Dave Pelzer chronicles his childhood experiences of enduring extreme abuse from the hands of his own mother. For those who can make it through the horrific tales of Pelzer’s physical and emotional turmoil, they will be able strengthen their empathy. His stories were heart wrenching and I definitely recommend A Child Called It for readers who can handle the topic.
Liz G.
After seeing an airplane, Makepeace Hatfield, the sole survivor in a post-apocalyptic Siberian settlement village, sets out looking for other people in this suspenseful, gritty story. Reviewers have compared this novel to Cormac McCarthy’s award-winner The Road.
Jill
When a young Algerian refugee is discovered to possess the happiness gene, a struggle in the scientific community and a media frenzy ensue. Thought-provoking and insightful.
Jill
In six days Matthew Prior has to come up with $30,000 balloon payment for his over-mortgaged house. That might not be so daunting if he hadn’t used most of the refinancing money after quitting his journalism job to start a website that dispenses financial advice through poetry. Interspersed with haiku and free-verse, The Financial Lives of the Poets is funny, witty, trenchant, topical, and yes, poetic. Fans of Josh Bazell, Pete Dexter and possibly Nick Hornby might like this book
Laura
In this ultimately lighthearted memoir, English professor Rhoda Janzen has had a supremely bad week – her husband left her for another man and she was hospitalized after a young man crashed into her on an icy road. She decides to return home to her Mennonite family in California to recuperate from both devastating experiences.
Jill
Tracy Chevalier’s novel is based on historical people – Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot – their love of fossils and extraordinary finds along the coast of England’s Lyme Regis area in the 1800s. Mary Anning’s finds changed geological history and are still found in museums. It is the story of Mary and Elizabeth’s friendship – how class of the society would have kept Mary unnamed in her discoveries if Elizabeth hadn’t intervened with the men of society. It is a great story, fast read and thoroughly enjoyable.
Lisa
This wonderful historical novel is based on the life of Alice Liddell who inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland. Benjamin does an excellent job telling a complex story of young Alice’s relationship with Carroll aka Charles Dodgson – who was a young man at Oxford when they met. But it is more than that – it is about Alice’s strength through a catastrophic time in her young life, followed by love and loss. It is about a girl becoming a woman – navigating Victorian England’s strict moral attitudes with little help from those around her. Great for discussion and book clubs.
Lisa
Mercy Gunderson was a former Army sniper in Afghanistan and Iraq who has returned to the family ranch because of an injury. She is soon embroiled in a murder mystery when the body of a Native American teenager is found on Gunderson land. Mercy is a straight-shooting, hard-drinking, no nonsense woman who is interesting because she seems to have very few vulnerabilities.
Lisa
After forty-five years negotiating the stairs of their five floor East Village walk-up apartment, septuagenarians Alex and Ruth have decided it’s time to move. As if finding the perfect New York apartment weren’t a daunting enough task, a panic has seized the city as a possible terrorist attack is clogging the Mid-town tunnel, and their beloved dachshund, Dorothy, has collapsed and needs emergency medical attention. Ciment has deftly created a slice-of-life story that reveals universal truths in small, but possibly heroic, gestures.
Laura
When Rena finds out her fiancé, Brian, has unceremoniously dumped her (through a phone call from Brian’s dad no less) she reacts badly in a weak moment by stealing his new girlfriend’s dog. As the reality of her crime settles in Rena faces her Mother’s impending re-marriage, her sister’s shaky marriage and withdrawal from Orthodox Judaism, her dead-end waitressing job, the possible appeal of her latest blind date, as well as some persuasive come-ons from Brian. A light, but entertaining read.
Laura
