Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman

I absolutely loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Eleanor is an exceptional woman with zero social skills or fashion sense. Her coworkers make fun of her behind her back and even to her face. She handles this the way she handles everything...with very little emotion. She goes through her days at work by completing her job in a most efficient manner and then heads home to eat pizza and drink a lot of alcohol. She is perfectly content with her uneventful life until Raymond starts to challenge Eleanor, and Eleanor realizes there is more to life than just being fine.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

In this memoir, Jeannette Walls recounts the years growing up with her dysfunctional parents and her three siblings. She, along with her older sister, younger brother, and baby sister have to grow up rather quickly as they survive the lifestyle of their chaotic, free-spirited, irresponsible parents. Walls calls these memories "adventures" as they bounced around from location to location, lacking a stable education, money, a functional home, and all the necessities of what is considered a healthy upbringing. I was bothered many times while reading this book because as a parent I always want to protect my children, but in this memoir, Rex and Rose Mary Walls do very little to serve as proper parental role models. However, the ending shows there was love in the family and her parents did care about their children, but just had a different way of showing it. 

#6 Mrs. Staples

Mosquitoland by David Arnold

Mary Iris Malone, Mim to most, takes off on adventure to find her mother. Her parents are divorced and her father feels that Mim needs to be on her medication at all times. Sure that something is going on with her mother, Mim hops a Greyhound bus to find her.  Along the way, Mim meets a variety of characters. Some she can trust and others she cannot. This was our first Book Club selection for this year.

#5 Mrs. Spreder