Leif Enger, VIRGIL WANDER

I thoroughly enjoyed this quiet, rich book about characters in Greenstone, a small dying mining town not far from Lake Superior, told in first person POV by Virgil Wander, a man approaching middle age. It reminds me a bit in tone of A MAN CALLED OVE, though Virgil is more cheerful and almost childlike at times in his openness to the world and to others. One day Virgil drives his car off the road, to find himself rescued but with a concussion that has changed him. He runs the old movie theater, the Empress (made me think of that movie, *Cinema Paradiso*), where he still plays films from reels. The characters are carefully drawn, unusual and interesting--Rune, the man who flies kites and is in search of the truth about his missing son Alec; Nadine, the beauty for whom Virgil has carried a torch for years, based on a flawed memory; the teenage boys Bjorn and Galen who do the weird things we expect of teenage boys. One strong point of this book was, for me, the nuanced and delicate language, the perfect turns of phrase. Sentences are never as powerful when taken out of context, but here are a few of the many I underlined: "For more than twenty years I'd felt at home, in my home. Now I stood weirdly slack in the middle of my kitchen ... The evidence of my life lay before me, and I was unconvinced." "I moved here largely because of the inland sea ... Who could resist that wide throw of horizon, the columns of morning steam?" "He had a hundred merry crinkles at his eyes and a long-haul sadness in his shoulders." "A scatter of sparrows surfed along in the torrent, dipped and spun, and were gone." I was sorry to have this book end.

Erik Larson, THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE

A compelling read about Churchill from his first days as Prime Minister near the beginning of WWII until the attack on Pearl Harbor. Churchill comes off as indomitable, mythic, almost holding London and England together by force of his will, though he himself said that he merely helped Londoners *find* the courage they already had. He could feel frustration and despair--but in action he was not able to be swayed. The book includes various subplots--his daughter Mary's foolish behavior and near-engagement, the failure of his son's marriage to Pamela (later Harriman), Hess's bizarre solo flight in 1941 to try to convince Churchill to concede defeat, and various American personages' trips to England, and Goebbels' vicious wielding of the media to discourage England and plant outright lies.
To some extent I felt Larson portrayed Churchill as a "shining example" vis-a-vis the current political leadership, and I found myself aware of this as I read, beginning with the inside cover copy which concludes: "[This book] takes readers out of today's political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when--in the face of unrelenting horror--Churchill's eloquence, courage and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together."
Much has been written about Churchill, in non-fiction and fiction, and I appreciated the careful research into personal letters and diaries. Larson "found" his own Churchill, different from other accounts I've read. This book is well-researched history, told with the suspense and accessible, elegant language of a good novel. Yes, it's 500 pages, but it was  a page-turner for me, in the same way his THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY was.

Madeleine Albright, MADAM SECRETARY

An astonishing, engaging story, told in first person from her birth in Czechoslovakia  through resignation of her post as Secretary of State under Clinton. I was lucky enough to see Albright when she came to Phoenix as part of the Speakers' Series, and I found her insightful, knowledgeable, and adept with the one-liner. ("I was required to wear a bulletproof raincoat ... so big, the material stuck out above my shoulders. I eyed the photographers warily, fearing the caption, 'Madeleine Albright, the Hunchbacked Dame.'") This book was written in collaboration with Bill Woodward (speechwriter), but I heard her voice loud and clear in these pages. I also learned a lot about the policies and our relationships with countries all over the globe and was in awe of her ability to understand the delicate political nuances, how aspects such as the need to "save face" with people back home or backstories going back fifty years shape negotiations. She's also acutely attuned to language. At times there would be a phrase spoken or reported in the newspapers, and I'd think nothing of it, whereas she or one of her advisors would say, "Aha! That changes things." I'd have to read the next paragraph or two to understand why. I appreciate her efforts at building coalitions, including among women at the U.N. and elsewhere. I have to confess I got a bit bogged down by the long section about the middle east, but the situation is so complicated, that was probably inevitable. I love that she includes cartoons that poke fun at herself and photographs that suggest her ability to connect with a wide variety of people. Her husband, who left her for a younger woman doesn't come off so well; and she expresses her disappointment with Clinton over the Lewinsky affair ("I was angry with the President for risking so much for less than nothing"). But she took the advice of Gabriel Garcia Marquez: "When you write your memoirs, remember: do not be angry." It's a long book, but definitely worth the 500 pages. This was a bookclub pick, and though it is my first book by Albright, I will read more. This book was published in 2003, and I will be interested to see how/if two additional decades alter her views or focus. 

