Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpo st.com. “Lesser Ruins,” by Mark Haber (Coffee House Press, 2024) “Lesser Ruins,” by Mark Haber (Coffee House Press, 2024) For 20 years, the unnamed narrator has struggled to “escape mediocrity” by writing a book about the 16th-century essayist Montaigne, but obstacles stood in his way: teaching intro courses at a community college, caring for a wife with an aggressive form of dementia, and raising a son obsessed with weird music. So far, all he has produced are scads of notes and a slew of possible titles. But now he is unemployed, recently widowed, and his son is back at his own home with roommates, so what’s holding him back? Well, the world has become noisier and faster, interrupting and dismantling any attempt to think slowly, and slow thinking will certainly be required if he is to write the brilliant book he imagines. He is also haunted by a lost opportunity in the Berkshires from which he came away empty-handed, at least so far as his book about Montaigne was concerned. While a 300-page tome on writers’ block might not sound like a compelling page-turner, the irresistible sentences are so propulsive that you almost don’t notice each paragraph is 100 pages long. And, as the narrator works toward difficult truths about his wife, his son, the artist he met in the Berkshires, and himself, the characters deepen, grow and come alive on the page, and momentum builds to a moving and effective conclusion. – 4 stars (out of 4); Michelle Nelson, Littleton “Shutter,” by Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime, 2023) Rita has been taunted and ostracized her whole life because of her ability to see spirits on the Navajo reservation, but she finally is finding her footing with photography — in particular, forensic photography for the Albuquerque police. But now she is tormented by the ghosts of the victims she photographs. Each chapter heading denotes a camera model and setting, foreshadowing what’s to come, as Rita tenaciously follows both the clues and the demands of those pesky spirits. “Shutter” is a spirited start to Emerson’s mystery series. (The second, “Exposure,” was published in October 2024.) — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver  “The Vulnerables,” by Sigrid Nunez (Riverhead Books, 2023) “The Vulnerables,” by Sigrid Nunez (Riverhead Books, 2023) If COVID did anything, it demonstrated that people in our current society are no different in a crisis than the millions who lived through previous plagues. We panic, isolate ourselves, come up with irrational solutions. Still, “The Vulnerables” demonstrates we made connections and tried to carry on. Less extreme in impact than its predecessors, the Bubonic and Ebola varieties, COVID taught us lessons we should never forget. In this version, a “vulnerable” aging woman, the narrator, moves into a luxury boutique building to care for Eureka, a pampered parrot. Her relationships seem restricted to the bird, hardly beneficial for a single woman in a medical crisis. Then the former caretaker, a young man, returns. Humor and empathy abound, demonstrating that we all can learn a lot from one another, while the author’s love of writing and books thrumming in the plot is a second trope. A National Book Award best seller. — 2½ stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemcccune.com) “The Six: The Extraordinary Story of the Grit and Passion of America’s First Women Astronauts,” by Lauren Grush (Scribner, 2023) The first six U.S. women astronauts, selected in 1978, notably included Sally Ride and Judy Resnik. Grush traces the trajectory of all six women, from their pre-space lives through the arduous training, to their experiences in space and beyond. This is a behind-the-scenes portrayal of the astronaut selection and training processes, including an unflinching examination of the sexist atmosphere at NASA and elsewhere in the 1970s . — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver “Family Family,” by Laurie Frankel (Henry Holt & Co., 2024) India Allwood is an extraordinary young woman, an extraordinary actor, and an extraordinarily appealing character. (Can you guess what I think of this book?) Novelists frequently ponder “What is family?,” but Frankel’s scrutiny is humorous and creative and tender. “I think families are like flashlights: It’s good to have extra because sometimes they break and you don’t want to wait until you need one to find out.” These characters are people you might truly wish in your family. Frankel is brilliant at addressing social issues (in this case, misconceptions about adoption) with witty writing; serious messages are slipped within the pervasive humor. — 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox. ...read more read less