A Death in the Family / James Agee / 320 pgs

Gosh, what a boring book. Seriously, most of the book is just people sitting around waiting to find out if the dad in the book is alive or dead after suffering a car crash, and then, sitting around grieving after finding out that he did, indeed, die. This isn't a spoiler. The name of the book already tells you that someone dies. If you thought that perhaps there's some sort of twist in the book, that someone else besides the dad dies, well, you'd be mistaken. There's no twists. There's no character development. There's no real story.  I only finished the book because it is on my list of 100 classic novels to read before I die.

Underground Railroad / Colson Whitehead / 306 pgs

What an amazing, wonderful book! I absolutely enjoyed it all, though of course, some of the hard stuff that Cora had to deal with was just brutal to read. Though it ended on a hopeful tone, I found the climax to be particularly hard to take, so that's why it gave it only 4 stars. However, I highly recommend the book to those who love historical fiction, and especially to those who have no problem with a bit of fantasy.

Cora, a slave, escapes with fellow slave, Caesar, to find freedom in the North, and they use the Underground Railroad, which isn't the metaphor it was in real history. In this novel, it really is a railroad that has been built under the earth, the world's first real subway system. The story is told from Cora's perspective, but also includes some perspectives of Caesar, Ridgway, and other supporting characters.

A Thousand Acres/Jane Smiley/371 pages

Out of the blue, a successful Iowa farmer decides to give up farming and divide his thousand acre homestead to his three daughters. This one act sets up a chain of events that snowball into a tragic story where almost no one survives unscathed. The story is set in the mid-70s and the two older daughters have stayed on the farm, taking care of their dad, along with their own families. They have also raised their younger sister, a successful lawyer,  who wants no part of the farm. The author does a good job of portraying life in a small, farming community where appearances are everything and no one really knows the family secrets. Would recommend to those readers who  like family tragedies.