Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman - I think someone gave this to me, thinking I would like it, with "The National Bestseller" and a National Book Award finalist sticker on the cover. I didn't. Spanning June 1976 to June 1978, it is set in the fictional town of Kaaterskill in the Catskill Mountains, which is based on the real town of Tannerville, near the real Kaaterskill Falls, where the author's family spent the summers. In this book, a sect of Orthodox Jews from New York City spends its summers in the town. I could not relate, and there wasn't enough plot for me to care, but I did finish it, as I kept hoping something would happen.
Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira Lee - I read this for Hood County Library book club, but was not able to participate in the Zoom discussion, which was just as well as I didn't like the book. It's about a schizophrenic woman, Lucia, and her family - sister Miranda, husband Yonah, lover and father of her daughter Manny - and is told from each of their viewpoints.
Slides from the book club discussion are here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ggOv5SKbCwMknMt6iQfX5dqMb1j7AGgr75Di1vO8QKA/edit#slide=id.p
The Black Friend by Frederick Joseph - early reviewer, YA, nonfiction - As a 60+ retired white woman, I'm not the ideal reviewer for this nonfiction book. I'd really like to read the opinions of the target audience - white teens and young adults. That being said, the better parts of the book were some (not all) of the author's stories of his personal experiences. The substitute teacher (starting on page 69) was especially cringe-worthy.
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