Bessel Van Der Kolk, THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE: BRAIN, MIND, AND BODY IN THE HEALING OF TRAUMA

In 1980, the author, a psychiatrist at the Boston VA clinic, submitted a grant to examine the effect of PTSD on veterans, and the first line of the grant rejection read: "It has never been shown that PTSD is relevant to the mission of the Veterans Administration." (!!!) When it comes to understanding trauma, we've come a long way. This (nonfiction) book reflects on the history of trauma studies and describes contemporary neuroscience and treatments. It has a lot to offer both writers (with respect to developing backstory for characters) and the general reader--not least of which is understanding some of what's going on in our brains (Broca's area, which controls language, and the amygdala and PFC) with current levels of stress. This book also took me back to my dissertation days, when I would often get the academic version of eye-roll from people when I tried to explain (probably poorly) that I was writing about trauma as an explanatory narrative that began with Victorian railway crashes. To my quiet delight, this author opines that trauma studies began with the work of medical men such as John Erichsen writing about railway disaster victims in the 1870s in England. Well-written and accessible.

Mary Beth Keane, ASK AGAIN, YES

A beautifully written novel about two families who are next door neighbors in a small town outside NYC. Both fathers are policemen; but otherwise the families are very different. This book touches on mental illness, alcoholism, denial, dysfunction, young (clueless) love, mature love, parenthood, aging, and forgiveness. I read this immediately after Ann Patchett's THE DUTCH HOUSE and found similarities in themes and tone, in the shifts between scenes and synopsis (the books both cover decades), and the wonderful quality of writing. These are not plot-driven page-turners. They are nuanced explorations of how individuals and families evolve and get stuck, err and atone. As usual, I like to share a few lines that suggest the quality of writing: "They were apart long enough to know the shape of each other's absence." "Francis smiled but there was no light in it." And my favorite (maybe because it expresses the theme of how memories change, which is at the core of my own most recent novel) "They'd both learned that a memory is a fact that's been dyed and trimmed and rinsed so many times that it comes out looking almost unrecognizable to anyone else who was in that room, anyone else who was standing on the grass beneath that telephone pole." Recommended for fans of Ann Patchett, Celeste Ng, and Anne Tyler.

Ann Patchett, THE DUTCH HOUSE

This is my favorite of Ann Patchett's books. It's a book to savor, with writing that sings and soars. I won't explain the plot as it would reduce this story to a series of events in a dysfunctional family--and that's not the point. The two main characters--the narrator Danny and his bold, hurting sister Maeve--are a pair united against the world who, despite their closeness, still hold different memories of events. As an adult, Danny repeats the mistake of his father at times--for example, marrying a woman and then buying a house for her that she doesn't want. But he grows wise and thoughtful, and his reflections on his sister and their past suggest the sort of psychological layering and evolution that are pure pleasure to behold in a novel. Masterful. Highly recommend.

Tommy Orange, THERE THERE

A powerfully written book about the Native American (or Native Indian, both terms are used) experience in Oakland, California. Because it is told from the POV of many characters, sometimes in first-person, sometimes in third-person, it portrays collectively the systemic effects of alcoholism, addiction, violence, and brutal historical loss. I found myself bracing for the train wreck that happens despite best intentions. The writing is often poetic, spare, lovely. Words taken out of context are never as powerful, but here are a few of my favorite lines: "A breeze came in and it felt like my arms and back were being scraped by it"; "it was something Dene had seen in his mom's eyes, something that looked like remembering and dreading at once"; "He was twelve. It was November, so it was easy to find Indians on TV"; "But inside every kind of sound lurked a sadness. In the quiet between your parents, after a fight they both managed to lose." Highly recommend.