2012 Books

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Digging to America by Anne Tyler
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

The Giver/Messenger/Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

March by Geraldine Brooks

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

"Flatland" and shoulder season selections 2011-2012

Swamplandia by Karen Russell (November)

Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (December)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (January)

Digging to America by Anne Tyler (February)

Fogotten Garden by Kate Morton (March)

Room by Emma Donoghue (April)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

We are inundated daily with news of the economic downturn: the stock market's daily plunges, foreclosures, unemployment. We are not being driven from our country under threat of rockets, rape and starvation, though. It could be so much worse, and we cannot lose our perspective: we are still part one of the richest nations in the world. We are eating well, being educated, enjoying entertainment, driving our cars, calling our families and friends...
If you are interested in learning more about how you can assist with the plight of refugees, see the UNHCR site: http://www.unrefugees.org/

Our books for the coming months are as follows:
February 10: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Jennifer R. hosting)
March 10: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
April 14 (date may change): Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

A few of us gathered at the Marshall Hall of Fame cafe to discuss Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last night. Although not locally grown, the food was wonderful and the conversation lively. Most in attendance agreed that the book was cleverly written and thought-provoking. Many of us have changed our stance at the grocery store, putting some selections back and heading to the Farmer's Market in Central City for the good stuff in season.

Check out the companion website: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/ It is full of pictures, recipes and resources.

Selections for February and March

Selections were made for February and March. We should also plan to select more books for coming months. Suggestions include a classic and something "epic" like Ahab's Wife or Cane River. Bring ideas!!!

February 12 at Faye's
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

March 11 at Jennifer P.'s
Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood

A Little History --- The Early Years

1992

Breathing Lessons Ann Tyler
The Temple of My Familiar Alice Walker
You Just Don't Understand D. Tannen
Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis
My Antonia Willa Cather
Fried Green Tomatoes Fannie Flagg
The Kitchen God's Wife Amy Tan
Prince of Tides Pat Conroy
The Pioneer Women
I Heard the Owl Call My Name Margaret Craven

1993
How to Make an American Quilt Whitney Otto
Love, Medicine, Miracles Bernie Siegel
Cold Sassy Tree Olive Burns
A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley
Howard's End E.M. Forster
Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillen
Revolution from Within Gloria Steinem
The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway
Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy
A Room of One's Own Virginia Wolfe
Catcher in the Rye J.D. Sallinger

1994
Like Water for Chocolate Laura Esquivel
Jazz Toni Morrison
Love Medicine Louise Erdrich
Medoc Alley Mafouz
Kitchen Banana Yoshimoto
The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing
Any Sue Grafton mystery
Pigs in Heaven Barbara Kingsolver
Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane
Children of Men P.D. James
Disclosure Michael Crichton

1995
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
Stone for Iberra Harriet Doerr
Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Shipping News Annie Proulx
Mama Makes Up Her Mind Bailey White
Smila's Sense of Snow Peter Hoeg
Six of One Rita Mae Brown
Their Eyes Are Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
True North Jill Ker Conway

1996
Stone Diaries Carol Shields
A Midwife's Tale Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Light in the Forest Conrad Richter
Machine Dreams Jane Ann Phillips
How the Garcia Girls ...Accent Julia Alvarez
Snow Falling on Cedars Guterson
One True Thing Anna Quinlan
Beulah Land Mary Lee Settle
School Girls Peggy Orenstein
No Longer At Ease Chinua Achebe
Mutant Message Down Under Marlo Morgan

1997
Paula Isabelle Allende
In the Lake of the Woods Tim O'Brian
Poetry- Ann Sexton & Short Story -Yellow Wallpaper
Flander's Panel Peres Reverte
Dakota Kathleen Norris
The Book of Ruth Jane Hamilton
The Heart of a Woman Maya Angelou
A Civil Action Jonathon Harr
Liar's Club Mary Karr
Stones from the River Ursula Hegi
Colored People Henry Louis Gates Jr.

1998
Longitude Dava Sobel
Angela's Ashes McCourt
Bird by Bird Lamott
I Heard the Owl Call My Name M. Craven
Crum Lee Maynard
The God of Small Things Arundhaati Roy
Undaunted Courage S. Ambrose
My Antonia Cather
Pope Joan Woolfolk-Cross
Sister Carrie Dreiser
Into the Wild Krakauer
Plays by Chekov

1999
Othello
The Perfect Storm - Junger
The Color of Water - McBride
The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake
Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood - Wells
Kowloon Tong - Theroux
The Pilot's Wife - Shreve
The Rent Tent - Diamont
The Professor & The Madman - Winchester
Addie - Settle
The House of God - Shem

2000
Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage Alfred Lansing
I Know This Much is True Wally Lamb
Daughter of Fortune Isabelle Allende
Age of Innocence Edith Wharton
At Home In Mitford Jan Karon
What We Keep Elizabeth Berg
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
The Other Side of the River Alex Kotlowitz
Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham
Cider House Rules John Irving

2001
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Saving Grace by Lee Smith
The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherhee
Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
Passing by Nella Larson
Nobody Nowhere by Donna Williams
Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio

2002
Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff
East of the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart by Susan Butler
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani
Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Quakertown by Lee Martin
Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio by Terry Ryan
Nickel & Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

2003
Headlong by Michael Frayn
Vagina Monologues or Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Clay’s Quilt by Silas House
At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austin
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Ice Bound by Jeri Nielsen

2004
Unless by Carol Shields
Cane River by Lalita Tademy
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Crackpots by Sara Pritchard
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Stiff by Mary Roach
Good King Harry by Denise Giardina
East of the Mountains by David Guterson
Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Savage Beauty: the Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford