What's Mrs. White reading now?

The Art of Racing in the Rain

2011-02-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

by Garth Stein

I found this book touching and funny. It is about the life of Denny Swift as seen through the eyes of his faithful dog Enzo. Denny, an aspiring race car driver, unfairly loses custody of his daughter after the death of his wife. Enzo's support and companionship helps give Denny the strength to contest the court's decision. You don't have to love dogs or even racing. This book is about relationships and what it means to love. It is a very satisfying read!

Faithful Place

2010-12-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

by Tana French

In 1985, Frank Mackey and Rosie Daly were 19, in love, and planning to run away together from Ireland to start a new life in England. Wehn Rosie failed to meet him, Franck stayed in his hometown of Dublin, estranged from his dysfunctional family. But 22 years later, Frank, now on the Dublin Police Undercover Squad, and his history is in upheaval when his colleagues unearth Rosie's remains in a dilapidated house in his old neighborhood, and he's pulled back into his family of four siblings and their alcoholic, wife-beating father. When his younger brother dies days later - accident, suicide, or murder? - in the yeard of the same old house, Frank connives to stay in the loop of the investigation as he tries to put the pieces together and his nine-year-old daughter becomes a key player in the case. Great psychological suspense. (Michele Leber, Library Journal)

Little Bee

2010-12-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

by Chris Cleave

A violent incident on a Nigerian beach has tragic echoes in posh London in Chris Cleave's beautifully staged second novel. British couple Andrew O'Rourke and his wife, Sarah, are on vacation when they come across two sisters, Little Bee and Nkiruka, on the run from the killers who have massacred everyone else in their village - and what happens there with this unlikely encounter, is the mystery that propels the novel. Two years later, Little Bee, in possession of Andrew's license, shows up at Sarah's house to learn that it is the day of Andrew's funeral. He's committed suicide. Sarah is determined to help Little Bee get refugee status despite Little Bee's later revelation concerning Andrew's death. Cleave humanizes disturbing issues around refugees and the situation in Africa. (Publisher's Weekly)

The Absolutely true Diary of a Part-Time Indian

2009-07-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

by Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

Living in a Foreign Language

2009-07-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

by Michael Tucker

The actor Michael Tucker and his wife, the actress Jill Eikenberry, having sent their last child off to college, were vacationing in Italy when they happened upon a small cottage nestled in the Umbrian countryside. The three-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Rustico sat perched on a hill in the verdant Spoleto valley amid an olive grove and fruit trees of every kind. For the Tuckers, it was literally love at first sight, and the couple purchased the house without testing the water pressure or checking for signs of termites. Shedding the vestiges of their American life, Michael and Jill endeavored to learn the language, understand the nuances of Italian culture, and build a home in this new chapter of their lives.

Escape

2009-07-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

by Carolyn Jessop

Seventeen years after being forced into a polygamous marriage, Jessop escaped from the cultlike Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints with her eight children. She recounts the horrid events that led her to break free from the oppressive world she knew and how she has managed to survive since escaping, despite threats and legal battles with her husband and the Church. Though sometimes her retelling overflows with colorful foreshadowing and commentary on how exceptional she is, the everyday details she reveals about this polygamous society are devastating and tragic. (Publisher's Weekly)

The Legal Limit

2009-07-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

by Martin Clark

In this crime/legal thriller, Clark explores the boundaries between law and justice, sin and forgiveness, fraternal bonds and betrayal. Mason stands at the center of an ethical dilemma, but he is no less compelling than his brother, their mother, and even Mason's partner. Clark "draws characters as well as Scott Turow and crafts plots as well as John Grisham," notes the Oregonian, but reviewers agreed that Clark's background has given him superior understanding of legal intricacies. Humor, sharp, regional dialogue, and impeccable plotting make for an unstoppable narrative.

Happier

2009-07-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

by Tal Ben-Shahar

Though everyone wants to be happier, how many of us can actually define what that means? In his class, "Positive Psychology," one of the most popular courses at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar teaches that happiness isn't as elusive a concept as people think, and can actually be learned; he commits the fundamentals of his course to paper in this primer on getting happy.

Born Confused

2009-07-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

by Tanuja Desai Hidier

Seventeen-year old Dimple, whose family is from India, discovers that she is not Indian enough for the Indians and not American enough for the Americans. She sees her hypnotically beautiful, manipulative best friend take possession of both her heritage and the boy she likes.

