15. Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

When Meg Rosenthal’s husband dies unexpectedly from a heart attack, she is left not only emotionally devastated, but financially ruined. Her easy life on Long Island suddenly is over for her and her teenage daughter, Sally, and it isn’t until she is offered a teaching job in Arcadia Falls that life begins to feel normal again. Arcadia School is tucked away in rural upstate New York and has a mysterious past, especially since it was started by a lesbian couple, Lily Eberhardt and Vera Beecher, who were famous painters and fairy tale authors before their love took a tragic turn and Lily fell off a cliff on school property. Within a few days of the new school year, a student falls off of the same cliff during a pagan festival, and soon hidden secrets, ghost sightings, and more deaths occur.

Goodman’s seventh novel again takes her back to what she writes best – wonderfully atmospheric, gothic novels that have some mystery woven into them. Her setting on the creepy, isolated school campus, especially when a snow storm paralyzes the area at the end, adds to the growing tension of the story. The role of fairy tales in our culture adds an interesting side story that ends up becoming more central to the book as it moves on, all with great results.

14. A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart by Maria Alexandra Vettese

A table with a basket of eggs. A field of daisies. A cat curled into a ball on an unmade bed. A rainy street in Portland. A child’s sock discarded on a floor. A half-eaten grapefruit. These are just some of the beautiful and quiet images in this book based on the popular blog, 3191, that documented the lives of two women who live 3191 miles apart from each other (one in Portland, Maine and the other in Portland, Oregon).

Every morning, before their days became busy, bloggers Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes took pictures of how they were spending their morning. Each posted one picture for every weekday for one year without discussing what they would be taking pictures of. At the time of the project, they had only met each other in person once, but had maintained an online friendship and a shared love of photography and solitude.

The resulting book captures 236 images of their views of early morning life. What becomes apparent quickly is how similar their photos are, sometimes eerily so, with matching breakfast shots, or pictures that share the same use of color. The photos are intimate, quiet, and striking to look at. If you are looking for a chance to unwind and spend some quiet alone time with a book, this is a perfect solution. Highly recommended for those who like to read books based on blogs, those who like photography, or are looking for something different to read.