Many readers will be glad to see Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout, a sequel to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge which also became an HBO series. The earlier novel explored the relationships of people in a small Maine town in 13 separate but linked vignettes and their interactions with the title character, a cantankerous retired math teacher. The new book features another 13 linked stories following Olive and various townspeople from where the earlier book left off until the now quite elderly Olive is in assisted care. The book is by turns humorous, discomforting, touching, and sad in other words, it reflects life as it actually is.
Another small town, this one closer to home, is the setting for The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg. In Mason, Missouri, a small group of women form a supper club. The direction suddenly veers into new territory when one of the women reveals something from her past. The group becomes a confession club, gathering weekly to share their backstories with all the attending secrets, disappointments, and embarrassments. The group includes long-time residents and newcomers, young and elderly, but all of them bond into sort of a family.
As The Nugget by P.T. Deutermann opens in the final year of World War II, Navy Lt. Bobby Steele is facing a court on inquiry wondering where he has been since he went missing from his ship almost two years earlier. Steeles story is then told in flashback. Surviving the sinking of the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor, Steele determines to take the war to the Japanese, fighting at Midway and Guadalcanal. His greatest adventure, however, comes after he has to ditch his plane, ending up on a small Philippine island crawling with Japanese. There he fights alongside the Philippine resistance to the Japanese occupation. The Nugget is a rousing war story which provides insight into little known aspects of the war in the Philippines.
Turning to nonfiction, a member of the Phelps family and one-time protester with the Westboro Baptist Church tells her story. Megan Phelps-Roper is the granddaughter of the late Rev. Fred Phelps and became the leading social media organizer for the church. In this memoir, she tells how she came to change her mind and leave the church. Phelps-Roper condemns extremist thinking, but not her family. She still loves and misses them, as they have cut off all contact with her.
Those who attended author Jennifer Nielsens Iola Reads presentation will be interested to know that the library now has Justynas Narrative, the book Nielsen referred to in that talk. The book is an account of the Krakow Jewish resistance during World War II. It was written on scraps of paper by the captured resistance leader who knew she would not survive but arranged for the story to be preserved.
