Anonymous wrote:Recent books I enjoyed and listened to or read quickly include:
American Dirt
Wild Dark Shore
The Lion Women of Tehran
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
The Vanishing Half
Annie Bot
The Women
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Hello Beautiful
Oona Out of Order
Project Hail Mary
The Midnight Library

+1 Hello Beautiful

Another vote for American Dirt. I could not put it down. I think I held my breath for several chapters.

Sending good vibes too!

Anxious People Fredrick Backman
Olive Kittridge Elizabeth Strout
Black cake
Mrs Tom Thumb Melanie Benjamin
Night watch Jayne Anne Phillips
The Lost Bookshop


Anything by Ruth ware or Lisa Jewel if you like psychological mysteries

Recent books I enjoyed and listened to or read quickly include:
American Dirt
Wild Dark Shore
The Lion Women of Tehran
Lady Tan's Circle of Women
The Vanishing Half
Annie Bot
The Women
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Hello Beautiful
Oona Out of Order
Project Hail Mary
The Midnight Library

Hope you’re doing well, OP!

I loved “The Husbands” and friends tell me they have appreciated the recommendation. I also read my first Agatha Christie this year (the murder of Roger Ackroyd) and found it engaging.

I hope your treatment is going well, Op. I have to say your post has brought a terrific list of books. So diverse. All the ones I recognize are books I enjoyed, and lots of new suggestions.

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for The Wedding People. It's better (funnier, deeper and more life-affirming) than you think it will be. The audiobook is very good, and I'm not usually an audiobook fan.

Could not get into it, and never completed it

Outlander

Americanah
Kite Runner
Cutting for Stone

Best wishes, OP.

Another shout out for Where'd You Go Bernadette? Recently read and adored:
-Still Life by Sarah Winman
-The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne (great as an audiobook)
-The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Where'd You Go Bernadette is so fun and funny and smart.

Writers and Lovers by Lily King is beautifully written, and also gentle and sweet. Felt like a balm.

I really loved Olive Kittridge -- Like really, really loved it. Braided short stories, some of which are more overlapping than others.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai is very engrossing. A Serial-type podcaster returns to her 1980s (?) boarding school to try to unravel a long-ago murder.

Braiding Sweetgrass if you want a series of short, beautiful meditations about nature, and seeing.

And OP, don't underestimate the joy of well-written children's literature in moments like these. A good children's novel can be beautiful and engrossing, all the best parts of a story distilled into a small form. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, anything by Kate DiCamillo. The Secret Garden, though there's some extremely colonialist language that you'll have to look past. Anne of Green Gables.

Wishing you the best.

These aren't novels but I find myself really engrossed in Bill Bryson's work.

Especially his "walking" books - he takes you along for his journey, both inside and outside his mind. A good dollop of humor, too.

I second Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Funny and uplifting.

I also LOVED:
Cutting for Stone
and
Half Broke Horses