What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Alice accidentally knocks herself out while exercising.  She wakes up worried about the baby she is carrying and can't wait to talk to the husband she adores.  Except that baby is now 10 and one of three children she shares with the husband she is planning to divorce.  As she tries to reconstruct the last ten years of her life, she must choose between the person she was and the person she has become.  Interesting to ponder how her experience might compare to your own.  Did we all get better every ten years or ...?

Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

The University of Washington eight man crew team rowed their way into the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Berlin.  This is their story.  Although it is primarily about the sport - its coaches, the boats, the competition - it is also about the era.  One of the young men on the team, Joe Rantz, provides us the life story that is a window into the times - the poverty, the desire to get an education, the Depression in general.  Many of the details of the story come from his daughter who was interviewed for the book. This is also a fascinating look at Hitlers Germany.  So many life lessons attached to this one event.  I started it Eugene waiting for my red-eyed flight and finished it that morning in the Newark airport.  It was great to read it from cover to cover.  It is a non-fiction book that reads like a novel - AND - you can actually still see the boat on the UW campus.

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr

"..mathematically speaking, all light is invisible...".  this is just one part  of the fascinating lectures Werner and his sister Jutte are able to listen to on their hidden radio.  Orphaned in prewar Germany - brilliant Werner dreams of a life as a scientist while he strives to protect his  practical sister.  Meanwhile, in Paris, Marie-Laure, blind at a young age, wanders through the Natural History Museum soaking up nature's wisdom through her fingertips and the guidance of her father.  Twice he builds perfect scale models of the neighborhoods they live in for her fingers to create an internal map and encourage her independence.  Hitler's Germany will set  both Werner and Marie-Laure on paths that will connect in fatalistic ways.  This is a story of the devastation of WWll that took place beyond the battlefields and the death camps - the small towns that offered sanctuary and resistance, the people who believed the lie and then suffered the consequences or traded the lie for a greater dangerous truth.  The language is often poetic but the bad guys are just as ugly. 

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

There are no good Holocaust stories.  There are heroic, insightful, moving - even inspirational stories.  But never good.  This story of a 21st century relationship between Sage, a damaged young woman, and Josef, a elderly town hero, begins with secrets.  Eventually Leo Stein, an agent from a special branch of the Justice Department, is called in to search for a truth that will change all their lives. This truth lies in the story grudgingly shared by Sage's grandmother.  And of course , there is always the surprise in the end.

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

In this very 19th century Northwest story, young William Tallmadge finds himself the soul caretaker for an fruit orchard in the foothills of the Washington Cascades.  His solitary life is interrupted by the appearance of two young girls -  both almost feral in their behavior and both obviously pregnant.  His attempts to care for the girls draw the three together in a life story that is both tragic and full of human kindness.  As they move in and out of each others lives, it may be the child that is born, Angelene, that most affects the course of William's life but never can he stray far from the pull of the orchard.

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Mitra brothers grow up in a neighborhood outside Calcutta. Many hours are spent exploring the marshy lowland near their home. Subhash the older brother, embraces the traditions of his Indian culture and wants to do the right thing. Udayan, the passionate and idealistic younger brother, finds himself caught up in the political turmoil of the 1960's.  When Subhash leaves for the United States to study, he expects to return someday and marry the woman his parents have chosen for him.  Instead his brother is brutally killed and Subhash finds himself escaping to America with Udayan's widow in order to make sure her unborn baby will be safe.  All these lofty goals.  All these attempts to do the right thing.  So many ways it can go wrong.  As their lives unravel, it is hard to identify who makes the right and wrong choices.  It is not so much an Indian story as it is a clash between cultural expectations and personal ambition that would resonate in any setting.

The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

You know this story of a great American Dream gone wrong so read it again for the language.  This is a quote from Matthew Bruccoli, the late Fitzgerald scholar: "The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages.  It is just a masterpiece."  Agree?

