Category: Fiction

by Chang-Rae Lee, 2010 Graphic violence & sex, even lesbianism. Why?!! “Gratuitous” sex and violence. June, young Korean girl, loses her entire family one by one in aftermath and during Korean war. She is found by GI, Hector, on the road, follows him to orphanage. They both fall in love with Sylvie Tanner, minister’s wife, […]

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Spanish 1985, English 1988 Florentino Aria falls in love with Fermina Daza. She marries Dr. Juvenal Urbino instead. Florentino whores around for 54 years waiting for Dr. Urbino to die. Dr. Urbino dies trying to capture his parrot from a mango tree. Florentino takes Fermina on a riverboat cruise on the […]

by Jane Austen, 1803 but published 1817 (posthumously) Seems so petty – young girls falling in love – but I couldn’t put it down! Catherine Morland, 17, gets to go to Bath with Mr. and Mrs. Allen. She meets the Thorpes – Isabella becomes her dear friend. Isabella is in love (supposedly) with Catherine’s brother, […]

by Audrey Niffenegger, 2003 Clare waits for Henry, her time-traveling husband, never knowing when he’ll disappear or reappear. Clare always drives because Henry doesn’t-never knows when he’ll disappear. Henry cooks-Clare doesn’t know how since she had a cook, Nell, while growing up (rich girl). Henry recruits Dr. Kendrick, a geneticist, to try and find a […]

by Arthur Golden, 1997 Intricate tale about a young girl (Chiyo) with beautiful gray eyes, sold to be a geisha from her seaside home. Separated from her sister (Satsu) in Kyoto, raised in an “okiya” with Hatsumomo, an evil geisha who tries to ruin her life. Crying by the Sirakawa stream one day, she meets […]

by William P. Young, 2007 I HATED this book! Here’s my book report from September 2008: Had a very hard time with this book but Jenifer said to not stop reading and it did turn around when Mack is led to “Sophia” (wisdom) and asked to judge his children – 3 to hell, 2 to […]

by M. M. Kaye, 1958 Zanzibar, on the east side of Africa. Who Dun It – Lash and Dany – many characters. House of Shade, Kivulimi, Tyson and Lorraine (Dany’s mother and many others).

by Alexander McCall Smith, 2002 A rival detective agency run by a man, The Satisfaction Guaranteed Detective Agency, opens up. Mma Ramotswe is visited by a man who has deep regrets about 2 things he did as a young man: got a girl pregnant and stole a radio to sell so she would have an […]

by Joseph Conrad, 1900 Jim, English sailor, on board a steamship bearing 800 pilgrims to Mecca. Ship runs over something, is bound to sink and storm rolling in. Jim jumps. Never forgives himself. Stands trial. His certificate is taken away. Befriends Marlowe, an old sea captain gentleman. Marlowe narrates most of the story. Jim finally […]

by Jane Austen, 1815 “Courtship Fiction” Emma, spoiled little rich girl, befriends illegitimate Harriet Smith, prevents her from marrying Robert Martin, a gentleman farmer, who truly loves Harriet and instead set her up to marry Mr. Elton, a rich-boy wanna-be who would never consider marrying Harriet. Then comes Frank Churchill, a very rich boy, who […]

by M. M. Kaye, 1985 Murder mystery set in the Andamans, tropical islands in the Bay of Bengal off Burma. Copper visiting her friend Valerie on the tiny island of Ross. They go for a picnic on the bigger island, South Andaman, on Mount Harriet. While there, a hurricane blows in and they barely make […]

by Leif Enger, 2008 Monte Becket, a postman in Minnesota circa 1910, writes a best0selling novel, Martin Bligh, and then tries to write another one. He starts 7 novels, doesn’t finish any of them. He and his wife, Susannah, a painter, and son, Redstart, live by a river. One day out of the mist rows […]

by C. S. Lewis, 1956 I LOVED THE NARNIA BOOKS!!! Here, in order of most favorite to least: A Horse and His Boy Voyage of the Dawn Treader (very close second to A Horse and His Boy) The Silver Chair The Last Battle The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe The Magician’s Nephew Prince Caspian […]