The Island of Sea Women - Lisa See
The matriarchal society of Haeyno (women free divers) who live on tiny Jeju island. Two best friends and how their lives and the island's culture change when the Japanese arrive.
A Spark of Light - Jodi Picoult
A man walks into the last abortion center in Alabama and murders several people. The story of why everyone - both inside and those outside protesting - were there that fateful day.
Reality is Not What it Seems - Carlo Rovelli
A journey through what makes the physical world tic as understood from the times of pre-Plato to the present in mostly layman’s terms.
Cold, Sassy Tree - Olive Ann Burns
This is the story of a small community in the deep south (circa 1905) and the social upheaval that is the result of “grandpa” deciding to marry a much younger woman who works in his general store as a milliner ….two weeks after the second demise of “grandma”.
Wild - Cheryl Strayed
The saga of a troubled and newly divorced woman who walks the Pacific Coast Trail by herself.
The Water Dancer - Ta-Nehisi Coates
An unexpected journey that takes Hiram, who was born into bondage, from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia's proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North. Told from his point of view.
OTHER READING RECOMMENDATIONS 2018:
The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen
A Communist double agent builds a new life in Los Angeles while secretly reporting back to his Communist superiors in Vietnam.
The Light Between Oceans
The story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife living on a remote Australian island find a baby washed up on shore and decide to claim the baby as their own.
A Brief (688 pages!) History of Seven Killings
The rise in power of Josey Wales, a drug czar and gang leader with a desire to take over the world.
The Midnight Watch, a novel of the Titanic and the Californian
The story of the California, a boat that was close enough to the Titanic's as it sank to save its passengers, and why its captain refused to come to the rescue.
Love Africa: A memoir of Romance, War and Survival
A coming of age biography about finding a calling and finding love authored by a Pulitzer-winning journalist and war correspondent who once wrote for the St. Pete Times.
Some "Good Reads" from Ann D. and her library group:
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (non-fiction, highly recommended)
This engaging memoir by a young woman scientist illuminates on many unexpected levels, as a moving portrait of a long friendship and a stunningly fresh look at plants that will forever change how you see the natural world.
The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt (fiction, highly recommended)
A poet flees to her hometown after a breakdown to ponder her life. With intellect and humor, she views women of diverse ages and coping methods.
Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon
A young Korean War refugee seeks a new life in a Brazilian port town as apprentice to a Japanese tailor. He must learn to let go of his past in order to connect with others. This brief gem of a novel describes his journey with spare, elegant prose, as he finds a way to make a new home.
News of the World, by Paulette Jiles
A Civil War veteran lives as a traveling news reader, until his Western journeys are complicated by an unsought bond with a white child “rescued” from the Kiowa who raised her. …exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction…that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.
Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen
Life in a dilapidated country cottage offers new creative chances for a once famous photographer, whose career and marriage have evaporated as she turns sixty. Quindlen deftly captures daily details and personal interactions with wry humor and sensitivity.
Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life & Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan (non-fiction)
In 1900 Edward Curtis gave up his fame as a portrait photographer to document the vanishing ways of Native American village life. His iconic images and exploits come alive in this rousing biography.
Many titles by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie combines off-beat humor with often disturbing situations. Born on the Spokane reservation, Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the National Book Award.
The Mind Club - Daniel Wgner, Kurt Gray
An investigation into the mind perception of extraordinary targets the authors explain what it means to have a mind and why it matters so much.
The Dive from Clausen's Pier - Ann Packer, 432 pages
The story of Carrie Bell's response to her fiance's paralysis and the obligations and loyalty people have to those in their lives.
The Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline, 268 pages
A story of friendship and second chances that highlights a little-known but historically significant movement in America's past, that of relocating orphaned children to the Midwest.
The Orchid Thief - Susan Orlean, 320 pages
A tale of an amazing obsession, set in Florida's Everglades. One man's determination to clone an endangered flower, the Ghost Orchid.
Get up, Please - David Kirby, 76 pages
The human condition examined in keenly observant poems.
River of the Golden Ibis - Gloria Jahoda, 432 pages
A colorful history of Florida, Tampa Bay, the Hillsborough River and the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg
OTHER READING RECOMMENDATIONS 2016:
Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner - 280 pages
A 1987 semi-autobiographical novel that explores the mysteries of friendship.
Evening is the Whole Day - Preeta Samarasan - 327 pages - fiction
Set in Malaysia, this novel is the story of the prosperous Rajasekharan family in a country slowly going to pieces.
The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd - 383 pages - historical fiction
The story of two early female abolitionists, one white, the other a slave.
Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee - fiction
An early rendition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, this story of Atticus Finch and Scout is set two decades after her classic story.
Killing Mr. Watson - Peter Matthiessen - 384 pages - historical fiction
Based on a true story, this book is a history of the Ten Thousand Islands area of Florida and the murder of the notorious Mister Watson.
Little Bee - Chris Cleave - fiction
A tenuous friendship builds between two very different women--one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow in suburban London. Little Bee leaves a British immigration detention center where she has been held for the past two years, after narrowly escaping a traumatic fate in her homeland. Alone in a foreign country, without family, friends, or funds, she seeks out the only English person she knows. Sarah is a young mother and magazine editor with whom Little Bee shared a dark and tumultuous event.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS 2015:
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin - 272 pages - fiction
A.J. Fikry, the irascible owner of Island Books, has recently endured some tough years: his wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and his prized possession - a rare edition of Poe poems - has been stolen. Over time he has given up on people and no longer finds solace with the books in his store. But a most unexpected occurrence gives him the chance to make his life over and to see things anew. This is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, a love letter to the world of books and an irresistible affirmation of why we read and why we love.
