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NOLA Group Discussion Book List 2005 / 2006

New Discussion Books

Bajwa, Rupa. THE SARI SHOP: A NOVEL. Bajwa dramatically illustrates the class gap in contemporary India in her debut novel, focusing on the fortunes of Ramchand, a lowly, disaffected clerk in a popular sari shop. The novel opens with Ramchand happily going about his duties serving the shop's mostly upper-class clients. Opportunity for advancement comes from an unlikely source when he attracts the attention of the beautiful, literate Rina Kapoor, whose family hires the shop to provide saris for her upcoming wedding. (NOLA 2005)

Bayard, Louis. MR. TIMOTHY. Timothy Cratchit is Tiny Tim no more in bayard's inventive updating of the Dickens character's life. Grieving his recently deceased father and attempting to free himself of the financial support of "Uncle" Ebenezer, Timothy (no longer tiny and free of his crutch) is living in a brothel, where he earns his board by teaching the madame to read. (NOLA 2005)

Brodrick, William. THE SIXTH LAMENTATION. Larkwood Priory, Suffolk, 1995: Following his afternoon confessions, Father Anselm is stopped by an old man. What, he is asked, should a man do when the world has turned against him? Anselm’s response—claim sanctuary—is to have greater resonance than he could ever have imagined, for the man returns demanding the protection of the Church. He is Eduard Schwermann, a suspected Nazi war criminal. (NOLA 2005)

Brown, Dan. ANGELS AND DEMONS. Pitting scientific terrorists against the cardinals of Vatican City, this well-plotted if over-the-top thriller is crammed with Vatican intrigue and high-tech drama. Robert Langdon, a Harvard specialist on religious symbolism, is called in by a Swiss research lab when Dr. Vetra, the scientist who discovered antimatter, is found murdered with the cryptic word "Illuminati" branded on his chest. These Iluminati were a group of Renaissance scientists, including Galileo, who met secretly in Rome to discuss new ideas in safety from papal threat; what the long-defunct association has to do with Dr. Vetra's death is far from clear. (NOLA 2005)

Butler, Robert Olen. HAD A GOOD TIME: STORIES FROM AMERICAN POSTCARDS. In Robert Olen Butler's dazzling new book of stories, Had a Good Time, he explores America by finding artistic inspiration in an unlikely and fascinating place-the backs of postcards from a bygone era. For many years Butler has collected picture postcards from the early twentieth century-not so much for the pictures on the front but for the messages written on the backs, little bits of the captured souls of people long since passed away. (NOLA 2005)

Day, Cathy. THE CIRCUS IN WINTER. The secret lives and loves of circus people and their descendants are revealed in these 11 linked short stories. From 1884 to 1939, the small town of Lima, Indiana, hosts the Great Porter Circus during the winter months. Wallace Porter buys the circus on the eve of his beloved wife's death, claiming he has "seen the elephant." (NOLA 2005)

Dnauss, Sibylle. EVA'S COUSIN. Based on interviews with Gertrude Weisker, the cousin of Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun. Gertrude, called Marlene in the novel, tells the story of her days with Eva at the Bergof, Hiter's mansion in the Mavarian mountains, toward the end of World War II. (NOLA 2005)

Edgerton, Clyde. WALKING ACROSS EGYPT. A quietly humorous story set in a small town in North Carolina. Seventy-eight year old Mattie Riggsbee, spunky and determined, has one regret: she has no grandchildren, as her son and daughter inconveniently remain unmarried. The story gathers momentum after a slightly sluggish start, when Wesley Benfield, wayward teenager and orphan, comes into Mattie's life. (NOLA 2005)

Fowler, Karen Joy. THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB. In California’s central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen’s novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her eye for the frailties of human behavior and her ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. (NOLA 2005)

Hoffman, Alice. BLACKBIRD HOUSE: A NOVEL. Prolific novelist Hoffman (The Probable Future; Blue Diary;etc.) offers 12 lush and lilting interconnected stories, all taking place in the same Cape Cod farmhouse over the course of generations. (NOLA 2005)

Horwitz, Tony. CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC. When prize-winning war correspondent Tony Horwitz leaves the battlefields of Bosnia and the Middle East for a peaceful corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains, he thinks he's put war zones behind him. But awakened one morning by the crackle of musket fire, Horwitz starts filing front-line dispatches again this time from a war close to home, and to his own heart. Propelled by his boyhood passion for the Civil War, Horwitz embarks on a search for places and people still held in thrall by America's greatest conflict. The result is an adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where the ghosts of the Lost Cause are resurrected through ritual and remembrance. (NOLA 2005)

Hosseini, Khaled. THE KITE RUNNER. The Kite Runner follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. (NOLA 2005)

Japrisot, Sebastien. A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Set during and after the First World War, A Very Long Engagement tells the story of a young woman's search for her fiancé, whom she believes might still be alive despite having officially been reported as "killed in the line of duty." Unable to walk since childhood, fearless Mathilde Donnay is undeterred in her quest as she scours the country for information about five wounded French soldiers who were brutally abandoned by their own troops. A Very Long Engagement is a mystery, a love story, and an extraordinary portrait of life in France before and after the War. (NOLA 2005)

Kurson, Robert. SHADOW DIVERS: THE TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO…. For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships.But in the fall of 1991, not even these courageous divers were prepared for what they found 230 feet below the surface, in the frigid Atlantic waters sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey: a World War II German U-boat, its ruined interior a macabre wasteland of twisted metal, tangled wires, and human bones–all buried under decades of accumulated sediment. (NOLA 2005)

