Fall Reading List 2011

New Rating System: 0-5 *s, 5 the highest "must read"

Empire of the Summer Moon/ S.C.Gwynne *****
The Last Time I Saw Paris/ Lynne Sheene ***
Clarence Darrow - American Iconoclast/ Andrew E. Kersten ***
The Story of Beautiful Girl/ Rachel Simon*****
The Wild Girl/ Jim Fergus*****
The Red Garden/ Alice Hoffman ****
Strength in What Remains/ Tracy Kidder ******
Eden's Outcasts/ John Matteson *****
The Warmth of Other Suns/ Isabel Wilkerson *****
The Other Barack/ Sally H. Jacobs *****
we is got him The Kidnapping That Changed America/ Carrie Hagen****
The Wrong Blood/ Manuel De Lope ****
The Blue Orchard/ Jackson Taylor *****
Nightwoods/Charles Frazier****

Summer 2011 Good Reads

Caleb's Crossing/ Geraldine Brooks
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin/ Erik Larson
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey/ Walter Mosley
Dear Bess/Letters of Harry Truman edited by Robert Ferrell
West of Here/Jonathan Evison
The Lake Shore Limited/Sue Miller
The Reading Promise/Alice Ozma
Rodin's Debutante/Ward Just
The Long Snapper/ Jeffrey Marx
A Night Too Dark/Dana Stabenow
Extraordinary, Ordinary People/Condoleezza Rice
River of Darkness/ Buddy Levy
Nothing Daunted/ Dorothy Wickenden
The Remembrances of Marietta Lufford/ Virginia Chute
The Slap/ Christos Tsiolkas
Papa Martel/Gerard Robichaud
Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story/ Mitchell Zuckoff
Madam Bovary's Daughter/ Linda Urbach
The Paris Wife/ Paula McLain
Mississipppi Mud/Edward Humes
Clara and Mr. Tiffany/ Susan Vreeland

Winter Reading 2010/2011

The Heretic's Wife/Brenda Vantrease
The Heretic's Daughter/ Kathleen Kent
The Wolves of Andover/ Kathleen Kent
Hannah Coulter/ Wendell Berry
Oxygen/ Carol Cassella
Team of Rivals/ Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Eleventh Man/ Ivan Doig
The Healer/ Carol Cassella
Daniel/ Henning Mankell
Remarkable Creatures/ Tracy Chevalier
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse/Louise Erdrich
Four Souls/Louise Erdrich
The Imperial Cruise/ James Bradley
The Witness House/ Christiane Kohl
A Fierce Radiance/ Lauren Belfer
The Immortal Life of Hennrietta Lacks/ Rebecca Skloot
Walk the Blue Fields/ Claire Keegan
Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful: Poems/ Alice Walker

Summer Reading 2010

Teacher Man/ Frank McCourt
Half Broke Horses /Jeanette Walls
Read My Pins/Madeleine Albright
The Yellow House/Patricia Falvey
Signora DaVinci/Robin Maxwell
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played with Fire/Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest/Stieg Larsson
Under the Dome/Stephen King
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle/David Winobleski
Work Song/Ivan Doig
Colonel Pettigrew's Last Stand/Helen Simonson
Antarctica/Claire Keegan
A Star Called Henry/Roddy Doyle
Curse the River of Time/Per Petterson
Turbulence/Giles Foden
Last Night in Twisted River/John Irving
Flight/Jan Burke
Stones for Schools/Greg Mortenson
Red Hook Road/Ayelet Waldman
The Last Time I Saw You/ Elizabeth Berg
The Ape House/ Sara Gruen
Band of Angels/ Gregson

November - March Reads

The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation/John Baker Jr
You or Someone Like You/ Chandler Burr
The Ingenious Edgar Jones/Elizabeth Garner
The Help/Kathryn Stockett
The Power of One/Bryce Courtenay
English/Wang Gang
The Tempest - A Brave Vessel/Hobson Woodward
The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook/Tom Bernardin
The Water's Edge/ Karin Fossum
Handle with Care/ Jodi Picoult
Mudbound/Hillary Jordan
The Glass Room/Simon Mawer
Change of Heart/Jodi Picoult
The Calligrapher's Daughter/Eugenia Kim
Gardens of Water/Alan Drew
The Lacuna/Barbara Kingsolver
Shooting Stars/LeBron James /Buzz Bissinger
The Namesake/Jumpa LaHiri

June to October Reads 2009

The Good Thief/ Hannah Tinti -- LOVED THIS! Hope it becomes a movie.



The Air We Breathe/ Andrea Barrett
Dewey/ Vicki Myron
All for Love/Amanda Elyot
To Siberia/Per Petterson
The Girl with No Shadow/Joanne Harris
The Reader/Bernhard Schlink
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet/Jamie Ford
The Last Time We Met/Anita Shreve
Things Fall Apart/Chinua Achebe (Naples Book Club)
Embassy Falls/Richard Russo (Naples Book Club)
The Reliable Wife/Robert Goolrick
The Writing on My Forehead/Nafisa Haji
The Year of Wonders/Geraldine Brooks (Naples Book Club)
My Stroke of Insight/Jill Bolte Taylor
Scent of Sake/Joyce Zebra
The Commitments/Roddy Doyle (Naples Book Club)
The Art of Racing in the Rain/ Garth Stein
Street Fighters/Kate Kelly
The Book of Night Women/ Marlon James
Cutting for Stone/ Abraham Verghese
Provenance/Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo
The Night Birds/Thomas Maltman
South of Broad/Pat Conroy
The Outliers/Malcom Gladwell
The Blue Notebook/James A. Levine
Right of Thirst/Frank Huyler
The Clothes on Their Backs/Linda Grant
These is my Words/Nancy E. Turner

April and May Reads

The German Bride/ Joanna Hershon - interesting novel of frontier Santa Fe and cultural realities for women
A Mercy/Toni Morrison - this novel engages all your senses
Comfort Food/Kate Jacobs - quick, fun, read - take it to the beach
Shopping for Porcupine/Seth Kastner - couldn't put it down! nonfiction, conservation, wonder, photos supporting the narrative, family, community, READ IT
Digging to America/ Anne Tyler - two families, friendship, adoption, introspection
The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard/Erin McGraw - memorable, difficult early decision weaves its way toward a resolution that comes from character development, great book for book club discussion

Click on book titles to link to online reviews.