Reading Recommendation: One Monk and one Briggs

As I've posted, I've been dealing with cancer in the immediate family, which has pretty much shot my love for complexity (got enough of it, thank you very much).  My favorite kind of fiction, which is dense and complex science fiction, is just not holding onto me  — my little monkey-enabled brain is wandering off the path whenever it can find an excuse.   And depressing stuff is awful.  I love Jodi Picoult, but anything like that would just reduce me to a puddle right now.   I'm not only...