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I had heard so much about this book and couldn't wait to read it.  The beginning - gripping.  Thirteen year old Theodore Decker miraculously survives an explosion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.  As he searches for his mother , he encounters an older gentleman he had noticed earlier accompanying an attractive young girl.   Just before the man dies, he whispers instructions to Theo to save a rare small painting of a Goldfinch.  With his mother killed in the explosion and his father having long ago deserted him, Theo begins a difficult journey often pulled by the destiny of the  painting he feels compelled to keep hidden.  The ending - unsuspected, thought provoking and often beautifully written.  The middle -  a tale of drunken, drug induced debauchery about 100 pages too long which almost completely spoiled the book for me.  I loved the NYC setting.  I enjoyed the art discussion - even the parts I didn't understand.  The plot twist at the end was brilliant.   There was so much that was good about this book but there is only so much alcohol induced barfing and dysfunctional family abuse that I need to read to get the point.  I guess the Pulitzer Prize folks didn't mind it.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

What a wonderful story!  Hosseini's love for his Afghan homeland and it's people has never been clearer.  Readers follow the lives of multiple characters through multiple decades all connected by the events in a small village outside of Kabul.  It is a story of family, of honor, and of tradition.  War is a catalyst for much of the action but it does not define the story or the people.  Some you love, some you hate but they are all so real, you want there to be that screen that roles at the end of the movie that tells you what really happened - and you want it all to turn out right.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

In 1939, Liesel Meminger stole her first book.  It was The Grave Diggers Handbook.  It was left at her brother's grave.  She was left with foster parents in the city of Molching while her mother disappeared into the chaos that was to become Nazi Germany.  Some days she played soccer in the streets.  Some days Jews marched on those streets on their way to Dachau.  Eventually bombs would drop to destroy the streets forever.  She saved one book from Nazi flames and stole others from a rich woman's library.  She cherished one written by a man hidden in the basement and wrote one herself.   She understood the great gift of words and their power to create an unimaginable horror.  Death, the narrator in this story, saw it all.

The Midwife by Jennifer Worth

Those of you who watched the first season on PBS will recognize most of the stories in this memoir.  The TV version made more of the romantic story line but softened the abject poverty of the 1950's well detailed in the book.  One thing I never really thought much about was how devastated London was in WWII and the consequences that had on housing not to mention the fatherless families left behind.  Chummy is just as delightful in the book version as is Sister Monica Joan.  Even the familiar parts were fun to read.

Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama

Pei is only a child when her father takes her from her rural Chinese village to work in the silk factory of a nearby town.  Considered too homely and headstrong to ever marry, the money she will earn will help support her parents since they have had no sons to care for them.  Confused and distraught at first, she soon realizes that her job in the factory has earned her a kind of freedom she would have never had as someone's wife.  The other girls in the factory soon become her new family with rules and traditions that bring to mind those of religious orders.  Her close friendships give Pei both the strength to  survive and insight to accept life in China as the 1930's brings big political and social changes. This is Tsukiyama's first book but still one of my favorites.  It is so rich in detail of a place and time so unlike here and now.  One wonders how many of the rigid traditional mores are still present in contemporary China and if such a sisterhood of the silk ever really existed.

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

The fact that the narrator of this story is twelve year old "Bean" Holladay made it read almost like a young adult novel although there is nothing childlike about her life.  Her mother, Charlotte, has left Bean and her fifteen year old sister Liz yet again in their decrepit California home with a supply of pot pies and the promise to return a grand musical success.  Finally, when they are left with just enough money for more pot pies or bus tickets back to the family home in Virgina, they leave a note for their mom and get on the bus.  Once a prominent family, they find one remaining uncle living in a much decayed version of the former mansion.  Mom moves in and out of their lives for the next year and Uncle Tinsley begins to rejoin the society that has abandoned him.  Then the girls find themselves taking on the powerful Mr. Maddox, the current manager of the textile mill that employs most of the town and was once owned by the Holladay family.  Even small towns can struggle with big themes like - Is it OK to do the wrong thing for the right reasons?  Is blood, especially very dysfunctional blood, always thicker than water?  And, of course, the fact that Bean's name is really Jean makes you wonder just how far away this supposedly fictional tale has moved from Walls previous memoirs?

