A great exploration of the attention economy throughout history. It was a little slow in the first half, but that could just be my extremely deteriorated attention span. Last two chapters on the current state of affairs are excellent.

This is a haunting tale about the few remaining remnants of a family after a mass murder. But a mass murder committed by Whom? And way do they remain so secluded only to embrace the presence of an obscure relative? This story wonderfully raised more questions than it answers.

This was a different and very good book, and I’m not going to do it justice in the description, but here goes. A woman has lost her husband to an accident and now has to sell the house they had bought together but had not yet moved into. Each chapter then becomes a look into her perspective of “If only such and such had not happened”. And even though you know right from the beginning what the ending is, it is still an amazing descriptive journey which was originally written in French.

I did this book as an audio book, and I felt like someone was telling me a story nor reading an audio book to me. This is based on a true story and is sad, and wonderful, and hopeful, and amazing. It’s about a small group of people who live isolated, though harsh and beautiful, lives until someone comes and wants to help them. The display of humanity here will evoke feelings here and make you think about how society creates rules and how people are affected.

This is a wonderful tale that everyone can relate to; the anxiety and anticipation surrounding a high school reunion, and Smith tells a wonderful tale here. And as the old classmates gather, grudges come to the surface, and secrets behind them are revealed.

A very emotional book about family, reminding us that no family is perfect. I loved every character and empathized with them through their pain and heartache. A powerful debut, can't wait to read more from this author.

While I am not always a fan of his stories set in Scotland, I did enjoy this one. Isabel sets out to get a present for her husband for Valentine’s Day but in the process becomes entangled in a situation which looks like she will either need to renege on a promise or fail to help someone who is truly in need. But leave it to the philosopher in her to work out the right answer.

This translated book from Japanese was very interesting. A boy of high school age who works in his family’s bookstore has just lost his grandfather who he lived with. He shuts himself away in the bookstore until a strange visitor comes into the shop. I liked the different writing this book presented as well as the way it presents a different way of looking a books.

I could not wait for this book to be over. It is an autobiographical novel about the author’s experience growing up gay into young adulthood. The trouble is that it reads like a list of her sexual exploits beginning when she was 9 years old. And what little story there is revolves entirely around the fat that she is gay, as if that is the determining factor in every event that happens.

Let me first say that this was a really good book and I definitely recommend it. BUT I read a lot of read a lot of Stephen King and books like this, and I am good at suspending disbelief so that I can fully enjoy the story. And I don’t want to give anything away, but who, or actually what, the author chose to be the evil overriding force in this story was something I could just not buy into. And once I found that out, it took a little bit of the enjoyment of the book sway from me.