How High We Go in the Dark 

by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Wm.Morrow/Harper

    This is not an easy book to read. Especially with the CDC in disarray, the idea of another pandemic is more than slightly frightening.

    The way people in the novel deal with the disease, the fear and sorrow is well written. You have to wonder if this could happen and how the near-future might deal with it.

    That said, there are many lovely characters and the strength of family is a constant.

If you would like to know more about, or own this book, please check with your local independent bookstore or this great place bookshop.org

People Like Us. 

by Jason Mott

Dutton/Penguin Random House

    This is such an important book. It is moving, terrifying, loving and manages to still have parts that are very funny. It's about school shootings, being Black in America (and elsewhere), family, love, literature and guns. It will make you think.

If you would like to know more about, or own this book, please check with your local independent bookstore or this great place bookshop.org

Oxford Soju Club                   

by Jinwoo Park

Dundurn Press/ Ingram Publisher Services

    Spies - from North Korea, South Korea and the U.S. living, working and dying in Oxford.

    This is compelling due to plot but more so the characters, who are brilliantly created. There is such depth and caring in each of these people that you wish they had better fates awaiting them.

    Don't pass on this because you don't usually read espionage books. This is not to be missed. (And I need to find Soju somewhere. It sounds like a wonderful drink.)

If you would like to know more about, or own this book, please check with your local independent bookstore or this great place bookshop.org