** Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Where’d You Go, Bernadette offers a hilarious satire of wealthy private school parents, which I enjoyed thoroughly. The rest of the story was dicier: the misunderstood genius-architect mom who withdraws from her own life but somehow manages to engineer a complete disappearance does not quite square with the love she professes to have for her daughter. So a romp, but not one I could believe.

** The Engagement by Sasha Issenberg

The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage, describes how quickly marriage equality went from a mirage, including for LGBTQ groups, to a Supreme Court decision–and it does it in exquisite detail. 800+ pages worth of detail, which for me was too much. I don’t really care to know the names of every judge who ruled on the matter, or any attorney who battled for or against, let alone their back stories. That said, the way churches got into the action and politicians weighed on one side or the other to suit their electoral chances makes for a riveting and dark story.

** This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

I don’t care much for time travel, so when the heroine of This Time Tomorrow starts shuttling between her 40th and 16th birthday, I rolled my eyes. I must admit that the writing is engaging and lively, but our friend’s efforts to control her, her father’s, and her best friend’s future lives did not quite convince me. And, interestingly, all these efforts pretty much end up still tied, one way or another, to the snooty school she attended…

** We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lam

We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies often reads more like a history lesson than the novel it claims to be, the historical event being China’s invasion of Tibet and its consequences on Tibetan refugees. The story is told through two young sisters and their family and mixes pragmatic concerns of survival with the struggles of keeping cultural identity–and artifacts–safe despite exile. Because of the strong historical themes, I found it difficult to identify with the sisters at a personal level, but I certainly learned a lot about Tibet!

*** Love Marriage by Monica Ali

The heroine of Love Marriage is a medical resident, the daughter of successful Indian immigrants to the UK, and is engaged to be married to the son of an upper-class single mother who has forged a too-close bond with her son. The path ahead is bumpy and will see the unexpected unraveling of the parents’ marriage.

The author nails the impostor syndrome of the heroine as well as her mother’s complicated and stoic identity.

** The Frontlines of Peace by Séverine Autesserre

The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider’s Guide to Changing the World brought to mind the excellent book by Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid, which outlined the many failures of government-to-government aid. Here, the author specifically tackles peacebuilding initiatives, which she shows routinely fail for a similar reason: the failure to work with local communities and tailored programs, which may not have the intellectual appeal of democratic elections or the short-term results foreign donors may aspire to, but are much cheaper and, in the long run, more effective.

It’s not a feel-good story, not only because it exposes the sins of the foreign do-gooders, but also because it acknowledges that there is no magic formula to success, barring the requirement to always work with and for grassroots organizations.

* Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark

Fellowship Point takes us through the entires lives of two now elderly friends whose families own some stunning real estate on a Maine promontory and whose main problem seems to be how to ensure that said property stays protected for ever. How ecologically correct! My problem was that I found it very difficult to find compassion for these two women, who had suffered various family tragedies, to be sure, but who exist in a world of wealth and privilege that they do not acknowledge and certainly do not question. We read 19th century novels about aristocrats of the same vein, I suppose, and we don’t really question them, but I just could not truly empathize with the real woes of these two women.

** Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan

The Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History tells the story of an infamous disease that’s killed millions and, frighteningly, may kill again in significant numbers as it acquires mutations that make it impervious to antibiotics. The book has the measured cadence of a scientific paper so be patient and moderate any expectations of a page turner!

*** Sleep Walk by Dan Chaon

I don’t like dystopian fiction normally, but I thoroughly enjoyed Sleepwalk and its barely believable plot, complete with apocalyptic government failures–probably for its hero, an aging contact killer who discovers he may have children. The cadence of the writing keeps pushing toward the next improbable adventure and if you ignore the many corpses (of bad guys, mostly), it’s a story that’s deeper than it seems at first glance.

*** Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht

Vera Kelly is serving as a (closeted) gay CIA agent in Argentina, an unlikely recruit with little experience, when she finds herself stuck there following a coup. She will eventually find a way out without betraying too many of her contacts. I enjoyed the matter-of-fact narration and the fast rhythm of the story, even if it’s not really believable.