Lucas, Geralyn. WHY I WORE LIPSTICK TO MY MASTECTOMY. Having finished journalism school and landed her dream job at age 27, the last thing Geralyn Lucas expects to hear is a breast cancer diagnosis. She decides to go public with her disease despite fears about the backlash at work, and her bold choices in treatment are irreverent and uplifting. When her breast is under construction and her hair is falling out, her skirts get shorter. She goes to work every day and gets promoted. She has sex with her bandages on. She reinvents her beauty and in a bold move of conscious objection, forgoes the final phase of her breast reconstruction: the nipple. She is reborn in a tattoo parlor when she gets a heart tattoo where her nipple once was. (NOLA 2005)

Marton, Kati. HIDDEN POWER: PRESIDENTIAL MARRIAGES THAT SHAPED OUR HISTORY. Marton uncovers the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the ultimate power couples, showing how first ladies have used their privileged access to the president to influence staffing, promote causes, and engage directly in policy-making. Edith Wilson secretly ran the country after Woodrow’s debilitating stroke. Eleanor Roosevelt was FDR’s moral compass. And Laura Bush, initially shy of any public role, has proven to be the emotional ballast for her husband. Through extensive research and interviews, Marton reveals the substantial–yet often overlooked–legacy of presidential wives, providing insight into the evolution of women’s roles in the twentieth century and vividly depicting the synergy of these unique political partnerships. (NOLA 2005)

McEwan, Ian. ATONEMENT. We meet 13-year-old Briony Tallis in the summer of 1935, as she attempts to stage a production of her new drama "The Trials of Arabella" to welcome home her older, idolized brother Leon. But she soon discovers that her cousins, the glamorous Lola and the twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, aren't up to the task, and directorial ambitions are abandoned as more interesting prospects of preoccupation come onto the scene. (NOLA 2005)

Metalious, Grace. PEYTON PLACE. "Peyton Place" is part of our popular culture. But how many people have actually read the book? When the book was originally published, the activities therein were considered scandalous. Revisit this book 50 years later and see what caused all the excitement. (NOLA 2005)

Miller, Sue. WORLD BELOW. At the heart of Miller's story are two women, 52-year-old Catherine Hubbard and Catherine's now-deceased grandmother, Georgia Rice Holbrooke. At first blush, Catherine and Georgia couldn't seem more different. Catherine is a twice-divorced San Francisco schoolteacher, while her grandmother was a faithful country doctor's wife. But as the novel progresses, parallels emerge - the early deaths of their mothers, for instance - and their lives come to seem more deeply entwined.(NOLA 2005)

Niven, Jennifer. ADA BLACKJACK: A TRUE STORY OF SURVIVAL IN THE ARCTIC. In 1921, four men and one woman ventured deep into the Arctic. Two years later, only one returned. When 23-year-old Inuit Ada Blackjack signed on as a seamstress for a top-secret Arctic expedition, her goal was simple: earn money and find a husband. But her terrifying experiences -- both in the wild and back in civilization -- comprise one of the most amazing untold adventures of the 20th century. Based on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Ada's never-before-seen diaries, bestselling author Jennifer Niven narrates this true story of an unheralded woman who became an unlikely hero. (NOLA 2005)

Picoult, Jodi. MY SISTER'S KEEPER. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. (NOLA 2005)

Riccio, Dolores Stewart. CIRCLE OF FIVE. Initially an ordinary study group meeting at the local branch library, this group of women quickly evolves into a full-blown coven. The narrator, Cassandra, owner of Earthlore Herbal Preparations and Cruelty-Free Cosmetics, has visions, the most disturbing of which takes place in a grocery story when she "sees" a fellow shopper as a serial killer of young boys. Knowing that the police put little stock in psychic phenomena, the circle decides to take matters into their own hands. (NOLA 2005)

Roberts, Cokie. FOUNDING MOTHERS: THE WOMEN WHO RAISED OUR NATION. Cokie Roberts brings to light the stories of the women who fought the Revolution as valiantly as the men, sometimes even defending their very doorsteps from British occupation. While the men went off to war or to Congress, the women managed their husbands' businesses, ran the farms, and raised their children. These women who sacrificed for the fledgling nation spent months or even years apart from their husbands, at a time when letters were their only form of contact. (NOLA 2005)

Shah, Saira. THE STORYTELLER'S DAUGHTER: ONE WOMAN'S RETURN…. Born in England and raised on her father's fantastic stories of an Afghanistan she had never known, Sha spends much of her life searching for a mystic place of beauty. What she finds is a place ravaged by war and later, religious Puritanism. Most compelling are the characters she encounters as she travels behind her Taliban-imposed burqa. (NOLA 2005)

Shapiro, Michael. SENSE OF PLACE: GREAT TRAVEL WRITERS…. Great writers inspire readers to head out in search of foreign sunsets, but in this instance, they inspired travel writer Michael Shapiro to head out for the great writers themselves. A Sense of Place is one writer's journey to visit all the heroes who have motivated him - to pack a pen and toothbrush, to find out where they live, why they chose the place, and how it influences their writing. (NOLA 2005)

Twain, Mark. THE INNOCENTS ABROAD. A classic in Mark Twain sytle. This is a story of his first of many overseas trips. As he refers to his countrymen as pumpkins among the more civilized European world. The humor and style of writing make this a good book for those who enjoy a good easy read classic. (NOLA 2005)

Udall, Brady. MIRACLE LIFE OF EDGAR MINT. "If I could tell you only one thing about my life, it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head. As formative events go, nothing else comes close." With these words Edgar Mint, half-Apache and mostly orphaned, makes his unshakable claim on our attention. In the course of Brady Udall’s high-spirited, inexhaustibly inventive novel, Edgar survives not just this bizarre accident, but a hellish boarding school for Native American orphans, a well-meaning but wildly dysfunctional Mormon foster-family, and the loss of most of the illusions that are supposed to make life bearable. (NOLA 2005)

