“Talking to Strangers” and more short reviews

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well- read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share these minireviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@ denverpost. com.

Tim O’brien, best known for his writings about his experience in the Vietnam War, returns after two decades with a s a t i r i - cal novel e x p l o r - ing what he calls “my thoman ia ,” or an epidemic of lying that has spread across the nation. It’s a wild tale that takes off when the “hero” ( and I use the term loosely) decides to rob a bank to ease the boredom of his life as a J. C. Penney’s store manager, and then embarks on a road trip to escape capture. Ensuing characters all lie, cheat and deceive in various ways about all things, large and small. While this book may one day be an insightful tool to help understand this confounding era, it feels all too familiar to today’s reality to be considered a “fun read.” And in that, O’brien has succeeded in lampooning our time. —

A powerful examination by the ever- thoughtful, everarresting Gladwell, who makes sense of the most confusing and e r u d i t e analyses of human behavior. In this collection of our interactions with people we don’t know, ranging from Fidel Castro’s subterfuge with the CIA, sexual assaults on campuses, the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland on a Texas roadside, Sylvia Plath’s suicide and many others, he shows our tools and strategies turn out to be highly flawed, and we invite conflict and misunderstanding if we don’t take greater care. No scare tactics here, simply what really can happen. —

If a murder mystery can be delicious, this one is. American Tabitha Knight is visiting her French grandfather in Paris, who lives across the rue from J u l i a Child, her husband, P a u l , and sister Dort. Ta b i t ha accidentally becomes a sleuth, with Cold War dangers along the way. Supporting character Child adds spice to this story — but don’t expect recipes. This is the first installment of a charmant series I plan to keep reading. ( The audio version is narrated by Polly Lee, who does a great Julia Child.) —

This novel explores the essential meaning of home, both in the literal, physical sense, and also in the sense of belonging, the sense of community. What ties us to a place, what draws us back there? These very personal questions confront some of the characters of this novel. Centered on the lives and relationships of a family anchored by their Nigerian matriarch and set in London, the novel not only depicts the many quotidian issues that absorb the characters day to day, but it also illuminates more global themes of race, immigration and the immigrant family’s relationship to their country of origin. ( Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.) —