Author: Deborah Bedford
Title: Family Matters
Name: JoAnn Hodgekin
Date: July 16, 2008
Why
This is an inspirational story about a couple who married young, had careers that took up much of their time, and divorced. Then the serious illness of their young son brought them together and helped them realize what the marriage vows are really about.
Author: Nemirovsky, Irene
Title: Suite Francaise
Name: Jane Thomas
Date: March 31, 2008
Why
The two stories in this volume were the beginning of a planned five-part novel depicting the German occupation of Paris. Moving stories of family separations amid chaotic confusion, the fear, courage, and determination of the people, are made only more poignant by the knowledge that the writer herself was taken prisoner and died in a concentration camp.
Author: Patterson, Kevin
Title: Consumption
Name: Jane Thomas
Date: March 31, 2008
Why
Young Inuit girl is taken from her family for six years to be treated for tuberculosis, which has a high incidence rate among the nomadic tribes near the Arctic Circle. She returns to find changes in her culture, which include housing developments, convenience foods and 24-hour satellite TV. Her story is woven along with several storylines and characters which reflect the changes in this society.
Author: Block, Valerie
Title: Don't Make A Scene
Name: Jane Thomas
Date: March 31, 2008
Why
A woman nearing 40, who owns a Manhattan cinema, meets Cuban expatriate in an unlikely pairing: she wants commitment and an apartment with a long term lease; he just wants a free Cuba. Yet their romance blossoms until an unexpected visitor intervenes.
Author: Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnson
Title: Invasive Procedures
Name: Janet Sweely
Date: March 26, 2008
Why
A geneticist with a Messiah complex creates a virus that cures individuals of a life-threatening illness while killing many others almost instantly. The geneticist is protected from the police and Unbelievers by his genetically altered followers.
I liked this book because it has a very believable "could-happen-soon" scenario.
Author: Deutermann, P.T.
Title: Cat Dancers
Name: JAS
Date: December 28, 2005
Why
Vigilante police officers in N. Carolina take out criminals released by the courts.
This is an exciting police procedural in which cops go after cops.
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Title:
Murder in Montparnasse
Name: JMH
Date: December 15, 2005
Why
A light mystery when you're in the mood for amusing wish-fulfillment. Phryne is a post-WWI flapper living in Australia. She is independently wealthy, lives a "bohemian" life-style and fills her free time by investigating crime.
Author: T. D. Jakes
Title: The Ten Commandments of Working in a Hostile Environment
Name: JoAnn Hodgekin
Date: October 18, 2005
Why
If you're having "challenges" at work, this book has very good Biblical perspective. I "see" my job differently now.
Author: David Gregory
Title: Dinner With a Perfect Stranger
Name: JoAnn Hodgekin
Date: October 18, 2005
Why
Great food for thought on eternal life. Written for us today.
Author: Lacey, Robert
Title: Great Tales from English History: the Truth About King Arthur,
Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart and more
Name: JS
Date: August 24, 2004
Why
A great way to learn the history behind the legends in easy-to-read, delightful short stories
Author: James D. Doss
Title: Dead Soul
Name: JMH
Date: July 27, 2004
Why
Ute investigator, Charlie Moon, is called on by the senator from the great state of Colorado to do some investigating. He finds the U.S. government to be a difficult and ungrateful taskmaster. For all that the world of hunting murderers is a dark one, Doss has filled his books with wonderful characters, humor, and faith of several varieties.
Author: Kavita Daswani
Title: For Matrimonial Purposes
Name: JMH
Date: July 27, 2004
Why
Anju, a modern Indian woman, is past thirty yet still unmarried - a dreadful state of affairs for a dutiful Indian daughter. This is the touching and, sometime hilarious, story of her attempts to find "a nice boy" and balance the demands of her very traditional family living in Mumbai with her considerably freer life in New York.
Author: Clyde Edgerton
Title: RANEY
Name: Jane Thomas
Date: June 30, 2004
Why
This book is a humorous look at the first years in the marriage of Raney and Charles. Underlying themes, in addition to marital relationships, are the extended family, religious, cultural, and racial differences. Raney is an unforgettable character of exasperating logic.
Author: Laurie King
Title: The
Moor : a Mary Russell novel
Name: Janet Sweely
Date: June 23, 2004
Why
The way people live and are treated according to social status and wealth is fascinating to read about.
Adding a mystery to solve makes this an interesting read.
Author: Deborah Bedford
Title: When You Believe
Name: Joann Hodgekin
Date: June 23, 2004
Why
No blood, no guts, no gore.
A good inspirational, real-life situation book. It deals with issues of trust along with healing of pain from the past.
Author: Dick Morris
Title: Rewriting History
Name: Joyce Lively
Date: June 23, 2004
Why
Good re-write of Living History, by Hillary Clinton.
Gives insight to Hillary's thinking and her plans to be president.
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Title: The Quilter's Apprentice
Name: Marilyn Bower
Date: June 23, 2004
Why
This is very good fiction while being very true to detail on quilting - from beginning to finishing.
I especially liked the relationship that develops between the young woman (the apprentice) and the elder lady who is perfection at quilting.
Author: Susan Wittig Albert
Title: Dilly of a Death
Name: J. Hookway
Date: June 23, 2004
Why
I like the main character, China Bayless with her common sense and truly horrible puns; and I enjoy the herb-lore.
I didn't like the fact that I figured out whodunit before our heroine
Author: Erik Larson
Title: Devil In the White City
Name: Janet Sweely
Date: June 22, 2004
Why
I learned a lot of history while enjoying the suspense. A fun read, very engrossing. It hooked me from the first chapter. JS
