The Stranger in the Woods

Finished April 26
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I read it for a book club for work that never ended up happening, but am glad I did.
In 1986, twenty-year-old Christopher Knight drove his truck deep into the woods of rural Maine, got out of it and started walking. He hadn't quit his job installing security systems. He hadn't said anything to his family, or worried about the fact that one of his brothers had co-signed for his truck not that long ago. He still can't explain what exactly was going through his mind. Twenty-seven years later, perseverance by a local police officer working to solve a long series of break-ins and minor thefts in the area, caught him red-handed stealing from a camp.
As the story broke, across the country journalist Michael Finkel became very interested in the story, wrote Knight while he was in jail, and then flew out and had multiple meetings with him, trying to uncover his story and make some effort at understanding this unusual man.
Finkel is a good writer, and has done a lot of research into hermits, and into this particular one. He visited the site of Knight's camp in the woods several times, and talked to many of the people in the area, both those that were victims of his thefts and those that were not.
Finkel's effort to get into Knight's head and truly understand why he went into the woods and stayed there, how he managed to survive even through extreme cold, and his effect on the community that he lived near is insightful and fascinating.
Highly recommend.

Afterlife

Finished April 25
Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

This novel follows Antonia Vega, a retired college professor as she still mourns the loss of her husband Sam a year after his death, and is drawn into the immigration issues and love life of the illegal Mexican farmhand working for her neighbour. Antonia is still feeling at loose ends without her husband, and although her three sisters, Mona, Izzy, and Tilly, contact her regularly, and she values their close relationship, she doesn't feel like getting involved in new things. Antonia and her sisters immigrated to the United States with their parents when they were young children, and because she speaks Spanish she gets drawn into the issues next door.
She has volunteered with the immigrant community in the past, but has really pulled into a more solitary existence since the death of her husband, and is only gradually drawn out as the situation lands on her doorstep of the young farmhand's pregnant girlfriend.
To add to the upheaval in her life, Izzy, her oldest sister, always a bit flighty, has seemed to become more impulsive lately and goes missing enroute to a sisterly meetup. As the sisters try to track her down, and deal with what they might find at the end of their search, Antonia finds that there are still things in life that need her attention despite her grief.

Soul of the Desert

Finished April 21
Soul of the Desert by Maria Schneider

This book is set in the 1970s and 80s, with Rand, a young Harlem hoodlum trying to protect his little brother Bo from the life he is caught up in. When chance throws Christina, an ambitious young Latino woman and her coworker into his clutches, he negotiates a way out for Bo.
Christina takes Bo back to New Mexico where she grew up, and places him on the ranch with her parents as his caregivers.
Bo hopes that Rand will eventually be able to join him there, as Rand and Christina work out a clandestine way to keep in touch while trying to minimize the possibility that Bo will be found by the rival gangs back East.
But the drug trade reaches everywhere and it soon shows up in the school that Bo now goes to, and during his high school years he becomes involved in a way he never would have anticipated, and that his new family has reservations about.
This is a tale of a young boy trying for a fresh start, but having to overcome culture shock, prejudice, and a completely new enviroment.
It grew on me as I got further into it.

Nothing Left to Mend

Finished April 16
Nothing Left to Mend by Matt R. Weaver

This rural noir novel features Glenn Dempster, the new police chief of a mill town, Verton, Pennsylvania. The union has been locked out of the mill for months, with increasing violence between the substitute workers and the desperate union men. Glenn is respected by him men, but not liked, and he only just barely won the vote against one of his own men for chief, but taking on the corruption of the previous chief as an issue. His marriage is in difficulty, and as the book opens, he is living in a small apartment in an extremely ill-kept building. His wife is using their young daughter, Heather as a pawn between them and Heather is just trying to keep her head down, both at home, and at school where she stands alone, with her father hated by both union blue collar and the white collar workers. Glenn's wife's father is the mayor and he has no love for Glenn, with his actions causing many of the issues in Glenn's marriage.
There is a lot of small town stuff going on here, with everyone putting their nose in everyone else's business and one café a no-man's ground for workers to eat and meet.
As the factory owners finally allow the union back to work, an explosion in the blast furnace reignites the issues between the sides, and has Glenn's team trying to find out what lies behind some of the actions.
Glenn is a loner, a local boy that just wants to do right and earn a living. He's smart but not always lucky, and he begins to wonder if he really has a future in this town.
I quite enjoyed this book and liked how the characters evolved over the course of the book, including young Heather.

Navigate Your Stars

Finished April 9
Navigate Your Stars by Jesmyn Ward, illustrated by Gina Triplett

This speech was given by author Jesmyn Ward and the Tulane University 2018 commencement, and speaks to the rewards of hard work and perseverance, and the value of respect. She describes her own challenges and those of her family, and was an inspiration to those that attended.
It has now been released as a short book and illustrated beautifully by Triplett to make this book a great keepsake for any graduate.

The Walnut Tree

Finished April 6
The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd

This short novel is set during World War One, when a titled young woman eludes her uncle and guardian's oversight to become a nurse and serve near the front. She is inspired by her experience returning to England after being stranded in Paris at the start of the war and making her own way to the coast and a ship home. Seeing the action fighting, the injured, and the men involved makes her reluctant to just sit at home.
Elspeth is a smart and resourceful young woman, and has the support of her male cousins, which helps her cause. She is torn between feelings for her best friend's brother, a young French man now involved in the fighting, and an old friend from Scotland that she meets once again during her initial escape home.
With suspense, drama, and romance, this novel has a lot going for it. This is part of the Bess Crawford series, but Bess plays only a minor role in the story as a fellow nurse and housemate to Elspeth.

Dangerous Waters

Finished April 3
Dangerous Waters by Anne Allen

Jeanne Le Page has returned to Guernsey after more than a decade away. She left shortly after her parents were killed and she was injured when she was twelve. Her memories of that night haven't returned, but the sight of the port from the ferry makes her nauseous. She lived with her aunt in England and went to university there and has been working as a freelance journalist since then. But a few months ago her grandmother passed away, and Jeanne must deal with the estate, including her grandmother's house.
She is met by her parents' good friends and stays with them for a couple of days until she feels that she can stay in the house while she goes through the contents, and decides what needs to be done in terms of repairs. She connects with old schoolfriends and other young people her age, and begins to consider staying in Guernsey for good. There is a young man very interested in starting a relationship with her, but she isn't sure, and since she is coming off a recent breakup, she is taking it slowly.
As her memory starts to return and she talks to the police who still have an open investigation on the deaths of her parents, and the attack on her, she starts be in danger again.
I liked Jeanne and I liked the descriptions of Guernsey and the house that she inherited. The plot was interesting too, with a few twists and turns.
A good read.