08 Reads

• Purpose Driven Life - Finally finished this one, too! I enjoyed this book and want to go back and actually 'study' vs. just reading some chapters. I wish the scripture references were with the quotes, tho' for easier reference.
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• Digital Fortress - Dan Brown. Everytime I finish a 'serious' book, I reward myself with something fun and this was a fast and fun read. Kept my attention throughout and had a happy ending. What else can a 'gal' want?
  

• And Ladies of the Club - Helen Hooven Santmyer - Phew! Thought I'd never finish this book! (7/06/08) It was a good book but so much history made it slow going for me and it's taken me over a year to read it. Sometimes I had to force myself. I'm glad I did now, and I'll keep it on my trophy shelf (books I should get a medal for finishing!) :)

• Angels and Demons - Dan Brown - this has been on my TBR shelf for a while and I needed something light and fast to distract me. Good read!
  
• Bleak House - Charles Dickens - Yeah! Finally finished this great book (6/22/08). It took a while to get going with it, but in the end it was a great story and I'm glad I read it.
  
• The Namesake - I really enjoyed this book and the insight it gave me into the difficulty people experience in adapting to our culture.
  
• Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett - actually, this was a re-read, since Oprah did it on her show I decided that I needed to revisit the book.
• Away - Amy Blook - This is on my list of favorite books of all time! Well worth the read and although the subjects sound depressing, it is actually a story of strength and survival that is more positive than negative!
  
• World Without End - Ken Follett - sequel to Pillars of the Earth
• Home to Holly Springs - Jan Karon - The latest in the life of Father Tim
  
• Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult - what insight this gave me into the mind of victims of bullying.
  
• Change of Heart - Jodi Picoult - This was one of my least favorite of Jodi Picoult's books. I wish she would have stuck to the straight story line and left the religious aspect out of it!
  
• Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio - Terry Ryan
• The Tenth Circle - Jodi Picoult - An OK story - not high on my list.
  
• Light on Snow - Anita Shreve - I've read most all this author's books and usually I'm pretty tepid about romances, but this was more than a romance and it is my favorite of her works.
  

WHAT I'M READING NOW

Great Expectations
How to make an American Quilt

Reading Suggestions

Would you like to offer a reading suggestion? Please do! Click on the 'comments' link below this post and tell us about books you think we'll all enjoy.

Stop and say 'Hi'

Before you scroll down to read my book lists, you can click on the 'comments' link (below) to say 'hi'.
There is 'comments' link under every post. I am hoping you will add your comments, opinions and reviews of any books listed.

07 Reads

My reading for 2007. These are the 'grown-up' books I've been reading. I have listed the YA titles on a separately. I've really enjoyed most of these and put my favorites in bold letters. I hope you will add your comments if you've read any of these books!

• DRAGONSONG (YA) - Anne McCaffery - This is the first of three of the Harper Hall series - something I have wanted to read for years. My intent is to read through the entire series of Pern books by McCaffery. I love these books and I love Science Fiction. I've sworn off realistic fiction for a while - sometimes it gets so depressing.
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• THE HISTORY OF LOVE - Nicole Krauss - hmm - gotta think about what I want to say about this book - I did enjoy it very much...
  
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• WILD FIRE - Nelson DeMille - Another great mystery! Nelson Demille is easily my favorite mystery/thriller author. John Corey, NYC detective, makes me laugh!! I love the references to my hometown (New York City and Long Island). I'm gonna read them all!
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• THREE CUPS OF TEA - David Mortenson - Didn't think I would, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book! David Mortenson turned his failure to climb a mountain peak into a life-long mission to build schools, and peace in Pakastan and Afghanistan. It was an uplifting and inspirational read. Once I started, I couldn't put the book down.
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• A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS - Khaled Hosseini - Hosseini (author of Kite Runner) illustrates the terrible oppression women in other cultures often endure as he tells the stories of Mariam and Laila, married to the same abusive husband, in Afghanistan. I cried with frustration through parts of this book, but was satisfied when it ended on a hopeful note.
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• THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD - Zora Hurston. This is an older book, but still very powerful. The story of a black woman's search for identity, fulfillment and love back in a time when some could never hope to find those joys.
  

• HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HARROWS - WOW!!! - how does she do it? J. K. Rowling has just released the best one yet! I loved this book. And I love the ending.

• FOREVER - PETE HAMILL - Poor boy from Ireland comes to New York - with a twist! This author loves to weave folklore into a contemporary story. Problem is I find that hard to swallow. I had a hard time jumping between the realistic and the fantasy. I just read in the Beacon that someone is making a TV show and using a plot very similar to Hamill's story line.
  

