The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff

THE BURNING SIDE by Sarah Damoff is a beautifully written, character-driven story set in Texas and a LibraryReads selection for May 2026. The focus is on April and Leo whose house burns down and whose marriage is falling apart. They have two young children, Sadie and Otto, and move in temporarily with April’s parents, Deb and Billy. The narrative jumps around in time and there are many sad moments and missed opportunities for clearer communication in this book, only intensifying the “feels” and affection for these characters. Deb and Billy have their own poignant story as they adjust to the impact of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, reflecting throughout on their long, not always happy marriage. April and her siblings, Josie (dramatic middle child involved in theater) and Cameron (with girlfriend Rachel) also need to cope with selling the family home (“We live in homes until we leave them, and then they live in us. … I miss it. But we can only return to a place, not a time.”) and decisions about their own Alzheimer testing. There are plenty of issues and shifts in the characters’ reality, but that contributes to the realistic feeling of family life: “It doesn’t go fast, but it will have gone fast.” Having myself just returned from a memorial service for a dear Aunt who loved to read, Deb’s musings resonated: “In a flash, I'll be gone, my own children recalling their favorite things about me in some new house at some new table with some new iteration of family. So I dance now as if time is the music. This, I know, is how you dream. This is how you live forever.”

The Invincible Brain by Majid Fotuhi

THE INVINCIBLE BRAIN by Majid Fotuhi offers “The Clinically Proven Plan to Age-Proof Your Brain and Stay Sharp for Life.” Booklist describes this text as “informative, practical, and inspiring.” The conversational tone, clear outline, and customization certainly contribute to that perception. A widely published and interviewed researcher, Fotuhi is an adjunct professor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins’s Mind/Brain Institute, an adjunct professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at George Washington University, and the medical director of NeuroGrow Brain Fitness Center. He writes repeatedly and clearly about the five pillars of brain health (Fitness, Sleep, Diet, Mindset, and Training) and how to measure and increase them in a systematic way, encouraging his readers to focus on the area(s) where they want or need the most improvement. In order to get a benchmark assessment of brain function, Fotuhi provides direction on creating a brain portfolio and lists forty questions dealing with physical conditions, health habits, and socializing that “will bring to your attention things you may not have thought about, or help you realize there are things you have been tolerating that you could do something about.” He then suggests resources and weekly interventions which can change over the course of his twelve-week program. THE INVINCIBLE BRAIN has also been praised by fellow doctors/writers like  Sanjay Gupta, David Perlmutter, and John Ratey (Spark). Have a look.

Ironwood by Michael Connelly

IRONWOOD by Michael Connelly is his second mystery novel (after Nightshade) set on Catalina Island featuring Detective Sergeant Stilwell. It’s intriguing to picture the lifestyle for the six thousand or so permanent residents who cope with more than a million visitors each year. The island, its iconic buildings (e.g., bell tower, casino, hotels, including the Mt. Ada, the former Wrigley mansion) and its harbor with regular ferry service to the mainland, are as much a part of the story as the adventures that Stilwell faces. As the only detective on the island, he deals with multiple cases of vandalism, a horrific attack which kills one deputy and severely injures another, and a resurrected missing persons case that involves Renee Ballard on the mainland. Connelly does an excellent job of sharing Stilwell’s thinking on each event; potentially intertwined cases and a sense of edginess keep readers involved – I read this in about a day. IRONWOOD received starred reviews from both Booklist (“Connelly is at his most polished and incisive here, with crackling dialogue, complex investigations, tricky relationships, escalating suspense, and dogged and inspired sleuthing by a principled, rule-breaking hero.”) and Library Journal (“the pace is relentless, and Stillwell is a captivating character”). Highly recommended.

Storm Warning by James Byrne

STORM WARNING by James Byrne is another Dez Limerick thriller (#4, after Chain Reaction) and it does not disappoint. Dez is a wise-cracking “gatekeeper,” skilled at opening doors and fending off intruders. He is off to Newfoundland during a blizzard with a State Department official, her bodyguard, and other law and medical personnel. Their mission is to contact a group of scientists who’ve suddenly gone quiet five stories down in an innovative mine that also appears to have cut off access. Byrne complicates Dez’ task by adding well-armed Russians who are after something in the mine, plus, greedy (and psycho) capitalists employing mercenaries and several traitors. The pace is exhilarating and feels like non-stop action interspersed with clever quips from Dez. STORM WARNING received a starred review from Publishers Weekly (“Byrne brilliantly braids plot threads from previous installments into the action, creating a high-octane page-turner that respects its audience’s intelligence.”). Don’t miss it!

