THE END OF THE POINT BY ELIZABETH GRAVER

Elizabeth Graver’s fourth novel, The End of the Point, is a family saga in a summer community on Buzzard’s Bay from 1942 to 1999. Of the new book, her publisher writes:

“For the Porter family, summers at Ashaunt Point – a mile and a half long finger of land on Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts – have anchored life, providing sanctuary for generations. But in 1942, everything abruptly changes when the U.S. Army sets up a base on the Point. The two older girls – teenagers Dossie and Helen – run wild. Their Scottish nanny, Bea, falls in love. And the youngest daughter, Jane, is involved in an incident that cuts the summer short, unsettling notions of safety and home.

As decades pass, first Helen and then her son Charlie return to the Point, seeking refuge in rapidly changing times. But Ashaunt proves to be a space at once protected and contested – geographically remote, but never entirely removed from the events of history unfolding beyond its borders. Neither Charlie nor his mother – nor any other family member – can escape the long shadow of the Vietnam War, the bitterly disputed development of the land around them, economic misfortune, and illness, both psychological and physical.

A powerful portrait of one family’s journey through the second half of the twentieth century, The End of the Point artfully traces the hairline fractures that lie beneath the surface of our lives, even after they’ve been reassembled by time, place, and one another. The result is a layered exploration of the complex legacy of place, and of family – what we are born into, what we pass down to the next generation, and what we must preserve, cast off, or willingly set free.”

THE LEFTOVERS BY TOM PERROTTA

The Leftovers is a 2011 novel by American author Tom Perrotta chronicling life on earth after a rapture-like event takes some and leaves others behind. 

THE DINNER by HERMAN KOCH

A high-class meal provides an unlikely window into privilege, violence and madness. Paul, the narrator of this caustic tale, initially appears to be an accomplished man who's just slightly eccentric and prone to condescension: As he and his wife prepare for a pricey dinner with his brother and sister-in-law, he rhetorically rolls his eyes at wait staff, pop culture and especially his brother, a rising star in the Dutch political world. The mood is mysteriously tense in the opening chapters, as the foursome talk around each other, and Paul's contempt expands. The source of the anxiety soon becomes evident: Paul's teenage son, along with Paul's brother's children, was involved in a violent incident, and though the videos circulating on TV and YouTube are grainy, there's a high risk they'll be identified. The formality of the meal is undone by the parents' desperate effort to keep a lid on the potential scandal: Sections are primly titled "Aperitif," "Appetizer" and so on, but Koch deliberately sends the narrative off-menu as it becomes clear that Paul's anxiety is more than just a modest personality tic, and the foursome's high-toned concerns about justice and egalitarianism collapse into unseemly self-interest. The novel can be ineffectually on the nose when it comes to discussions of white guilt and class, the brothers' wives are thin characters, and scenes meant to underscore Paul's madness have an unrealistic vibe that show Koch isn't averse to a gratuitous, melodramatic shock or two. Even so, Koch's slow revelation of the central crisis is expertly paced, and he's opened up a serious question of what parents owe their children, and how much of their character is passed on to them. At its best, a chilling vision of the ugliness of keeping up appearances.

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT BY DANIEL JAMES BROWN

This is a non-fiction book that tells the story of nine young men from the University of Washington who competed in rowing and won the Gold Medal at the 1936 Olympics in Germany.

It is a wonderful story and very yogic!!!!