• The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai - finished 7/22/07 (bitter grandfather, orphaned granddaughter, loyal cook and prodigal son struggle with India's culture) I was glad when this book finally ended!
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• Water for Elephants - my kind of book! What more can a body want but the circus and a happy ending too! :)
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• Master Butcher's Singing Club - Louise Erdrich - Immigrants, WWI, acrobats and murder - It all comes together in the end. This is not 'light' reading.
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• Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards - Something isn't right with one of his newborn twin babies, and the doctor isn't able to deal with it! His lies spins out of control!
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• Big Cherry Holler - Adriana Trigiani - and more Chick Lit - equel to Big Stone Gap -
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• Big Stone Gap - Adriana Trigiani - Chick Lit - Romance in a coal-mining town!
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• Good in Bed - Jennifer Weiner - He doesn't love her anymore :( Chick Lit for sure!
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• Night Fall - Nelson DeMille - Good Mystery! - What really happened off the coast of Long Island that brought a huge airliner down from the sky?
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• When the Wind Blows - James Patterson - Fantasy/Thriller - Bad scientests experiment on children. Children escape. Bad guys try to catch them. Good guys hide them fromt he bad guys. This is the adult version of Maximum Ride, a YA title.
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• The Lake House - James Patterson - sequel ot When the wind Blows.
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• Goodbye, Jimmy Choo - Annie Sanders - Chick Lit - Housewifes deal with suburbia and husbands.
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• Atonement - Ian McEwan - A sister attempts to atone for a terrible wrong she commited as a young girl.
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• Leeway Cottage - Beth Gutcheon - We see a family grow and change as they spend their summers in their vacation retreat.
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• Orange Blossom Special - Betsy Carter - Mother and daughter start a new life in Florida
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• Rise & Shine - Anna Quindlen - Sisters work through at relationship and support each other during a time of adversity. Not my favorite book by Quindlen, but OK
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• Snow in August - Pete Hamill - Fantasy, set in Brooklyn, where ancient Jewish lore meets American boy - way different - read it just to see how Hamil weaves the lore into a modern day story!
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• Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! - Fannie Flagg - Hometown girl makes good in the big city, with that distinctive Fannie Flagg touch.
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• The Book Club - Mary Alice Monroe - Chick Lit - Five members of a local book club support each other through their trials and rocky marriages.
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• Where You Belong - Barbara Taylor Bradford - Romance - reminds me why I don't like romances.

• Lucia, Lucia - Adriana Trigiani - Italian flavored romance set in 1950's New York City.
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• The Double Bind - Chris Bohjalian - Here's a literary thriller with an ending so startling that you just don't see it coming.
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• Crossing To Safety - Wallace Stegner - This is a book about all the good things in life, and all the things that are right with the world! It's focus is family, friendship and love. Even when there is adversity and sorrow, the tone is still positive and upbeat. How refreshing! And this author can write! I've never read a book where it took 2 paragraphs to describe what happens when a doorbell rings, and I wanted to read those paragraphs, not skip over them! :)
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• Plum Island - Nelson DeMille - Good Mystery! I love Detective John Corey. He makes me laugh out loud!
  

Non-Fiction on my 'To Read' shelf

Again, in no special order.

• Self Matters - Phillip McGraw
• The Threshing Floor - Juanita Bynum
• The Feminine Soul - Janet Davis
• Angels - Billy Graham
• Times to Remember - Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of all Ages - Harold Bloom
• The Habit of Thought - Michael Strong
• The Life You've Always Wanted - John Ortberg
• Life Makeovers - Cheryl Richardson
• Mother Tersea - A Simple Path - Lucinda Vardey
• Measure of a Man - Sidney Portier
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Fiction titles on my 'To Read' shelf:

These are the titles I have that are waiting to be read - if you'd like to borrow one, just let me know!

They are in no particular order.

• Redemption - Leon Uris
• The Hope - Herman Wauk
• The Wish List - Eoin Colfer (YA)
• Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
• Cranberry Queen - Kathleen DeMarco
• Love Walked In - Marisa De Los Santos
• House of Sand and Fog - Andre Dubus III
• The Hiding Plece - Ten Boom
• Dogs of Babel - Carolyn Parkhurst
• A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
• The Samurai's Garden - Gail Tsukiyama
• Milk Glass Moon - Adriana Trigiani
• Posession - A.S.Byantt
• Old School - Tobias Wollff
• Rabbit Run - John Updike
  
• Bright Angel Time - Martha McPhee
• Love in the Time of Cholera - Garcia Marquez
• The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar
• Each Little Bird that Sings - Deborah Wiles (Kids)
• Those Who Save Us - Jenna Blum
• Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen
• One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
• Seduction of Water - Carol Goodman
• War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
• East - Edith Pattou (YA)
• Echos - Maeve Binchy
• Dive from Clausson's Pier