A Life in Light by Mary Pipher

A LIFE IN LIGHT by Mary Pipher is subtitled “Meditations on Impermanence” and it is a wonderful reflection on life and universal truths about resilience and becoming, about “finding coping tools, appreciating beauty, and seeking transcendence.” A well-known psychologist and best-selling author (Reviving Ophelia and Women Rowing North), Pipher recounts short vignettes from her own life – special meals, beloved pets, best friends, and favorite books. All the while she comments on light and its importance to her: “Reading offered me hope, soothed me in difficult moments, and gave me a sense of the immense complexity of the human spirit. There are all kinds of light in the world – from the sky, during moments of bliss and awe, and from the lemony circles on the tables of the Beaver City library.” A LIFE IN LIGHT received starred reviews from Booklist (“teaches gentle lessons on gratitude and celebrating life”) and Publishers Weekly. It is an amazingly comforting work and one to be savored again and again. Writing, she says, was “the light of living life twice, once in real time and once in reflective time.… Writing gave me an intellectually challenging life in which I could still live quietly in my own home.… spend[ing] my time telling stories.” For another brief glimpse into Mary Pipher’s advice for balancing despair with joy, see her recent piece in The New York Times: “How I Build a Good Day When I’m Full of Despair at the World.”

The Drowning Sea by Sarah Stewart Taylor

THE DROWNING SEA by Sarah Stewart Taylor is a new mystery which offers a perfect escape to Ireland’s rural coast, specifically Ross Head in County Cork. That’s where Maggie D’arcy, a former Long Island police investigator, is spending the summer with her Irish boyfriend, Conor Kearney. It’s meant to be a relaxing attempt at getting Maggie’s teenage daughter, Lilly, acclimated to Ireland and the possibility of a move to Dublin to join Conor and his son, Adrien. However, the remains of a body wash up in the sea; there are parallels to an earlier death associated with a drug raid in the area and Maggie is worried about everyone’s safety. She also starts exploring the history of the manor house after a request for help from the former owner, artist Lissa Crawford.  With several puzzles to solve and appearances by characters from past books in the series, THE DROWNING SEA is a complicated mystery. The marvelous seaside setting adds greatly to the enjoyment and it generally works as a stand-alone; I am looking forward to reading more from Sarah Stewart Taylor.

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes

Unfortunately, FLYING SOLO by Linda Holmes did not live up to the standards of her debut novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over. Both stories are set primarily in the same small town in Maine and they share references to the baseball team and cereal box races, but FLYING SOLO seemed very repetitive and self-centered since it focused on almost forty year old Laurie Ellen Sassalyn and her persistent waffling between nurturing a relationship with Librarian Nick Cooper or maintaining a truly independent lifestyle on the West Coast. She has come to Maine to sort out a beloved aunt’s belongings and the mystery over a decoy duck she finds is amusing and adventuresome. If you are in the mood for on again off again romance mixed with mystery, try FLYING SOLO; it received starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal as well as being a LibraryReads selection for June.

Everyday Celebrations from Scratch

EVERYDAY CELEBRATIONS FROM SCRATCH by Maria Provenzano offers numerous suggestions, especially for families, to cook and craft together. She splits the book into 5 sections: weeknight meals, family, friendship, sports and seasons. Each of those offers multiple ideas like making Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos or Homemade Waffle Cone Dessert Tacos on Taco Tuesdays. The recipes, like Lemony Shrimp with Bucatini (or spaghetti) involve relatively few, easily obtainable ingredients – plenty of appeal, although nutrition information is not provided. The many crafts are showcased in colorful photos and Provenzano provides lists of helpful supplies for making items like Macrame Key Chains, Custom Bookmarks, or more adult-oriented Wine Glass Tags. There is a thorough index and while each section notes its recipes and activities at the start, this book could be improved with an overall list of crafts to make searching for ideas easier. Booklist describes EVERYDAY CELEBRATIONS FROM SCRATCH as the “ultimate book for happy crafting and eating together.” It seems like an especially wonderful resource for those end of summer days when kids are looking for ways to fill time. Have fun!

A Year to the Day by Robin Benway

A YEAR TO THE DAY is written by Robin Benway, an extremely talented writer who also wrote Audrey Wait! and whose previous book, Far From the Tree, won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the PEN America award. Benway showcases her strength further by writing in reverse chronological order in this new young adult novel which explores grief and loss. As the title indicates, it opens 365 days after; yes, it has been one year since high school sophomore Leo’s older sister, Nina, died. Benway deftly probes the huge array of emotions that pummel Leo: “the future which seemed so definite and assured that it makes Leo want to laugh now, laugh at how stupid she was for thinking that any of it had been guaranteed.” The reader experiences the complexity and confusion of grief with East, Nina’s boyfriend, and her parents, including kind-hearted step-mom Stephanie. Varied references to music, conversations, gifts of books on coping with grief, and the holidays all convey the passage of time as background for Leo’s pain: “She can’t make eye contact because she knows it will shatter her and she needs to keep it together for everyone else’s sake.” A YEAR TO THE DAY is an intense and powerful read; if anything, the emotions seem to become even stronger as the novel moves closer to its end and the actual accident.