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 […]
by Timothy Keller, 2022 Another AMAZING book by Tim Keller. What a blessing he was! Thank you, God, for Tim Keller. What a teacher of your Word. This was his last book, and it is everything a person needs to know about forgiveness. Forgiveness is only possible when a person is humble and realizes how […]
by Edward T. Welch, 1997 Excellent book! I heard about it at Two Rivers Church from a woman who was giving her resurrection story. It sounded like me – care more for what people think than what God thinks. I requested it from the library and they had to get it from Covenant Theological Seminary […]
by Geraldine Brooks, 2022 Superb book! Geraldine Brooks can write! Her dialogue and descriptions are like Herman Wouk’s–they flow like water. The book is about a thoroughbred racehorse named Lexington. Jarret, a young black slave is in the stable when he is born at the Meadows in Kentucky in 1850, and he’s there with him […]
by Barbara Kingsolver, 2022 Painful page-turner, about the opioid crisis as told through the life of a little boy, Damon (Demon), in rural, poor Virginia. He goes through hell, literally, with a single, drug-addicted mom who marries an abusive man. When she dies of an overdose on “Oxy,” his already terrible world falls apart, and […]
by Bono, 2022 Loved this book by Bono, the lead singer of U2. I tagged just about every page of the book, so Wayne bought me the book. I had a wrong impression of U2 when I was a young adult. I thought they were evil. But it turns out, they are a rock band […]
by Fredrik Backman, 2013 Translation, 2015, by Henning Koch Sweet story by the author of A Man Called Ove. It’s about a 7-year old girl, Elsa, and her granny. Granny is a real character but she loves and protects Elsa and is Elsa’s only friend. But then she dies of cancer and leaves Elsa alone, […]
by Matthew Perry, 2022 Update, 10/28/23, Matthew Perry died at age 54, found drowned in his hot tub. On 12/15/23, the New York Times states: “Matthew Perry, the “Friends” actor who publicly struggled with drinking and drug use for decades, died from the “acute effects” of ketamine, an anesthetic with psychedelic properties, the Los Angeles […]
The Brief Brilliant Whitewater Career of Buzz Holmstrom by Vince Welch, Cort Conley, Brad Dimock, 1998 Excellent book recommended by Adam because Buzz Holmstrom was a “Boatman’s Boatman,” like Adam. Takes place in the 1930s and 1940s and tells the story of this young man from Oregon who built his own boat and started running […]
by Rosamunde Pilcher, 1990 Delightful soap opera set in mid-1970s Scotland. It’s 613 pages long. I got the book from a little-free library. First, Mom read it and loved it. Then, Carol read it and loved it. She said it takes you away to Scotland, and it certainly does. A rural village in Scotland with […]
by Laurie R. King, 2001 Fun mystery! Pat was reading it on her front porch one day this summer. Set in the San Juan Islands, a talented, rich, widowed wood-worker decides to escape her demons on an island her uncle bought in the 1920s. She decides to re-build the house he built that was burned […]
by Upton Sinclair, 1926 Historical fiction about the early days of the oil business. Recommended by an Economist reporter in order to learn about the business. It follows Bunny Ross, a young “oil prince” and his life in Southern California with his father, J. Arnold Ross, former mule-driver turned oil magnate. Bunny is a sweet, […]
by Luis Alberto Urrea, 2005 Lori J. recommended this book. It was excellent. It’s about Saint Teresa of Cabora in Mexico and her life from the time she is born until she is exiled to the United States. She is the bastard daughter of Don Tomas, a wealthy rancher. He is a very loving man, […]
by Herman Wouk, 1985 Another EXCELLENT book by Herman Wouk. This one is long, 644 pages, but engrossing. It is set mainly in New York City in the first half of the 1900’s. It’s about a boy, a Jewish boy, who is born in 1915 in Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants. It tells […]
by Christopher Clarey, 2021 A full-on immersive trip into the world and life of Roger Federer. There have been about 12 biographies on Roger Federer. This is probably the definitive one. It takes you in-depth from before Roger was born (which was on 8/8/1981) to shortly after his devastating loss to Djokovic in the Wimbledon […]
by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, 2015 This is the true story of a young boy, William Kamkwamba, who was born in 1987 in a tiny village near Wimbe, Malawi. He is enthralled with science and just wants to go to school and learn about science. He is the only boy with 6 sisters. His […]
by James McBride, 2020 I LOVED this book! It was the Old Town Library Book Club selection for April 2022. Both Leslie and Mandy picked it. It took me someplace I didn’t want to be – a housing project, the Cause Houses, in NYC – complete with drug pushers, heroin addicts, alcoholics, and criminals. But […]
by Alec Wilkinson, 1985 Captivating book about a revenuer in North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s, names Garland Bunting. He’s an ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) officer in Halifax County. He is fearless and talented and a brilliant strategist and tireless and a great actor and entertainer and lovable and friendly and a salt-of-the-earth kind […]
by Laurie Lee, 1959 First of all, Laurie Lee is a male! This is his story of growing up in a Cotswold village in the 1920s. He transports you there. You can feel the summer heat, the icy winter, the mud, the grass, the trees, the cottage he grew up in with his 6 siblings […]
The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters by Timothy Keller, 2009 Another EXCELLENT book by Tim Keller! All of us replace loving God first and most with idols like money, sex, and power, but also approval, acceptance, love, success, security, comfort, and control. Worshiping idols rather than God […]