The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margo by Marianne Cronin

This book was what I needed after reading Rabbit Hutch and Trust. It's a lovely book about friendship in the most unlikely of places... a hospital. Seventeen-year-old Lenni befriends 83-year-old Margo, and they realize that together they have lived 100 years! As their friendship develops, they open up their lives to one another. I found it to be enchanting and well written. 

It may not win the awards the others mentioned above have received, but it was a nice change of pace and I highly recommend it. - June

P.S. A movie version is coming!

Trust by Hernan Diaz

BT, I know you said you gave up on this one, and boy oh boy, I was tempted. But there was a part of me that just thought that it must get better if it won a Pulitzer. So I slogged and skipped my way through it, and here's what I think..... The author or the editor could have cut out about half of the text and it would have been much better. All of the financial details were way beyond me and also unnecessary for the plot.

The novel is divided into four parts... a short novel, an autobiography in progress, a memoir, and a diary. There are many conflicting parts to the basic story, and the final section does pull most of it together and reveals a big surprise, but there are still many unanswered questions. 

Am I glad I stuck with it? I guess so. The ending was creative. But it was just a long hard road getting there. - June

Small World by Laura Zigman

Two middle-aged sisters who have both recently divorced, move in together and try to work out issues from their past. The novel is interesting but not riveting and the characters are both irritating and predictable. But it was a good book to listen to as I walk around the neighborhood.

There were two small sub-plots that run through the book that I liked. The first is the reference to the main character's use of the neighborhood website where lost pets and personal grievances are aired. She converts these to poetry that she keeps in a notebook. She does this just because she likes the way some of them sound. Odd but fascinating.

The other one pertains to her job. Joyce works for a company that takes old family photos, scans them, digitizes them and cleans them up. Then a book or slide show gets created. As Joyce sees the old photos, she is shocked to see risky behavior, and when she sees it, she corrects it in the photo. For example, if a family is standing together by a cliff, she Photoshops a safety rope into the picture. Or she adds a gate to protect a child from wandering into a pool. Just a little creative side to Joyce - and the author.

Recommended if you're looking for a good audiobook to pass the time. -June