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Members can check the schedule, view ideas for future book selections, find library discussion dates, submit their comments on book group selections or their own reading, e-mail other members or buy books on-line from this page. 
There are also search links to The New York Times Book Review, 
Hartford Public Library and all of the Greater Hartford Libraries.

2015-2016 Schedule*

   Books Read             Books by Authorblank space. View C. West Designs

Date

Host

Book Author Note
Wed-Sep 9 Mary Doctor Thorne Anthony Trollope  
Tu-Oct 13 Judy My Beloved World  Sonia Sotomayor  
Tu-Nov 10 Carolyn The Birth of the Pill Jonathan Eig  
Tu-Dec 8 Darcy Just Mercy  Brian Stevenson justice
Wd-Jan 13 Karen The Secret River Kate Grenville Australia,1800
Wd-Feb 10  Jeanne      
Wd-Mar 9 Ann      
Wd-Apr 13 Sheryl      
Wd-May 11 Nancy       
Wd-June 8 SusanL       
Wd-July 13 SusanH      

 

2014-2015 Schedule*

   Books Read             Books by Authorblank space. View C. West Designs

Date

Host

Book Author Note
Wed-Sep 10 Darcy Lean In Sheryl Sandberg  
Wed-Oct 15 Mary The Garden of Evening Mists  Tan Twan Eng Malaysia, Post WWII
Tu-Nov 11 Ann The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruis Zafon Barcelona
Tu-Dec 9 Sheryl Looking for Strangers: The True Story of My Hidden Wartime Childhood Dori Katz Our Dori
Wd-Jan 14 Judy The Widow's War Sally Gunning Cape, Post Revolutionary War
Wd-Feb 11  Karen Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert Georgina Howell  
Wd-Mar 18 Jeanne Disappeared Anthony Quinn Belfast, IRA
Wd-Apr 8 Nancy Dancing to the Precipice,The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, Eyewitness to an Era Caroline Moorehead  
Wd-May 13 SusanL  The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck  
Wd-June 10 Carolyn Vietnam Now: A Reporter Returns David Lamb  

 

2013-2014 Schedule*

   Books Read             Books by Authorblank space. View C. West Designs

Date

Host

Book Author Note
Sun-Sep 8 Mary Jane Austen, Carol Shields
Any Austen book
Carol Shields Changed to Sunday!
Tu-Oct 8 Carolyn The White Tiger  Aravind Adiga  
Tu-Nov 12 Judy God's Hotel Victoria Sweet Judy and Willajeanne switched
Tu-Dec 10 Sheryl Looking for Strangers: The True Story of My Hidden Wartime Childhood Dori Katz Sheryl
Wd-Jan 8  Karen Emily Dickinson bio / poems Emily Dickinson  
Wd-Feb 12 Jeanne A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry  
Wd-Mar 12 Ann Dear Life Alice Munro  
Wd-Apr 9 SusanL  The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Jonathan Haidt Early Head's Up
528 pages
Wd-May 22 Nancy  On Hitler's Mountain Irmgard Hunt 2006 - delayed a week
Wd-June 11 Darcy  Lean In Sheryl Sandberg 2013
Wd-July 9 SusanH       
  Lindsey  To pick a month    

 

2012-2013 Schedule*

   Books Read             Books by Authorblank space. View C. West Designs

Date

Host

Book Author Note
Tu-Sep 19 Mary The Bell Ringers
2010
Henry Porter Dinner at lake 6:30?
Tu-Oct 9 Carolyn I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had Tony Danza 2 1/2 weeks to read
Tu-Nov 20 Jeanne Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Tom Franklin Date advanced 1 week to 11/20
Tu-Dec 11 Sheryl Strapless Deborah Davis Anna's choice, at Sheryl's
Tu-Jan 8  Karen The Sandcastle Girls Chris Bohjalian Armenian holocaust in Syria
Wd-Feb 12 Judy Please Look After Mom Kyung-Sook Shin Korean mom invisible
Wd-Mar 13 Anna The Swerve: How the World Became Modern  Stephen Greenblatt  
Wd-Apr 9 SusanL  The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of A Lost African Childhood. Helene Cooper  
Wd-May 14 Nancy  Moo Jane Smiley  
Wd-June 11 Darcy  The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace Lynn Povich  
Wd-July 9 Susan H       
  Lindsey ?      

