Blue Rodeo by Jo-Ann Mapson [FIC MAP] - Maggie Yearwood and Owen Garrett have each recently moved to New Mexico. They fall in love despite themselves, but continue to try to hide their pasts. Maggie also tries to help her teenaged son cope with his recent hearing loss.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson [FIC ATK –MDT] - Private detective Jackson Brodie delves into three cases involving past crimes in and around London. He seeks closure for relatives, even as he flees his own painful past.

City of Light by Lauren Belfer [FIC BEL] - Set in 1901 New York, this is an amazing first novel centering on Louisa Barrett, an unusual headmistress of a prestigious girls’ school. It is a long, complex, satisfying read that will have you turning pages late into the night.

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel [977.2 KIM] - This is a hysterical, witty, quirky memoir of a girl growing up in a very small town in Indiana. Don’t miss it.

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts [FIC LET, CAS, LP] - Thirty years ago, Nicky Jack’s mother, a Cherokee woman in Oklahoma, was murdered and her baby kidnapped. The local preacher was blamed, though few believed him capable of the crime. Now, Nicky Jack , who was adopted and grew up in Beverly Hills, is back and vows to learn the truth.

Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward [FIC WAR] - How can one forgive the unforgivable? As two women’s lives become entangled with that of a death-row inmate, they all explore this question. This is a powerful and complex first novel.

Strange But True by John Searles [FIC SEA] - Ronnie Chase was killed in a car accident on the night of his prom. His girlfriend was badly hurt. Five years later, she tells Ronnie’s family that she is pregnant and is certain the child is Ronnie’s. As the events of the past five years are revealed,the reader learns the truth behind the pregnancy. Searles creates movingly real characters.

The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin [FIC CRO] - Wealthy Harry Wainwright takes one last trip to his beloved childhood camp. His visit prompts many memories for him and for those who are involved with the camp. This is a gentle, quiet read that explores human nature.

Featured Read

Kurson tells the dramatic story of a close-knit band of deep-sea wreck divers trying to determine the identity of a Nazi sub sunk off the New Jersey coast. You will get an up-close and personal look at a world unknown to most of us.

Bookmarks Magazine, says: “Kurson brings all the players back to life, recounting their perilous dives, jealousies, and life-threatening dangers with heart-stopping detail.”

From Booklist : “It's . . . a fascinating look at the sometimes communal, sometimes bitterly competitive psychology of wreck-divers, weekend warriors in wet suits whose dangerous hobby is often an antidote to the frustrations of the workaday world. All of these elements--military history, mystery, action tale, ethnography--combine to make this book very hard to put down.”

Scott Turow, author: “[It] is a gripping account of real-life adventurers and a real-life mystery. In addition to being compellingly readable on every page, the book offers a unique window on the deep, almost reckless nature of the human quest to know.”

 

Previous Issues of Book Notes

September/October 2004
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January/February 2005
March/April 2005
May/June 2005
July/August 2005
September/October2005
November/December2005
January/February 2006
March/April 2006

If your book group is looking for some great ideas for future meetings, take a look at these wonderful books guaranteed to generate some interesting discussion.

Atticus by Ron Hansen [MYS HAN, CAS]- Atticus Cody, a 67-year-old Colorado cattleman travels to Mexico to retrieve the body of his younger son. As he meets his son’s friends and finds out more about his life, he begins to wonder if the death of his son was murder rather than suicide.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett [FIC PAT, LP]- A famous opera singer is hired to sing for the birthday of a powerful Japanese businessman. During the party, held in a South American country, a group of terrorists takes the guests hostage. Patchett adeptly explores the psyches of the varied guests and terrorists alike.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood [FIC ATW, CAS, LP]- This multi-layered novel is the story of two sisters, Laura and Iris. Laura dies in a car accident. Iris tells the story of her family and of the events leading up to Laura’s death. There are also newspaper accounts and excerpts from Laura’s posthumously published novel. Somewhere among these diverse narratives lies the truth.

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry [FIC MIS] - Set in Bombay, a once-elegant city in the process of deterioration. The city’s decline is mirrored in the physical situation of elderly retired professor Nariman Vakeel, whose body is succumbing to Parkinsons disease. Nariman’s apartment, which he shares with his two resentful, middle-aged stepchildren, is also in terrible disrepair. But when an accident forces him to recuperate in the tortuously crowded apartment that barely accommodates his daughter Roxana, her husband and two young boys, family tensions are exacerbated and the limits of responsibility and obligation are explored with a full measure of anguish.

Girls in Trouble by Caroline Leavitt [FIC LEA] - A 16-year-old honor student becomes pregnant by the school trouble-maker. Her parents, eager to erase the mistake, are shocked when she chooses open adoption. Leavitt deftly explores the lives of all those involved as the child grows up and finds out the truth of her upbringing.

The Great Santini by Pat Conroy [CAS FIC CON] - Bull Meecham is a former Marine fighter pilot who sees signs of humanity as weaknesses, particularly in his son, Ben, a born athlete who tries to live up to his father’s expectations. Ben must learn to stand up to, and fight back against, a father who never gives in to anyone, including his wife, a gentle Southern belle who fights to keep her family intact.

House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III [FIC DUB, CAS, LP] - Now living in the U.S., Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, buys a house at auction and unwittingly sets his family on the road to disaster. The house, mistakenly put up for auction for back taxes, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, who is now living out of her car and is desperate to get her home back. Cultures clash and misunderstandings abound.

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines [FIC GAI, CAS] - Set in Bayonne, LA, in the late 1940s the novel tells the story of Jefferson, a mentally slow, barely literate young man, who, though an innocent bystander to a shootout between a white store owner and two black robbers, is convicted of murder, and the sophisticated, educated man who comes to his aid. When Jefferson's own attorney claims that executing him would be tantamount to killing a hog, his incensed godmother, Miss Emma, turns to teacher Grant Wiggins, pleading with him to gain access to the jailed youth and help him to face his death by electrocution with dignity.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult [FIC PIC, CAS, LP] - 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. A complex examination of a difficult and relevant ethical topic.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger [FIC ENG, CAS, LP] - Two schoolyard bullies break into the home of their 11-year-old enemy and end up shot by his older brother, Davy. Shortly after his arrest, Davy breaks out of jail and runs. His father, brother, and sister go in search of him and are torn between wanting to save him and wanting to do the right thing.

Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver [FIC KIN, CAS, LP] - Zealous missionary Nathan Price takes his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo in 1959. He is woefully unprepared for what he finds but refuses to understand the complex culture on which he so desperately wants to impose his own brand of Christianity. As political instability in the Congo grows, so does the resentment of the local witch doctor toward the missionaries.

Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian [FIC BOH, CD] - Dana Stevens, a college professor in small-town Vermont, wants to change his gender from a man to a woman. His new girlfriend, a beloved local schoolteacher, decides to stay with him after his sex reassignment surgery. Both must deal with the reactions of family, friends, and the community at large. The book brings up many fascinating questions, none more so than do we love someone because of gender or in spite of it?