Sometimes, you find the strangest things in the oddest places.

How, for example, did that thing you spent months searching for suddenly appear right in front of you, as if it were there all along? You quit hunting eons ago. You figured the darn thing was gone forever but no — there it was.

Some findings come as nice surprises. Others can make you regret the whole search. In “The Silent Sister” by Diane Chamberlain (c.2014, St. Martin’s Press, $26.99, 346 pages), a daughter wishes she’d stopped looking…

Riley MacPherson knew the task ahead wouldn’t be a pleasant one.

Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

That’s supposedly what we are, and what we’ll end up being: just a few pounds of powdered remains that a good wind might easily scatter. That’s strange to think about — but comforting, at the same time.

For Caitlin Doughty, it was a fascination — so much so, that she imagined she might someday start her own funeral home. In the new book, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (c.2014, W.W. Norton, $24.95, 254 pages) you’ll see how she landed at a crematory instead.

For most of her life, Caitlin Doughty was terrorized by death.

You are your dog’s only pack. And the pack is happy.

A trip to the corner store started it all: you said “Go for a ride?” and he nearly exploded. That’s his favorite thing, which makes it your favorite thing and right then, you weren’t sure which moved faster – your vehicle, or his tail.

Yep, your dog loves going places. And in the new book “Travels with Casey” by Benoit Denizet-Lewis (c.2014, Simon & Schuster, $26, 341 pages), it’s the trip of two lifetimes.

Does my dog love me?

You stopped in the store the other day, and stopped short.

In all its electric-colored glory, tie-dye is back. Or maybe it never left, just passed down by Baby Boomers like you who also loved groovy music, an everybody-helps-everybody mentality, and how wonderfully carefree that felt.

Ah, the good ol’ days… or were they? For author Cea Sunrise Person, the answer was “no” for years, but in her new memoir “North of Normal” (c.2014, Harper, $25.99, 339 pages), she explains how she made peace with it.