 

2011-2012 Schedule*

   Books Read             Books by Authorblank space. View C. West Designs

Date

Host

Book Author Note
Tu-Sep 13 Mary Blackbird House
2004
Alice Hoffman Dinner at lake cancelled
Tu-Oct 11 Carolyn The Hunger Games
 teen, 2008
Suzanne Collins Young Adult Book Night
Others to read later:
Diary of a Whimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, 2007 (age 8-11),
Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts, 2005 (late teens)
Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, 1996 (20's)
Tu-Nov 8 Jeanne Mudbound
2008
Hillary Jordan Everyone has heat!
Tu-Dec 13 Anna A Field Guide to Getting Lost, 2005 Rebecca Solnit Cheryl's book, but at Anna's (2005)
Wd-Jan 11  Judy For Better: How the Surprising Science of Happy Couples Can Help Your Marriage Succeed   2011 Tara Parker-Pope  
Wd-Feb 8 Karen All Passion Spent
1931
Vita Sackville-West  
Wd-Mar 14 SusanL This House of Sky
1992
Ivan Doig Switched w/ Darcy
Wd-Apr 18 Nancy   Old Filth
2004
Jane Gardham Moved a week
Wd-May 9 Darcy The Warmth of Other Suns
2010
Isabel Wilkerson  
Wd-June 13 Susan H       
Wd-July 11 Lindsey     optional month

 

2010-2011 Schedule*

Books by Authorblank space. View C. West Designs

Date

Host

Title

Author

Note

Tu-Sep 21 Mary The Ends of the Earth W. S. Merwyn In Hfd
Tu-Oct 19 Carolyn Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout Stories illuminating Olive's mental journey
Tu-Nov 16 Lindsey The History of Love Nicole Krauss Last on Vanderbuilt
Tu-Dec 14 Lane Cutting for Stone   Abraham Verghese. Last on No. Beacon
Wd-Jan 12  Jeanne In the Woods Tana French Irish Mystery: Schedule starts 2nd Wed of the month
Wd-Feb 9 Anna When A Billion Chinese Jump : How China Will Save Mankind -- Or Destroy It Jonathan Watts

 

 
Wd-Mar 9 Judy Strength in What Remains

 

Tracy Kidder Deogratias "Deo" Niyizonkiza arrives innocent and destitute in US, becomes DR and returns to Burundi to face Hutu-Tutsi past
Wd-Apr 13 Karen 13 rue Therese Elena Mauli Shapiro  
Wd-May 11 Nancy   Dissolution C. J. Sansom  
Wd-June 8 Darcy The Immortal Life of Henrietta lacks Rebecca Skloot  

 


Book Ideas* Post-it icon.
Eyes icon.Member ideas for future book selections:  Go to Synopsis Pages Eyes icon.

2011

Just Kids by Patty Smith (2010).  Memoir - She and John Mapelthorpe

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (2010).  WWII
Blue Nude by Elizabeth Rossner.  Young woman as NY model.
The Testament of Youth
We Are Going to Pick Potatoes, Irene Berman, WWII
Astrid and Veronica, Linda Olden, Generational friendship
The Hunger Games trilogy (Catching Fire, Mokingjay), by Suzanne Collins. Teen futuristic
The Better World Shopping Guide.  Which product is green.
The Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, linked stories
How Green Was My Valley.  Classic Welsh mines
Movies:

The Fighter
Winter's Bone
Alica in Wonderland
Win Win
Potiche
War in Winter

2010

 

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
2 Movies:  Secret in their Eyes and  Babies
True Confections Katherine Weber.
(fic, 2009) New Haven woman & in-laws candy factory
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.  Masters bring their slave women to Ohio resort.
Commencement, by J. Courtney Sullivan

Every Last One
by Anna Quindlen (2010).  What happens to the Lathams
Absence of Mind, Marilynne Robinson (non-f, 2010).  Religion-science debate
Tip:  Use 'Google Voice' to conference up to 4 callers

 

 

Strong Women Stay Young, by Miriam E. Nelson with Sarah Wernick, 2005

Strength training w/ free weights twice a week has startlingly positive effects on strength, balance, energy levels, and bone density in older women. Tufts exercise physiologist Miriam Nelson has turned her research into a practical program that can be done at home, detailed in this highly accessible book.
[Mary and Carolyn go to Hartford Hospital, Wethersfield site on M & TH]

Tip from Karen: to check your posture, stand w/ your arms at your sides, palms forward and thumbs out.

