Like Disappearing Earth. Julia Phillips’ second novel is about two sisters, but this time it takes place on an island off the coast of Washington state. Sam and Elena appear to be as close as sisters can be. They work hard, take care of their single mother who is quite ill with an unnamed lung disease, and never have enough money. Sam works at the concession stand on a ferry that travels from island to island. One day she spots a huge bear swimming towards the island where her family lives. From that day forward, the sisters’ lives slowly change.

I think Julia Phillips is a fine author, and Bear is a book that gets better with each chapter. It is a novel about devotion, family, secrets, resentment and danger. Sam and Elena are complex, realistic characters.

Cleo has organized a hike through England. She, her son, and friends Marnie, Michael, Tessa and Conrad are invited. Tessa can’t go, and Cleo, her son and Conrad leave the hike several days after it has begun. That leaves Marnie, a freelance copy editor who has been divorced for six years and Michael, a geology teacher who is newly separated from his wife, to finish the hike together.

Like David Nicholl’s One Day, You Are Here is a nice, predictable romantic comedy. The repartee is witty, the situations are never disastrous and all the characters are well meaning. A light, easy, but not simplistic, summer read.

I chose this as my “summer classic” because I had never read any Flannery O’Connor. What a disappointment!! Wise Blood is weird, violent, and uncomfortable with no redeeming characters.

Ordinarily, I only read one classic every summer, but since Wise Blood was such a let down, I want to read another classic. I’m happy to take suggestions.

Sometimes truth is more extraordinary than fiction. Griffin Dunne lived a life of privilege. He mingled with celebrities all his life. He was best friends with Carrie Fisher, and Sean Connery saved him from drowning. His aunt was Joan Didion, his uncle was John Dunne and his father was Dominick Dunne. As glamorous a life as he l ed, it was also filled with tragedy; the worst being his sister’s murder committed by a deranged ex lover.

I eagerly wanted to continue reading about Griffin Dunne’s life and the people he knew. The Friday Afternoon Club is a family history full of drugs, alcohol, mental illness and revenge. It is also about love and loyalty. Dunne’s memoir is an easy read with lots of juicy gossip.

This is the story of four generations of Irish women living under one roof. Nana, the matriarch is a widow. Her daughter-in-law, Eileen, becomes a widow one week after her daughter, Saoirse, is born. Saoirse is seventeen and unmarried when she gives birth to Pearl. Neighbors and other family members come and go in their lives, but it is these four strong-willed women and their love for one another that is the crux of The Queen of Dirt Island.

Each chapter in The Queen of Dirt Island is no more than one and a half pages, yet the plot flows. The four women each have distinct, admirable qualities, yet are very human and realistic. An enjoyable, quick, easy, worthwhile read.

It is 1994 in a small town on the west coast of Ireland. Colette Crowley, a poet, has returned to the small town after leaving her husband and three sons to live with a married man. She rents a small cottage on the coast road from Donal and Dolores Mullen. Donal is a good looking womanizer and Dolores is an emotionally abused wife. After her return, Collette teaches a creative writing course. Her star pupil is Izzy Keaveney, a housewife whose husband will not let her own a flower shop in town. The lives of these three women plays out during a time when divorce was still illegal in Ireland.

This book is a winner. I got into it right away. The characters seemed realistic and the plot was paced perfectly.

Rafael Pinto is a pharmacist in Sarajevo. He is also gay and a Sephardic Jew. In June of 1914, he is standing outside of his shop when he witnesses the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. From that day forward, Pinto’s life will be one of war, strife, poverty and addiction. For 33 years he travels through Europe and Asia with no passport and no home. However, there are two positives in his otherwise bleak life. While fighting in World War I, he meets Osman, and Arab from Sarajevo, who becomes his lover and gives him the inspiration to stay alive. He also takes care of Osman’s daughter, who he loves and tries his hardest to protect.

The World and All That It Holds takes a while to get into and understand, but eventually I was immersed in Rafael Pinto’s world. His life is sad and there is violence everywhere he travels to, but I kept reading, fervently hoping Pinto would get back to his homeland. The World and All That It Holds is the story of one refugee’s experience during the last century, but it is certainly timely today.

Diane Foley’s son, Jim, was a freelance journalist who was beheaded in August 2014 by an Islamic terrorist group after being held hostage and tortured for two years. American Mother is Diane and Jim’s story before, during and after Jim’s murder.

Wow! In the hand of the gifted author, Colum McCann, American Mother is a harrowing, horrifying read without ever sensationalizing or trivializing. It is a memoir dealing with grief, but it also exposes our country’s flaws when it comes to dealing with hostages while illustrating the power of faith and a mother’s love. Emotionally, American Mother is a difficult read, but I’m very glad I could get through it.

Nick Taylor grew up in a strict Mennonite family, served in World War II, worked for an oil company and married Bet who grew up in an upper middle class Irish/American family. They had two children, Katherine, who after college took up with a radical group in the 60’s, and Harry, a dreamer who was interested in ecology. The saga of the Taylor family begins in the 1950’s and ends in 2026. Last House is not only a look at an American family, it also describes the counter culture of the 60’s and the willingness of corporate America to obtain oil at any price.

There are parts of Last House that are descriptive and tense and there are other sections that fall flat. Jessica Shattuck does a fine job of describing the Taylor family in the 50’s, 60’s and 2026 but barely touches on the other decades. For me as a social commentary and family tale, Last House was incomplete.

I began rereading Mark Twain’s classic novel to see how it compared to James by Percival Everett. I soon discovered that these books are completely different books. James is narrated by Jim who is a runaway slave but is educated, violent and angry. It is the story of a slave on the run who has to fight to stay alive. In Huck Finn, Jim is naive, superstitious and subservient. Although Huck is in the novel, he is not a major character. James is clever with several ironic situations, but it lacks the humor and innocence of Huckleberry Finn. I think Everett’s novel is good; Twain’s is great. Both are worth reading but they are very different.