Good Reads

With the summer upon us, I have a bit more time to read those books that have piled up on my nightstand. (Yes, I still like the feel of an actual book in my hands, preferably a hard cover.) Read on for some of my recent favorites.

When a novel gets as much advance praise as "Heartwood" by Amity Gage did, I take notice. That's not to say I'd run out and get the book if it didn't sound up my alley. Nor would I buy a book without perusing the first few pages to make sure I like the writing. "Heartwood" checked both of those boxes, with the bonus that I'd previously read Gage's "Schroeder" and enjoyed it. So the novel made its way into my hands as soon as it hit the shelves. 

"Heartwood" tells the story of a woman who's hiking the Applachian Trail on her own. She's consistently met up with her husband at agreed locations to resupply, so her failure to show up within a day or two after the expected date was cause for concern. So was the fact that she hadn't been in contact via her cell phone. Sure, there are plenty of dead zones on the Trail, but this too was unusual. She had vanished. 

The story is told from multiple perspectives. Valerie, our hiker, is of course a dominant voice. But so is that of Lt. Bev, co-head of the Incident Management Team for the Warden Service. (Learning about how these searches are conducted was particularly interesting.) We also hear regularly from a former fellow hiker, Valerie's husband and a woman living in a retirement community who becomes obsessed with the search. 

I don't want to tell you more for fear of ruining the twists and turns the story takes, but I will say that I gobbled this book up. If you're interested in mysteries, books about the outdoors or novels with strong female characters, "Heartwood" is for you. (Another book with the same feel -- absent the strong females characters -- is "The River" by Peter Heller.) 

"The Names" by Florence Knapp explores the question of how a child's name can affect both his personality and the family dynamic. Knapp delves into this idea by looking at what's happened/is happening with a family in seven year intervals, beginning with the year of the child's birth. 

The alternative names are quite different. The father assumes his son's name will be Gordon. After all, naming the first born son Gordon is a family tradition that dates back generations. The young daughter's choice is Bear because it calls to mind a brother who will be soft, cuddly and kind yet strong and brave. The mother likes Julian, or "sky father" in Latin and Greek. It's a name that will honor the baby's father while giving the child more freedom to carve his own path in life than naming him after his dad would. 

How the family's future unfolds due -- at least in part -- to the choice of name is for you, the reader, to learn. I will, however, share that pere Gordon is an abusive husband who is used to getting his way. If you like a strong family drama, "The Names" should be on your "to read" list.  

"The Measure" by Nikki Erlick is a work of speculative fiction. Erlick has envisioned a near future in which everyone aged 22 and older wakes up one morning to find a closed box on his or her doorstep. Inside each box is a string, with its length representing the amount of time the recipient has left to live. Perhaps not surprisingly, the world is suddenly composed of "short stringers" and "long stringers." (Note: "Short stringers" is a broad term that encompasses people who might not die for years but who aren't going to live for decades.) 

The story follows the lives of multiple characters with strings of varying lengths while envisioning the ways in which short stringers and long stringers are treated differently. On the personal front, the obvious question is how you would live if you were a short stringer. Would you get married, have children, change jobs, retire, volunteer, travel the world? How would that decision-making change with the length of your string? It's hard to imagine this knowledge wouldn't always be in the forefront of your mind. 

What I found even more interesting was the way the existence of this data was handled as a policy matter. Take the area of health care, for instance. Would/should resources be expended -- and to what extent -- on short stringers? Hmm. And what about the implications for national defense? In the novel, all people in the U.S. military are required to disclose the length of their strings. Short stringers weren't banned from serving, but their prospects for going into combat -- even it that's what they'd trained for their entire lives -- have been significantly reduced. After all, the success rate of a mission could well depend upon the survival of the combatants. These are just two examples of the issues Ehrlick contemplates being raised by the availability of this information.  

While I've never been in a bookclub, it's hard to imagine a novel that would foster a more lively discussion. It's a thought-provoking read, and Erlick's writing is engaging. Her sophomore novel -- "The Poppy Fields" -- is now out and has been added to my "to read" list.  

If you have a moment, drop a note in the comment box to let me know a book you'd recommend. Happy summer reading!