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

As Quindlen stares 60 in the eye, she ponders the life she has lived.  I am not sure there is anything particularly new in any of her life insights but there is something on almost every page that will feel familiar and sometimes wise.  I am sure they will be multiple jumping off points for self reflection and book group sharing.  There are references to some dark times in her life but her husband and children are all goodness and light.  There doesn't seem to be much in her own life that would have inspired some of the dark, dark novels she has written but the quality of writing is the just as engaging.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot

Skoots dedication to examining all the facets of this single life is profound.  The science behind this story is both fascinating and confounding.  I initially wondered what the big deal was.  If I discovered that some of my random cells were used for so many important medical discoveries, I doubted that it would lead to such negative feelings.   But the issues of race and research politics Skoot explores provide insight into an entirely different prospective.  A truly unique tale with a somewhat unfortunate ending.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

  To explore the relationships of women, you might use knitting or book groups.  For men it might be -  baseball. The "guys" are all brought together at a small college in Wisconsin.  Henry is supposed to be the talented freshman shortstop star until an errant throw threatens to change everything.  His roommate Owen is athletic, brilliant and gay.  Senior Mike Swartz "discovered" Henry.  Life at Westish College is everything to Mike and reviving the baseball program his dream.  Westish President Guert Affenlight was an academic star there many years ago but his more recent life decisions may not be as smart.  Throw in a brilliant but quirky young woman, a guide to baseball entitled The Art of Fielding and a little Herman Melville and there you have it.   Challenging in a The World According to Garp kind of way and really not much about baseball at all.  I have a female friend who loved these characters so much, she has read the book twice and may read it again.  Would men see it differently?  Who knows?

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

Paul Milliron has been sent by the Education Dept. of Montana to close all the small one room school houses as a cost cutting measure.  But back in 1909, he was a 13 year old student in one of those schools.  It was the summer that his father responded to an ad in a newspaper by a woman seeking a housekeeping position.  The heading of the ad said "Can't cook but doesn't bite".  With his wife dead and a house full of boys, Paul's father takes a chance that someone who would write that might be able to stand up to the challenges of rural farming and the energy of four boys.  It turns out that not everyone is who they seem but this is an inspirational story which makes you think that the good ol' days may on occasion have been exactly that.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

I wished I knew more about the history of the Balkans so I could completely understand this allegorical tale of life and death in that area. Natalia is a doctor like her grandfather before her. He dies while she is on her way to inoculate children in a distant village. In her head are the stories her grandfather told her about escaped tigers who haunt a village and befriend a deaf-mute woman he knew. These magical tales seem somehow possible in the superstitious atmosphere surrounding the village. Along with the tales of the tiger are her grandfather's encounters with the "deathless" man and the mystery surrounding his death and the worn copy of Kipling's Jungle Book he carried everywhere. Throughout are references to a geographical area divided and reorganized by so many wars that nationality may be as much about which of these stories you carry inside as the name of the country on your passport.

Pears on a Willow Tree by Leslie Pietrzyk

Four generations of Polish woman - each strong in her own way. The first makes the brave journey to America to establish a family in Detroit. The second dreams of a new kind of life but the pull of family tradition proves stronger. The third is most damaged by the struggle between the old ways and the possibility of a new life. The fourth escapes into a life the other three can barely imagine but eventually learns that we carry in us a bit of all that have come before. Each in her own way struggles to be the pear on the willow tree only to discover that no such thing exists but there is much to learn about the willow tree.

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Nineteen year old Ed Kennedy and his friends are adrift in life - no real goals, families that provide more in the way of challenges than support, dead-end jobs. Then Ed begins receiving cryptic messages on the aces in a deck of playing cards. The addresses or names provide no direction as to what he is to do with them but a "goon team" provides incentive that is both scary and humorous to do something. This sends Ed on a somewhat heroic journey of self discovery. Every person and event he encounters seems to lead to a new view of life. Maybe we will never be the person who changes the world. Maybe it is enough to change little pieces of it. Maybe it all starts when we change ourselves. This book may be intended for young adults but it provided much good discussion for grown-ups particularly in trying to decide who sent the messages.