Pictures at an Exhibition

2009-07-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

by Sara Houghteling

Set in a Paris darkened by World War II, Houghteling's sensuous and bracing debut novel tells the story of a son's quest to recover his family's lost masterpieces, looted by the Nazis during the occupation.

The Leper

2009-02-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

by Steve Thayer

Who wants to read a novel about a leper? Anyone who wants to be enlightened, educated and entertained by bestseller Thayer's (The Weatherman) unusual but awe-inspiring hero. After stumbling on a French-German leper village while serving as a marine captain during WWI, John Severson takes a healthy little girl to safety while his near-mutinous men are ordered to return to the front. After an inquiry ends favorably, Severson returns home to St. Paul, Minn., where he becomes a high school math teacher and is secretly engaged to his favorite student. His happiness shatters after a routine medical check identifies him as a leper. In the wake of the Spanish flu epidemic, this means forced quarantine at Louisiana's Witch Tree leprosarium, which Thayer describes in disturbing and sometimes lurid detail. After escaping from Witch Tree, Severson winds up as the sheriff of Hawaii's Molokai leper colony, a relentless crusader for Hansen's disease sufferers, whose rights as U.S. citizens were too long compromised by fear. (Publisher's Weekly)

The Hunger Games

2009-02-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

by Suzanne Collins

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival.

Exodus

2008-07-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

by Leon Uris

Nothing less than the history of European Jewry from the end of the last century to the establishment of the state of Israel is the subject of this big novel. The story opens of Cyrpus right after World War II when the British, having declared immigration to Palestine illegal, are interning Jewish DPs in detention camps. Kitty Fremont, an American nurse who has plunged herself into rehabilitation work with war orphans to forget the deaths of her husband and small daughter, and Ari Ben Canaan, a Palestinian agent of the illegal immigration organization, are the two main characters. Ari pulls off his scheme to force the English to let a boatload of children sail for Palestine and Kitty (no lover of the Jews) goes along to be with Karen, a German girl who reminds her of her dead child. Karen loves Dov, a hero of the Warsaw ghetto and a concentration camp graduate. In flashbacks the backgrounds of the children are told as is a brief history of the Polish and German Jews. The reader also learns Ari's story which is primarily the history of his father who, forced to leave Russia, walked to Palestine and in due time established himself as a leader of his people. The love stories of Dov and Karen, Kitty and Ari move against the background of recent years in Israel and there is hardly anything in the way of geography, history, sociology and economics that is left out. The death of Karen by an Arab patrol brings Ari and Kitty together and the book ends on a hopeful note. For all of his lack of the basic literary skills Uris, writing from a hotly partisan viewpoint, has succeeded in welding his material into an effective and dramatic novel that should certainly reach the audience it is aimed at--and probably more besides. (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1958)

Bikini Season

2008-07-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

by Sheila Roberts

Bikini Season deals with that most painful of annual rituals, fitting into one's swimsuit. But it's really about so much more--fitting into one's life. It tells the truth about a woman's hopes and aspirations, and all the kinds of love that fill her life. (Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author)

Loving Frank

2008-07-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

by Nancy Horan

Highly recommended!

In 1904, architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house for Edwin and Mamah Borthwick Cheney, respectable members of Oak Park, IL, society. Five years later, after a clandestine affair, Frank and Mamah scandalized that society by leaving their families to live together in Europe. Stunned by the furor, Mamah wanted to stay there, particularly after she met women's rights advocate Ellen Key, who rejected conventional ideas of marriage and divorce. Eventually, Frank convinced her to return to Wisconsin, where he was building Taliesin as a home and retreat. Horan's extensive research provides substantial underpinnings for this engrossing novel, and the focus on Mamah lets readers see her attraction to the creative, flamboyant architect but also her recognition of his arrogance. Mamah's own drive to achieve something important is tinged with guilt over abandoning her children. Tentative steps toward reconciliation end in a shocking, violent conclusion that would seem melodramatic if it weren't based on true events. The plot, characters, and ideas meld into a novel that will be a treat for fans of historical fiction but should not be pigeonholed in a genre section. (Library Journal)

Blue Heaven

2008-03-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

by C. J. Box

All hell breaks loose in Kootenai Bay, Idaho, after two children on a fishing trip witness a murder. "Blue Heaven" is what members of the LAPD call North Idaho when they retire here. The place has spectacular natural beauty and a tight community full of concerned neighbors who come running when Monica Taylor's son and daughter disappear. As ex-detective Eduardo Villatoro realizes, the place also has in circulation a suspicious number of $100 bills from a robbery at the Santa Anita Racetrack that left an armored car driver dead eight years ago. Even though he's retired, Villatoro can't let go of the case. But his arrival coincides with the massive hunt that's been staged for Annie and William Taylor, and he can't get anywhere with ineffectual Sheriff Ed Carey, who's farmed out the search to four retired L.A. cops. Even worse, these cops, the last people in the world who should be guarding the henhouse, have framed an innocent man for kidnapping the children and all but imprisoned Monica in her own home. The family's only hope is an aging rancher who can barely hold onto his spread and the banker who refuses to foreclose on him. (Kirkus)

One Thousand White Women

2008-01-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

by Jim Fergus

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time. (St. Martin's Press)

The Abstinence Teacher

2008-01-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

by Tom Perrotta

Teachers will like this book! Ruth Ramsey, divorced, is the human sexuality teacher at the local high school and she believes in being honest with her students. She lands in hot water when an evangelical church, offended by her curriculum, forces the school board to include a section on abstinence. Tim Mason is the beloved soccer coach of Ruth's young daughter, Maggie. He is also a reformed stoner/loser and an entrenched member of the church that attacked Ruth. Things get interesting when Tim, in a moment of crisis, leads his team of girls in prayer, and Ruth publicly drags her daughter from the soccer field. Ironically, Ruth and Tim find they have more in common than they thought, and a shaky-at times humorous-interchange begins. Perotta focuses on the small, personal motives behind life's big shake-ups. (Booklist)

The Abduction

2007-12-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

by Mark Gimenez

When 10-year-old Gracie Brice is abducted, her tough, high-powered attorney mom doesn't hesitate-she immediately offers a reward of $25 million for Gracie's safe return. The money, coupled with the dramatic circumstances, brings out the paparazzi in droves. Gracie's dad, John, a high-tech geek who is about to become a billionaire following the sale of his company, melts under the pressure. But Gracie's grandfather, Ben, a highly decorated war vet, puts together a plan based on his instincts and a lone, credible tip phoned in among hundreds of bogus calls. The technogeek teams up with his battle-scarred dad, who has long handled his traumatic war experiences by drinking heavily, to bring Gracie home. Although there are implausible elements, including Gracie's irritatingly precocious manner, they all fade away once the pulse-pounding narrative kicks in. Gimenez's rage toward the media and bureaucracy only adds to the entertainment value.

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else

2007-12-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

by Michael Gates Gill

Yale graduate, prosperous ad exec: Gill has it all. Then he turns 60 and finds himself precipitously bounced from his job and saddled with the triple threats of a ruined marriage, an unexpected newborn, and a brain tumor. Despairing at the prospect of looming poverty, he stops at a Manhattan Starbucks to comfort himself with a latte. By chance he sits down next to Crystal, a young African American woman recruiting new workers for the coffee giant, and she offers him a job. Almost as an act of desperation, he accepts, and he dons the uniform of a barista-in-training at an Upper West Side Starbucks. This son of privilege who had hobnobbed with Queen Elizabeth, T. S. Eliot, and Jackie Onassis, now keeps daily company with a diverse crew of brash young New Yorkers for whom Starbucks' progressive employee benefits and demanding, inspiring standards of public service offer hope. Gill starts at the bottom, cleaning the bathroom, and he has trouble mastering the cash register. Over the months he learns to deeply respect Crystal, to appreciate the mutual support of his coworkers, and to genuinely cherish the passing parade of customers, each unique. To his own astonishment, he realizes that he actually looks forward joyfully to every hectic, exhausting workday. Other corporate giants can only envy the sheer goodwill that this memoir will inevitably generate for Starbucks. What a read. (Booklist)

The Ghost

2007-12-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

by Robert Harris

When a celebrity ghostwriter is tapped to be the pen behind the man for the controversial former prime minister of Britain, he gets much more than he bargained for. Although his predecessor died under suspicious circumstances, the anonymous ghostwriter finds the lucrative offer to assist the infamous Adam Lang in cobbling together his memoirs-even if it means staying on a desolate Martha's Vineyard in the dead of winter-too hard to resist. Not unexpectedly, Lang harbors more dangerous secrets than it is safe for any one person to possess, and the ghostwriter finds himself increasingly enmeshed in a tangled web of treachery, deceit, and international espionage as he unravels a political cover-up that will resonate with contemporary readers. As it turns out, there is more than one "ghost," and the fast-paced narrative concludes with an unexpected twist. (Booklist)

The Deserter's Tale

2007-10-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

by Joshua Key

This very readable story should be mandatory reading for all Americans! In the first ever memoir from a young soldier who deserted from the war in Iraq, Joshua Key offers a vivid and damning indictment of what we are doing there and how the war itself is being waged. Key, a young husband and father from a conservative background, enlisted in the Army in 2002 to get training as a welder and lift his family out of poverty. A year later, Key was sent to Ramadi where he found himself participating in a war that was not the campaign against terrorists and evildoers he had expected. He saw Iraqi civilians beaten, shot, and killed for little or no provocation. Nearly ever other night, he participated in raids on homes that found only terrified families and no evidence of terrorist activity. On leave, Key knew he could not return so he took his family underground, finally seeking asylum in Canada. The Deserter's Tale is the story of a patriotic family man who went to war believing unquestioningly in his government's commitment to integrity and justice, and how what he saw in Iraq transformed him into someone who could no longer serve his country.

Love Kills

2007-09-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

by Edna Buchanan

When a bulldozer in the Everglades unearths the skull of an infamous kidnapper, the Cold Case Squad is brought in to investigate. Journalist Britt was the last person to see him alive, and the detectives have questions only she can answer.

Meanwhile, on a remote desert island where she has sought solace, Britt finds a camera on an isolated beach. The film inside yields photos of a happy young couple on their honeymoon. Soon after, Britt is shocked to learn the newlyweds were lost at sea.

When only the groom is rescued, the connection between the reporter and the new widower astonishes her -- and Britt is even more astonished when she finds out the truth. Ultimately, her search for the bridegroom's secrets and the Cold Case Squad's search for the kidnapper's killer collide.

The Fallen

2007-09-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

by T. Jefferson Parker

T. Jefferson Parker's crime fiction thriller revolves around a cop with a rare neurological condition called synesthesia -- where senses become transposed (emotions are perceived as colors, smells invoke sounds, etc.). Years after being chucked out of a sixth-floor hotel window -- and barely surviving -- San Diego homicide detective Robbie Brownlaw is faced with a murder case that will not only uncover widespread corruption among the city's political elite but also force him to utilize a medical condition that up until this point has been perceived as an affliction.

Origin

2007-09-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

by Diana Abu-Jaber

A spike in the number of local SIDS deaths piques the interest of Lena Dawson, a fingerprint specialist at a Syracuse, N.Y., forensics lab. Is it a statistical fluke or is there a killer at work? Determined to account for the dead infants, Lena joins the investigation, which stirs tantalizing memories from her dimly recollected early childhood. Despite her fragile mental state, Lena proves capable of surprising resolve. Her relationship with her protective ex-husband, her budding romance with a detective and her quest for her own lost past add psychological depth. Top-notch thriller!

A Thousand Splendid Suns

2007-07-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

by Khaled Hosseini

Another gripping novel from the author of The Kite Runner. This book is about two victimized but courageous Afghan women. The story begins in 1974 before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Mariam is a bastard whose father married her off at 15-years-old to a 40-year-old widow named Rasheed. He insists that she wear a burqa and she lives in fear of him. In 1987, the story switches to a neighbor, nine-year-old Laila, her playmate Tariq and her parents. Laila eventually become Rasheed's second wife over Mariam's objections. The heart of the novel is the gradual bonding between Mariam and Laila, and the life they endure in a country where women have almost no freedom and no rights. Despite all the pain and heartbreak, the novel is never depressing. I highly recommend this book!

Killer Instinct

2007-06-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

by Joseph Finder

In this thriller, Jason Steadman is a nice laid-back guy, content to schlep along in his successful sales job at a top electronics company. Unfortunately, his whiny wife isn't so happy, and is pushing him to be more aggressive. Kurt Semko, an ex-Special Forces officer helps Jason one day when his car breaks down. Kurt seems to have many talents, and uses them to help Jason begin a meteoric rise through the company ranks. Unhappily, Kurt's tactics are a bit ruthless, in fact, downright murderous. Jason is ensnared in the life Kurt has set up for him and he must figure a way to outmaneuver his malicious patron. He employs double-crosses, duplicity, corporate politics, deceptions and corruption as he attempts to take his life back. Joseph Finder is a wonderful storyteller. Killer Instinct keeps you glued to the page.

Beautiful Lies

2007-06-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

by Lisa Unger

When a photographer catches freelance writer Ridley Jones saving a toddler from being struck by a speeding van on a New York City street, she basks in her sudden celebrity. But that one heroic act will set in motion a series of events that will shake her world to its very foundations and put her life in jeopardy. After she's featured in newspapers and television newscasts all over the city, Ridley receives a mysterious package that suggests that she was abducted as a child. Her life has all been based on a lie. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot, which makes for a great read. I am looking forward to Unger's follow-up novel, Sliver of Truth.

The Color of Law

2007-06-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

by Mark Gimenz

A poor-boy college football hero turned successful partner at a prominent Dallas firm -- who long ago checked his conscience at the door -- catches a case that forces him to choose between his enviable lifestyle and doing the right thing in this masterful debut legal thriller. Scott Finney reluctantly takes on a pro bono case involving a prostitute accused of murdering the playboy son of a Presidential hopeful. At some point during the case, he begins developing a conscience. I found myself comparing this book to To Kill a Mockingbird, which is one of my favorite books. This book is a page-turner that I highly recommend for summertime reading!

The Two Minute Rule

2007-05-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

by Robert Crais

Career criminal Max Holman, a.k.a. the Hero Bandit, has just finished serving ten years in prison for bank robbery and at middle age finally understands that he has to change his ways. On the day of his release, Holman's estranged police officer son is killed along with three other cops—a tragedy that shatters any hope of reconciliation. When the LAPD quickly closes the case by blaming a junkie who killed himself after the crime, Holman is unconvinced. He persuades the now retired FBI agent who originally arrested him to help him, and the story takes off at breakneck speed. In this superb tale with a likable ex-con protagonist, Crais creates a totally believable world in which good and evil are turned upside down.

Hide

2007-05-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

by Lisa Gardner

Boston Police Sgt. D.D. Warren hooks up with Massachusetts State Police Det. Robert Dodge to investigate a long-abandoned underground cavern found on the grounds of the former Boston State Mental Hospital. The hospital had been shut down decades earlier, but the mummified bodies of six young girls are found belowground, recalling a previous case. Annabelle Granger has spent her life running, moving from city to city and adopting a new name every 18 months or so at her paranoid father's whim. When she reads about the six dead young girls, she begins to suspect that her deceased father was somehow involved in the crime. This is a fastpaced, twisty thriller! Good summertime read!

The Memory Keepers's Daughter

2007-04-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

by Kim Edwards

On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret.

I loved the first 200 pages of this book but after a while I thought that it got very depressing. The ending was not very satisfying either. However, everyone else I know that has read it really liked it - so give it a try and let me know what you think.

The Glass Castle: a memoir

2007-04-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

by Jeannette Walls

Walls opens her memoir by describing looking out the window of her taxi, wondering if she's "overdressed for the evening" and spotting her mother on the sidewalk, "rooting through a Dumpster." In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her childhood with two eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. She and her siblings survive an life of neglect and abuse with remarkably little bitterness. In fact, it is clear that despite her upbringing, she loves her parents and they love her.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

2007-02-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

by Betty Smith

This is a poignant and deeply moving story of childhood and family relationships. The Nolans lived in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn from 1902 until 1919. Their daughter Francie and their son Neely knew more than their fair share of the privations and sufferings that are the lot of a great city's poor. Francie is a very memorable character. You owe it to yourself read the classic tale.

Rise and Shine

2007-02-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

by Anna Quindlen

This is a superb novel about two sisters, the true meaning of success, and the qualities in life that matter most. Meghan Fitzmaurice’s perfect life as the host of Rise and Shine, the country’s highest-rated morning talk show comes to an end when she cuts to a commercial break–but not before she mutters two forbidden words into her open mike. The blunder affects the lives of all those around her including her sister Bridget, a social worker in the Bronx. What follows is a story about how, in very different ways, the Fitzmaurice women adapt and survive even when a much more serious tragedy shatters their lives.