The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain : The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind, by Barbara Strauch, 2010. New York Times health editor, and deputy science editor.  The brain peaks in the 60's for things like judgment due to use of both sides of the brain.  See below for memory tips.

Transcript:  Fresh Air Interviews: Writer Barbara Strauch : NPR     podcast   article  

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain : How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley, 2007

Brain Science Podcast Archive

Prolonged Sitting Causes Disease, Standing Fights It 

A recent study at the University of Missouri-Columbia reaffirms that a sedentary life increases your risk of diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, but the study suggests that even if you get in the recommended 30 minutes of activity 5 days a week, sitting for the remaining 15 and a half hours of the day is still trouble. 
MU study finds that sitting may increase risk of disease

Healthbeat – Free e-news from Harvard

Harvard Women's Health Watch - Harvard Health Publications - $28/yr. 

Memory Exercises 

  • If you can't remember a name, go through the alphabet in your head -- A, B, C -- which may retrigger the memory in your mind.   

  • Exercise. Get your heart pumping, which improves cognitive function across the board.

  •  If you're trying to remember to take your medication, imagine yourself taking it. This will create a bigger neural footprint in your brain, creating more ways for your brain to remember.

  • Get out of your comfort zone. Take up a hobby -- piano lessons or knitting -- that will challenge your brain.

Tips taken from The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain
Wolf Hall
  Hilary Mantel  (hist-fic, 2009)  Ed. Cromwell, Henry VIII's advisor, Anne, Moore

2009

Life With Pop  Janis Abrahams Spring, Ph.D.  (non-fiction, 2009)  5 years of care-giving
Driftless
, David Rhodes  (fic, 2009). Characters in small town Wisconsin
The Help
, Kathryn Stockett  (fic, 2009)  1962 Mississippi nanny
True Compass
, a memoir, by Ted Kennedy  (memoir, 2009)

2008

The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million Daniel Mendelsohn  (non-fic, 2007)
Playing the Enemy
: Nelson Mandela & the game that made a nation, J. Carlin  (non-fic, 2008)
Love Marriage
, by V. V. Ganeshananthan  (fic, 2008)

The Secret
Scripture
, by Sebastian Barry  (fic, 2008)
The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, by Sebastian Barry (fic, 1990)
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ismael Beah (non-fic, 2007)

 

Ian Rutledge Mysteries, series by Charles Todd (mom and son authors)

Maisie Dobbs mystery series by Jacqueline Winspear - an author like Pat Barker

The Life Class, by Pat Barker, artists in WWI

Resistance, Anita Shreve - futuristic novel

The People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks - find Spanish Haggada from 1450

The Salaryman's Wife, by Sujata Massi, one of a mystery series - Japanese culture

Books set in Japan by Laura Joh Rowland, set in Edo

Mysteries by Ellis Peters

The Samuari's Garden, by Gail Tsukiyama, set in 1930's Chinese invasion of Japan

Molokai, by Alan Brennart, 1890's - girl sent to Molokai learns her culture

 

 

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle  Haruki Murakami (fiction,  1997)
After Dark, Haruki Murakami (fiction,  2007)

My Life So Far, Jane Fonda
Birds Without Wings, Louis de Bernieres

2007

Movies:
    Breach (stalking a U.S. counter spy), 
    Walk Hard (comedy - John C. Reilly as a musical legund), 
    Romance and Cigarettes working class (down and dirty musical), 
    Keeping Mum (comedy-crime),  
    Mr. Bean's Holiday (goofy but sophisticated), 
    The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (paralyzed editor can communicate with left eye only.), 
    The Kite Runner (Afghan boy and servant grow up as brothers - true to the book).
    
