<p>Almost through with Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. Fascinating tale (fiction) of a girl in 1890’s Hawaii who is sent to the leper colony on Moloka’i. She lives for decades (unlike most) so the book can explore changing attitudes and Hawaiian history.</p>
<p>Yes! to A Thousand Splendid Suns. I loved it.</p>
<p>I recently read The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean and enjoyed it very much. Historical fiction set largely in the Hermitage during the siege of Leningrad.</p>
<p>My book club is currently reading The Power of One, which I read some time ago, and I look forward to re-reading it.</p>
<p>Mommusic, I read The Road this summer, too. It was so hauntingly heart-breaking. The subject matter is horrible to contemplate, almost impossible to read or to put down, and yet the writing is beautiful in a compelling and strange way. I found it one of the most memorable books I’ve ever read. I think it will be in the English lit canon before too long, deservedly so.</p>
<p>In the middle of Suite Francaise. It’s literature. But its more than that. Being the daughter of a man who spent the WWII years in Paris and running around France after D-day and being full of those tales, it completes the whole picture for me. But I am only 1/2 way through…perhaps more thoughts to come.</p>
<p>Recently finished Fermat’s Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World’s Greatest Mathematical Problem by SIMON SINGH and JOHN LYNCH and recently started Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman (Paperback) by Nuala O’Faolain. Both very enjoyable. In fact, after reading the first from the library, I bought a copy for myself.</p>
<p>Read The Road at the start of the summer – didn’t like it at all, and not just because of the incredibly depressing subject!! I haven’t read any of his other books, so don’t know if this is his usual style of writing, but it didn’t work at all for me. The Mayflower is great – particularly interesting to a native New Englander like me! Suite Francaise is also excellent; generated a wonderful discussion in our book club. Just finished A Year of Magical Thinking – could have been a depressing book, but it wasn’t; very well written. Also enjoyed A Year of Wonders, The Shadow of the Wind, and The Runaway – this latter is a book of short stories, which I don’t normally go for as much, but it was great.</p>
<p>Recently read and enjoyed: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert which was fascinating and entertaining. Also, The Namesake by Jumpha Lahiri (excellent!!).</p>
<p>I read The Memory Keeper’s Daughter–it was an easy read and enjoyable.</p>
<p>Speech- I forgot about The Namesake. I read that earlier this summer and agree that it is excellent.</p>
<p>Our book club is currently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and our next selection is Water for Elephants. Our last book was To Kill a Mockingbird which never gets old.</p>
<p>One lesser known that we all enjoyed was Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza, which tells her story of the Rwandan Holocaust. Not normally the type of book I would choose myself, I reluctantly started it and then could not put it down. It was depressing and yet one of the most uplifting book I’ve read. Everyone in our book club loved it and I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>I read The Road at the beginning of the summer which lead me to read his Border Trilogy (have had to ask the kids for a little help with some of the occasional Spanish used through out). I’m just getting into the third one, Cities of the Plain. I absolutely love the images McCarthy can create with words. Odd style, yes, and I wonder how he ever found a publisher willing to take him on!</p>
<p>So I’m into a fourth book by him, no chance of a happy ending in this one, either, if I was a betting person. I’m always waiting for the next bad thing to happen, sometimes it does right away, sometimes it takes a few pages.</p>
<p>I just finished Thirteen Moons, my book group’s selection. I’m not wild about it. Who’s read The Secret History? It’s entertaining (and scary) for those of us with college students.</p>
<p>I read The Secret History back when it was new. Too creepy to read again though!</p>
<p>Just finished Thousand Splendid Suns. Can’t get the characters out of my mind. What an incredible read, and all too true, I’m afraid. Picked up Middlesex and am having a bit of a hard time getting into it. Everyone’s raving about it so I’ll keep going awhile longer.</p>
<p>Dani Shapiro’s become one of my favorite authors recently. Anybody read hers?</p>