Educated: A Memoir

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover, 334 pages.
An absolutely riveting account of the author's live growing up in an isolated home on a mountain in Idaho. Westover's parent's are super-devout Mormons. Maybe theirs was moreof a sort of a family-only splinter group, since Westover's father seems to disagree with everyone about what it is, precisely, that God wants from his flock.

Westover is a compelling storyteller, taking the reader past the edge of comfort, as she recounts scenes of violence and tragedy she encountered in her family life. Early on, I found myself hoping that Westover was another James Frey, making up the horror out of whole-cloth, or at least exaggerating, but that seems not to be the case, and I was soon caught up in the story, believing it all, especially as family member started telling their own versions of the same stories.
A great read.

The Unseen World: a Novel / Liz Moore, 451 pp.

13-year-old Ada Sibelius leads a very special life in 1980s Boston.  Her father, David Sibelius, runs a computer science lab at the BIT (Boston Institute of Technology, you get the idea), and as a single parent, he homeschools Ada while she works in the lab, takes her on delightful and enriching outings, and generally creates a loving world for her in almost complete isolation from her peers.  And Ada is happy until David's memory begins to fail.  Then Ada's life is turned upside-down and bewildering secrets surface.

A thoughtful meditation on artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and identity, this was ably and unobtrusively read by Lisa Flanagan.  Not a thrill ride, but an intelligent and engaging listen.