Today's Recommended Read: 'Shotgun Lovesongs' by Nickolas Butler

Gathering for beers at the VFW hall where Bob Seger plays on the jukebox and the bartender was your elementary school lunch lady. Lazing on the porch with good friends, watching the deer in the field. Climbing to sit on the railroad bridge over the county highway.

Nickolas Butler's 2014 best-seller "Shotgun Lovesongs" is an ode to the place of birth scorned, loved, left behind and returned to by a group of best friends deeply bonded by their experiences and hometown roots.

The book evokes the embrace of home ­- a theme especially worth examining in these COVID-19 days. The title refers to a music album that's central to the captivating plot, but Butler's book also is a love song to a small-town America occupied by characters who will reinforce your faith in humanity.