Winchester, Simon. KRAKATOA: THE DAY THE WORLD EXPLODED: AUGUST 27, 1883. This is a compelling account of the destruction of Krakatoa by the eruption of its volcano in 1883. It examines the lasting and world-changing effects the disaster had. (NOLA 2005)

Yellin, Emily. OUR MOTHERS' WAR: AMERICAN WOMEN AT HOME AND…. After years of planting Victory gardens, volunteering at USOs and coping with increased home front responsibilities, in early 1945 Yellin's mother quit her desk job at Reader's Digest and shipped out to the Pacific Front to join the Red Cross. Wartime manpower shortages were bending gender rules, and many women seized the opportunity to try something different. (NOLA 2005)



Previous Discussion Books

Allende, Isabel. DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE: A NOVEL. An orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a Victorian spinster and her rigid brother, young, vivacious Eliza Sommers follows her lover to California during the Gold Rush of 1849. She enters a rough-and-tumble world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chien-California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive lover gradually turns into another kind of journey, and by the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is. (NOLA 2004)

Anderson, Joan. A YEAR BY THE SEA: THOUGHTS OF AN UNFINISHED WOMAN. Non-fiction. At fifty, Joan Anderson is disillusioned with her marriage and herself. When her husband announces he has taken a job that requires them to move 100 miles from their home, Joan opts out. Instead, she decides to spend a year in their cottage on Cape Cod, using the time to take stock of life and her marriage. This is humorous, thought provoking, and inspirational. (NOLA 2002)

Anderson, Walter. MEANT TO BE. Anderson, longtime editor of Parade Magazine, grew up on the "wrong side of the tracks" in Mount Vernon, New York, the youngest child of an alcoholic, abusive father. He escaped his situation by quitting high school at sixteen to join the Marines. Four years later, while on leave to attend his father's funeral, he stuns his mother with a question that has inexplicably haunted him since he was a small boy: Was the man who had so tormented him in his childhood his real father? Her answer: Walter was born of a wartime love affair between his Protestant mother and the Jewish man she loved. His mother swears him to secrecy, and he honors their pact for nearly thirty-five years, and then one day he meets an unknown brother -- another son of his real father -- who has lived a similar, nearly parallel life. Their secret, in ways large and small, defines the course of his life. (NOLA 2004)

Armstrong, Lance. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BICYCLE. Non-fiction. 2001. Lance Armstrong’s energy and determination come through loud and clear in his memoir. He is a world-class athlete who won the Tour de France after he recovered from his grueling battle with cancer. In prose that leaps off the page, we are captivated by his humor, his moxie and his charm. (NOLA 2003)

Atwood, Margaret. SURFACING. Fiction. 1998. "Part detective novel, part psychological thriller, this is the story of a talented woman artist who goes in search of her missing father on a remote island in northern Quebec with her lover and another couple." (NOLA 2002)

Baldachi, David. WINNER. Fiction. A cut above your average mystery or thriller. A series of weekly lotteries are being fixed. The mysterious mastermind of the plot personally chooses his dubious winner. The consequence of being chosen makes for a gripping page-turner. (NOLA 2002)

Boller, Paul. PRESIDENTIAL WIVES…. In Presidential Wives, Paul Boller brings his gift for telling detail to bear on the women our Presidents married, and the result is a biographical feat--at once funny and poignant, dramatic and illuminating, covering every First Lady from Martha Washington to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Boller devotes a full chapter to each of his subjects, featuring an incisive biographical essay followed by a selection of revealing anecdotes. Through his portrayal of such a diverse group of women, Boller sheds new light on how much the institution of the presidency tells us about ourselves and our life as a nation. First published in 1988, this second edition has been revised to include updated information on people such as Nancy Reagan and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a new preface, and new chapters devoted to Barbara Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton. (NOLA 2004)

Brady, James. FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. Non-fiction. "The Battle of Iwo Jima, fought in the winter of 1945 on a rocky island south of Japan, brought a ferocious slice of hell to earth. The battle was a turning point in the war in the Pacific, and it produced one of World War II's enduring images: a photograph of six soldiers raising an American flag on the flank of Mount Suribachi, the island's commanding high point. One of those young Americans was John Bradley, a Navy corpsman who a few days before had braved enemy mortar and machine-gun fire to administer first aid to a wounded Marine and then drag him to safety. For this act of heroism Bradley would receive the Navy Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honor. Bradley, who died in 1994, never mentioned his feat to his family. Only after his death did Bradley's son James begin to piece together the facts of his father's heroism. Flags of Our Fathers recounts the sometimes tragic life stories of the six men who raised the flag that February day" (NOLA 2002)

Brenner, Joel. EMPERORS OF CHOCOLATE. Non-Fiction. Brenner, a former Washington Post financial reporter, tells the stories of how Forrest Mars, Sr. and Milton S. Hershey turned their two companies from small mom-and-pop operations into international forces over the last century. (NOLA 2000)

Bryson, Bill. A WALK IN THE WOODS: REDISCOVERING AMERICA. Non Fiction. 1998. "Accompanied only by his old college buddy, Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. The reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through." (NOLA 1999)

Burke, James Lee. BLACK CHERRY BLUES. Fiction. This Edgar Award winner for 1990 features Dave Robicheaux, a former New Orleans police detective. Haunted by his wife's murder, he moves with his daughter out to Montana to start a new life only to become involved with murder, the Mafia, and Native American land. (NOLA 2000)

Burroughs, Augusten. RUNNING WITH SCISSORS: A MEMOIR. Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor’s bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock- therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boy’s survival under the most extraordinary circumstances. (NOLA 2004)

Chen, Da. SOUNDS OF THE RIVER. This sequel to Colors of the Mountain starts when Da Chen, 18 takes his first train ride away from the farm he was raised on to his new university life in Beijing. He soon faces a host of challenges, including poor living conditions, lack of food, and suicidal roommates. Undaunted by these hurdles, and armed with a dogged determination to learn English and "all things Western," he competes to win a chance to study in America -- a chance that rests in the shrewd and corrupt hands of the almighty professors. (NOLA 2004)

