at times humorous and makes the reader want to visit Italy. Villa Coco is an enjoyable read but without much depth.

Contrapposto is the life of Robert (Cricket) Dibb. He is a talented artist who grows up in a small town in Indiana. His life, his artistry and his need to earn a living takes him all over the world performing various jobs. When he is a teenager in Indiana, he meets Olympia. She is two years older than Cricket, a free spirit who knows commercial talent the minute she sees it. Cricket falls in love with her almost instantly. Unfortunately for him, she appears in his life only sporadically.

I loved Contrapposto! It is well-written with wonderfully described characters. One can’t help but be drawn into Cricket’s life and the people he encounters. Eggers also, through Cricket’s journey, alludes to how difficult it is for a gifted artist to make it in a commercial world.

The authors of this inspiring book are adamant that peace is a possibility in Israel. Aziz, a Palestinian, lost a brother due to Israeli violence. Moaz, an Israeli, lost his parents on October 7th. Together they are traveling the world discussing the only way they believe peace can be achieved in the Mideast-not with tanks, guns and suicide bombers, but through discussion, learning each other’s stories, empathy and compromise. The Future Is Peace is divided into eight days where Aziz and Moaz travel through Israel. Each day the reader learns more about these two men and the history of the country they love. The Future Is Peace is interesting, at times maddening, and yet at the same time hopeful.

Daphne and Jonathan Fuller are in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City when Jonathan notices an elderly man following them. Turns out it’s Eddie Triplette, who was Daphne’s loving-step father for two years some forty years ago. This chance meeting sparks memories for both Daphne and Eddie, mostly having to do with a car accident they were both involved in.

I thought Whistler was good, not great. It is an interesting story but for some reason that I can’t put my finger on, I didn’t get emotionally involved with any of the main characters. Whistler is an enjoyable read without much depth to it.

It is 1865 in Ireland, soon after The Great Hunger. Tomas is a cartographer working for the British. Life is harsh for Tomas, his wife and their four children. They all face individual crises which slowly unfolds. Land is a saga about Ireland, family and strife.

Maggie O”Farrell’s most recent novel is not an easy read. Throughout, Land jumps around in time and from one character to another. Also, there is little happiness in Land. Tomas and his family find life consists of one obstacle after another.Because O’Farrell is such a gifted writer, the reader struggles along with the characters. Is Land worth reading despite it’s difficulties? For me it definitely was.

Natalie Heller Mills has it made. She is a popular media influencer who expounds on the joys of being a traditional wife and mother. She portrays her life as having beautiful obedient children and a loving husband working hard on their self sustaining ranch. Is this really what life is like on Yesteryear Ranch? Why has Natalie’s life turned upside down when she wakes up one morning and finds it is 1805 and she must endure the life she has mistakenly glorified?

Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel is a page turner. One wants to find out how Natalie ended up in the year 1805. Yesteryear bounces back and forth from Natalie’s early life, to the present to 1805. Also, for readers who want an empathetic, heroic main character, that would not be Natalie!

In David Sedaris’s newest collection of essays he covers current subjects such as, walking atleast 10,000 steps a day, the problem with airlines and hip replacement surgery. He can be poignant, audacious, but always laugh out loud funny.

If you’re a fan of David Sedaris, and I am, you will want to read The Land and Its People. His essay “Enough is Enough” had me laughing so hard tears were rolling down my face. In these hard times, it feels good to laugh and commiserate about them.

G.W. Pabst is a famous German director. When his country begins to fall into the hands of the Nazi’s, he goes to Hollywood with his wife and his son. After an unsatisfying time in the United States, he goes with his family to visit his ailing mother in Vienna. The minister of propaganda in Berlin learns of Pabst’s whereabouts and goads him into directing nationalistic films.

Daniel Kehlmann’s latest work takes a unique approach to the horrors of World War II. Using Pabst as an example, he poses the question should art ever be sacrificed for the well being of the artist. If readers have not had their fill of World War II novels, read The Director.

John Calum MacLoed, known as Cal, is a gay young man. He graduated from art school and returns home to a remote island in Scotland after his father informs him that his grandmother is quite ill. Cal’s life in his hometown is extremely uncomfortable. He must hide his sexuality from the strict Presbyterian community he now lives in, including his father, John, who is a closet gay man. It turns out that many of the townspeople have secrets that Cal, for the most part, discovers.

If you liked Douglas Stuart’s first two novels you will want to read his third. Like the others, John of John has a main character who is gay and thus has a hard life with many obstacles. It takes a while to understand the lives of the main characters in John of John but perseverance pay off. Douglas Stuart does a fine job of rendering loneliness, family obligations, taboos and repression.

Artie Dam is a history teacher at a Massachusetts high school. He cares about his students, and he loves his family and sailing. A near death experience as well as a family revelation and the change in American politics forces Artie to look at life, people and the future differently. Artie Dam is a great teacher, a loving father and husband and a good friend who is trying to make sense of his world.

Elizabeth Strout has never disappointed me. Her prose makes it seem like writing a novel is easy-which of course it isn’t. Her characters are individuals you’d like to sit next to at a dinner party. The Things We Never Say is a terrific work of fiction unless you admire Donald Trump.