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Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context by Carol Meyers

With 22 pages of end notes and 40 pages of bibliography, this is a scholarly examination of the lives of women in Iron Age Israel. At the same time, it was extremely readable and amazingly fascinating.

Finished by Tom Rob Smith-- 5 Stars!!

Brilliant, twisty, detective like novel set in 1950s Stalinistic Russia where you can't trust your friends, neighbors, or even your family...

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Finished by Sally Cabot Gunning-- 2 Stars!

1800s- Massachusetts- A strong female character in Lyddie Berry, whose husband suddenly passes away leaving her in the care of her son in law. Interesting, but forgettable.

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The Desert Is Fertile by Dom Helder Camara

Dom Helder Camara is one of my heroes, a source of inspiration. So, I wanted to give this brief collection of essays and poems at least 4 stars. But, if I am honest, the poems were mediocre and the essays had the frayed edges of age. There was still much to challenge me in his words, but it did not pack the punch I expected.

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The appeal of this famous novel eludes me. I found it unnecessarily long, loaded down by endless repetitions of the same internal dialogue and descriptive details. The portrayal of slavery as a benign institution that provided kindly care for a race too indolent, irresponsible and childish to handle freedom to be highly offensive. Although Scarlett’s resilience is admirable, that is the only positive trait I could identify in her.

Finished by Kristin Hannah 5 Stars!!

Absolutely loved this one!! Might be my favorite read this year.

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Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward

I expected this novel of teen pregnancy, dog fights, rural Mississippi poverty and the ravages of Katrina to be filled with desperation, casual cruelty and abuse. I was pleasantly surprised by the depiction of famillial care, community support and siblings� acts of casual tenderness. This was far from sentimental; life’s pain, loss, thwarted dreams and harshness are seeded with love and encrusted with care so ordinary it could be overlooked.

Nice review Irene!

Finished by Yann Martel- 3 Stars!

Tough beginning and mid-ending, but brilliant middle. Encouraging story about a boy stranded at sea for 277 days, and how he survived.

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The Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett

This is a literary mystery wedded to a romance. As a contemporary antiquarian tries to determine the authenticity of a Shakespearean manuscript, the reader sees the text travel forward through the centuries. Our book seller acquires this text and solves its mystery through an abundance of the most implausible coincidences. The romance is equally incredible as the anxiety-ridden, socially awkward college student is actively pursued by a gorgeous heiress. Lovett does not appear to trust his reader, over explaining every action or reaction of his protagonist. Although we are reminded ad nausium of Peter’s painful shyness and severe anxieties, it is abandoned at opportune moments when he needs to act recklessly to further the implausible plot.

Ashes To Ashes by Tami Hoag

I took this novel with me on my recent trip. It was the perfect airport book; it reminds the reader that there are some things worse than modern airline travel. An FBI profiler teams up with a local police force to catch a serial killer who tortures his victims before executing them. This is not my typical book, but I suspect it is representative of the genre. The plot was fast paced and suspenseful, even if far from an accurate portrayal of police work. The characters had enough individuality to carry the story. I could have done without the romance between detectives, but I suppose that sells books.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This is a missing person mystery complicated by the narration through three unreliable characters. The story arc was engaging and well paced. The revelation of clues felt organic to the story. My only quibble with this book was the failure to create unique voices for the three narrators who author the alternating chapters. These three women spoke so similarly that I often forgot who was speaking to me.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.
Am about one-third into the novel and am not loving it. I had high expectations (based upon many GR and Amazon reviews). Will continue plugging along.

Finished by Adam Johnson-- 2 Stars.

Set in North Korea, this book created a unique look into a country which has little insight. I was enjoying it through the first section, but by the second, I was toiling through just to finish. Overall- it was ok.

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The Luminous Heart of Jonah S by Gina Nahai

Most often I am beginning to compose my review a third of the way into my reading of a book. But, this book thwarted every attempt, shape shifting with every turn of the page. It begins as a murder mystery but quickly becomes a family saga written with magical realism. It is a witty social commentary and a “Gatsby-esk� tale of self reinvention. It is a menagerie of quirky characters, a story of how the ties of affection can become a noose that hangs as easily as a lifeline that rescues, a promise of hope and so much more. The writing was quite good. I definitely want to read more by this author.

Finished by Anne Tyler-- 3 Stars!

heartwarming story and a generational family and the house that brought them together.

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Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

It does not matter how well researched the topic, how skillful the writing, I can not be interested in a book about a race horse.