Chevalier, Tracy. GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING. Plume, 2001 Fiction. Griet, the narrator, is only sixteen when she is hired as a maid into the household of Johannes Vermeer. She becomes his assistant and ultimately a model for him. The author successfully depicts both the domestic tensions of the Vermeer home as well as life and art in 17th century Delft. (NOLA 2001)

Cook, Thomas. INSTRUMENTS OF NIGHT. Bantam, 1999 Fiction. While assisting in a 50-year-old murder investigation, writer Peter Grave’s is brought face-to-face with a horrible crime from his childhood in this chilling novel. (NOLA 2001)

Cornwall, Patricia. PORTRAIT OF A KILLER: JACK THE RIPPER--CASE CLOSED. Non-fiction. 2003. Jack the Ripper was renowned artist Walter Sickert (1860-1942) according to Cornwell, in case anyone hasn't yet heard. The evidence Cornwell accumulates toward that conclusion in this brilliant, personal, gripping book is very strong, and will persuade many. In May 2001, Cornwell took a tour of Scotland Yard that interested her in the Ripper case, and in Sickert as a suspect. A look at Sickert's "violent" paintings sealed her interest, and she became determined to apply, for the first time ever, modern investigatory and forensic techniques to the crimes that horrified London more than 100 years ago. (NOLA 2003)

Da Chen. COLORS OF THE MOUNTAIN. Non-Fiction. Da Chen was born in 1962, in the Year of Great Starvation. Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution engulfed millions of Chinese citizens, and the Red Guard enforced Mao’s brutal communist regime. Chen’s family belonged to the despised landlord class, and his father and grandfather were routinely beaten and sent to labor camps, the family of eight left without a breadwinner. Despite this background of poverty and danger, Da Chen grows up to be resilient, tough, and funny, learning how to defend himself and how to work toward his future. (NOLA 2003)

Dai Sijie. BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS. Fiction. 2002. This beautifully presented novella tracks the lives of two teens, childhood friends who have been sent to a small Chinese village for "re-education" during Mao's Cultural Revolution. Sons of doctors and dentists, their days are now spent muscling buckets of excrement up the mountainside and mining coal. But the boys-Luo and the unnamed narrator-receive a bit of a reprieve when the villagers discover their talents as storytellers. (NOLA 2003)

Ehrenreich, Barbara. NICKEL & DIMED: ON (NOT) GETTING BY IN AMERICA. “Provocative, heartfelt, and sometimes funny, this book is an account of life in the low-wage trenches. How can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $7.00 per hour? The author works as a waitress, hotel maid, housecleaner, etc. to find out.” (NOLA 2004)

Elkin, Stanley. MRS. TED BLISS. Fiction. 2002. Mrs. Ted Bliss is a Jewish widow living out her “golden” years in Miami. What could be a clichéd story is in fact a touching, complex telling of a widow learning to live in the modern world. The pivotal point of the plot revolves around the lat Mr. Ted’s Buick LeSabre and the interesting “friends: Mrs. Ted acquires because of said vehicle. (NOLA 2003)

Enger, Leif. PEACE LIKE A RIVER. Fiction. Dead for 10 minutes before his father orders him to breathe in the name of the living God, Reuben Land is living proof that the world is full of miracles. But it's the impassioned honesty of his quiet, measured narrative voice that gives weight and truth to the fantastic elements of this engrossing tale. (NOLA 2003)

Ephron, Amy. A CUP OF TEA. Fiction. Rosemary Fell's life of privilege changes forever when she invites a penniless young woman home for a cup of tea. Ephron spins a delightful tale of a triangular romance set against the back drop of New York society during World War I. Based on a short story by Katherine Mansfield. (NOLA 1998)

Erdrich, Louise. THE MASTER BUTCHERS SINGING CLUB: A NOVEL. Having survived World War I, Fidelis Waldvogel returns to his quiet German village and marries the pregnant widow of his best friend, killed in action. With a suitcase full of sausages and a master butcher's precious knife set, Fidelis sets out for America. In Argus, North Dakota, he builds a business, a home for his family -- which includes Eva and four sons -- and a singing club consisting of the best voices in town. When the Old World meets the New -- in the person of Delphine Watzka -- the great adventure of Fidelis's life begins. Delphine meets Eva and is enchanted. She meets Fidelis, and the ground trembles. These momentous encounters will determine the course of Delphine's life, and the trajectory of this brilliant novel. (NOLA 2004)

Farley, Tony. JIM THE BOY: A NOVEL. Non-fiction. 2001. A smooth and sentimental coming of age story set in a remote North Carolina hamlet during the Great Depression. Watch the world open up through the eyes of ten-year old Jim. (NOLA 2002)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. TENDER IS THE NIGHT. Fiction. 1995. "Set on the French Riviera in the 1930's, this novel chronicles the psychological disintegration of a wealthy couple as they support friends and hangers on emotionally and financially." (NOLA 2002)

Fleischner, Jennifer. MRS. LINCOLN AND MRS. KECKLY: THE REMARKABLE STORY. This book is an in-depth look at the relationship between two very different women, Mary Todd Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly. The former slave bought her freedom, became a celebrated dressmaker, lost a son in the war, and went on to write a detailed biography about Mrs. Lincoln. (NOLA 2004)

Frizier, Charles. COLD MOUNTAIN. Fiction. 1997. A wounded Confederate soldier, tired of the pointless slaughter of war, leaves his hospital bed and begins the long walk back to the hills of North Carolina and the woman he left behind. This book parallels his walk and her psychological journey as she comes to terms with her existence. As their lives converge once again, a new world is born from the ruins of the old. (NOLA 1999)

