by Agatha Christie, 1930, 1958 I adored this book. I got it from a little free library in the neighborhood. I took it to Montana December 2024 when I went there to help Adam and Danette after Eliya was born. It’s a little book so was easy to stuff in my carry-on. Twelve mysteries set […]
Category: Favorites
Connecting the Dots: What God is Doing When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
by Joel Malm, 2023 Adam’s book. He loaned it to me when I told him about my greatest fear is that he will be hurt. He read it on his way to Las Vegas in March 2024 for a Christmas Light seminar. His boarding pass was tucked in page 38. Page 38 is about a […]
Flash
by Rachel Anne Ridge, 2015 Adored this book! Danette loaned it to me in Montana December 2024. I read it in about 3 days. It was wonderful. True story about the life lessons learned from a donkey that showed up in their driveway one night. Tom and Rachel live in the country in Texas. They […]
The Christmas List
by Richard Paul Evans, 2009 Dee lent me this book to read while in Montana with Adam and Danette in December 2024. It was EXCELLENT! I read it in 2 days. It’s a re-telling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Set in Utah, the main character is James Kier. He’s a ruthless, rich businessman who […]
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
by Matthew Walker, PhD, 2017 Incredibly “eye-opening” book about the importance of sleep! Wayne’s tennis buddy, Andrew, recommended it. I wasn’t going to read it – I got it from the Library for Wayne – but I’m so glad I did. Wow! Sleep is so incredibly important all throughout life and our modern world has […]
White Teeth
by Zadie Smith, 2000 In-depth study of London from the eyes of a diverse caste of characters: 1. Bangladeshi immigrants, Samad Iqbal, his wife Alsana, and their twin sons, Millat and Magid. 2. Archie Jones, and his wife, Clara, who is black and the daughter of Hortense, a Jehovah’s witness born in Jamaica. 3. Archie […]
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
by J.D. Vance, 2016 I wanted to read this book for a long time. I once had it from a Little Free Library but redistributed it before I read it. Once Trump selected him as his Vice Presidential running mate, I put it on hold at the library. Fantastic book! True story about his life […]
Cold Comfort Farm
by Stella Gibbons, 1932 I ADORED THIS BOOK!!!! I learned about it from my British Classics puzzle. It was one of the classics in that puzzle, and the cover had a little blurb, “Very probably the funniest book ever written.” It was a delight from start to finish. Set in 1930’s England. The main character […]
Yellowface
by R. F. Kuang, 2023 A page-turner! What an original tale! Spellbinding! This is the Fort Collins Reads book for 2024. The author comes Sunday, October 27th at 2 p.m. to the Fort Collins Marriott. It is also our first selection for the 2024-2025 season of the Old Town Library’s Book Club. An unsuccessful author, […]
Firekeeper’s Daughter
by Angeline Boulley, 2021 Engrossing mystery recommended to me by Cousin Gretchen. It’s YA, but well-written and a page-turner. I loved the setting (Ojibwe community of the Sault Ste. Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians and Sault Ste. Marie, in upper Michigan). I loved the main character (Daunis, 1/2 Indian, 1/2 rich white girl). It’s modern […]
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, 2005 Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Mesmerizing, enthralling book. I read it because the movie, Oppenheimer, was based on this book. The book is 591 pages long. It took me almost 6 weeks to read it. The movie follows the book closely, but the book is so much […]
Abroad in Japan
by Chris Broad, 2023 I LOVED this book! It’s funny and informative! Written by a young British man who went to Japan in 2012 at the age of 22 to teach English through the JET program. He ended up spending 10 years there (and maybe is still there), becoming a YouTube sensation, and loving Japan. […]
Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Shelby Van Pelt, 2022 A very fun novel! This book is the last book selected for the 2023-2024 Old Town Library Book Club. I loved the characters: Tova, an elderly Swedish lady who cleans the aquarium; Marcellus, a remarkably bright Giant Pacific Octopus who lives in the aquarium and knows what happened to Erik, […]
West with Giraffes
by Lynda Rutledge, 2021 Wonderful book, recommended by neighbor, Pat. It’s historical fiction about a true life 1938 pair of giraffes that survived the hurricane out to sea near NYC in 1938, and then the journey across country to the San Diego Zoo, to become the first giraffes in a zoo in America.
Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus, 2022 I loved this book! It was recommended by Jan M. and Marney K. It was an engrossing novel about 1960’s America, a lady chemist named Elizabeth Zott, who faces sexual harassment, assaults, and prejudice at every turn. She meets the love of her life, Calvin Evans, but refuses to marry him […]
The Covenant of Water
by Abraham Verghese, 2023 Beautiful novel by the author of Cutting for Stone, and The Tennis Partner. Marney told me about it. It is 715 pages long! It is set in southern India, spanning almost the entire 1900’s. It concerns a family that lives on a small estate called Parambil, near the ocean on the […]
Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America
by Russell Moore, 2023 Saddening, maddening book by the editor in chief of Christianity Today and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. It’s about the steep fall from grace of the Evangelical church. He writes with firsthand knowledge about the despicable leaders who want power and money at any […]
Waiting for Snow in Havana
by Carlos Eire, 2003 What a beautiful, amazing, wonderful, educational, painful, delightful book! I LOVED THIS BOOK! Thank you, Jan, for telling me about it. I never knew anything about Cuba and Castro. This biography, by a man who was born in Cuba in 1950 and had to leave in 1962, brings to life the […]
life is so good
by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman, 2000, 2013 Excellent book. George Dawson, born in 1898, died at age 102, learned to read at age 98. Grew up on a farm in Marshall, Texas. Helped pick cotton at age 4. Oldest of children born to poor black farming couple in east Texas. He never got to […]
Cuba Libre
by Elmore Leonard, 1998 Gene M. was reading this book and it sounded interesting. It was a fun, action-packed romp through 1890’s Cuba. The characters were good and the good guys win! Realize how bad the Spanish were to the Cubans. The Americans fought against the Spanish and won. The blowing up of the Maine […]