Mary wrote: "The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.
Am about one-third into the novel and am not loving it. I had high expectations (based upon many GR and Amazon reviews). Will continue plugging along."

I quit after just a couple of chapters, honestly. I think I'd just ready too many similar books back to back and wasn't the right timing. I've heard good things, though.

Irene wrote: "Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

It does not matter how well researched the topic, how skillful the writing, I can not be interested in a book about a race horse."

O wow, I loved this one! But, I went through the "horse phase" as a young girl, so I'm sure that influenced it. I really liked how she put together the stories of the men connected with the horse and how they got through the Depression, etc. Just depends on which subject captures your interest, though :)

I just finished Moloka'i, which I kept hearing mentioned in various groups, and we were lucky enough to pick it for an in-person group. Very enlightening! I had no idea that leprosy, or Hanson's Disease, was such a prevalent thing in Hawai'i, and so recently! The story itself is fictional, but made up out of very true events and life stories. I found it fascinating! And bittersweet, of course, due to many sad events. But definitely hopeful.

Finished by Tom Rob Smith- 3 Stars!

2nd book in this series- not quite as powerful as the first, but won't stop me picking up the third! :)

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I know nothing about that series, Britany: is it mystery, historical fiction, fantasy....?

Historical fiction about Stalin-era, communist Russia. First one was really good! Second one was good, and there's one more...

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

All the controversy around the release of this book had me rather apprehensive about reading it. I was pleasantly surprised. Knowing the talent present in her award winning To Kill A Mocking Bird, the writing in this one is clearly inferior. Had Lee returned to this draft with subsequent re-writes and refinements, I think this story of a young woman coming to terms with the realization that the father she had idolized was an imperfect, although still admirable, mere human, that the home town of her cherished childhood was not Eden, would have been equally good.

Thank you for your thoughts on that, Irene: I've been extremely apprehensive about reading it, because of all the controversy, but that makes me want to push it up on my reading list.

It seems almost irreverent to criticise Harper Lee. She has such a fluid style that reading is a pleasure. The content deserves re reading and pondering.

Kill a mocking Bird and Go set a Watchman are quite different beasts!

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

This novel is set in North Korea, a society so permeated by deceit, distrust and fear, so characterized by brutality and deprivations that it makes Orwell’s 1984 seem like a facsimile of the Garden of Eden. It is the story of an insignificant man who creates a self-narrative of heroism and love in distinct defiance of his culture’s definition. Although the writing is outstanding, the tale is so dark and uncomfortable that I found it hard to enjoy the story

Mary wrote: "It seems almost irreverent to criticise Harper Lee. She has such a fluid style that reading is a pleasure. The content deserves re reading and pondering.

Kill a mocking Bird and Go set a Watchm..."

Agreed Mary. I just did not think that GSW was as fluid as TKMB, especially in the adult sections. I have every confidence that, had she rewritten it prior to publication, it would have been just as fluid. I think it needed a bit more development of some of the family members, particularly Atticus, to understand his larger-than-life response to her blow-up. A few more of those seemingly inconsequential stories present in TKMB which allowed us to become intimate with the people Scout is telling us about, would have fleshed this one out. I also think that some of the dialogue needed a bit of refinement.

I agree about the fleshing of Atticus. As he stands in GSW it does not fully explain Jean Louise' distress.
Not sure about the dialogue. Perhaps a re read!

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

This novel weaves together the stories of two Afghan women, separated by a century, but linked by their struggle in an oppressive culture and a painful family dynamic and their experience as a basha poch. I had never heard of the basha poch tradition before, the culturally accepted practice of allowing girls to dress and function as a male for a period of time, usually until puberty. By living with the relative freedom and respect of a male in this social order, both discover some of their own strength and dignity. I enjoyed learning a bit more about Afghan culture. But, I thought the book dragged a bit, becoming repetitive. Characters were flattened under the weight of unidimentional characteristics.

The Joy of the Gospel by Pope Francis

Finished by Diane Chamberlain-- 2 stars.

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The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan Philipp Sendker

A successful international lawyer tells his family that he is traveling to Boston for business. When he fails to return home, the family discovers that he traveled to his homeland of Burma instead, but he seems to disappear there. Four years later, his adult daughter finds a love letter in his handwriting, addressed, but not mailed. With this clue, she goes to Burma where she meets a man who has been waiting four years for her, to tell her the story of her father’s life. This story is so sweet it could induce diabetic coma with characters and setting popped right out of a fairy tale.