On Chisel Beach, Ian McEwan, 2007
Atonement notes: Movie in war scene "Power of Shadows", 1938 romantic nihilist movie.
    Redemptive power of art.  Art creates illusions to enable you to live with life.

New York Times 100 notable books of 2007

Coconut Rum Cake recipe
Tuscany Manse Link 

Montana 1948, by Larry Watson.    

For short books that read like poetry: 
    Lover, by Marguerite Duras, 
    Jazz, by Toni Morrison and 
    Tracks, by Louise Erdrich.  
 Movies:
The Jane Austin Book Club 
Julie Taymor's Across the Universe

 

The Glass Castle  Jeannette Walls (memoir,  2005). kids survive quirky dysfunctional parents

The Echo Maker, Richard Powers (Winner of National Book Award)

Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky (2005, 2 novellas., PB) Written in WWII France in 1940's   

All Passions Spent, Vita Sackville-West

 

2006


Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
, Barack Obama

All Passions Spent, Vita Sackville-West

 

Triangle, Katherine Weber, 2006, Historical Fiction

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason,  Sam Harris, indictment of religion
Eat the Document,  Dana Spiotta, 60's fugitive - aging, with a son, still underground. 
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky (2005, 2 novellas., PB) Written in WWII France in 1940's
Animals in Translation: Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, Temple Grandin (2005, NFic, PB)
My Life So Far, Jane Fonda (Autobiography, 2006, PB)
1,000 White Women
, Jim Fergus (Hist novel, 1999, PB) Woman's journal as wife of Chief. 
Family Matters, Rohinton Mystry (2003, fict., PB) Novel set in Bombay 1990's.

A Fine Balance
, Rohinton Mistry (1996, PB,), 4 people in India's 1975 state of emergency.
Favorites about India by William Dalrymple:

City of Djinns, William Dalrymple (1993, PB) History of India through archit.
In Xanadu, William Dalrymple (2000, PB, Non-Fic)
The Age of Kali: Indian Travels, William Dalrymple (2000, Non-Fic.  PB)

Favorites by Nadine Gordimer:

Burger's Daughter, Gordimer (1980, PB) So. African woman revolutionary.
Conservationist, Gordimer (1983, PB, ) Transvaal landowner's empty life.
July's People, Nadine Gordimer (1982, fict., PB) Black and White in So. Africa

Favorite Short Stories:

Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
The Magic Mountain
, by Thomas Mann
The Rocking Horse Winner
, by D.H. Lawrence
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
, by Mark Twain
A Worn Path, by Eudora Welty
Silent Snow, Secret Snow
, by Conrad Aiken
Big Blonde
, by Dorothy Parker
Appointment in Samarra
, by John O'Hara
Butterfield 8,
by John O'Hara
Rich as Stink,
by Alice Munro (Love of a Good Woman)

USA, by Dos Pasos
Light in August
, by William Faulkner
Accordion Crimes
, by Annie Proulx

Favorite Mystery Authors (the ones I caught):

Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time (British & American) Check it out.
PD James
 (The Lighthouse, The Murder Room, Cover Her Face)

Dorothy Sayers (The Nine Tailors)

Georges Simenon (Maigret books)

Anne Perry murderess (Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, Inspector Monk)

Ellis Peters (Brother Cadfile)

Dirk Francis

Colin Dexter (Inspector Morse)

Caleb Carr (The Alienist)

Elizabeth Chefwaller (Lane, couldn't find-correct spelling?)

Minette Walters (The Ice House)

Alexander McCall Smith (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series)

The Lighthouse  
.Bird Without Wings  
When We Were Orphans
  

The Shadow of the Wind
  Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Fiction,  2001). Compelling mystery about a recluse author, a boy and evil.  Set in Barcelona, 1939.
The Ha-Ha  Dave King (Fiction,  2005).  Boy changes life of disabled Vietnam vet.
The Time Traveler's Wife  Audrey Niffenegger (Fiction,  2003). Her husband gets routinely, involuntarily whisked into another time
Bangkok 8  John Burdett (Mystery,  2002) The only clean cop in Bangkok investigates his partner's murder. Voyeuristic peek at Bangkok's sex trade.
The Economy of Prestige
: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value, James F. English, Jr. 
Rereadings:
Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, Anne Fadiman (Editor) 
Birds without Wings, by Louis de Bernieres, the author of Corelli's Mandolin.
The Shame of the Nation:
The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America, Jonathan Kozol.  
The Magician's Assistant, by Ann Patchett  Better than Bel Canto?

