Demon Copperhead By Barbara Kingsolver
Demon is resilient, he’s Teflon, he’s going to suffer, and the people he loves are not all going to make it out alive, but Demon, Demon is going to be all right.
Fishing! by Sarah Stonich
Sarah Stonich is at the height of her powers, having fine-tuned her comedic voice with Vacationland and Laurentian Divide. Fishing is laugh-out-loud funny, but don’t be mistaken – Stonich will take you into the deep. Her understanding of the complexity of family, dysfunctional relationships, and difficult people make Fishing more than a feel-good read. The best part – we can expect book #2 in the series in the near future.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Dutch House is a glorious read, as grand as its namesake and as luminous as the rest of Patchett’s oeuvre. I recommend The Dutch House for fans of The Big House by George Howe Colt, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and Patchett’s own Commonwealth.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter lives in two worlds – the poor black community where she lives and where her father runs the neighborhood grocery store and the suburban prep school she attends where her parents believe she will be safe. But everything changes one night when she attends a party with her childhood friend, Khalil, and on the way home they are pulled over by the police. Khalil is fatally shot by the police officer. He was unarmed. The only person who really knows what happened that night is Starr and she must testify at a trial. Starr and her family are torn between doing the right thing and keeping her safe. She is at the apex of a conflict, the birth of a social movement.
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Kingsolver’s characters must give up their preconceived notions of what constitutes success and happiness, each generation entrenched in their way of thinking and being. Perhaps Mary Treat says it best of all:
“Their little families have come here looking for safety, but they will go on laboring under old authorities until their heaven collapses. Your charge is to lead them out of doors. Teach them to see evidence for themselves, and not to fear it. . . to stand in the clear light of day . . . unsheltered.”