All of Susan Orlean’s books are works of nonfiction, but this time she has written about herself. She grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio and always knew she wanted to be a writer even though her father objected. Orlean describes the high and low points of her life, what it took to get her books and articles published, how she came up with ideas and the experiences she had learning about her subject matter.

Joyride is a memoir, but it is also behind the scenes descriptions of the before, during and after of many of Orlean’s books and articles. Because I find her an excellent, interesting author, reading Joyride made me eager to read those books and articles of hers that I haven’t read.

Rocky (Rachel) is living in semi-rural Massachusetts with her almost perfect husband, Nick, her gay, anxiety-ridden daughter, Willa, and her 93 year old widower father. She has a sweet, successful married son who lives in New York City. One night Rocky learns that a young man who attended high school with her son was hit by a train and died. Rocky can’t stop obsessing about this boy and his mother’s grief. At about the same time, she discovers a rash that is spreading all over her body. A rash that many doctors are unsure of the cause.

I am at a bit of a disadvantage having not read Newman’s first book about Rocky and her family, Sandwhich. Perhaps that is why I am having a tough time critiquing Wreck. Newman is a clever, humorous writer, but sometimes these elements get in the way of the tragic events that happen in the novel. Wreck, for me, was not bittersweet but instead a fun read that made light of Rocky’s illness and a young man’s death.

Phoebe Hudson was adopted by Greta, a single mom, soon after birth. When she is 17, Greta thinks it’s a good idea for Phoebe to visit her birth parents in rural Wisconsin. During the visit, Phoebe realizes she is the second of four daughters birthed by Bea and Gus Dahlgren, but she is the only child the couple put up for adoption. From that moment on, Phoebe’s peaceful, accomplished life will never be the same.

I liked The Phoebe Variations. Phoebe is a well-drawn character as are several of her friends and acquaintances. While I didn’t enjoy The Phoebe Variations as much as one of Jan Hamilton’s earlier novels, The Short History of a Prince, I found it a worthwhile read.

McEwans’ novel is actually two connected stories. The first part takes place in 2119. Thomas Metcalf is a professor of literature at a university in England. He is desperately trying to find a copy of a poem that was much talked about but never seen. The poem was said to have been written in 2014. What Tom finds instead is a memoir by the poet’s wife. The memoir is the second half of What We Can Know.

Like he so often does, Ian McEwan inserts issues to think about in his prose. In What We Can Know just a few of these are ecology and what we are doing to our environment, the relevance of literature in today’s world, and just how honest does a critic have to be. I found the first part of What We Can Know laborious. However, the second half, the memoir, was disturbing, yet riveting. Is it worth it to slog through the first part to get to the second half? For me it was.

The year is 1899 and the narrator, Evelyn Dolman, is on his long delayed honeymoon in Venice. His wife, Laura, is an American heiress who has visited Venice many times. This is Dolman’s first time visiting the city, and he feels uncomfortable as soon as he arrives. Events including his wife’s disappearance, and old huge, mysterious hotel, and a number of hard to believe coincidences make Evelyn even more anxious.

I don’t read many mysteries, but I rarely pass up one by John Banville. Venetian Vespers is at times funny, sometimes creepy, noirish and, of course, well written.

Short-listed for The Man Booker Prize this year, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is about two young adults from India trying to find their place in the world and the family members and lovers who influenced them. While attending a college in New Hampshire, Sonia falls in love with an older man who is a fairly well known artist. Sunny is a journalist with Associated Press in New York City living with Ulla, a young woman from Kansas. When these affairs end abruptly, Sunny and Sonia meet.

Kiran Desai is a wonderful author. Her characters and their lives are vivid and well-drawn. However, and I rarely say this, this tome could have used some editing, especially on the last 150 pages. Nevertheless, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is still well worth reading.

Slough House is where M15 spies who have made a mistake are demoted to. The men and women who make up Slough House are called slow horses by their superiors. These individuals each have distinct personalities and the leader of the group, Jackson Lamb, is a truly unforgettable character. In the opening pages of Slow Horses a young Pakistani man has been kidnapped by three men who threaten to behead him. How and why Jackson Lamb and his motley crew become involved in the kidnapping is examined in the first in Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series.

I usually don’t read mysteries, but I watched three seasons of Slow Horses on Apple TV and was curious to see how the book differed. The show is really enjoyable, but, of course, the book is better!

Penelope Fitzgerald’s Booker winning novel of 1979 is the story of a group of people living on boats in London on the Thames. There is Nenna who is separated from her husband, trying her best to raise two daughters alone. Richard was a captain in the navy, and since he knows about boats and is a well-organized person he has become the leader of these residents. Maurice’s business is storing illegal merchandise on his boat. Willis wants to lie about the leaks in his boat, so he can sell it and finally live on land.

Although I found Off Shore a nice read, I wouldn’t have chosen it to win The Man Booker Award. I read it because I had read Fonseca, a fictionalized story about a true incident in Fitzgerald’s life and was eager to try something written by her. I’m glad I read Off Shore but I’m not sure I’ll be reading any more works by Penelope Fitzgerald.

Sam, Yash and the narrator who the two refer to as Jordan are English majors at an unnamed college. Jordan first has a relationship with Sam, but it turns out that Yash is really the man she loves. Heart the Lover follows Jordan’s life during these relationships and after.

I can’t do justice to summarizing Heart the Lover without giving away a good deal of the plot. I read Lily King’s novel in 48 hours. It’s a great, easy, can’t put down read. I puddled up a few times as I learned what happens to Sam, Yash and Jordan after college.

Joan Silber’s newest novel begins with Ivan remembering a terrible event that he was responsible for about thirty years ago. After recalling this event through Ivan’s perception of it, Silber then describes the history of five other characters who directly or indirectly are connected to Ivan’s night of horror.

Joan Silber is a fine writer, and each of her five characters are interesting and believable. However, two of the characters only have a remote association with Ivan, and one has no connection to Ivan whatsoever. Mercy is a good read, but it isn’t a novel; rather it is six short stories with some being interrelated.