by Mary Roach, 2013 Funny book about all the sensationalist science on the alimentary canal, starting with taste (it’s almost all about our nose) down through all the digestive processes. She reports on a wine-tasting comparing six bottles hidden in brown paper bags. “‘At least one is under $10 and two are over $50…Over the […]
By Min Jin Lee, 2017 Ugh, glad this one’s over. It started out good, but about half-way through, it became trash, full of all kinds of sex for no good reason, and pointless interactions, except to reinforce how racist the Japanese were (are?) towards the Koreans. This was our 3rd title for the Old Town […]
by Kate Atkinson, 2018 Finished 12/26/18 Kept waiting to get into this book all the way through to the end. I was so excited about it because it is by the author of Life After Life and Started Early, Took My Dog. Story is about spies in WWII England. Juliet Armstrong is the main character. […]
by Jules Verne, 1873 Finished 12/14/18 Loved, loved, LOVED this book! Phileas Fogg, a rich Englishman, decides to take on the challenge to go around the world in 80 days. He takes his brand new servant, Passepartout, along and the adventures they have together are so entertaining.
Practices that Transform Us, by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, 2005, Scanned 12/9/18 A very thorough book covering spiritual disciplines by defining them, providing Scripture verses regarding them, and exercises to build them.
Shade, A Tale of Two Presidents, by Pete Souza, 2018 Scanned 12/9/18 Pete Souza was the White House photographer for Obama and Reagan. He contrasts his photos of Obama with tweets of Donald Trump and “throws shade” at Trump, which means “a subtle, sneering expression of contempt for or disgust with someone–sometimes verbal, and sometimes […]
A Field Guide for the Independent Traveler, by Evan S. Rice, 2017, scanned 12/8/18 Very interesting, packed little book full of all kinds of fun facts for travelers: The difference between a hobo (traveling worker), a tramp (works only when they have to), and a bum (refuses all work) Don’t worry so much Don’t pack […]
by Markus Zusak, 2018, finished 12/7/18 Good novel, set in Australia, about 5 brothers wracked by grief when their beloved mother, Penelope (Penny), dies of cancer, and their father (Michael) abandons them. Clay, the fourth of 5 boys, leaves home to help their father build a bridge, and ends up building a bridge for all […]
by Manal al-Sharif, 2017 Very informative and educational memoir about her life and her quest to legalize driving for Saudi women. It took 27 years – the first demonstration, not hers, was in 1990, and those women’s lives were ruined forever because they dared to drive.
by Arthur Conan Doyle, 1902 Wonderful mystery! Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are recruited by a Dr. Mortimer and his new friend, Sir Henry Baskerville, to investigate the legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles, a giant, malicious hound that haunts the moors around the Baskerville estate, and surely caused the death of Sir Henry’s […]
by James Comey, 2018 Fascinating personal account of the Director of the FBI, James Comey, and his work under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump. Starts out with horrifying account of the Ramsey Rapist breaking into his home when he was a teenager and he and his brother barely living through it, a chapter about being […]
by Edmund Crispin, 1946 Delightful English mystery set in the town of Oxford in 1938, involving Gervase Fen (pronounced Jer-voz) and his poet friend, Richard Cadogan. Richard is bored and in need of a holiday in order to be inspired to write poetry again. He decides to go to Oxford and arrives late at night […]
by Patricia Nelson Limerick with Jason L. Hanson, 2012 Excellent writer, she covers the history of Denver water from the mid-1800’s to present. The west was a desert, but when gold was discovered and people moved here, they needed water to live and they transformed the desert with lawns, trees, flowers, and bushes, because they […]
Beautiful, poignant short illustrated book about Syrian refugee father and son fleeing Syria by boat. They lost their wife and mother in the bombing in Syria and father and son are escaping Syria and waiting on the shore for the boat: Your mother is here tonight, Marwan, with us, on this cold and moonlit beach, […]
by Leslie Marmon Silko, 1977 This was our first book for the Old Town Library Book Club for 2018-2019. We met and discussed it on 10-15-18. Most everyone liked the book although some did not like the ending. I think it was rather violent but I can’t really recall the ending. I loved the main […]
Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by N.T. Wright, 2008 Very deep book about the resurrection of Jesus and the power of it – that God brought heaven and earth together at that moment, and the power continues to radiate through us who believe. The idea that we are not Christians […]
by Tara Westover, 2018 Tara Westover grew up in a wacko survivalist Mormon home in Idaho. Her dad believed the end times were coming and they buried fuel, guns, ammo, and canned goods all over their mountain junkyard home. He wouldn’t let them go to school, to a doctor or hospital. Tara didn’t even know […]
by Phillip Keller, 1983, 2002 “A True Story of Transforming Love” He adopted a fearful, distrusting, wretched, miserable sheep dog (like us before God) and turned her into a happy, beloved, obedient, helpful, indispensable sheep dog for his ranch in Vancouver, Canada. He applied the lessons he learned from training her (Lass) to us in […]
by Erik Larson, 1999 Interesting account of the hurricane that struck and almost completely destroyed Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900. Told on the basis that the Weather Bureau made grave errors due to pride and ignorance, so Galveston had no warning of its impending doom. Isaac Cline was the Galveston Weather Station’s chief. Over […]
by John Irvin, 1989 Unique, thought-provoking, sometimes hilarious story about tiny Owen Meany and his best friend, Johnny Wheelwright, and their growing up in Gravesend, New Hampshire, in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The story is told from Johnny’s perspective and starts with telling how, during Sunday school when their teacher left the room for a […]