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 […]
Author: bookhound
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 […]
Open: Autobiography of Andre Agassi
by Andre Agassi with J.R. Moehringer, 2009 Born in 1970, played professional tennis 20 years, 1986-2006. His father was a monster: violent, mean, used to drill him constantly with the Dragon – a souped-up ball machine, when he was 7. Sent him to Florida to Nick Bollettiere Academy in Florida when he was 11 or […]
The Light Between Oceans
by M.L. Stedman, 2012 (her first novel) Page-turner, set in early 1900’s after WWI in Western Australia, on Janus Rock, an island 100 miles from the western coast of Australia. Tom Sherbourne, newly back from WWI, takes a job as the lighthouse keeper for Janus Rock. On the way there, he meets Isabel, a local […]
Flight Behavior
by Barbara Kingsolver, 2012 Fictional account – Global warming causes the Monarch butterflies to migrate to Appalachia rather than Mexico. Dellarobia, young mother of two toddlers, living on a sheep farm with her husband and in-laws, hikes up the mountain behind her home to have a tryst but instead sees the millions of butterflies, so […]
Beside A Burning Sea
by John Shors, 2008 Same author of Beneath a Marble Sky, his first novel. Mom liked this book but I thought it was terrible writing. The story is good but the writing, especially dialogue, was lame. Takes place during WWII on a tropical island. Survivors of Benevolence, a hospital ship blown up by Japanese, swim […]
The Round House
by Louise Erdrich, 2012 National Book Award Finalist Page-Turner, Mystery, set in North Dakota on an Indian Reservation. Set in 1988 and lots of Star Trek, the Next Generation references because Joe and his buddies LOVE Star Trek, esp. Worf. Told through the eyes of 13 year old, Joe, Indian, only child of 2 wonderful […]
Beneath a Marble Sky
by John Shors, 2004 Beautiful historical fiction about the Taj Mahal. An Emperor loses his beloved wife in childbirth and hires Isa, an architect, to build her a mausoleum that epitomizes her beauty. He uses her daughter, Jahanara, to be the model. They fall in love and have a daughter (Arjumand). It is a clandestine […]
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell, 1936 North Georgia, Civil War, Scarlett O’Hara, 16 year-old belle of the county, 18″ waist, steals everyone’s boyfriends but not the one she “loves,” Ashley Wilkes. Melanie marries Ashley. So Scarlett marries Charles Hamilton (Melanie’s brother). Civil War starts – Charlie dies 3 months later (not in battle; got sick in camp). […]