by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, 1942 This is the memoir by the author of The Yearling. She tells about her 13 years living in Florida on 72 acres in the northeastern part of the state near the St. John’s River between Jacksonville and St. Augustine.
Author: bookhound
Cross Creek
The Story of Ferdinand
by Munro Leaf, 1936 Drawings by Robert Lawson Ferdinand the Bull just wanted to sit under his favorite cork tree, “smelling the flowers just quietly.” I loved this book as a child and they made a movie of it, which is pretty good, and made me want to read the book again. Learned about cork […]
The Little Paris Bookshop
by Nina George, 2013 Jean Perdu owns a book barge in Paris. He is 20 years into grieving his lost love. She gave him a letter but he never opened it. Finally he does and she left him because she was dying of cancer. He unhooks his barge and travels south with Max Jordan, a […]
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque, 1928, Translated from German by A.W. Wheen – (not a good translation – is what I thought in 2013) Preface: “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with […]
Jayber Crow
by Wendell Berry, 2000 Very sweet tale about a sweet man, the town barber, in Port William, Kentucky. Full of love and pain, the beauty of nature, hard-work, relationships, and faithfulness and steadfastness, forgiveness along life’s journey. Jayber’s life starts out by the river and ends by the river. He’s an orphan sent to live […]
Saving Fish from Drowning
by Amy Tan, 2005 Strange but interesting book about 12 tourists who went to Burma (Myanmar) and got kidnapped by jungle tribe who thought one of them was the Young White Brother who would save them from the SLORC – the military junta, make them disappear, etc. Told from the point of view of Bibi […]
Life after Life
by Kate Atkinson, 2013 (same author who wrote Started Early, Took My Dog) Never read a book like this before – like different courses through time that a person’s choices make. Little Ursula is born on a snowy night in English countryside home, “Fox Corner,” on February 11, 1910. First time she dies because the […]
Breathing Lessons
by Anne Tyler, 1988, won the Pulitzer Prize One day in the life of Ira and Maggie Moran, driving to the funeral of her best friend’s husband. We learn the life story of Ira and Maggie; 2 children, Jesse and Daisy. Daisy is a genius and going off to college. Jesse is a singer in […]
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1892 LOVED IT! 12 stories of cases told by Dr. Watson. Loved the interplay between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Loved how incredibly smart Sherlock Holmes is. He can look at someone and tell where they’ve been recently and what they’ve done as well as their whole life story. He’s […]
The Accidental Tourist
by Anne Tyler, 1985 Excellent Book – could not put it down! Who and what would Macon choose? His wife, Sarah, who he adores but they just are not right for each other? Or Muriel Pritchett, the young, skinny, colorful, poor but oh so rich in spirit young lady who gently but definitely forces herself […]
The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1343-1400 (translated by David Wright) He wrote the Canterbury Tales, an unfinished poem, starting in 1387. It is a delightful series of stories told by 29 members of a party traveling to Canterbury. The “Host” decides it will be fun for each member to tell a tale, making the journey fun. […]
Winter Garden
by Kristin Hannah, 2010 Two sisters think their mom is a cold, heartless woman who hates them. Until their dad, beloved, on his deathbed, makes them promise to get her to tell her all of the fairy tale story about the prince and the peasant girl. Finally, they do, while on a cruise to Alaska, […]
1776
by David McCullough, 2005 (Merlin’s book) Nonfiction about the War from late 1775 to early 1777, takes us through the early, early stages of the War for Independence. What I learned is how terrible and dire our straits were. We had a sick, deserting, poor, unarmed, ragged army against the most powerful, experienced army in […]
Maisie Dobbs
by Jacqueline Winspear, 2003 Maisie is a Private Detective after WWI in England. She was a nurse on the front lines in France during the war. As a young girl, she was the daughter of a costermonger, a vegetable-seller, from a horse-drawn cart. She works as a maid for the Compton’s, Lord Julian and Lady […]
A Caribbean Mystery
by Agatha Christie, 1964 Quick read – set on Caribbean Island, St. Honore, where Miss Marple has gone for her health. Ends up solving a murder mystery. Fun, quick read – nice setting – English-type socializing at a Caribbean resort. Eccentric characters, lots of conversation, getting to know one another, figuring out who-dun-it. Miss Marple […]
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
by Mark Twain, 1889 A Colt Arms foreman in 1800’s Connecticut gets knocked silly and ends up in 6th Century England with a knight in armor. He goes from being about to be burned at the stake to being The Boss, supplanting Merlin as the greatest magician, because he made the sun disappear (he knew […]
The Fever Tree
by Jennifer McVeigh, 2013 Historical Fiction. Great Book. Late 1800’s England, South Africa, diamond mines, smallpox epidemic. Young woman, Frances Irvine, left with no options when her father dies, travels to South Africa to marry Edwin Matthews, a young doctor. On the ship on the way down, she meets and falls in love with William […]
A Fistful of Collars
by Spencer Quinn, 2012 Another Chet & Bernie mystery. This one about a movie star, Thad Perry, come to make a movie and Bernie is hired to make sure he sees it through. At one point, Thad is ready to kill himself, but Bernie and Chet show up in time. He’s haunted by the thought […]
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus
by Mary Shelley, Published anonymously in 1818 (The Mother of Gothic Horror) Young Victor Frankenstein grew up in an ideal loving environment in Geneva, Switzerland. His childhood companions were Henry Clerval and Elizabeth. He loses his mother, tragically, to scarlet fever. Her dying wish were that Victor and Elizabeth would marry. He goes away to […]
State of Wonder
by Ann Patchett, 2011 Anders Eckman & Marina Singh are doctors who work together in Minnesota doing pharmaceutical research. Anders is sent to the Amazon jungle to try and coax back Dr. Annick Swenson who has been doing research on developing a drug to extend fertility. The Lakashi Tribe in Brazil can have babies into […]