Talk Talk

2007-02-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

by T. C. Boyle

T. C Boyle explores everyone's fear of identity theft as deaf teacher Dana Halter is pulled over for running a four-way stop sign and suddenly finds her life turned upside down. After days in a California jail, Dana is released when it is discovered that the Dana Halter who committed various crimes in various jurisdictions is a man and he has stolen her identity. Dana and boyfriend, Bridger Martin, piece together information on the other Dana and follow him across the country in order to exact retribution.

The Book Thief

2007-01-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

by Markus Zusak

Death is the narrator of this lengthy, powerful story of a town in Nazi Germany. He is a kindly, caring Death, overwhelmed by the souls he has to collect from people in the gas chambers, from soldiers on the battlefields, and from civilians killed in bombings. Death focuses on a young orphan, Liesel; her loving foster parents; the Jewish fugitive they are hiding; and a wild but gentle teen neighbor, Rudy, who defies the Hitler Youth and convinces Liesel to steal for fun. After Liesel learns to read, she steals books from everywhere. When she reads a book in the bomb shelter, even a Nazi woman is enthralled. Then the book thief writes her own story.

The Brief History of the Dead

2006-12-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

by Kevin Brockmeier
In a not-so-distant future, a deadly virus kills off every human on Earth, except for Laura Byrd, a wildlife specialist on an expedition to the South Pole. Readers quickly learn that the dead move on to another life in a fantastic city on another plane of existence; there, they live out a second life free from aging and disease until every person who knew them on Earth dies. This book is part adventure and part fantasy that got me thinking about all the people I have every known.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

2006-12-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

by John Boyne

Although this is book is meant for middle school children, I liked it very much. It is about Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer. He is forced to move with his family from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942. There are no other children there for him to play with but he befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence. The story is poignant enough for teens and adults and yet not too graphic for children.

All Loves Excelling: A Novel

2006-11-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

by Josiah Bunting III

This is a very disturbing account of a young woman’s struggle to get accepted to Dartmouth College in order to fulfill her mother’s dream. Amanda is a bright and well-rounded student, but her SAT scores were not high enough for her to be accepted to Dartmouth. Her parents enroll her for a post-graduate course of study at a prestigious prep school in order to improve her SATs and further her chances at being accepted by Dartmouth. Amanda’s schedule is packed with AP classes, cross-country running, piano practice and much more as she tries to cope with the enormous pressure of achieving what is expected of her within a few months. The stress eventually begins to take its toll and as Amanda’s energy drains, she develops an eating disorder as well as a dependence on prescription drugs to get her through. Her life becomes focussed on one goal and only one goal: getting in to Dartmouth. I recommend this book for anyone going through the college admissions process. It will remind you to keep things in perceptive.

Grayson

2006-11-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

by Lynne Cox

Not nearly as compelling a Swimming to Antarctia, but still this very short book is worth reading. It only took me a few hours (and I don't read that fast!) While Lynne was swimming in the predawn hours off the California coast, she began to feel something in the water beneath her. It took a while for her to realize that a baby gray whale was following her. The whale had apparently lost her mother. The whale would have died if Lynne had not stayed with her in the water, swimming for hours, until the mother found them (with a little help from local fisherman). I was really interested in all the sea life she encounters. I would have been scared to death!

Pictures of the Gray Whale

Water for Elephants

2006-10-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

by Sara Gruen

Ordinarily a book about a circus wouldn't interest me, but this is such an interesting, well written story that it is probably the best book I've read all year. Jacob Jankowski is the ninety year old narrator. He is looking back on his incredible life with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Orphaned and down on his luck, he joins the circus as the veternarian. He falls in love with Marlena, the star of the equestrian show and Rosie, the hopelessly stupid elephant. The bond between them enables them to survive the cruel world of a depression era circus. The end of the book is very satisfying. I also enjoyed the extra material in the book that explained how the author got the idea for writing the book and her research on this period of American History.

Read the Prologue

Al Capone Does My Shirts

2006-10-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

by Gennifer Choldenko

I really like this story about a twelve-year-old boy named Moose who moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there. He has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Gennifer Choldenko's Website