Defending Jacob: A Novel - William Landay - 436 pages - courtroom drama/mystery
Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than 20 years. When a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: his 14-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student. As the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own - between loyalty and justice, between the truth and allegation, between a past he's tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.
Cleopatra: A Life - Stacy Schiff - 432 pages - non-fiction
Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
Fair and Tender Ladies - Lee Smith - 317 pages - fiction
Ivy Rowe, Virginia mountain girl, then wife, mother and finally "Mawmaw," never strays far from her home, but the letters she writes take her across the country and over the ocean. Her letters tell stories that are rich with the life of Appalachia in words that are colloquial, often misspelled, but always beautiful.
A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki - 432 pages - fiction
A brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home. In Tokyo, 16-year old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is her only solace. Across the Pacific, Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island finds a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao's drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil. Gaiman - 531 pages - fantasy
"Childhood memories are sometimes covered and obscured beneath the things that come later, like childhood toys forgotten at the bottom of a crammed adult closet," Neil Gaiman writes, "but they are never lost for good." Who we used to be sometimes seems like a faint shadow of who we are now, but Gaiman helps us remember the wonder and terror and powerlessness that owned us as children in this book.
The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell - 700 pages - fantasy
A book in six parts, each of which deals with a different chapter in the life of Holly Sykes, an English teenage runaway who grows up to become a successful memoirist. In section one, set in 1984, 15-year-old Holly goes on the lam after falling out with her parents and discovering that her boyfriend is cheating on her. In the final part, set some 60 years later, an elderly Holly hunkers down on Ireland's west coast as the world is lurching towards environmental apocalypse and the global socio-economic order disintegrates.
BOOK SUGGESTIONS 2014:
Strumpet City - James Pluckett (Guesna)- 553 pages - historical fiction
This new edition of the epic Strumpet City marks the centenary of the 1913 Lockout. It has been chosen as Dublin City Libraries’ One City, One Book for 2013. First published in 1969, it has repeatedly been described as one of the greatest Irish novels of all time. Centering on the seminal lockout of 20,000 workers in Dublin in 1913, Strumpet City encompasses a wide sweep of city life. From the destitution of Rashers Tierney to the solid, aspirant respectability of Fitz and Mary, the priestly life of Father O’Connor, and the upper-class world of Yearling and the Bradshaws, it paints a portrait of a city of stark contrasts, with an urban working class mired in vicious poverty. Strumpet City is much more than a book about the Lockout. Through the power of vivid fiction we encounter all the complexities of humanity. The brilliant and much-loved TV series, originally screened by RTÉ in 1980, is fondly remembered by many but to read the book is to immerse yourself in social and historical writing akin to Chekhov and Tolstoy. Strumpet City is the great, sweeping Irish historical novel of the 20th century.
At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest, a reclusive orchardist, William Talmadge, tends to apples and apricots as if they were loved ones. A gentle man, he's found solace in the sweetness of the fruit he grows and the quiet, beating heart of the land he cultivates. One day, two teenage girls appear and steal his fruit from the market; they later return to the outskirts of his orchard to see the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, the girls take up on Talmadge's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Just as the girls begin to trust him, men arrive in the orchard with guns, and the shattering tragedy that follows will set Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect but also to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past.
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell (Guesna) - 408 pages (sci-fi)
In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being "human." When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong... Words like "provocative" and "compelling" will come to mind as you read this shocking novel about first contact with a race that creates music akin to both poetry and prayer.
In the Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (Guesna) - 516 pages - fantasy
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman (Ann B.) (2011) - 327 pages
With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187–424—one of the millions of people who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system. From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison—why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.
And the Mountains Echoed: A Novel (Mimi) - Khaled Hosseini - 404 pages
Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.
The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh (Guesna) - 352 pages
A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past.
The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what’s been missing in her life, and when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet - David Mitchell (Ann B) - 496 pages
The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor, the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, designed to keep the West at bay. To this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, and costly courtesans comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiancée back in Holland. But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured midwife to the city’s powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken—the consequences of which will extend beyond Jacob’s worst imaginings.
Freedom - Jonathan Franzen (Ann B.) 586 pages
Freedom follows several members of an American family, the Berglunds, as well as their close friends and lovers, as complex and troubled relationships unfold over many years. The book follows them through the last decades of the twentieth century and concludes near the beginning of the Obama administration.
Unbroken - Lauren Hillenbrand (Guesna) - 446 pages
From Laura Hillenbrand, the bestselling author of Seabiscuit, comes Unbroken, the inspiring true story of a man who lived through a series of catastrophes almost too incredible to be believed. In evocative, immediate descriptions, Hillenbrand unfurls the story of Louie Zamperini--a juvenile delinquent-turned-Olympic runner-turned-Army hero. During a routine search mission over the Pacific, Louie’s plane crashed into the ocean, and what happened to him over the next three years of his life as a prisoner in various Japanese POW camps is a story that will keep you glued to the pages.
No comments:
Post a Comment