What do I like to read? A summary of the last 15 years or so...

I was in a great book club for the better part of 10 years. Met some fantastic ladies, read some wonderful and some not-so-great books, talked about all kinds of stuff... Every once in awhile someone asks me if I know of a good book. When I reply, it's always with a disclaimer such as "I liked it, but you may not". And some I can’t recall if I liked or not. So here are all (or at least most) of the books I've read over the last 15 years...I now only average about one every 6 months but it's better than nothing! Now, here they are, in no particular order:

Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand (amazing story about the human spirit that will not be broken!)

Mercy Train - Rae Meadows (As recently s 1929 our country sent orphans across the land in hopes of finding better lives. Read it!)

Olive Kitteredge - Elizabeth Strout (Strong female character but it left me feeling a bit depressed. I never quite connected with this one.)

Eye of the Raven - Eliot Pattison (a "who done it?" clash between the Quakers, Indians and British. I guess wrong! Worth the read!)

The Boys In the Boat - Daniel James Brown (didn't grab me like it did others until the last 30 pages or so. Lots of great NW references too. Worth reading, if for nothing more than the historical aspect.)

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver (learn something about growing your own food locally and some good recipes thrown in.)

The Hotel and the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford (lots of local history mixed in a love story spanning the decades)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith (read it)

Entering Normal - Anne LeClaire (read it)

Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Wolf (hated it, didn't finish it)

The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd (read it!)

Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Aron Talston (true life account of the hiker who got stuck under a boulder. Ouch!)

How to Remodel A Man - Bruce Cameron (no recollection of this one at all.)

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (disturbing but good)

The Christmas Shoes - Donna Van Liere (just like the song...that makes me cry!)

We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shiriver (disturbing and quite a twist at the end)

Tales from Margaretville - Jimmy Buffett (just OK. No cheeseburger in paradise…)

Tara Road - Maeve Binchy (great book!)

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Anne Brashares (feel good book. Great for plane ride or beach)

Good Grief - Lolly Winston (sorry. Don’t remember this one.)

The Pilot’s Wife – Anita Shreve (read it)

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (great book!)

Going to Bend - Diane Hammond (recall it was a bit slow, but OK)

Under the Tuscan Sun – (Worth the read. Let’s go to ITALY!!!)

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult (great book! Don't pass judgment until you get to the end!)

Outlander - Diana Gabaldon (fantastic! nearly 'bodice buster' but not quite)

The Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love - Jill Conner Browns (wow. Don’t remember this one at all)

Beats of No Nation - Uzodinma Iweala (an insight into war like no other)

Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi (if you are in a book club, this is the ultimate inspiration and reminder that we are in a free society)

In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner - Elizabeth George (no idea if I liked it or not)

Plum Island - Neslon Demile (like his books a lot!)

The Charm School - Nelson Demile (excellent!!)

The Great Stink  - Clare Clark (This is about the sewer system in London. You can pass on this one. Bah Haa!)

Marley & Me - John Grogan  (sad and sweet, even if you’re not a ‘dog person’)

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (truly gave me a new perspective on life. READ IT!)
A Thousand Splended Suns - Khaled Hosseini (read it!)

700 Sundays - Billy Crystal (it’s not the funny Billy you’d expect, but worth reading)

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Maggie O’Farrell (excellent!)

The Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver  (excellent!)

She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb (good stuff)

Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden (read it)

Daughter of Fortune – Isabel Allende (great book)

The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan (Good stuff)

The Know it all – A.J. Jacobs (boring, but there are some good general knowledge tidbits)

Interview With the Vampire – Ann Rice (creepy goodness)

The Red Tent -  Anita Diamant (amazing book!)

The Inocent Man - John Grisham (like his stuff, but once you’ve read one, you know his style and they’re all pretty much the same.)

The Prince of Tides – Pat Conroy (enjoyed it!)
My Losing Season  (good read, especially for basketball fans)

A Bend in the Road – Nicholas Sparks (worth your time)
Message in A Bottle (yep. Cried quite a bit too)
The Notebook (reminds you not to take your health, and memory, for granted)

Twilight –Stephenie Meyer (good stuff, but not good enough to read the rest of the series.)

The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks (go on...read it)

In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash – Jean Shephard (the basis for A Christmas Story (Ralphie and the gang) but not nearly as funny as you’d expect)

The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown
The DaVinci Code
Angels and Demons(oh, heck yes! Read all of them!)

Farther Than Any Man:the Rise and Fall of Capt’n James Cook – Martin Dugard (an informative and entertaining historical read about the Cook Islands)

The Shop Girl – Steve Martin (no, it’s not about banjos or SNL but a decent short book)

Water For Elephants – Sara Gruen (Fantastic!)

Cold Mountain – Charles Frazier  (a bit slow, but worth the time)

5 Quarters of the Orange – Joanne Harris (gotta read it~!)

The Help – K. Stocket (read it! Good stuff!)

Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert (worth your time)

Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan (Aboriginal stuff. Interesting)

Five Fortunes – Beth Gutcheon (yep, a good one!)

The Postmistress – Sarah Blake (a bit hard to get in to, not a ‘feel good’ conclusion, but worth reading)

The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen (great weekend read! Nice little twist. A little romance too.)
The Peach Keeper – (short and peachy. Didn't like it as much as the Sugar Queen, but a good weekend read.)

Under the Banner of Heaven – Jon Krakauer (will expand your understanding of religious zealots)

Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer (read it!)

The Reader – Berhard Schlink (really worth your time)

It Takes a Village – Hillary Clinton (ummm…nope.)

The Perfect Storm – Sebastian Junger (worth reading. Not as corny as the movie)

The Christmas Train – David Baldacci  (a short romantic book. Good for a 2 hour flight. Then exchange it with the person sitting next to you.)

By Janet Evanovich – any of the Stephanie Plum series (these are a bit of cops-n-robbers, a bit of sex and some good chuckles along the way. Very light-hearted, break from reality books)

Schrodinger’s Cat – Robert Wilson (my husband spent the better part of an hour, patiently trying to explain what the hell this book meant. Honestly, I enjoyed that far more than the book. Can you say “WTF?”)

Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson (read it!)

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire (who knew the Wicked Witch had a sex life?! Really enjoyed this book!)

I stopped reading Stephen King over a decade ago. Found most of his books very hokey. But I recently picked up The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Guess what? Still hokey. But I’d be interested to know how you think the book ends. Does she live or die?


                                                                And, my all time favorite book to date..?

As the Crow Flies – Jeffrey Archer (Just read it!!! Don’t’ let the number of pages bother you. It’s a page turner!!)


…just started The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series…

----------happy reading!------