I really miss my dog.  He was my conduit for meeting new friends, for catch-up conversations with old friends who walked the same path, for calmly listening to my worries and always offering consolation.  Yesterday, at the annual luncheon for one of my book clubs, I realized I’ve replaced him with books.

When someone seated next to me at an event happened to mention her admiration of Plenty, I found a new friend in Yotam Ottolenghi.  Often now as I reconnect with old friends across an ocean, we share what we are reading.  Finally, just like my old dog, a book can offer me comfort and sometimes a sense of adventure.

Next year’s reading list offers all that and more. Books with my reviews are in red.

Book Club List for 2017

• January – The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

The Pulitzer Prize winning author tells the behind the scenes story of the famous brothers who began the age of flight.

• February – Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama

The life of Pei, a Chinese girl sent to work in a silk factory during the first decades of the 20th century.

• March – Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

Lynn Neary reviews the book in NPR’s “All Things Considered” – A World War II Survival Epic Unfolds Deep in Shangri-La

• April – All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

• May – When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

A young neurosurgeon describes how, after receiving a terminal diagnosis of lung cancer, he examined his roles as a patient and as a doctor, and how he wanted to spend his final days.

• June – My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Soon to be a London play, this first in the series of four books by the anonymous Italian author begins the story of two friends in Naples.

• July – Evening by Susan Minot

Michiko Kakutani reviewed the book for the New York Times in Reviewing a Fading Life Defined by Doomed Love

• August – Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

• September – About Alice by Calvin Trillin

Peter Stevenson reviews Trillin’s love letter to his wife in his New York Times article – Scenes from a Marriage

• October – The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty