This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

What a hoot! I loved this book! This is the perfect book to read after you've read something serious and intense because it will make you laugh out loud! It includes family dysfunction to the max, but it's cleverly written and somehow believable. -June

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

A very interesting read about a slave woman who maintains a relationship with her owner. Every summer she travels with him (without his wife) to a resort in the north where they meet other slave owners and their female slaves. The book focuses on Lizzie, her relationship with the other slaves, and her relationship with her owner. The book takes place during the 1850's before the Civil War. The book is only somewhat well written, but it certainly is about an interesting subject. -June

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

This was a book club selection, and one that I would not have chosen on my own. And we actually read two books in the series, the first and the second. I'll admit they held my interest but there was just something predictable and almost romance-like about the writing. Now I admit I read most of the books while recuperating and under the influence of pain meds, but even the drugs didn't make me love these books. -June

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

Just finished "The Heretic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent and highly recommend it. It is historical fiction about the Salem Witch Trials unlike any I've read because it is told from the perspective of the young daughter of one of the women hung for a wtich. Some of the passages were so moving and exquisitely written, I dog-eared the pages before remembering that the book wasn't mine (otherwise I would have brought it with me to Oregon). The author is descended from the protagonist. Anita Shreve (one of our favorites) says "The Heretic's Daughter is raw, honest, and completely captivating. Kent takes what would seem to be a familiar subject and gives it fresh, new perspective--moving us through a wrenching gamut of emotions as she does so. A searing look at one of the worst periods in our history." It's a winner! -BT

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Steig Larrson

OK, I'm the last person on the planet to read this book so I hate to even write my review. But let's just say it is a wonderful book, and I immediately started on the sequel. I did make the mistake of seeing the movie before reading the book, and even though I knew the ending, there is just so much more wonderful detail in the book. Sometimes books that are translated into English seem confusing or unclear, but this one has no traces of that. - June

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Just finished “A long Way Gone”. True story of a twelve year old boy who was forced to become a soldier in Sierre Leone in the mid 2000’s (just a few years ago) after his family was slaughtered in their village. Heart wrenching. I guess we all need to be reminded of our blessings. - DS

The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

I really like this author and (I think it's her latest) "The Story Sisters." Now I want to read "The Third Angel" which she wrote before this one. "Here on Earth" was an Oprah selection and we read "Turtle Moon" and "Practical Magic" (made a movie) and the last one I read was "The Probable Future." I think June turned us on to Alice Hoffman, but I've slept plenty since then, so... Anyhoo, this is a page turner, odd, disquieting, sad and Jodi Picoult says "Alice Hoffman has outdone herself" but they probably all say that about one another. I liked this snippet best: "A bewitching weave of psychologically astute fantasy and shattering realism...This is an entrancing and romantic drama shot through with radiant beauty and belief in human resilience and transformation." - BT

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

I completely loved reading this book. The author has a style I adore, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the story lines that may or may not have been intentionally funny. I was happily sucked into the lives of this family of one husband, four wives, and over 25 children. Fortunately, the book focuses on just a few characters, and I found them to be fascinating. I'll admit that the ending caught me off guard. I found myself saying "He/She wouldn't do that! Why did the author throw that in there?" Maybe I missed something along the way, but I'd like to rewrite my own ending. - June

Book Update from BT

The Gathering was stunning with the critics comparing the narrative tone to Joan Didion's "furious, cool grief" and James Joyce's Dubliners. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2007. Another review said "Entrancing, unflinching and insightful....a haunting look at a broken family stifled by generations of hurt and disappointment, struggling to make peace with the irreparable." I liked this summary best: Anne Enright's fiction is jet dark--but how it glitters."

Am thoroughly enjoying Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls (The Glass Castle) and it seems like may a couple of you recommended that? As you recall, Glass Castles was autobiographical and Half Broke Horses is about her grandmother and is sprinkled with sepia-tone photos. I just love her style. -BT

The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg

There are books that make you think, and then there are books that are just light and fun to read. Elizabeth Berg's books fall into the second category. I like to read her books after I've read something that might be a tad dark or depressing. So this was the perfect thing to pick up after finishing Cutting for Stone. And it's a very quick read. This story is about a group of individuals preparing for their 40th high school reunion. Over half of the book is spent presenting the characters and their angst over this reunion. The rest of the book is the actual reunion itself and how it doesn't necessarily play out the way the characters had planned. But as always, Berg's characters end up wiser and happier than they were at the beginning. A fun, quick, easy, mindless read. -June

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

This book received many rave reviews. The characters are great, and the setting in Ethopia is fascinating. Although I really liked it, I felt there were times it could have been condensed somewhat... the book is over 600 pages! Surgeries are described in minute detail, and I found myself skimming right over those parts. Perhaps if I had a medical background, those sections would have more meaning. But read it to know the characters. I think they will stay with me. -June
P.S. This turned out to be a great book to read and then discuss. My book group spent the entire time talking about it. Very interesting!

Comments from BT

I just read the latest by Michael Chabon (autobiographical): Manhood for Amateurs, The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son. (He also wrote, among others, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay--fabulous book for which he won the Pulitzer for fiction a few years back)
Sample paragraph:
"This is an essential element of the business of being a man: to flood everyone around you in a great radiant arc of bullshit; one whose source and object of greatest intensity is yourself. To behave as if you have everything firmly under control even when you have just sailed your boat over the falls. "To keep your head...when all about you are losing theirs." (Rudyard Kipling) but in reality, the trick of being a man is to give the appearance of keeping your head when, deep inside, the truest part of you is crying out, Oh shit!" It was good.

I LOVED Amazing Adventures but couldn't get into The Yiddish Policemen's Union -- story of a Jewish settlement (60 years after seeing refuge following WWII) in Sitka, Alaska. I read 1/4 and may return to it because the reviews were superb...

And I think I already wrote that House Rules is very, very good--although I may have had an extra interest because of the extraordinary insight into Asberger's Syndrome.