Gladwell, Malcom. THE TIPPING POINT…. “Examines how ideas take hold in our society. His examples include why some unexpected best sellers occur (like Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood), why some TV shows succeed and others fail (even though they are nearly identical)…why Hush-Puppy© shoes are so popular, etc.” (NOLA 2004)

Glass, Julia. THREE JUNES. This three-part novel draws the reader into the lives of several central characters during three Junes spanning ten years. It explores modern relationships (including a gay one) and the families that people inherit or create for themselves. Well paced and carefully layered. (NOLA 2004)

Godwin, Gail. FATHER MELANCHOLY'S DAUGHTER. Avon, 1997 Fiction. A bittersweet story of a young girl’s devotion to her father, the rector of a small church in Virginia. This novel is filled with the hope, dreams, and love that sustain them both in the wake of betrayal and tragedy that diminish their family. (NOLA 2001)

Goodwin, Doris Kearns. WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR: A BIOGRAPHY. Non Fiction. 1997. A fond remembrance of a Brooklyn childhood during the fifties. The author weaves together the experiences she shared with other war babies and those unique to a specific place, time and family. Of particular interest is her love for the Brooklyn Dodgers which was fostered by her father. They discussed each game and he taught her how to record the complex symbols and lines in her scorebook. This forged a lasting bond between them. (NOLA 1999)

Greene, Bob. DUTY. Harper Perennial, 2001 Non Fiction. In one soldier’s memory of a mission that transformed the world—and in one son’s last attempt to grasp his father’s ingrained sense of honor and duty—lies a powerful tribute to the ordinary heroes of an extraordinary time in American life. (NOLA 2001)

Greene, Melissa Fay. LAST MAN OUT: THE SPRINGHILL MINE DISASTER. On October 23, 1958, a sudden cataclysmic “bump’ in the bowels of a Springhill coal mine trapped 174 men. This mine collapse was our first ‘global’ TV news disaster. Drawing on in-depth interviews with minors, Greene creates and ‘unsanitized’ picture of what happened. (NOLA 2004)

Greenlaw, Linda. LOBSTER CHRONICLES. Non-Fiction 2003. After 17 years at sea, Linda Greenlaw decided it was time to take a break from being a swordboat captain, the career that would earn her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm and a portrayal in the subsequent film. Greenlaw decided to move back home, to a tiny island seven miles off the Maine coast. There, she would pursue a simpler life as a lobsterman, find a husband, and settle down. But all doesn't go as planned. The lobsters refuse to crawl out from under their rocks and into the traps she and her father have painstakingly set. Fellow islanders draw her into bizarre intrigues, and the eligible bachelors prove even more elusive than the lobsters. But just when she thinks things can't get worse, something happens that forces her to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about life, luck, and lobsters. (NOLA 2003)

Gulland, Sandra. MANY LIVES AND SECRET SORROWS OF JOSEPHINE B.. Fiction. This is a fictionalized account of the early life of Josephine Bonaparte. This book, the first of three that cover her entire life, is about her early life and ends with her marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte. (NOLA 2002)

Haddon, Mark. CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME. The hero of this first novel is Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old autistic math genius. Christopher discovers the dead body of his neighbor’s poodle and is accused of the committing the crime. He decides to investigate the dog’s murder and in turn uncovers a mystery involving his mother. (NOLA 2004)

Harr, Johnathan. CIVIL ACTION. Non-fiction. 1996. In this true story of an epic courtroom showdown, two of the nation's largest corporations stand accused of causing the deaths of children. Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing everything, including his sanity. A searing, compelling tale of a legal system gone awry--one in which greed and power fight an unending struggle against justice--A Civil Action is also the story of how one determined man can ultimately make a difference. With an unstoppable narrative power, it is an unforgettable reading experience. (NOLA 2003)

Haruf, Kent. PLAINSONG. Vintage, 2000 Fiction. This is the story of some residents of Holt, a small town in the high plains of Colorado. These teachers, students, and ranchers lead seemingly separate lives until they are drawn together by one character that pulls the common thread between. (NOLA 2001)

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES. Fiction. Set in the mid 19th Century Salem, the book explores a curse pronounced on Hawthorne's own family by a woman condemned to death during the Salem Witch Trials. The greed and the arrogance of the novel's Pyncheon family is mirrored in the decay of the mansion. But when a recent death mimics one from long ago, it appears that the curse on the house is real... (NOLA 1999)

Heimel, Paul. ELIOT NESS: THE REAL STORY. Eliot Ness, the man best-known from the book and TV series, The Untouchables, was largely a fictional character created by Ness and ghostwriter Oscar Fraley. The truth about Ness is more interesting. According to Heimel, he was a heavy drinker, a womanizer, and politically ambitious. He was a failure in business and died nearly penniless (NOLA 2004).

Hillenbrand, Laura. SEABISCUIT: AN AMERICAN LEGEND. Non-fiction. 2001. "The exciting tale of one of the most famous racehorses in history - set against the dramatic backdrop of the 1930's Depression America." (NOLA 2002)

Irving, John. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY. Fiction. One of John Irving's most accessible novels. Because Owen is small for his age and very bright, besides he is outside the mainstream of kid activity. That's OK with him because he truly believes he's an instrument of God and Irving proves he's right. This is a funny, moving heartbreaking story that encompasses the major events and traumas of the 50's and 60's. (NOLA 1999)

Jicai, Feng. THREE INCH GOLDEN LOTUS. This is a "beguiling" book, truly, just charming. And more than that, it is a dip into another time and place...a civilization at which we can only guess. It is a novel of "modern China" the story of foot binding and what it meant to that particular time and people. A three-inch golden lotus refers to a style of foot binding, the most difficult to achieve and the most desired (in all senses of the word). Fragrant Lotus has her feet bound in this style when she is only six, but it will be her fame and her fortune. Her life from that day is dictated by her feet and we follow that life in a series of "witty and often wicked ironies." (NOLA 1997)

