The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Sunday, Oct. 19. 2025--San Antonio

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai is a long, rambling, and often depressing novel that is a finalist for the Booker Prize.  Most of it takes place in India.  The story is of generations of two particular Indian families and those whose lives are a part of theirs including an American painter of European descent.  As a person who has traveled to India 6 times for months at a time interacting with Indian citizens more than a typical tourist (attending month- and year-after death celebrations, attending weddings, being a guest in homes and on farms, making friends throughout the country), there was so much in the details of this book that I know to be true about India and Indians.  It is a masterpiece in describing life and times in India.  At the same time, however, it zigs and zags (the aforementioned rambling) in a somewhat confusing manner.  It took longer to read because of the details and the largess of the stories.  I recommend the book to anyone who knows India quite well or who will read the book with great attention to the realistic details of life within India--relationships, feelings, resentments, traditions, etc.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025--San Antonio

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney has been named by NPR as a top book of 2025.  It's a mystery novel that takes place in England and Scotland.  The central characters are a man and a woman who are married.  They love each other, but there are problems.  The man is a bit set in his ways, and the woman is upset that he won't compromise on things she would like to happen.  The man is an author who has just begun to have some success with his books, and the woman is a reporter who has been their main provider but is getting some threatening messages related to her stories.  He seems to think that all is well with their marriage.  But she disappears.  The book begins a year after her disappearance.  We learn all of the above from his memories and worries about what has happened to her and from what she told a psychologist in sessions before her disappearance.  As the story progresses, it is revealed that there is much more to the story than either of them were admitting.  Much of what happens in the book occurs after he, who has been unable to write a contracted second novel since his wife's disappearance, is provided a last-ditch opportunity by his editor who also is the godmother to his wife--a chance to stay in a cottage the editor owns on a small remote Scottish island that has only 25 residents, no cell phone service, and an infrequent ferry service.  You'll have to read the book to learn what happens after he arrives on the island and what mysteries are revealed.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025--San Antonio

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler is a slice-of-life book that has been listed as a top book of 2025.  It covers three days in the life of an aging woman in which several things are happening.  She has been the assistant director of the private school where she teaches mathematics, but is told she is being passed over for the director's job at the end of the year when her boss will retire because she just isn't a "people person."  Her only child, a daughter, is being married.  Her ex-husband is staying with her during the 3-day weekend of the wedding.  And he has brought a cat from the shelter where he volunteers in hopes that she will adopt it.  She reflects on her marriage and what went wrong with it.  She worries about the daughter and whether she is making the right choice in terms of the man she is marrying.  She questions decisions she has made in life.  And she questions what decisions she should make for her future.  It is an interesting short book which is well written and is likely to cause the reader to reflect on his/her own life.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.