Sorry you were disappointed by The Man Who Was Thursday, mathmom. I think it’s an allegory that doesn’t require the characters to be like real people. In my opinion, that book has just about the best ending of anything I’ve ever read.
PlantMom, I have it on good authority that Patti Smith’s M Train will be under our tree tomorrow.
I had never heard of Love in the Ruins. From its description, it sounds like it has a spiritual theme somewhat similar to The Man Who Was Thursday, but maybe is a darker book?
LOL. Not big on allegory and Garry Will’s long intro about all the reference to Job didn’t do it for me. The ending had me scratching my head. 
At least it was short!
PlantMom, when you’re done with The Forgotten Garden–but not before, lots of secrets in that book!–you might enjoy our thread from a few years ago: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1164259-the-secret-garden-and-the-forgotten-garden-%C2%96-august-cc-book-club-selection-p1.html
Oh perfect, Mary! Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll definitely wait until I’m done with The Forgotten Garden before I take a look. I had a really annoying thing happen with the book on CD. I was cooking Christmas Eve dinner yesterday and listening along–well into the story-- and the disc I was listening to was evidently so scratched that it would not play three quarters of the tracks. Fortunately, I have a battered used paperback copy of the book in which I’m able to bridge the gap I was so, so aggravated at the time, though!
For those interested, the Kindle version of The Meursault Investigation is $1.99 thru 12/31 (and The Stranger is .99):
I posted in the other book thread, but as long as this one is up again, I loved Elizabeth is Missing. If you’ve dealt with someone with Alzheimer’s or memory issues this will be very familiar territory, but I found the narrator endearing even as she’s driving her family crazy. The way past and present intersect really worked well for me. I liked both the voice and the plotting.