The May House by Jillian Cantor

THE MAY HOUSE by Jillian Cantor (The Hours Count) is a book about sisters and the week they spend together each year (“‘It’s my favorite day of the year,’ she called out. ‘May day!’”) at their Grandmother Vera’s house on the beach at Coronado Island near San Diego. The story is sometimes confusing because it skips around in time and shifts focus between Julia (the eldest, obsessing over rules and scheduling), Emily (big-hearted middle sister struggling to find a purpose in life) and Nora, (the youngest, pursuing an acting career despite opposition from their widowed father). Over thirty years, they experience personal and professional upheaval, including marital problems, parenthood for some, and an unrequited crush on next door neighbor, Nate, a local surfer. Given the sisters’ lack of contact during the year, THE MAY HOUSE is somewhat like the Alan Alda rom-com, “Same Time, Next Year,” providing opportunity for readers to judge the choices being made and to observe the characters’ growth. Still, they do care about each other: Julia muses, “Her sisters. She would never love anyone in quite the same frustratingly wonderful way that she loved Emily and Nora. They'd bickered their whole lives. But being sisters always transcended everything else. Their shared history, their shared trauma, their shared DNA. It was all irreplaceable.” Cantor drops plenty of hints about a not-so-secret secret that eventually emerges and propels the sisters forward, embracing the many blessings they have.

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

THE CALAMITY CLUB by Kathryn Stockett (The Help) is set in 1930s Oxford, Mississippi and the beginning is quite disheartening as Stockett describes life in an orphanage for Margot Louise (Meg) LeFleur, an eleven-year-old whose asides to the reader are reminiscent of those from Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce. Meg is intelligent, but scarred by being abandoned by her mother, called Charlie. And Meg struggles to cope with the abusive treatment at the orphanage. Things are a bit brighter (literally) when she meets Birdie Calhoun, poor sister to Francis Tartt, one of the local volunteers. Birdie is in town in hopes of much needed funds from her sister and the wealthier family into which she married. Sadly, it is the Depression Era, and no one is spared the ravages of poverty; that means Birdie eventually meets Charlie and, in an act of desperation, the two form a business venture. A LibraryReads Selection, THE CALAMITY CLUB is a tale of betrayal and also of loyalty; of strict social standards and also of acceptance due mainly to necessity; of sexual mores and women’s health. Book clubs will find much to discuss from this lengthy (656 pages) historical fiction novel which does drag in parts. Readers will develop affection and concern for Meg as well as Birdie - who is an especially likeable character - but their circumstances and the “calamities” they face are not.

A Little More Social by Nicholas Epley

A LITTLE MORE SOCIAL is a new book by Nicholas Epley (Mindwise) where he explains “How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection.” Epley is the John Templeton Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and faculty director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He argues that we should not allow fear and myths to keep us from reaching out more to others, pointing out that if we work on changing our often overly pessimistic expectations, introverts and extroverts alike can benefit. Instead, Epley encourages readers to treat beliefs as “bets” or “guesses” rather than certainty and he discusses the rejection theory videos of Jia Jiang who invited rejection with outlandish requests in an attempt to overcome his own fear. Several other chapters of A LITTLE MORE SOCIAL deal with choosing Thankfulness, Kindness, and Honesty. Overall, Epley cites numerous experiments and research in an effort to convince people to be a little more open and he tries to offer specifics, but changing a mindset is difficult and it would help to have more recognition that not everyone has his capacity to reach out.  Notes, related commentary, and an Index comprise roughly thirty percent of the text. The video below is Epley’s Ted Talk: “The Simple Habit for a Happier Social Life” and conveys many of the ideas in his new book: 

David Brooks interviewed Nicholas Epley at a Family Action Network session on May 21 and that video will be posted shortly on their website. A favorite quote? They referred to the idea that “everyone you ever meet knows something you don’t.” A motivator like that may encourage readers to modify their own routines.