by Yangsze Choo, 2019 What a fun romp through British-colonial Malaya (Malaysia) in 1931! Delightful characters (11 year-old houseboy Ren; beautiful Ji Lin, handsome Shin) and mystery (why do these people keep dying and where is that finger) and sumptuous descriptions of Malaysian food and the flora and fauna of the tropics. I loved it!
by Betty Smith, 1943 A gift from Christie for my birthday last year, I finally read it and absolutely loved it. All of the characters are so lovable and endearing, and the setting and time (1912-1919 Brooklyn) are captivating. It’s 481 pages long but so well-written and engrossing, it was enjoyable and hard to put […]
by Anna Burns, 2018 Fantastic book! So original! Never read anything like this! LOVED it! Learned what Ireland in the 1970s was like – brought home the problems. Written from the perspective of an 18 year old Irish girl, Middle Sister. We never learn her first name. She has a wonderful relationship with maybe-boyfriend but […]
by Esi Edugyan, 2018 Fascinating book about a little boy, George Washington Black (Wash), who is a slave on the Faith Plantation in Barbados. He works alongside a big black woman, Big Kit. She takes care of him and he gets to sleep with her at night and work alongside her during the day. One […]
By Min Jin Lee, 2017 Ugh, glad this one’s over. It started out good, but about half-way through, it became trash, full of all kinds of sex for no good reason, and pointless interactions, except to reinforce how racist the Japanese were (are?) towards the Koreans. This was our 3rd title for the Old Town […]
by Kate Atkinson, 2018 Finished 12/26/18 Kept waiting to get into this book all the way through to the end. I was so excited about it because it is by the author of Life After Life and Started Early, Took My Dog. Story is about spies in WWII England. Juliet Armstrong is the main character. […]
by Pearl S. Buck, 1931 “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” This novel greatly illustrates what can happen when a man gets bored. It’s an amazing tale about Wang Lung (pronounced Wong Lung), a poor farmer in China, and what happens when he goes from poverty to wealth.
by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. 1949, won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1950 Lije Evans, his wife, Becky, and son, Brownie, decide to go to Oregon with a wagon train. 1840’s, I think. Lije convinces Dick Summers to be the pilot. They leave Independence, MO with about 12 other families in wagons. At first, a […]
by Sigrid Undset, 1925 Not as good as first book – very difficult to understand – almost all of it – entangled politics, difficult to pronounce/remember characters. But – still really good! Norway 1300’s. Kristin & Erlend are married. He takes her to his manor – Husaby. She starts to make things better there. Has […]
by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 2008 Recommended by Christie Leighton, finished 7-10-10 camping up at Chambers Lake, gorging myself on Gorp, pringles, cheese and crackers and wine! By Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, Annie Barrows. Annie finished the book when Mary Ann’s health prohibited her from doing so, August 2008. What a […]
by Henning Mankell, 2010 Rich, powerful Chinese man (Ya Ru) takes revenge on 19 Swedish people living in a remote village in Sweden. Their ancestor was cruel and brutal to his Chinese ancestor, San, on the railroad, and then again back in China at a Christian mission. Story of revenge taken way too far. Birgitta […]
by James A. Michener, 1946 (won Pullitzer Prize in 1948) Norfolk Island: an island in the South Pacific near Australia and New Zealand. The Norfolk Pines were planted by the Mutiny of the Bounty people who ended up there. They had to cut them all down to make a landing strip during WWII. Bill Harbison-yuck! […]
by Sigrid Undset, 1927 13th Century Norway (1st of a Trilogy) Kristin falls in love with Erlend Nikulausson, against her dear father, Lavran’s, wishes. He wanted her to marry Simon Andresson, a good, noble man. But she didn’t love him. She finally gets her way, but maybe now she sees the error of her ways.
by David Benioff, 2008 Leningrad, WWII, in siege by Germans. Lev Beniov, young 17-year-old Jewish boy, gets arrested for looting (stole a knife off a dead German), thrown into the Crosses-Russian prison. Kolya, handsome soldier, thrown in same cell for desertion (went to town to get laid). They do not get executed but instead are […]
by Pearl S. Buck, 1931, Pulitzer Prize winner I miss my messed up Chinese family already! What a great book! Wang Lung’s father arranges marriage for him to O-Lan – kitchen slave in the Great House of Hwang. Wang Lung is a farmer. They work so hard they eventually become wealthy landowners. O’Lan is a […]
by Charles Dickens, 1859 London and Paris, approximately 1770 to 1793 or 1794, French Revolution 1789 Wow! What an incredible story! Dr. Manette is rescued from 18 years in prison in France. His daughter, Lucie, now an adult, cares for him and makes him whole again. They participate in a trial of Charles Darnay, a […]
by Catherine Marshall, 1967 Christy Huddleston, 19 yrs. old, volunteers to teach in a mission school in Cutter Gap, Tennessee in 1912 (Appalachia). She learns to love God and the poor mountain people who have it so hard. Some are mean, cruel. But in the end, love conquers. She teaches 67 children in a one-room […]
by Victor Hugo, 1862, translated by Norman Denny 1200 pages. What a great book!!! Recommended by Sandy Calhoun. Jean Val Jean – ex-convict, imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving nephews, who changes into a saint after Bishop Digne gives him his silver candlesticks too, rather than having him arrested for stealing […]
by H. Rider Haggard, 1885 Three Englishmen go on an adventure to find King Solomon’s diamond mine. After nearly dying many times, and being in a war in Kukualand, they make it! Almost die in the mine, too. Gagool, the ancient witch, locks them in but they manage to get out with a few diamonds […]
by Philippa Gregory, 2001 Racy novel about 1500-1536 England with King Henry VIII. Mary Boleyn, the sweet one, is the only one to survive. Brother, George, and sister, Queen Anne, are beheaded in 1536, accused of adultery. Anne was evil, ambitious – ruined Queen Katherine – poisoned a man – would do anything to get […]