2005

Place on Earth, Wendell Berry (read the hard copy)
Light on Snow, Anita Shreve
Name All the Animals: A Memoir, Alison Smith
Because I Said So: 33 Mothers Write about Children, Sex, Men, Aging, Faith, Race, and Themselves Camille Peri, Kate Moses
Her Sister's Keeper

Gilead, Marilynne Robinson, Fiction, 2004.  Pulitzer, Preacher writes about his life.
Madame Sarah, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Biography, 1989.  Sarah Burnhardt.
White Bird Flying, Bess Streeter Aldrich, 1988.  Granddaughter inherits literary aspirations.

The Known World,  Edward P. Jones (Historical Fiction,  2003).  Pulitzer.  Black slave owners.  
The Ha-Ha
Dave King  (Fiction, 2005).  Boy comes to live with a Vietnam vet who can't talk.  
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
,  
Mark Haddon '02,
Autistic boy solves crime
The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American RomanticismMegan Marshall


Brunelleschi's Dome Ross King, Non-Fiction, 2000, Renaissance genius reinvents architecture
My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult, Fiction, 2004.  Child conceived as bone-marrow match for sister
The Spiral Staircase: My climb out of Darkness, Karen Armstrong, Non-Fiction, 2004.  
A Round-Heeled Woman
, Jane Juska, (Non-Fiction, 1998)  At 76, she places ad for late-life sex.

The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst.  2004 Booker.
The Philosopher's Demise
: Learning French Richard Watson, 2003.  He can't learn it - witty.
The Ha-Ha Dave King, 2005.  War-damaged man cares for boy and opens up to world again.

Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life Carolyn Moorehead  Bio of Martha Gellhorn
Between Silk and Cyanide
:A Codemaker's War
, Leo Marks. Head of Brit code-breaking WWII
Runaway: Stories, Alice Munro
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Barack Obama
Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble & Coming of Age in the Bronx Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College, Jacques Steinberg.

2004

Friday Night Lights: A Town a Team and a Dream H.G Bissinger.  High school football

The 9/11 Commission Report, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, (Report, 2004)  
Property, Valerie Martin, (Fiction, 2003)  Woman slaveholder in the South.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clark, (Fiction, 2004)  Magic in 1800's England.
The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell, (Mystery, 2004)  Erudite puzzle-book set at Princeton.
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim: Essays, David Sedaris (Humor, 2004)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon (Fiction, 2000) 1940-50's NY.
Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder  (Biography, 2003) Dr. Paul Farmer cures the world


Human Voices, Penelope Fitzgerald, (Fiction, 1999)  The BBC during WWII.
Little Saint, Hannah Green, (Spiritual journey, 2000)  Written in ecstasy in Conques, France.

Madame Secretary, Madeleine K. Albright, (Autobiography, 2003)  Her story.
Founding Mothers: The women who raised our nation, Cokie Roberts (Non-Fiction, 2004). 
Living History, Hillary Clinton, (Non-Fiction, 2003).
The Namesake
, Jhumpa Lahiri (Fiction, 2003) 
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, (Fiction, 2003)    
The Peppered Moth, Margaret Drabble, (Fiction, 2001)    

The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson (Historical Fiction, 2002). 1890 Chicago World's  Fair. 

Bronze Bow
, Elizabeth George Speare (Fiction, 1997). Avenging father's death by crucifixion.

The Big House:
A Century - American Summer Home
, George Howe Colt (Non-Fiction, 2003).

Letters to a Young Therapist
, Mary Pipher, (Non-Fiction, 2003).  Sound life wisdom.
A Mighty Heart
, Mariane Pearl, (Non-Fiction, 2003).  The search for Danny Pearl in Pakistan.

