Good Reads
Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton
The most famous of highland bachelors, police sargeant Hamish Macbeth, may actually marry at last, but Hamish couldn't be more miserable. The wedding wouldn't be happening if it weren't for the murder of a beautiful woman in a nearby village.
With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a
movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and
white, mothers and daughters--view one another.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo features Lisbeth Salander, the troubled,
wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, as the focus and fierce heart of its
story.
The long-awaited new novel--a book of stunning power--by one of the most
heralded writers of the past thirty years. Set just after the events of
September 2001, about a twenty-year-old woman from a small midwestern farm,
making her way, coming of age. Under the novel's languid, easygoing surface,
Moore's deft, lyrical writing brings us up against the heart of racism, the
shock of war, and the carelessness perpetrated against others in the name of
love.
the world of the sixteenth-century convent in her latest historical novel. Set in mid-16th century Italy, this newest book takes the reader into
the dank and dreary confines of a convent that serves as a virtual prison for
those unlucky ladies bereft of a wedding dowry.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Winner-2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
letters", in the words of Jonathan Yardley, is a literary triumph in which
two misfit young men make it big creating comic-book superheroes.
Beyond Mountains and The Soul of a New Machine returns with the
extraordinary true story of a young man and his will to turn his life into
something truly remarkable.
Nurtureshock: New Thinking about Children by Po Bronsonand Merryman,
Ashley
In a world of modern, involved, caring
parents, why are so many kids aggressive and cruel? Where is intelligence
hidden in the brain, and why does that matter? Why do cross-racial friendships
decrease in schools that are more integrated? If 98% of kids think lying is
morally wrong, then why do 98% of kids lie? What's the single most important
thing that helps infants learn language?
NurtureShock is a groundbreaking collaboration between award-winning science
journalists Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. They argue that when it comes to
children, we've mistaken good intentions for good ideas. With impeccable
storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, they demonstrate that many of modern
society's strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring because key
twists in the science have been overlooked.
GOLDENGROVE by Francine Prose
A novel about a young girl facing the consequences of sudden loss after the
death of her sister. For all the darkness at the novel's heart, the
narrative itself is radiant with the lightness of summer and charged by the
restless sexual tension of teenage life. (Fiction Prose)
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks
The Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people
of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. This emotionally rich
novel retraces its turbulent journey, in chapters alternating between
present and past. (Fiction Brooks)
SHADOW CATCHER by Marianne Wiggins
The Shadow Catcher interweaves narratives from two different eras: the first
tells the story of turn-of-the-century icon Edward Curtis (1868-1952) and
his muse-wife, Clara; and the second, narrated in the first person by a
reimagined writer named Marianne Wiggins, details a twenty-first-century
journey of redemption. (Fiction Wiggins)
WHAT IS THE WHAT by Dave Eggers
The 2009 selection for One Book One Marin, this is an autobiographical novel
about Valentino Achak Deng. Based closely on true experiences of the Lost
Boys of Sudan, who fled their war-ravaged country to come to the United
States in the mid-1980s, this novel is heartbreaking and arresting, filled
with adventure, suspense, tragedy, and, finally, triumph. (Fiction Eggers)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. by Junot Diaz A family saga, written in a combustible mix of slang and lyric prose with touches of sly humor throughout, this novel takes place in the Dominican Republic during and after the horrific reign of the dictator Trujillo. (Fiction Diaz)
DEAF SENTENCE by David Lodge. David Lodge delivers another amusing, though touching, book set in northern England that follows the retirement of hearing-challenged Desmond Bates, professor of linguistics. Lodge is hilarious as he describes how the professor misinterprets the words and conversations of those around him and his subsequent involvement with an unbalanced female graduate student. Told in the first person, Lodge never disappoints the reader. (Fiction Lodge)
The Senator's Wife. by Sue Miller A novel about two women at opposite stages of life. Meri, the young, sexy wife of a charismatic professor, occupies one half of a New England duplex. Delia, her elegant neighbor in the other half, is the wife of a notoriously philandering retired senator. Their complicated relationship is the crux of this compelling book. (Fiction Miller)
Living in a Foreign Language: a memoir of food, wine and love in Italy. by Michael Tucker Tucker and wife Jill Eikenberry (both former Marin residents and stars of LA Law) enjoy all things Italian. Tucker has a knack for taking the reader along on his journey, wishing they could join him for dinner. (945.5 Tucker)
How Starbucks Saved My Life. by Michael Gates Gill A true story how the super chain changed the author's life for the better. Quite a good read. (921 Gill)
Shantaram. by Gregory David Roberts. Please don't let the 936 pages scare you off. Shantaram is an extremely engaging epic of self-discovery that will linger long after the final page is turned. Read the first paragraph and decide for yourself. (Fiction Roberts)
Mister Pip. by Lloyd Jones Ravaged by war and with little to do but wait for peace, the islanders (most likely set in Papua New Guinea) settle in for the daily readings of Dickens’s Great Expectations by the only white man on the island. As the story begins, only the children attend the readings but soon the whole village is drawn in by the power of the imagination as a means of escape. Tender and shocking stories of their own are revealed as the daily readings commence. (Fiction Jones)
Safe Area Gorazde. by Joe Sacco A graphic novel about the war in Eastern Bosnia with interesting accounts of residents in one of Bosnia's "safe areas". An approachable form of history, along the lines of Art Spiegelman's Maus. (949.742 Sacco)
The Sheltering Sky. by Paul Bowles The title refers to the blue canopy above vast stretches of the Sahara. But on the existential level, the sky is a metaphor for the comforting illusions that protect our delicate eggshell mind, beyond which lies only emptiness and horror. This strange and terrifying exploration of the human condition is an oft-overlooked classic of the 20th century. (Fiction Bowles)
The Uncommon Reader. by Alan Bennett This is a wonderfully funny book that was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2007. Alan Bennett is better known as a playwright but this book of fiction chronicles Queen Elizabeth II and her amusing but tedious duties as monarch. The reader's first encounter with the queen finds her chasing after her incorrigible corgies when she stumbles upon a bookmobile parked at the kitchen entrance of the Palace - to the horror of the librarian! Long story short, the queen becomes an avid reader to the dismay of her staff as she neglects her schedule and wears the same sweater two days running. Bennett captures the manners perfectly. (Fiction Bennett)
Cloud Atlas. By David Mitchell Several interconnected stories from different genres; you proceed forward through time with the first half of each story, then work backwards till the end, so you start and finish with the same story. (Fiction Mitchell)
Gardens of Water. by Alan Drew This debut novel, set in Turkey, explores the interactions between two families, one Muslim and the other Christian, in an Istanbul suburb during the earthquake that struck in 1999. Sinan, the Kurdish father, fears the influence of his Christian neighbors on his son and daughter. He tries to minimize contact with them, but the earthquake binds the two families together. The story convincingly explores the tensions between Islam and Christianity. The power and brilliance of this book lie in the skillfully crafted levels of the plot. (Fiction Drew)
