Book 19: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by

Book 18: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

Just returned from the Grand Canyon and Prescott AZ and read a fine book to match the trip. I love Barbara Kingsolver...great storyteller and artful wordcrafter. This book is rich in the sensual experiences that only time in the desert supplies. A wonderful summer read!

Book 17: Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana by Anne Rice

A very small, compelling work by Anne Rice about the entry of Jesus into His ministry woven between her talent of storytelling and the accounts given to us through the Gospels. The second volume in her planned trilogy exploring His life and ministry, the story covers His baptism, wilderness experience and encounter with Satan and His first series miracles which culminate with changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. Simply and elegantly written. I believe I will read it again because it is a wonderfully presented version of a timeless, satisfying story.

Book 16: The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle

A fun frolic through the wine chateaus of Bordeaux and the towns and countryside of Provence in search of 3 million dollars of stolen wine. A light read for wine lovers wanting to know more about old Bordeaux red wines, the rich folks that collect such treasures and the lengths to which they will go to get their hands on reputably great vintages of particular wines. One of a series of detective-type books on French wines.Meant to be enjoyed with a good meal and glass of vino! I will most likely be reading the other books in this series.

Book 15: A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong

There are books that sit on your bookshelf for years that you know you should read but put off because.....there are a hundred reasons for not reading a book. I picked up this book because it was short....I could get through 150 pages in three days with ease! Turns out it only took two days and will be a "visit again" book. Armstrong makes a compelling argument for modern society to stop and really understand how, in our rush to be rational thinkers, we have abandoned our foundations for compassion and respect for the sacredness of all life when we abandon our need for myths. There is still much to be contemplated in this small, powerful book!

Book 14: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Wonderful book about a very sad time in our history - an enduring love story of two youngsters set against the conflict of immigrant Chinese with immigrant Japanese communities over wars in their mother counties and the beginning of the Pacific War of WWII which led to the decision to carry out the internment of the Japanese/Japanese-Americans in a temporary camp - Camp Harmony - outside of Seattle to the relocation of the families to desolate centers in Idaho, Nevada and California. It made me cry and made me cheer. One reviewer felt it was a trite, young adult's story - not as interesting as Snow Falling on Cedar (it does have a Hallmark movie feel at the end) - but I found it touching, compelling and uplifting.

Book 13: Eleven Minutes : A Novel by Paulo Coelho

A frank, stark, provocative look at sex in western culture in juxtaposition to the idea of sacred sex. Different from most of Coelho's books, but not really. You have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy this book - I had started it several years ago and put it aside for many reasons. It seemed much better this time but maybe it's just the season for the search for love in it's purest sense. I enjoyed it this time.

Book 12: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Travel back to 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi, to the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and the everyday folk who helped move us forward towards an integrated nation ....not the newspaper version, but the real lives, living and working conditions, of oppressed black and white Americans that was left following the Civil War and Reconstruction. Meet the change that was in the very air of the 1960's. Meet my early adolescence memories and the turmoil and psychological violence embedded in social fabric of America that eventually erupted into street violence. I loved this book! I loved the characters. I loved the brave actions that can take place in telling personal stories. I loved the change that can happen in simple acts of kindness. I loved the prayer and the surprise of answers to prayer. I loved the strong women in this book and I loved the exposure of weakness and failure in women who presume to be powererful but have nothing because they have no faith or morals - only selfish ambition. Read this book so you can appreciate how far we have traveled in the last 40 years!!!! Read this book for the sheer joy of seeing our history up close and personal!!!

Book 11: The Jesus Story by Ben Campbell Johnson

A collective of all four Gospels arranged in chronological order narrating the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. A great Easter read or any time you want to see the whole picture at once!