2003

Iron and Silk, Mark Salzman, (Non-Fiction, 1987).  English teacher in post-cultural rev. China.
Rivertown
, author? A foreigner in China.
Three Junes
, Julia Glass, (Fiction, 2002)  Bonds of a complicated Scottish famly.
Blessings
, Anna Quindlen, (Fiction, 2002).  What makes a child legitimate or illigitimete?
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Like of Gertrude Bell
, Janet Wallach, (Non-Fiction, 1998)
Life of Pi
, Yann Martel, (Fiction, 2001) Young castaway on high seas.
The Fortress of Solitude
, Johathan Lethem, (Fiction, 2003) 1970's boy is Brooklyn pioneer.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl
, Fannie Flagg, (Fiction, 1998)  Rising TV star has a past.
Desert Queen
, Janet Wallach, (Non-Fiction, 1996)  Gertrude Bell and founding of Iraq.
Magdalene
, Marita Conlon-McKenna, (Fiction, 2001)  
A
Parcel of Patterns, Jill Paton Walsh, (Fiction, 1992)  How the plague came to a 1665 village.
The Human Stain, Philip Roth, (Fiction, 2000)  NE Professor keeps a 50 yr. old secret.
Eva Moves the Furniture, Margot Livesey, (Fiction, 2001) Invisible visitors haunt Eva- WWII.

Eight
, Katherine Neville, (Fiction, 1990)  Mysterious chess set touches lives thru history.
Why Is It Always About You?, Sandy Hotchkiss, (Non-Fiction, 2002)  Surviving a narcissist.
The Fox and the Hedgehog, Isaiah Berlin, (Non-Fiction, 1993)  Tolstoy's view of history.

The Da Vinci Code
, Dan Brown, (Fiction, 2003)  Fast-pace mystery
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, Thad Carhart, (Fiction, 2003)  
Crow Lake, Mary Lawson, (Fiction, 2003)  Northern Ontario - sibling rivalry.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy, Robert McChesney, (Non-Fiction, 1999)  
Into the Buzzsaw, Kristina Borjesson, editor, (Non-Fiction, 2002)  Myth of the Free Press
Inventing Wonderland, Jackie Wullschlager,  (Non-Fiction , 1995)  Writing Alice, Pan, Pooh

The Professor and the Madman,  Simon Winchester, (Non-Fiction, 1998)  Insanity & the OED.
John Adams,  David McCullough, (Biography, 2001)  2002 Pulitzer.

Greene on Capri: A Memoir  Shirley Hazzard,  (Non-Fiction, 2000)  Graham Greene.

Mrs. Bridge  Even S. Connell,  (Fiction, 1990)  Solid citizens of modern American society.
Family Matters  Rohinton Mistery,  (Fiction, 2001)  Parkinson's impacts family in Bombay. 
Great Neck  Norman Cousins,  (Fiction, 2003)  1960's kids grow up.
The Thief Lord  Cornelia Funke, (Fiction, 2001) For young adults.
The Bush Dyslexicon,  Mark Crispin Miller,  (Non-Fiction, 2001)  Humor - Bush misspeaks.

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women  Geraldine Brooks, (Non-Fiction, 1994) 
A Fine Balance  Rohinton Mistry,  (Fiction, 2000)  Four flee India's 1975 civil emergency. 
Anatomy of an Illness  Norman Cousins,  (Non-Fiction, 1981)  As perceived by the patient.
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage  Alice Munro,  (Stories, 2001)  Great.
On Writing  Stephen King,  (Non-Fiction, 2000)  A master storyteller shares secrets.
Wild Swans: three daughters of China,  Jung Chang, (Non-fiction, 1991)  3 generations. 

2002

The Conquerors  Michael Beschloss,  (Non-Fiction, 2002)  Roosevelt, Truman mold Germany.
Embers,  Sandor Marai,  (Fiction, 2001)  Reunion reveals end of Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Bridget Jones's Diary,  Helen Fielding,  (Fiction, 1996)  30-ish single woman.
Montana 1948,  Larry Watson,  (Fiction, 1995)  Conflict between family loyalty and justice.

A Month in the Country,  J.L. Carr,  (Fiction, 2000)  Recovering from WWI.
Austerlitz,
  Winfried Georg Sebald,  (Fiction, 2001)  Man's identity crisis from childhood void. 
Empire Falls,
  Richard Russo,  (Fiction, 2001)  Decaying mill town in Maine.
The Third Man,
  Best movie of all time.  (Movie, 1949) Classic film noir - post WWII Vienna.

