| Title | Description | Author | Category |
|
| | | |
| Angle of Repose | An engrossing story about a couple's marriage during the 1800s in the American West. Won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. | Wallace Stegner | Modern North American |
| Bean Trees, The | The story of a young lady who grew up poor in backwoods Kentucky, determined to get away as soon as possible. She buys a ramshackle VW and drives as far away as it will take her, winding up in Arizona. She mysteriously obtains a young girl along the way. It's a wonderful story of how she develops some sort of relationship with the tike. I liked that Kingsolver refuses the easy way out. | Barbara Kingsolver | Modern North American |
| Beloved | Paula: Set in rural Ohio several years after the Civil War, this profoundly affecting chronicle of slavery and its aftermath is Toni Morrison's greatest novel. A more difficult read but is very intriguing because it is so Faulknerian. If you like Faulkner and the supernatural, Beloved is your book. | Toni Morrison | Modern North American |
| Brontes Went to Woolworth's, The | A family of young women and mother, who create an imaginary world for themselves based on real people... but then they start to meet the real people and have to try to link their fantasies to what they're really like. If you've ever imagined yourself talking to a fictional character, or invented stories about famous people, you will find this a very interesting read. It's not blind to the dangers of fantasy. | Rachel Ferguson | Modern North American |
| Chosen, The | Kate: Potok manages to give insights into Hasidic life without preaching on and on about their traditions. I really enjoy the way he integrates the history and the story telling in a way that allows you to learn a great deal without having studied. | Chaim Potok | Modern North American |
| Christy | Christy leaves her upperclass life to teach in the Smoky Mountains. | Catherine Marshall | Modern North American |
| Clara Callan | Suzan: Set in the 1930s, it's about two sisters: Clara, a teacher in smalltown Ontario, and Nora, who goes to New York to become a radio soap opera star. The book is epistolary, with entries in Clara's journal included. The characters develop beautifully, and every word rang true. Those of you who love to write, who love to read, who have a sister who shares your history should try this touching novel. | Richard B. Wright | Modern North American |
| Color Purple, The | This 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner is a beautifully written book and a real tear-jerker. | Alice Walker | Modern North American |
| Crying of Lot 49, The | The story of how Oedipa Maas' struggle to carry out the terms of her late lover's will leads her on a jaunt across southern California to try to discover the meaning of America. Those who lived through the '60s will recognize many familiar elements parodied by Pynchon. | Thomas Pynchon | Modern North American |
| Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend | This is a story of 2 women who meet online at a breast cancer message board and who develop a friendship via email. | Laney Katz Becker | Modern North American |
| Disappearing Acts | A funny, gritty urban love story about the mystery of desire, and about the burdens of the past. | Terry McMillan | Modern North American |
| English Patient, The | Laraine: This Booker Prize winner tells the story of the entanglement of four damaged lives in an Italian monastery as World War II ends. | Michael Ondaatje | Modern North American |
| Foreign Affairs | Kate: Two American professors are sent to London on research assignments but end up spending more sorting out their love lives than on their work. 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Very unexpected and thought provoking. And an extremely witty insight into the contrasts between the English and the Americans, and what irritates them about each other!! | Alison Lurie | Modern North American |
| Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe | . | Fannie Flagg | Modern North American |
| Giant's House, The | This is a hilarious and thought provoking book told from the point of view of someone who thinks of herself as stranded on life's sidelines. It makes you wonder of you would have the courage to step into a love so deep and McCracken's wry sense of humour will make you laugh out loud long after you should have put the lights out. | Elizabeth McCracken | Modern North American |
| Gravity's Rainbow | Despite the initial subject matter, and despite the fact that this all takes place in the last year of WWII, this is not really a war book. It is typically Pynchon in that a large number of characters, some recurring from other novels, and an even larger number of events, some true, some false, mix together by coincidence that seems the design of some powerful, but withdrawn, god | Thomas Pynchon | Modern North American |
| Handmaid's Tale, The | Alexandra: . | Margaret Atwood | Modern North American |
| How Stella Got Her Groove Back | This is excellent vacation reading. Stella, who's life is falling apart, spontaneously goes on vacation to Jamaica and meets a man... only he's younger, and her family thinks she's crazy.. | Terry McMillan | Modern North American |
| Hundred Secret Senses, The | Paula: This novel is really interesting, on the theme of the relationships of mothers and daughters. However, in this novel there is a supernatural twist. If you are looking for something different but also lyrical, this book is for you. | Amy Tan | Modern North American |
| I Am the Clay | About a childless couple in Korea and the child they adopt. Takes place after the Korean war. Very different from his other books, but very enjoyable. | Chaim Potok | Modern North American |
| I Heard the Owl Call My Name | This is a great lesson in faith and acceptance, and what we can learn from other cultures if we listen and see. | Margaret Craven | Modern North American |
| Imaginary Friends | KathleenT: . | Alison Lurie | Modern North American |
| Jackie by Josie | Marlene: Both funny and poignant, this book details one summer in the life of Josie Trask, who takes on a temporary job of researching the life of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for a celebrity biographer. Jackie's life helps Josie to work through some of her own struggles with an imperfect marriage and a stalemated doctoral dissertation | Caroline Preston | Modern North American |