Finished by John Green- 3 Stars.

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True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

Outlaw Ned Kelly commits the story of his life to paper so that his new born daughter might know her father after he is dead. Carey creates a distinctive voice that captures the poorly-educated narrator, his hard-scrabble existence where violence and survival are synonymous and jail is an expectation from a young age. Maybe Carey conveys this setting too well because reading this story was psychologically uncomfortable.

I'm reading Paper Towns - which I heard was great, but I'm having trouble getting into it.

Finished by Jacqueline Woodson-- 4 Stars!

Beautifully crafted book of poetry that is autobiographical. Highly recommend, even if poetry is out of your comfort zone, like it was mine. :)

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Liz wrote: "I'm reading Paper Towns - which I heard was great, but I'm having trouble getting into it."

I just finished that one Liz and I wasn't overly impressed-- just ok for me.

Joe College by Tom Perrotta

About 7 months in the life of a college student; he goes to parties, works in the school cafeteria, gets laid, beats people up, experiences his father’s business vandalized, and drinks beer. O, and once, totally out of the blue, unconnected from anything else, thinks, “Jesus died for my sins�. There was no real ending, no real indication of maturation or movement in the life of the main character. I found this rather sophomoric. Doubt I will read this author again.

Finished by Megan Mayhew Bergman-- 5 Stars!!

Short story collection (which normally I abhor!) about real women and their interesting, quirky lives. Highly recommend.

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I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Reading this crazy, romantic comedy felt a bit like being on one of those spinning tea cup rides. A fairly innocuous experience, but part way through you start wondering if it will ever end and, with such a finite amount of time in a life, why you are wasting any bit of it on such a pointless occupation. Of course, if you can just sit back, relax and laugh out loud, you might actually enjoy yourself. However, I never manage to enjoy spinning in nonsensical circles either in a metal drum or in a 430 page novel.

haha Irene! I'm listening to that one and it is amazingly entertaining on audio!

Finished by Bernhard Schlink- 3 Stars

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Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

These 25 character sketches set in a small Ohio town in the early 20th century hint at the complexity of each ordinary human life.

Liz wrote: "I'm reading Paper Towns - which I heard was great, but I'm having trouble getting into it."


I've heard of it, but I don't know much about it.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

This is a brilliantly written coming of age account of two friends in a working class neighborhood of Naples in the mid 20th century, a neighborhood where conflicts are solved by violence and lives are entangled, with limited horizons, poor families and even more impoverished dreams.

A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire #2 by George R.R. Martin

This series feels like literary cheese puffs: empty calories, a slightly artificial taste, but inexplicably addictive.

Finished by Sophie Kinsella-- 3 Stars!

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The Green Road by Anne Enright

A dysfunctional family, an emotionally veracious drama queen mother and her four middle aged codependent children, gather for a final Christmas dinner in their family home before it is sold. This book has been singled out for literary accolades, but these merits are lost on me. I found the writing too self-conscious. The plot is glacially slow and not particularly interesting. Although the first 2/3rds of the book is a series of character sketches designed to introduce the family members, I never felt as if I knew them as much more than depressed, whining folks who don’t seem to know themselves or each other. The four offspring seem to spend much of their lives running and drinking, which is what I wanted to do by the time I reached the half way point in this novel.

The Spiral Staircase; My Climb Out of Darkness by Karen Armstrong

In the 1960s, Armstrong spent 7 years in religious formation, leaving the convent in 1969 at the age of 24. This volume is her memoir covering the three decades that followed that experience. This is the account of her adjustment to secular life as a student of literature at Oxford and her eventual success as a self-taught international lecturer and author in world religions. This is also a spiritual memoir as she recounts her journey from devout Catholic to angry atheist to self-proclaimed acceptor of all religious traditions and the universal call to compassion. This is an enormous amount of material to cover in 300 pages and Armstrong focuses the majority of the pages to the initial years of adjustment, and only a final chapter to the 15 years immediate to publishing this book. Despite frequently naming strong emotions, particularly anger, this book was rather cerebral. Armstrong helped me to understand her life story, but I never felt present to its unfolding moments. This was more of an exercise in show-and-tell, than an invitation to walk alongside the author. I also found this to be frustratingly repetitive as we were told numerous times of her criticism of religious life, her anger toward authoritarian leadership, her sense of social isolation and her rejection of dogmatic religious pronouncements. I enjoy Armstrong’s popular texts on world religions and was disappointed not to find her memoir as engaging.