Clik here to view.
Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, by A.J Jacobs
A.J. Jacobs has taken on the topics of improving his mind by reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica (The Know-it-all) and improving his spiritual life by following Biblical Old Testament rules and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Swan Thieves, by Elizabeth Kostova
This is Kostova’s second novel after 2005′s The Historian, which debuted at #1 in the New York Times bestseller list. The theme of The Swan Thieves is the obsession of present-day, hugely talented...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Women, by T.C. Boyle
The “women” in this novel are the wives and mistresses in architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s life, and the romances are messy; full of infidelity, divorce, drugs, family desertion, and tragedy. Moving...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel
This is the second part of a planned trilogy focusing on Thomas Cromwell and the book has just won the 2012 Man Booker Prize for fiction. This literary prize is awarded each year for the best original...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Christmas at Eagle Pond, by Donald Hall
Donald Hall, former Poet Laureate of the United States, in this novella gives himself “the thing I wanted most, a boyhood Christmas at Eagle Pond Farm.” This brief story, set in December 1940, brings...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Always Put in a Recipe and Other Tips for Living from Iowa’s Best-Known...
The title definitely piqued my interest! This is a selection of Evelyn’s columns published in the “Valley News” of Shenandoah, Iowa beginning in 1949 and continuing for 63 years without missing a week....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Islands beyond the Horizon: The Life of Twenty of the World’s Most Remote...
The author has been especially interested in birds since his boyhood. After a visit to St. Kilda in the Hebrides Islands off Scotland, he was inspired to write this account of his travels to many of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Notorious Nineteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel, by Janet Evanovich
If you enjoy mystery series books, kind of silly, but fun, try the Stephanie Plum books. The author is up to number 19, so they are certainly popular, with a recurring cast of characters that I look...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Case of the Missing Servant, by Tarquin Hall
This is the first book in a new series featuring Vish Puri, head of Delhi, India’s “Most Private Investigators.” A colorful, appealing cast of family and employees help Vish Puri, know to his family...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain
The “Paris Wife” in the title is Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson. The author largely sticks to the facts of their courtship, marriage and alcohol-soaked life in Paris from 1920-1926....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Aran Islands, by J.M. Synge
At the urging of William Butler Yeats, in 1897, at the age of 26, Synge traveled to Ireland’s Aran Islands, located off that country’s west coast near the Bay of Galway. He made a number of visits,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, by Julia...
The House of Mondavi follows the fortunes of the California wine family from the arrival of Cesare Mondavi in the United States in 1906 over the next four generations to the forced sale of the company...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The New Policeman, by Kate Thompson
Set in present day Ireland, this teen novel contrasts the frantic pace of modern day life with traditional Irish ways, Irish music, folk dancing and beliefs with a twist of magic. One of main...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Golden Egg, by Donna Leon
It is autumn in Venice in the 22nd mystery in this series. Commissario Brunetti’s happy family life is contrasted with the life and death of a mentally handicapped man who worked at their dry cleaner....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tipperary, by Frank Delaney
This novel covers the tumultuous years in Irish history of 1860 to 1925 through the eyes of Anglo-Irish Charles O’Brien. As a young man he decides on the career of healer and travels the countryside...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Habits of the House, by Fay Weldon
Set in London in the fall of 1899, just after the society “season” has ended, the Earl of Dilberne and his family are in a hot mess because of bad investments, gambling debts, the Boer War, a mistress,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shannon, by Frank Delaney
Delaney’s main character in this novel is Catholic priest and former Marine chaplain Robert Shannon. He is sent by his mentor, Bishop Sevovicz, on a trip from Connecticut to Ireland in 1922 to find...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trains and Lovers, by Alexander McCall Smith
This short novel by the author of the popular No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series tells of four strangers who share a compartment on a train from Edinburgh to London. Each tells a story about love in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor
In this inspiring and uplifting book, Justice Sotomayor tells of the story of her life up to her appointment as a federal judge at age 38. She grew up in the Bronx, her family scarred by her father’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fog Island, by Tomi Ungerer
Tomi Ungerer at age 82 is still creating beautiful and just a little creepy picture books. This one is set on the Coast of Ireland, today or maybe 50 or 100 years ago. Two children in their small...
View Article