| Jane Austen in Boca | Marlene: Set in a Jewish retirement community in Boca Raton, Florida, the novel re-tells PandP. It's a parody, but she also creates characters that have a life of their own within the confines of the wealthy Jewish Boca Raton milieu. A great read! | Paula Marantz Cohen | Modern North American |
| Jazz | . | Toni Morrison | Modern North American |
| Joy Luck Club, The | In 1949, four Chinese women--drawn together by the shadow of their past--begin meeting in San Francisco to play mahjongg, invest in stocks and "say" stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck Club--and forge a relationship that binds them for more than three decades. | Amy Tan | Modern North American |
| Late Mr. Shakespeare, The | Tara O'Donnell: A revisionist fictional account of Shakespeare's life, it's for anyone who's a Shakespeare lover or just likes "Shakespeare In Love". This is an amusing, bawdy and bittersweet ode to the art of storytelling. | Robert Nye | Modern North American |
| Le Divorce | The heroine, Isabel Walker, arrives in Paris on the same day that her sister's husband walks out on her for another woman. "Le divorce" is not far behind, involving the husband's French society family, Isabel's American parents and older brother, and an expensive painting, the ownership of which is the major debate between the families. This book isn't just about cultures and families, but also about society in general and occasionally about politics. | Diane Johnson | Modern North American |
| Memoirs of a Geisha | A favorite of many Pemberleans, this follows the story of a young girl who becomes a geisha in 1930s and 40s Japan. | Arthur Golden | Modern North American |
| Mitford Series | Gentle, and at times very funny, a warm look at life in a small town in the US Southern Highlands. Maybe too lightweight for some readers, but not insulting to the intelligence; especially delightful for those who know and love the region. Sort of a modern-day Cranford. One should know that Evangelical Christianity is present in the books, as it is in the life of the region. | Jan Karon | Modern North American(Series) |
| My Name is Asher Lev | Amy, Kate: I like Asher Lev a lot. Powerful. The crucifixion? Yikes. Rivals JA for squirm power when the parents go to the gallery. | Chaim Potok | Modern North American |
| My Sister's Keeper | JodiKaye: I was so bereft at the end of it I had to take a two-day break from starting a new novel. I was so excited to see she's written many novels and I feel I have a new treasure with all those promising novels to read! | Jodi Picoult | Modern North American |
| Night | SereneClare: This Holocaust memoir is short, but packs a whole punch. "The Diary of Anne Frank" tells the story of Jews in hiding to avoid transportation, but "Night" completes the full picture by giving a true account of how a young boy survived transportation and the concentration camps. Wiesel's prose is simple and to the point, but the memoir is extremely moving and heartwrenching. I highly recommend it. | Elie Wiesel | Modern North American |
| Notebook, The | . | Nicholas Sparks | Modern North American |
| People of the Book | DebraR: This is a new novel by Geraldine Brooks, who won a Pulitzer for "March". I loved it and can't wait to read it again. The plot involves a priceless book, called the Sarajevo Haggadah, which is rescued from destruction many times over several centuries. I loved the narrator--a cheeky Australian book conservator--and learned much more than I ever wanted to know about torture and social diseases. Highly recommended. | Geraldine Brooks | Modern North American |
| Poisonwood Bible, The | KarenG, LaurieC: This book is very insightful about The Congo and how the west has affected it over the last 30 years since it became independent. Shown through the eyes of 5 very different women -- one mother and 4 sisters, who first come to the country in 1959 with their father, a zealous Baptist missionary. | Barbara Kingsolver | Modern North American |
| Promise, The | Kate: Potok manages to give insights into Hasidic life without preaching on and on about their traditions. I really enjoy the way he integrates the history and the story telling in a way that allows you to learn a great deal without having studied. | Chaim Potok | Modern North American |
| Shipping News, The | Linda Ann: The first time I read it, I couldn't understand the literary fuss about this simple novel. The second time it struck a chord. I've read it six times now, and it amazes me each time. | E. Annie Proulx | Modern North American |
| Skin of the Lion, The | This is a tale of a man searching for a vanished millionaire. Patrick encounters characters from The English Patient as he searches. | Michael Ondaatje | Modern North American |
| Snow Falling on Cedars | A very small, fascinating story about big issues. It is about the death of a fisherman in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. In exploring the mysteries of this death, we discover a great deal about the people in this town and the treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. To quote the jacket, "In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than one man's guilt." | David Gutterson | Modern North American |
| Song of Solomon | Amy, Paula: Takes readers into a magical and richly peopled world which encompasses four generations of African American life. The book has strong characters, and addresses the search for identity, freedom or flying. | Toni Morrison | Modern North American |
| Stones from the River | Set in Germany during the mid-1900s, this book follows the life of a dwarf who becomes a storyteller. | Ursula Hegi | Modern North American |
| Their Eyes were Watching God | A marvel. Love story, theme of memory and story telling, plus a woman finding her independence | Zora Neale Hurston | Modern North American |
| Things They Carried, The | The stories Tim O'Brien tells are almost as interesting as the way he tells them. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in writing and the power and limitations of language in describing the things that happen to people in extreme situations like war. | Tim O'Brien | Modern North American |
| Truth About Lorin Jones, The | KathleenT: . | Alison Lurie | Modern North American |
| Ya-Ya Sisterhood trilogy | This is an interesting family story told as memories of the family members. As the story unfolds you begin to realise that although the family has its high points there are a lot of not so high points that influence the whole family and those around it. | Rebecca Wells | Modern North American(Series) |