Johnston, Gary Paul. CUSTER'S HORSES. Non-fiction. For more than a century, it has been the object of controversy, debate, and fascination. Never before has the Battle of the Little Bighorn been examined from the horses' perspectives. The battle proved to be the death of U.S. Army Gen. George Armstrong Custer and 265 men from his Seventh Cavalry. What really happened that fateful day in 1876 that contributed to Custer's Last Stand? (NOLA 2003)

Kelley, Douglas. THE CAPTAIN'S WIFE: A NOVEL. Based on the true story of Mary Patten, this maritime tale begins in July 1856 during the heyday of the great clipper ships. On a voyage from New York to San Francisco her husband becomes incapacitated due to illness, and 19-year-old Mary must take command of the ship, becoming somewhat of an icon of the early women’s rights movement. Based on historical accounts and little known facts about Mary Patten’s life, the author has created an entertaining, suspenseful and romantic adventure story. (NOLA 2004)

Kidd, Sue Monk. SECRET LIFE OF BEES. Fiction. 2003. Lily Owens is a 14 year old white girl raised by an emotionally abusive peach farmer in South Carolina. Lily accidentally killed her mother when she was 7 years old. Rosaleen, a black woman, has been caring for Lily since this time. Rosaleen gets into trouble when she goes to town to register to vote. Rosaleen and Lily flee to Tiburon, South Carolina because Lily’s mom owned an image of a Black Madonna with the words “Tiburon, South Carolina” on the back. They are taken in by three black sisters who are beekeepers and Lily finds a connection to her mother. (NOLA 2003)

Krakauer, Jon. UNDER THE BANNER. On July 24, 1984, Dan and Ron Lafferty cut the throats of their brother Allan's wife, Brenda, and baby daughter, Erica, fulfilling part of a revelation Ron received from God. Ron is now on death row. Brother Dan, serving two life sentences for the murders, has never denied killing his sister-in-law and niece but has absolutely no remorse. "I was doing God's will," he says, "which is not a crime." Krakauer… tackles issues of faith in this true-crime/religious expose, which delves deep into the heart of Mormon fundamentalism, where revelations from God are commonplace and polygamy not only still exists but is "a matter of religious duty." Alternating between the bloodier aspects of the origins of the Mormon Church and some of the more extreme aspects of today's Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, Krakauer's account is gripping yet deeply disturbing. (NOLA 2004)

Kudzru, Hari. THE IMPRESSIONIST. Fiction. 2003. Charting the bizarre and picaresque journey of a chameleon-like figure from India to England to Africa, Kunzru keenly explores themes of racial and ethnic identity and overweening British pride. Until 1918, his 15th year, spoiled Pran Nath believes that he is the son of a wealthy Kashmiri merchant and a disturbed woman, Amrita, who died giving birth to him. When the housekeeper reveals that he is actually an Englishman's child, and thus a despised half-breed, he's thrown out on the street. After an involuntary stay in a brothel, a stint as a servant in the depraved household of the Nawab of Fatehpur, and a sojourn at a Bombay missionary's home, he moves on to England, where he pretends to be an orphaned heir, Jonathan Bridgeman. With each identity he assumes, the hero strives to become more and more like a pure Englishman and to hide his "tainted blood." (NOLA 2003)

Lahiri, Jhumpa. THE INTERPRETER OF MALADIES. Fiction. 1999. “The author charts the emotional voyages of characters seeking love beyond barriers of nations, cultures, religions and generations in this Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories. Imbued with the sensual details of both Indian and American cultures, they speak with universal eloquence to anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.” (NOLA 2003)

Larson, Erik. THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY…. In a thrilling narrative showcasing his gifts as storyteller and researcher, Larson recounts the spellbinding tale of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and its devious creators. A blend of Ragtime and Silence of the Lambs, The Devil in the White City is Larson at his best. (NOLA 2004)

Lee, Harper. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Fiction. 1960. This novel is set in a small Alabama town in the 1930’s. The narrator is a little girl, Scout Finch, whose father, a lawyer, defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. A compassionate, deeply moving novel and a most persuasive plea for racial justice. 265p. (NOLA 1995)

Lehane, Dennis. SHUTTER ISLAND. The year is 1954 and U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient, multiple murderess Rachel Solando. The investigation takes a dark and sinister turn – as the reader realizes that nothing on the Island is what it seems. (NOLA 2004)

Lipman, Elinor. THE INN AT LAKE DEVINE. Fiction. It is 1962 and all across America barriers are collapsing. Inquiring about summer openings at a Vermont Inn, the Marx family receives a "killingly civilized" response that ends with "Our guests who feel most comfortable here, and return year after year, are Gentiles." The book is full of sparkling scenes of serious social mischief, explorations of identity, delicious food, and a wedding party or two. It is a perfect, provocative comedy. (NOLA 2000)

MacNeil, Robert. WORDSTRUCK: A MEMOIR. Non-fiction. 1989. "In this memoir the PBS journalist tells how, as a child, he began a lifelong fascination with language... Growing up during WWII in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his father was based, MacNeil drank in the seacoast atmosphere but more avidly feasted on books ..." 230p.

