Books read between June 2010 and Aug 31, 2011

Thanks to Nancy K. for the list:

• Hunger Games and Catching Fire,  Suzanne Collins (Kathy) 7/21/10
• Let The Great World Spin,  Colum McCann (Nancy K)  8/30/10
• Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks (Marion) 10/13/10
• Hands of My Father, Myron Uhlberg (Barbara) 11/17/10
• The Big Sleep,  Raymond Chandler (Terri) 2/08/11
• This I Believe,  ?    essays by various authors   (Amy) 3/25/11
• Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot  (Nancy V)  5/07/11
• Room,  Emma Donoghue  (Renee)  6/29/11
• Dancer, Colum McCann (Britt) 7/29/11
• The Tortilla Curtain, TC Boyle (Deb) 8/31/11

May 09 – June 10

From Nancy K:

(Kathy) On Beauty, Zadie Smith *

(Nancy) Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison *

(Marion) Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Society, MaryAnn Shaffer and Annie Barrows

(Barb) The Help, Kathryn Stockett

(Terri) The Quiet American, Graham Green

(Britt) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz *

(Amy) Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh

(NancyV) Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Stout

(Renee) Little Bee, Chris Cleve

(Britt) The Master, Colm Toibin

June 2008 - 09

Thanks to Nancy K for keeping our list current. (I couldn't help adding my comments.)

Loving Frank, Nancy Horan (Everyone else loved it.)

Moral Disorder, Margaret Atwood (Good)

Change of Heart, Jodi Picault (A little kitschy)

Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Wonderful -- my pick but I'm not biased!)

The Nine. Jeffrey Toobin (Very good - rare non-fiction and most liked it.)

Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates (Now why did I give this two stars on Amazon?)

The Book Thief, Markus Zusack (I liked this. Reminded me of On a Pale Horse by way of Stones from the River.)

On Beauty, Zadie Smith (Good, I think)

Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison (Couldn't get through it.)

Shelfari

I'm now on Shelfari for all the books I've read. It's has a nice interface and it's fun. I encourage anyone in the group to join and I'd be happy to send an invitation if you like.
-Terri

Updates thanks to Nancy K

2007-2008

Here’s the list of books we read from last May thru this May.

The March – E.L. Doctorow (Kathy)

Suite Francaise – Irene Nemirovsky (Nancy K)

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khalid Hussein (Marion)

Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert (Terri)

Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson (Amy)

Atonement – Ian McEwon – (Nancy V)

The Road- Cormac McCarthy (Britt)

Harriet and Isabella – Patricia O’Brien (Rene)

We discovered that we skipped Barbara’s turn somehow! Sorry, Barb

Staring the cycle again from June 2008 - 2009

The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (Kathy)

Loving Frank – Nancy Horan (Nancy K)

And Others That We're Not Quite Sure Where They Belong

Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie & Ina Rilke (Barbara)

An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore (Terri)

The Glass Castle – Jeanette Weller – (Barbara)

Fugitive Pieces – Ann Michaels

The Painted Drum – Louise Erdich
(This might be from my other book group. Does anyone remember reading this? - Nancy)
(I don't recall this one. -Terri)

Bel Canto – Ann Patchett (Terri)

The March was mixed - Posted for Nancy K

Opinions of The March were mixed. Amy and I really liked it, Nancy V and Kathy were so-so. We wound up discussing a lot about Sherman, his war tactics and whether he was brilliant or evil incarnate. Our discussion took place around a campfire in my backyard with pecan pie and Georgia peaches being served.
Interestingly, Suite Francaise will be a nice counterpoint to The March. It is about the German "March" thru France and occupation of it during WWII, But it is not a war story by any means.

Short Report on the Year of Magical Thinking

The Year of Magical Thinking discussion was held at Brit's. All present loved the book as did I, but couldn't help mention Didion's incessant namedropping and luxury hotel snootiness.
Even so I just bought a copy for a friend who lost her beloved husband over 7 years ago.
Looking forward to seeing the play with the group in April.