Reading recommendation time

I've read many good books lately.  My Kindle has been very busy.

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
A mother with dementia goes missing at a train station.  It's told from many points of view.

Before I Go to Sleep: A Novel by S.J. Watson
A woman's memories are lost every time she goes to sleep.  She must become reacquainted with her husband each morning.  She hides a diary so that she can make sense of her life.  Is her husband hiding something?  A hard to put down thriller.

Dreams of Joy: A Novel by Lisa See
A continuation of the story in Shanghai Girls which was also fantastic.  A young American Chinese woman runs away to China during the time of Mao to get away from the mother that she's just found out is her aunt.  She finds life very different from the Chinese utopia she imagines.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
People disappear in what might be the Rapture.  This is nothing like the Left Behind series.  This is actually well written.  Those "leftover" try to continue with their lives some by joining a the Guilty Remnant whose members dress in white, take a vow of silence, and must smoke cigarettes.

Children and Fire: A Novel and Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi.  I had enjoyed Stones from the River many years ago so when Children and Fire came out I had to read it.  Some of the characters are in both books.  They deal with the first world war, the depression Germany had afterwards, and the resulting Third Reich.  Both show how simple it is to be eased into evil and the price of its resistance.  I re-read Stones from the River and realized once again how excellent it was.  You don't need to read one book to understand the other but do yourself a favor and read both of them.

Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival by Maziar Bahari and Aimee Malloy.  I saw Mr. Bahari on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart speaking about his ordeal in Iran during and after the elections in Iran.  He went there to report on a most exciting time of hope for great change and ended up imprisoned and tortured in Evin prison. He survived by remembering his father and his sister who had suffered in Iran's most notorious prison in the past under different leaders

Enjoy, friends.