- *To Kill A Mockingbird. Right up there in the top five.
- *Peace Like a River. Brilliant. Brilliant. Top five.
- *This House of Sky. Brilliant. Top five.
- *A Girl Named Zippy. Top five, for completely different reasons than the Doig book.
- *Jane Eyre. I believe you already know how I feel. (The fact that this is #5 doesn't mean it's in the top five. If it was, I would say so. Although I don't know what else IS in the top five...)
- *Frannie and Zooey. WAY better, in my humble opinion, than Catcher.
- Little Women. Not as tolerable now that I'm an adult.
- The Great Gatsby. Didn't enjoy.
- Of Mice and Men. Chose not to put myself through Steinbeck.
- The Kite Runner. Abandoned, with the portent of doom all too clear. Begrudging acknowledgment of its brilliance.
- The Catcher in the Rye. I like Salinger, but see above.
- The End of Poverty. Interesting, and not as preachy as you might expect.
- Botany of Desire. REALLY compelling. I liked this one.
- At least three Barbara Kingsolver books, including her nonfiction one about eating locally. I like her, but I think her plots are too neatly dovetailed.
- My Sister's Keeper. Blindsiding and desperate. Well-written.
- Loving Frank. Also blindsiding. Not well-written.
- Pablo Neruda poems. We compared the various translations. That was a controversial choice. I really enjoyed it, and one member found it annoying from start to finish.
- The Blessing. Pablum.
- something by Steven King (whatever)
- a nasty collection of short stories about a Greek village. (chosen exclusively so I could serve food from my favorite Greek deli. The food was great.)
- A hilarious recounting by Bill Bryson of his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail.
- *Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I thought this book was really good. I would recommend this one.
- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Just so-so.
- *The River of Doubt. I LOVE biographies, especially of American icons. This one will grip you.
- Ali and Nino- that one was very educational, very memorable and has a backstory like no other. You might want to pick that one up.
- Beneath a Marble Sky. ick.
- The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth. I must admit I was impressed with Roth.
- Skipping Christmas.
- Eat, Pray, Love. I liked this one, and rated it pretty highly, but it hasn't stuck with me.
- The Glass Castle. Disconcerting, but not memorable.
- The Secret Life of Bees. I really enjoyed this book.
UPDATE: # 14, #15, #16:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Poisonwood Bible
Prodigal Summer
#23:
A Walk in the Woods- this is the Bill Bryson title. So, so funny.
3 comments:
"Begrudging acknowledgment of its brilliance".
I love when you talk like a grown-up.
And as for underlining-- I'll send you an email. It's an easy html tag.
I'm absolutely with you with numbers 1, 2, 10, 15 & 19. I love Barbara Kingsolver (read them all EXCEPT the nonfiction), but now I feel like I only have a fourth grade education because I could never come up with statements like "too neatly dovetailed."
Pride & Predjudice--don't forget P&P!
I envy your book club! Ours is small potatoes.
xxoo
underlining: put < u before the word you want underlined and /u > after it --without the spaces.
I haven't read any of those, but am interested in a couple. Have you read The Life of Pi or Water for Elephants? I thought those were both book club material and very good.
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