In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, offers a thoughtful introduction to "My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry" by Fredrik Backman.

"My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry" is a heartfelt and imaginative story about a lonely young girl and her fiercely unconventional grandmother, whose fairy tales help Elsa navigate a world where she often feels misunderstood. After her grandmother’s death, Elsa embarks on a touching journey through letters, secrets, and unlikely friendships that reveal the power of love, forgiveness, and embracing what makes us different.

In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, offers a thoughtful introduction to "The Shell Seekers" by Rosamunde Pilcher.

"The Shell Seekers" is a multigenerational story about family, love, sacrifice, and the complicated bonds between mothers, daughters, and children across three generations. As Penelope Keeling reflects on her life and the treasured painting left by her father, she must decide what truly matters amid family expectations, old wounds, and the enduring pull of the heart.

In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, offers a thoughtful introduction to Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a tender, quietly magical novel about Tova Sullivan, a widow working the night shift at a small-town aquarium, who forms an unlikely bond with Marcellus, a remarkably perceptive giant Pacific octopus. As Marcellus pieces together clues about Tova’s long-lost son, their connection gently nudges both of them toward long-buried truths. It’s a story about grief, second chances, and the unexpected relationships that illuminate the darkest seasons of life.

In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, offers a thoughtful introduction to Stoner by John Williams.

Stoner follows the quiet life of William Stoner who was born into a poor Missouri farming family and who unexpectedly falls in love with literature and becomes a university professor. Though his outer life appears ordinary, he endures profound disappointments in marriage, career, and love. It’s a deeply moving portrait of solitude, endurance, and the quiet dignity of an unremarkable—but deeply felt—life.

In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, offers a thoughtful introduction to Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.

This quiet, reflective novel is told as a letter from an aging minister, John Ames, to his young son. Through memories of faith, family, and moral conflict across generations, it explores love, forgiveness, and the sacred beauty of ordinary life.

In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, offers a thoughtful introduction to Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey.

 This poignant mystery is told from the perspective of Maud, an elderly woman living with memory loss. When her friend Elizabeth disappears, Maud is determined to find her—while also uncovering long-buried questions about her sister’s disappearance years earlier. Tender, suspenseful, and deeply moving, the novel explores memory, aging, and the power of being heard.

In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, offers a thoughtful introduction to The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence.

This powerful and uncompromising novel explores aging, memory, pride, and reckoning through the voice of ninety-year-old Hagar Shipley. Rather than offering easy redemption or sentimentality, The Stone Angel invites readers to reflect on the costs of strength, the complexities of self-knowledge, and the truths that sometimes arrive late in life—but still matter.

Through Hagar’s reflections, the story opens space for honest conversation about identity, regret, endurance, and what it means to look back on a life fully lived, including its unfinished places.

In this short reflection, Laureen Quick, facilitator for the Learn Idaho Encore Book Club, shares a thoughtful introduction to Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf.

 This quiet, beautifully written novel explores companionship, honesty, and courage in the later chapters of life. Rather than focusing on grand romance or reinvention, the story invites readers to reflect on what it means to choose connection, presence, and truth—especially after loss or major life transitions.