March 2010 ~ The Last Aloha

                          by Gaellen Quinn

                           Published by Cypress House Press (member Cynthia Frank’s company)

February 2010 ~ Tales of a Female Nomad

                              by Ruth Gordon Gelman

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December 2009 ~  West with the Night

                             by Beryl Markham

November 2009 ~ The Elegance of the Hedgehog

                                  by Muriel Barbery

October 2009 ~ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Peel Society

                            by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

August 2009 ~  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet 

                            by Jamie Ford

June 2009 ~    Year of Wonder

                        by Geraldine Brooks

May 2009 ~    Dewey

                        by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter                  

April 2009 ~  The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

                        by Anne Fadiman

March 2009 ~   Three Cups of Tea

                        by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

February 2009 ~ Women of the Silk

                              by Gail Tsukiyama  Amazon book review

January 2009 ~   The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

                              by Mark Haddon    Amazon book review

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General Book Recommendations:

Stones into Schools by Greg Mortensen's inspiring sequel to Three Cups of Tea

 

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom (author of Tuesdays with Morrie). It is the tale of Albom's conversations and interactions of two men of God, one is his childhood rabbi, the other a reformed drug dealer and convict who became a pastor in Detroit's inter-city.

 

Good read: Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon. 

If anyone wants to borrow, let me know.

from Colette Bailey

I have read two books recently by John Krakauer- Into Thin Air and Into the Wild. These books are not just about adventure into the wild places of this world but why and how we get there as people. The first book is about the Everest Climb some years ago and the how and the why that climb ended in disaster. "Into The Wild" is mostly about a young man going alone into a remote area of Alaska and why he ended up there. They are good books to think about. I think they are both already major motion pictures.

from Grace Sharples

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is a memoir of the author, three years after a protracted divorce, embarking on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing." These destinations are all on the beaten track, but Gilbert's exuberance and her self-deprecating humor enliven the proceedings: recalling the first time she attempted to speak directly to God, she says, "It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, 'I've always been a big fan of your work.'"

from Lynne Calder

This engrossing memoir, as Salbi shows how Saddam Hussein "managed to make decent people like [her] parents complicit in their own oppression." "Growing up in Baghdad," the author remembers, "was probably not unlike growing up in an American suburb," but then Salbi's father became Saddam's private pilot. Gradually, the man who treated her like a niece became a man she called " 'Amo' [Uncle] not out of affection, but because I was afraid to say his name—Saddam Hussein—out loud." Interspersed with Salbi's memories are her mother's recollections of imposed visits from and disquieting parties with Saddam. These riveting passages reveal a self-absorbed man who, as Salbi comes to understand, "saw no conflict between feeling fondness for people and killing them." Making a physical escape from Iraq was easy—a marriage was arranged in the U.S. to an abusive husband (from whom Salbi also had to escape)—compared with making the new life that culminated in founding Women for Women International, an organization that assists women victimized by war. Books to come will offer more historical and statistical data, but this may be the most honest account of life within Saddam's circle so far; not a rebel's account, although Salbi is certainly a dissident, rather, it's an enlightening revelation of how, by barely perceptible stages, decent people make accommodations in a horrific regime.

from Lynne Calder:

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

In the Woods and The Likeness By Tana French 

Slam by Nick Hornby, anything by Nick Hornby

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer

from Kathryn Leaman:

 The Red Letter Diary by Lily Koppel

 The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

 

from Linda Dutcher:

Growth of the Soil by Kruit Hamsun

Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale by Dan Dye

The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein

More dog book recommendations:

Dog Years: A Memoir (P.S.) by Mark Doty

Izzy & Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me by Jon Katz

Serena: A Novel by Ron Rash

Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quin

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote

a big little life by Dean Koontz. The novelist and his wife adopted their first dog, Trixie, a retired Canine Companion for Independence assistance dog. Koontz relays the amazing impact Trixie had on Dean and his wife.