"O" is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton and Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

Book 9: The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs explores the relationships and lives of women in our modern culture while they practice the time-honored crafts of knitting and supporting each other with friendship. It affirms the strength that women give each other through caring and networking as they struggle with life changes and a host of good and bad decisions in marriage, child rearing and business. I struggled a lot with the ending because Georgia Walker, the young mom and knitting store owner, is stricken with the same kind of cancer I had four years ago. The outcome of her struggle with ovarian cancer is sad but makes for a good read. Just be aware that you may be crying at the end of this touching story.

Book 10: "O" is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton, my traveling companion as I drove up and down US 95 this weekend. Another in the great alphabet mystery series with Kinsey Millhone as the heroine submitting her report on the events of her investigation into the shooting of her ex-husband in LA 14 years after the demise of their marriage. So great to use the drive as a time to "read"! Always a good story!

I very much enjoyed Water for Elephants last year when we read the book for our book club. I probably read it too fast and need to read it again!

A book that I will be reading again, also, is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I, too, had a WOW experience. I keep thinking I am not a sci-fi reader until I look at some of my favorite books over time - Contact by Carl Sagan, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. Ender's Game is thoughtful and provocative while being a great book for action. Children vs. adults, power vs. empathy....very well done

Book 7 -
One of my favorite authors is Geraldine Brooks. I had not read her first book before this week, so was glad to pick up Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague - and it did not disappoint at all! It is a dark and depressing era (1666-67 - middle of England) but Brooks develops her characters and story so well that the ending was truly a surprise for me.

The story revolves around a young mother who loses her husband in a mining accident and is then asked by her parish rector to rent a room to a tailor from London. As the tailors business grows, bolts of fabric arrive from London in the small community along with rats and fleas bearing bubonic plague. The rector and his wife convince the town to close itself off from all other communities in an attempt to contain the disease. The ethical and moral questions posed by the situation, as well as the personal live of the community members, are woven into all facets of this story of caring and survival.

I am of the mind that all the things that the heroine, Anna, achieved and survived in this book would have destroyed a real person, but it makes for a great read. Brooks' subsequent novels, March and People of the Book are just as well-written, well-researched, compelling and entertaining. She does include things in all her novels that seem somewhat implausible for ordinary lives.

January and February, 2010

Just a personal list of the books I've read so far in 2010 for our Caldwell Public Library's challenge to read 52 Books in 52 Weeks:
So Week 1 ( 1/2 - 1/9) - The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
A bizarre journey of redemption and love that spans 1500 years or more of western history. If you can persevere through the first 150 pages to get to the great storytelling of Marianne Engel, this really is a pretty good read. The first person account of being a burn victim is gruesome (and his shallowness as a porn star is ucky) but all necessary to make the story work overall. I'll probably like it even better after my book club discusses it on Sunday. Judy - we are reading The Help for our April book club. It really is a different book for me but glad the book club chose it.
Week 2 ( 1/10 - 1/16 - Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus by Thomas Cahill is the third in Cahill's series, The Hinges of History. I have enjoyed all three so far and look forward to the two still sitting in my To Be Read pile! Cahill takes history and turns it into great storytelling.
Week Three ( 1/17 - 1/23) - The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry This is also for my book club. Very interesting and different. Good suspense and love story wrapped up in the mysteries and conflicts of Salem, MA.
Week Four (1/24 - 1/30) - In honor of the last week of January, I chose to read The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstein(2007). It is an interesting and quirky look at the popular and cultural history of the snowman through the centuries and through a myrrid of media. Glad I read it but glad to be onto other reading!
Book 5 ( 1/31 - 2/6) - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937) written in the black vernacular of the southern United States about a girl's journey from childhood into womanhood in a vain search for true love. Powerful for such a short book. Well written and thought-provoking.
Book 6 ( 2/7 - 2/20) - I just finished Ivan Doig's This House of Sky. It has taken just over two weeks to read so will have some catching up to do, but what a wonderfully written book, full of soul-satisfying stories and details of life in Montana. More importantly, the determination of families to make things work, come what may! I had forgotten how enriching literature of our West can be!

Read, Read, Read a Book

What are you reading? How are you finding the time to read? What helps you choose a book?