I have had an ancient copy of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood on my bookshelf for years. I finally picked it up, wanting to know why it’s on so many “100 Best Books” lists. While I found it slow, the story was fascinating, particularly because it is descriptive of both the victim’s and perpetrator’s lives surrounding the murders. It wasn’t my favorite book of those I’ve read recently, but it’s certainly worth reading if you haven’t.

I’m a big fan of Lisa See. If you have not read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan or Peony in Love, you should. See’s The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane had a slow start, but once it got going, it was a compelling read that moved quickly. The book tells the story of Li-yan, of the Akha hill tribe, who grows and harvests tea. Li-yan, unlike most girls in her primitive community, goes to school and ends up learning all about tea at university and creating a successful business in tea exporting. Before university, she has a failed marriage and a daughter that she gives up for adoption. The daughter, renamed Haley, is raised by an American couple. As a teenager, Haley searches for her birth parents. At the same time, Li-yan searches for her. While I liked this book a lot, the ending came too quickly after a great deal of lead-up. It could have been elongated and it would have been more satisfying. Overall, however, this was a very good read, and, an interesting glimpse into the tea industry as well.

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner is just the kind of book I like: historical fiction meets modern times with a mysterious twist. Most of this book takes place in 1911 and centers around Clara, a nurse, whose new love interest (really just an interest on her part) perishes in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. To flee the pain of Manhatten, she moves to Ellis Island to take care of sick new immigrants. Framing this story is the story of Taryn, who loses her husband on 9/11. While the stories are seemingly unconnected, we know a scarf ties them together somehow. This was definitely a story to get lost in and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

We chose All the Missing Girls, by Megan Miranda, for my neighborhood book club this month. Nic left home ten years ago in the wake of her best friend going missing. When she returns to help her brother clean out their family home to sell, another local girl goes missing. The story is told chapter by chapter in reverse order – starting at day 15 and working back to day 1, when Nic gets there. Then it skips ahead to day 15 to finish up. While the story was somewhat interesting, it wasn’t terribly well-written and I found the backward order and story elements somewhat confusing. The idea was novel and I wanted to like it, but I only finished the book to see whodunit. Otherwise, I would have abandoned ship. I’ll be curious to hear what the rest of the book group thought of it.

Looking for something to whip through and willing to suspend your disbelief a little? Then Behind Your Eyes by Sarah Pinborough is a good choice. It’s a complicated story, and so as not to ruin it, I will describe it only briefly. Louise, a single mom, meets the man of her dreams in a bar one night. She discovers the next day that not only is he married, but he’s her new boss. She swears off the relationship and then becomes best friends with his wife after she accidentally runs into her on the street one morning. The twists and turns (and even the unbelievable element) will keep the pages turning. I thought I would be annoyed by the ending, but by that point, I just thought it was genius along with the other supernatural bit. Grab it – you won’t regret it!

Hailed as one of the best books of 2016 by many sources, Karen Mahajan’s the association of small bombs, had been on my to-read list for a while. And, even though this was a quick read that I liked, I didn’t love it. The story is how small bombs detonated in Dehli not only have repercussions with those involved (victims and perpetrators) but also tie many people together. While the book was interesting and different, moving along at a good clip, it was too quiet and flat. That said, though, I’d give it a go, especially since so many people really like it, but for me, it wasn’t a top pick.

With spring break on the horizon, I was really ready for a good juicy story. The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor kept coming up because of other books I have read and enjoyed. The book is told in varying points of view – Maggie, the “main character” leaves Ireland to emigrate to America on the Titanic, Harry works on the ship, and Grace, Maggie’s great grand-daughter learns Maggie’s story at a low point in her young life. There are some other minor characters whose point of view we learn and some of the story is “told” by Maggie’s diary entries. It’s fast-paced and page-turning, just what I was looking for.

While I like Bruce Springsteen, I wouldn’t say I am a superfan or anything. But, I read that his recently published autobiography, Born to Run, was worth a read and I decided to take it on. I had low expectations, not because he’s not an interesting guy, but I wasn’t expecting him to be a particularly good narrator – I didn’t think that’s where his genius would lie. And, while I would say it was not the most well-written piece, it was certainly compelling and I read the rather long volume in fairly short order. My only complaints are that it could have been pared down significantly (a good editor would have helped), there could have been less detail about each and every song release, and could have been more about his personal life as an adult. I felt there was a lot of detail about his early home life, and then not much in the 70s and 80s. It would have been more interesting for me if those details had been in there. If you are a big Bruce fan, I would pick this one up. If not, I would give it a skip.

I grabbed A Really Good Day by Ayelet Waldman on the recommendation of a “Great Books of 2017” list. It’s an autobiographical account of Waldman’s experimentation with microdosing of LSD, which I had never heard about and found quite intriguing. While the narrative was interesting, the book was filled too much with the description of drug research and the illegalization of drugs. While I wanted to skip those parts, I worried that I would then miss some of the story. Ultimately, while this book was interesting, I didn’t really walk away with any practical knowledge and was left kind of hanging about how the one month experiment affected Waldman’s after the fact.

Henna House by Nomi Eve was another recommendation by my former colleague who always has stellar recs. I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. While about Yemen, not India, it was in the vein of those I loved (The Orphan Keeper, The Secret Daughter, and The Rent Collector, among others), but it fell a bit flat by comparison. Henna House is the story of Adela whose family is desperate to find her a husband before she is collected by the Confiscator. Her prospects are bleak, but her life is transformed by the arrival of her aunt and cousins who teach her the art of henna tattooing. Overall, this book was too tedious for me; I didn’t get sucked in the way I wanted to until the last 50 pages (which were very good). If it had been 100 pages shorter on the front end, I would have liked it much more.