Close To Birds by Mats Ottosson and Asa Ottosson

This is a gorgeous book. The photographs of the birds are delightful and full of detail, and they exude a miraculous sense of life. The text is very anecdotal, quoting multiple bird lovers' personal impressions and experiences with certain birds who regularly visit Northern Europe. Plenty of guidebooks exist to identify birds but this book is designed to awaken an interest in these fabulous creatures in anyone who even just casually peruses its contents but also enchant hard-core bird lovers.

The Unwinding Of The Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams

A very difficult book to read and process as it details the life and then lengthy struggle of an incredible young woman who first seeks myriad treatments to deal with a diagnosis of stage four colon cancer, and then finally comes to terms with the relentless death sentence it remained from the initial diagnosis. Frank in her portrayal of the five-year ordeal for herself and her husband and two children, she shares her pain and suffering as a way to provide others with some illuminating insights into facing and working to overcome the hardships that life often unleashes upon people in the course of their lifetime.

Rez Life by David Treuer

An informative book which provides facts and details about contemporary Indian life on reservations, the history of the creation and development of reservations and many of the subsequent changes that have mired many reservations in continued poverty while enabling a few to become prosperous. A history and explanation of Sovereignty on reservations and the constant struggles to retain rights promised in historical treaties and in subsequent laws. The author poignantly explains the struggles to retain cultural identity despite the cruel and relentless efforts by the American government and its dominant European immigrants to wipe out all Indian cultures. An impressive mix of political and historical facts that inform as well as considered opinions that provoke thought and reflection. Recommended.

Mr. Lear: A Life Of Art And Nonsense by Jenny Uglow

An impressive biography that illuminates the complexity of a fascinating artist/poet/"traveloguer"/human being. I previously only knew Mr. Lear from his many witty limericks. The author reveals him vividly through his own writings and his many friendships with the aristocratic, artistic and movers and shakers" of the 19th century. Recommended!

The Last Year Of The War by Susan Meissner

Two twelve year old American born girls meet in an internment camp in Texas. One is a German American, the other is Japanese-American. From their brief time together under very difficult circumstances in Crystal City, the "Camp", they develop a friendship that lasts over sixty years. Unfortunately, that friendship is one enjoyed only through memories because they are soon separated, each to return against their will to the homeland of their parents. Before they part, they hatch a plan to reunite immediately at the end of the war. The focus of the story is Elsie/Elise the German American girl as her story unfolds through the end of the war and then as she attains adulthood. This is a poignant historical fiction.

A Year By The Sea by Joan Anderson

A contemplative narrative by a woman in her middle age who takes up residence in the family cottage on the Cape. Her two sons are launched and she chooses not to accompany her husband when he takes a new job. Instead, she spends a year living alone, absorbing the wild beauty of Nature as she takes stock of her life and the desires and changes she wants moving into her older age. Lyrical descriptions and thoughtful musings infuse this lovely memoir. Recommended.

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Excellent story that compassionately reveals the travails endured by young people interred in a boarding school for Native American Youth stolen from their parents to be indoctrinated in the "values" of the dominant White culture. A group of four children, three white orphans and one Native American escape the school and go on a journey. The time period is the early thirties and the horrific consequences of the Depression become a part of their story as they make their way South in a boat. The young narrator is an appealing character whose storytelling weaves its way into the heart of the reader, at least this reader. Recommended.

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

A middle-aged couple loses their home, and the husband is newly diagnosed with a terminal illness but their kids are launched so they decide to walk the South West Coast Path in Great Britain. Descriptions of nature are often lyrical even as the narrative also describes the difficulties of wild camping along the trail, surviving on a low budget barely adequate to cover the cost of food, and enduring cold and wind buffeting their tent. Infused with thoughtful reflection on their experience of life, and their enduring love for one another, this is a poignant travelogue.

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

Enjoyable historical fiction about a young woman who helped her father and brother keep an island lighthouse operational in the 1830s. One stormy night, she and her father go out in a small boat to try to rescue survivors of a sinking ship, and as a result, she becomes famous much to her dismay. This interesting story also introduces a fictional relative of one of the survivors who more than 100 years later ends up at a lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island. Their stories in separate chapters offer a satisfying look at the largely unrecognized existence of women lighthouse keepers.

That Good Night by Sunita Puri

This is an important book to read. We all face death at some point. I know what I fear most is enduring pain. I do not want to suffer. This author, a doctor who has specialized in the care of patients who are facing the end of life issues of extraordinary care vs palliative care addresses this important life stage in a poignant and informative narrative that invites thought and discussion

Inheritance by Dani Shapiro

This is a fascinating book about a search for identity after a 54-year woman discovers that her biological father was not the man who raised her but instead a sperm donor. Looking into a mirror in a self-described obsessive manner while growing up, she sensed she was different from the others in her family. She knew that the face that stared back at her did not resemble anyone else in her family. Then a DNA test reveals that she is not related to her half-sister, therefore the father she loved deeply was not her father. Now her driving force becomes, "Who am I?" And further, this narrative also devels into the industry and ethics of anonymous sperm donations wherein millions of children never know their fathers or perhaps even their true origins. In an interview, a purveyor of sperm remarks unfeelingly to her, " Why is it traumatic? You're here, aren't you?" WOW! This is a book that many who have an anonymous parent, or a known parent who never had anything to do with them may find difficult to read because it addresses reality and pain we experience all our life. Perhaps it may also open up an awareness of a poignant "circumstance" that millions experience.