The Partly Cloudy Patriot,  Sarah Vowell,  (Essays, 2002)  Sardonic commentary, history.
The Piano Tuner,
  Daniel Philippe Mason,  (Fiction, 2002)  Mysterious Burma in 1886.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich,  (Non-Fiction, 2001) 
Class Action,
  Bingham Laura, Leedy Gansler,  (Non-Fiction, 2002)  Sexual harass.  in  mines.
Back When We Were Grown-ups,  Anne Tyler, (Fiction, 2001)  Suburban nightmare. 
The Week,  Weekly news magazine - Digest of international and US press.  Subscribe.
White Teeth,
  Zadie Smith,  (Fiction, 2000)  Erudite comedy about culture-clash in Britain.  

Oleander Jacaranda,
  Penelope Lively,  (Memoir, 1994)  Portrait of a childhood in Egypt.  
Fortunate Son,  J. H. Hatfield & William Wimsatt,  (Biography, 1999 or 2001)  George W. Bush 

A Beautiful Mind,  Sylvia Nasar,  (Biography, 1998)  John Nash,  math genius, schizophrenic.  
Bee Season
,
  Myla Goldberg,  (Fiction, 2000)  Gaining renown as the spelling bee champ.
Bad Blood: A Memoir
,
  Lorna Sage,  (Autobiography, 2000)  Growing up in postwar Wales
Bel Canto,  Ann Patchett,  (Fiction, 2001)  Hostages mesmerized by opera's famed soprano.

No Great Mischief,  Alistair MacLeod  (Fiction, 2000)  Haunted by a Scottish mythic past.
A Heart of Stone,  Renate Dorrestein (Fiction, 2001)  Ghosts of her Amsterdam childhood.
The Emperor of Ocean Park,  Stephen L. Carter (Fiction, 2002)  African-American society.

In the Fall,  Jeffrey Lent,  (Non-fiction, 2000)  Post Civil War to Great Depression.

Breath, Eyes, Memory
,
  Edwidge Danticat,  (Fiction, 1998)  Girl back to Haiti.    Hartford Book
While I Was Gone
,  Sue Miller, (Fiction, 2000)  Woman leaves marriage in 1968. 
A Year by the Sea: thoughts of an unfinished woman,  Joan Anderson (Fiction, 2000)  
Last Time They Met,  Anita Shreve  (Fiction, 2002) passionate relationship - only 3 times
Don't Lets Go To The Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood,  Alexandra Fuller (Memoir, 2001)
Uncle Tungsten,  Oliver Sacks, (Non-fiction, 2001)  Sack's childhood - a scientific memoir.
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell. (Non-Fiction, 2000). How the world changes.
Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond. (Science, 1997), Pulitzer. Why humans flourished.
Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Non-Fiction, 1955). Love and contentment.

The Death of Vishnu,  Manil Suri, (Fiction, 2000)  Houseboy in modern-day India. 
What Went Wrong?
:
Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response, Bernard Lewis, (Fiction, 2000)  
Strangers in the House:
Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine,  Raja Shehadeh, Non-fiction, 2001)   
The Mustard Seed Versus McWorld: Reinventing Life & Faith. Tom Sine, (Non-fiction, 1999)
Circles:  Fifty Round-Trips through History, Technology, Science, Culture, James Burke, (Non-fiction, 2000) 
The Metaphysical ClubA story of ideas in America.  Louis Menand, (Non-fiction, 2001) 
Disobedience,  Jane Hamilton, (Fiction, 2001)  17 yr-old discovers mom's affair. 
Fall on Your Knees,  Ann-Marie MacDonald, (Fiction, 2002)  Troubled Nova Scotia family.. 
We Were the Mulvaneys,  Joyce Carol Oates, (Fiction, 2001)  Rise & fall of American family. 
Border Crossing,  Pat Barker, (Fiction, 2001)   Boy murderer and psychologist. 
Home at the End of the World,  Michael Cunningham, (Fiction, 1990)  Guys & girl form triangle 

Tibet: Through the Red Box,  Peter Sis, (Non-fiction, 1998)  a father's diary - lost in Tibet.

Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages,  Phyllis Rose, (Non-fiction, 1984)
Interpreter of Maladies
, Jhumpa Lahiri, (Fiction, 1999)  Short stories - first book.
Elegy for Iris
: A Memoir, John Bayley, (Non-fiction, 1999)  Iris Murdoch's husband writes.
Rising to the Occasion,
a Practical Companion
, Edith Hazard  & Wallace Pinfold, (Non-fiction, 2001)  How do do almost everything.
The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan, (Non-fiction, 2001)  Plants-eye view of the world.

2001

Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje, (Autobiography, 1993)  Back to Ceylon. 
Hormones and the Mind, Edward L. Klaiber, (Health, 2001)  Custom hormones for women. 
Something by Deborah Tannen  Men, women and language.

Daughter of Fortune
, Isabel Allende. (Fiction, 1999)
http://www.iconn.org/  
Connecticut Digital Library -CT Education Network text & databases. 

Paris to the Moon
, Adam Gopnik, (Non-fiction, 2000)  Paris dissected. 

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,  Haruki Murakami, (Fiction, 1998)  
Word Freak
Stefan Fatsis, (Non-fiction, 2001)  The world of serious scrabble players.
The Lost Life
Claire Massu, ()  
The Chimney Sweeper's Boy
Barbara Vine, (Fiction, 1999)  
How To Be Good
Nick Hornby, (Fiction, 2001)  
Ladder of Years
Anne Tyler, (Fiction, 1997)  
Hotel Du Lac
Anita Brookner, (Fiction, 1995)  
To The Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf, (Fiction, 1920?)  

The Gold Bug Variations
,
Richard Powell, (Fiction, 1994)
The Fall of a Sparrow,
Robert Hellenga , (Fiction 1998)  Man in Italy after daughter dies
The Sixteen Pleasures, Robert Hellenga, (Fiction, 1994)  Sexual awakening of a young woman
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
,
Kate Atkinson  (fiction, 1997)  Generations
Conditions of Faith, Alex Miller (Fiction, 2000) 1920's in Paris, Tunisia  
Mark Twain And His World
, Justin Kaplan, (non-Fiction, 1974). Out-of-print. 
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
, Dave Eggers. (non-fiction, 2000) Raising an 8 year-old brother 
The Map of Love
, Ahdaf Soueif (fiction, 2000) Romantic epic-Egypt

The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 
Jane Jacobs,  (non-fiction, 1961)  see review.
Images and Shadows
: Part of a Life, Iris Origo, (autobiography, 1970). Modern aristocracy.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman (non-fiction, 1998), Hmong clash.
Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie, (fiction, 1981) (Indian independence)
The Conservationist , Nadine Gordimer, (fiction, 1975) (portrait of an Afrikaner industrialist)

Headlong, Michael Frayn (fiction, 1999)
Tulip Fever, Deborah Moggach, (fiction, 2000)
Jerusalem the Golden, Margaret Drabble (fiction, 1967)
The Millstone, Margaret Drabble (fiction, 1965)
Ahab's Wife, or, The Star-Gazer, Sena Jeter Naslund, (fiction, 1999)
Under a Wing: A Memoir, Reeve Lindbergh (memoir, 1998)
House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III (fiction, 1999)

Magician of the Modern, Eugene Gaddis, (Non-Fiction, 2000)  Chic Austin and the arts in US
The Blind Assassin
, Margaret Atwood, (fiction, 2000)
Body and Soul
In the Fall, Jeffery Lent (legacy of slavery), (fiction, 2000)
July's People, Nadine Gordimer, (race relations in South Africa), (fiction, 1982)

The Road from Coorain , Jill Ker Conway, (growing up on a sheep station), (memoir, 1989)
Remembering Babylon, David Malouf, (13 yr-old castaway in Australia), (fiction, 1993)
A Month in the Country, James Lloyd Carr, (WWI vet renews faith), (fiction, 1983)
The Eye of the Storm, Patrick White, (family love and hatred), (fiction,1988) ’73 Pulitzer.

More

* - Unless otherwise attributed, all linked summaries are taken from the publisher's summary.  All linked comments are original material.


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