Mantel, Hilary. FLUDD: A NOVEL. One dark and stormy night in 1956, a stranger named Fludd mysteriously turns up in the dismal village of Fetherhoughton. He is the curate sent by the bishop to assist Father Angwin-or is he? In the most unlikely of places, a superstitious town that understands little of romance or sentimentality, where bad blood between neighbors is ancient and impenetrable, miracles begin to bloom. No matter how copiously Father Angwin drinks while he confesses his broken faith, the level of the bottle does not drop. Although Fludd does not appear to be eating, the food on his plate disappears. Fludd becomes lover, gravedigger, and savior, transforming his dull office into a golden regency of decision, unashamed sensation, and unprecedented action. Knitting together the miraculous and the mundane, the dreadful and the ludicrous, Fludd is a tale of alchemy and transformation told with astonishing art, insight, humor, and wit. (NOLA 2004)

Martel, Yann. LIFE OF PI. Pi Patel, a young man from India, tells how he was shipwrecked and stranded in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger for 227 days. This outlandish story is only the core of a deceptively complex three-part novel about memory as a narrative and about how we choose truths. (NOLA 2004)

Marx, Harpo. HARPO SPEAKS. Non Fiction. 1961. Not only is it a surprise that Harpo speaks, an even bigger surprise is what a raconteur he was. His stories about the Algonquin Round Table are priceless. He lived a very full life and recounts it with great humor, candor and charm. (NOLA 1999)

McCrumb, Sharon. THE ROSEWOOD CASKET. Another lyrical mystery in her "Ballad Series" by this Edgar award winning author. A dying man's sons return to say goodbye and decide the fate of the family farm. Woven into the story is the history and mystical aura of the Appalachian Mountain area. (NOLA 1998)

McLaughlin, Emma & Nicola Kraus. THE NANNY DIARIES: A NOVEL. A sarcastic, witty and sad story of how the over-privileged raise their children. As a New York City college student looking for a job, Nanny takes a 9-month job with an upper crust New York Society family. The story centers on a typical hardworking father, snobby socialite mother, and a single, lonely child. (NOLA 2004)

Morgan, Lael. GOOD TIME GIRLS OF THE ALASKA-YUKON GOLD RUSH. This work presents a study on the lives and fortunes of the women of ‘The Line’, a red-light district in the Fairbanks of 1905. It discusses how the women were treated, what caused them to move into town, and how prostitution helped some of them achieve success… (NOLA 2004)

Nafisi, Azar. READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN: A MEMOIR IN BOOKS. In this book, Nafisi captures the struggle of Iranian women for mental and moral survival as shown through the book discussion this former professor held in her home for select women students. Not only a book showing how the power of fanaticism can ruin lives, it is ultimately about the redemptive power of the human imagination. (NOLA 2004)

Nickman, Homer. ROCKET BOYS. Non-Fiction. This memoir works on many levels. The reader is immersed in the small town life of Coalwood, West Virginia as well as Homer's loving yet troubled family. But the curx of the story is Homer's insatiable desire to build a rocket that really works. The Movie October Sky is based on this memoir. (NOLA 2000)

Nielson, Jerri. ICEBOUND….. Non-fiction. 2002. Jerri Nielsen was a forty-six-year-old doctor working in Ohio when she made the decision to take a year's sabbatical at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on Antarctica, the most remote and perilous place on Earth. The "Polies," as they are known, live in almost total darkness for six months of the year, in winter temperatures as low as 100 degrees below zero--with no way in or out before the spring. During the long winter of 1999, Dr. Nielsen, solely responsible for the mental and physical fitness of a team of researchers, construction workers, and support staff, discovered a lump in her breast. Consulting via email with doctors in the United States, she performed a biopsy on herself, and in July began chemotherapy treatments to ensure her survival until condition permitted her rescue in October. A daring rescue by the Air National Guard ensued, who landed, dropped off a replacement physician, and minutes later took off with Dr. Nielsen. (NOLA 2003)

Patchett, Ann. BEL CANTO. Fiction. 2002. A world renowned opera singer has been asked to perform at a birthday party for a Japanese business executive while is being held in the home of the vice-president of a poor Latin American country. Young terrorists storm the party in a failed attempt to take the country's president hostage. Determined to have their demands met, the inept guerrillas settle in for a long siege. Joined by no common language other than music, 58 international hostages and their captors forge unexpected bonds. (NOLA 2002)

Paterniti, Michael. DRIVING MR. ALBERT: A TRIP ACROSS AMERICA…... Non-fiction. 2001. Albert Einstein's brain floats in a Tupperware bowl in a gray duffel bag in the trunk of a Buick Skylark barreling across America. Driving the car is journalist Michael Paterniti. Sitting next to him is an eighty-four-year-old pathologist named Thomas Harvey, who performed the autopsy on Einstein in 1955 -- then simply removed the brain and took it home. And kept it for over forty years. On a cold February day, the two men and the brain leave New Jersey and light out on I-70 for sunny California, where Einstein's perplexed granddaughter, Evelyn, awaits. And riding along as the imaginary fourth passenger is Einstein himself, an id-driven genius, the original galactic slacker with his head in the stars. Part travelogue, part memoir, part history, part biography, and part meditation, Driving Mr. Albert is one of the most unique road trips in modern literature. (NOLA 2003)

Proulx, E. Annie. THE SHIPPING NEWS. Fiction. 1993. When Quoyle, a two-bit reporter, moves with his aunt and two children to his ancestral home in Newfoundland, he discovers that his life is about to change forever. It is here that he begins covering the shipping news for a weekly paper and learning things he never suspected about his forebears. 337p. (NOLA 1994)

Rendell, Ruth. ADAM AND EVE AND PINCH ME. Fiction. 2003. In Adam and Eve and Pinch Me, the mills of the gods appear to have ground Jock Lewis to dust--or have they? Jock's obsessive-compulsive girlfriend, Minty, thinks he was killed in a train crash and is tormented by his ghost. But the cheerfully amoral Jock--AKA Jerry Leach and Jeff Leigh, depending on which woman he's romancing--faked his death to move on to yet another unsuspecting lady. His one legal wife has swept their union hastily under the rug and married a conservative member of Parliament, who has his own urgent secrets. Jock's most recent fiancée, a successful banker, hasn't minded keeping him in the manner to which he's become accustomed--that is, until the day he doesn't come home. When his body is found in a cinema, the intersections of his past collapse in a way that destroys some lives and rebuilds others. (NOLA 2003)

Rinaldi, Ann. COFFIN QUILT: THE FEUD BETWEEN THE HATFIELDS…... Fiction. 2001. Feuds among the mountain folks of West Virginia and Kentucky, particularly the bloody skirmishes between the Hatfield and McCoy families, are often celebrated in American legend and folksongs. In The Coffin Quilt, Ann Rinaldi mines this rich vein of Americana for a fascinating tale that closely follows the real events of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, but which also has implications for our own violent times. (NOLA 2003)

Russo, Richard. EMPIRE FALLS. Fiction. Tale of blue collar life in a failing town in New England. The very appealing protagonist, Miles Roby, is the owner of a greasy spoon and newly divorced father of a teenaged daughter. Peopled by interesting characters and a number of plot lines, it is both sad and funny. (NOLA 2002)

Ryan, Terry. PRIZEWINNER OF DEFIANCE OHIO. Non-fiction. A loving and enjoyable tribute from a daughter to her mother. Terry Ryan tells of her mother's remarkable style and grace in keeping her family financially afloat by writing jingles and essays. (NOLA 2002)

Schlosser, Eric. FAST FOOD NATION. Non-fiction. 2001. "A stomach-churning critique of the health and labor practices of the burger business." (NOLA 2002)

See, Lisa. ON GOLD MOUNTAIN. Non-fiction. A personal history of two cultures meeting in Los Angeles' Chinatown. From the author's great-grandfather who cam from China to serve as an herbalist to combat disease, to her grandfather who sold antiques and supplied them to Hollywood studios, and the tales of her father's generation and their intermarriages with Caucasians, this is a riveting story. (NOLA 2000)

Severgnini, Beppe. CIAO AMERICA! AN ITALIAN DISCOVERS AMERICA. Italian newspaper columnist Severgnini views America with the same critical lens with which he viewed England in Inlese. Not adverse to her charms, but seeing through all of America’s gimmicks, Severgnini has created a sardonic tale of cultural bewilderment in the vein of Bill Bryson’s works. (NOLA 2004)

Slouka, Mark. GOD'S FOOL. God’s Fool presents an unparalleled novel about Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins. In a masterstroke of creative storytelling, we experience their lives through Chang’s eyes. Despite the incomparable predicament of their physical condition, Chang is wrapped in ordinary grace and suffering, searching for tranquility as he travels from Siam’s marketplace to Parisian salons, to London’s underworld and P.T. Barnum’s side show, all the while improbably connected to a man who becomes his sworn enemy. In a last attempt at a normal life, Chang and Eng retire from the sideshow and move to the American South where they marry two sisters and Chang finds short-lived peace and redemption in his love for his son Christopher. This peace, however, is overtaken as events in their adopted home country force them into a final terrifying battle with fate. (NOLA 2004)

Smith, McCall Alexander. THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY. Mma (Precious) Ramotswe is Botswana’s one and only lady detective. Through her eyes, one is not only entertained by her cases and the people she deals with, the reader learns a great deal about life and conditions in Botswana. (NOLA 2004)

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. Uncle Tom's Cabin is written through the eyes of a religious fanatic abolitionist whose father is a minister and president of a college of theology where her husband is a professor. Ms. Stowe tries to tell about slavery in the South from tails she has heard.(NOLA 2004)

Tan, Amy. BONESETTER'S DAUGHTER. Fiction. This story deals with a number of types of relationships; mothers and daughters, adult children and aging parents, and men and women though the story of LuLing and her daughter Ruth. While tending her ailing and exasperating mother, Ruth finds her mother's account of her early life and begins to learn more about this very unusual woman and more about herself. (NOLA 2002)

Tey, Josephine. THE DAUGHTER OF TIME. Fiction. 1951. A revisionist view of Richard III written as a mystery to be solved by a present-day Scotland Yard Inspector. It is based on respectable source material and illuminates the confusing lineage of the Lancaster/Yorks culminating in the War of the Roses.

Trollope, Joanna. THE RECTOR'S WIFE. Berkley, 2001 Fiction. For 20 years, Anna Bouverie has been an Anglican priest’s wife, an unpaid helper who also has to scrimp to provide for her family on her husband’s meager wages. She watches as he retreats more and more into his work and away from the family. In desperation, she takes a job at a supermarket, something that “isn’t done” by a rector’s wife. As Anna’s life changes dramatically, we watch what happens as public expectations collide with real life. This was a Library Journal word-of-mouth book and an offering on Masterpiece Theatre. (NOLA 2001)

Truman, Margaret. FIRST LADIES. Margaret Truman says that the First Lady has the "World’s second toughest job." The President’s role is defined by the constitution but not a word about the First Lady. She performs her undefined role under the glare of the press and public opinion. Truman explores the fluctuating role during our county’s turbulent history. (NOLA 1997)

Vanderbes, Jennifer. EASTER ISLAND. Easter Island tells the story of two women who travel to Easter Island, one in 1912, the other in 1973. It chronicles how their lives brought them to this Pacific Ocean island, their discoveries about themselves and their discoveries about the mysteries of the island. (NOLA 2004)

Vreeland, Susan. GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE. Penguin USA, 2000 Fiction. The author traces the history of a ‘possible’ Vermeer painting from its discovery in present day Pennsylvania with its current location at a boys’ academy through its origination in the Netherlands by a series of interrelated short stories that follow the painting back through other owners, other histories to the very inception of the painting in the Vermeer household. (NOLA 2001)

Welty, Eudora. THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER. Fiction. 1990. The author tells the story of the death of a small town southern judge. The ensuing conflict between his well-bred daughter and his tacky , hard-scrabble second wife is a dead-on depiction of southern life in a by-gone era. (NOLA 2002)