Books we have read and discussed over the years since we started meeting.
Exit West: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid Fiction suggested by Janet from Amazon – When Nadia and Saeed fall in love in a distant unnamed city, they are just like any other young couple. But soon bullets begin to fly, fighter jets streak the sky, and curfews fall. As the spell of violence spreads, they […]
Frog: A Novel by Mo Yan Fiction suggested by Zhenhua from Amazon – A sweeping history of modern China through the lens of the nation’s one-child policy and a midwife who enforces the policy. Desperate families, illegal surrogates, abortion, guilt. In 2012, the Nobel committee confirmed Mo Yan’s position as one of the greatest and […]
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason Fiction suggested by Romie WWI historical fiction. From the ballrooms of Vienna to an Eastern Front battlefield hospital, a story of war and medicine, of family, finding love, of mistakes and opportunities to atone. from Amazon — Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War I […]
Into the Magic Shop by Stanford Neurosurgeon James Doty Memoir suggested by Romie Growing up in the high desert of California, Jim Doty was poor, with an alcoholic father and a mother chronically depressed and paralyzed by a stroke. Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford […]
The Girl with the Louding Voice: A Novel by Abi Daré Fiction suggested by Patti From Patti “very strong female character” “set in modern-day Nigeria, and it tells the story of a girl from a small, poverty-stricken village. Her father sells her into an awful marriage because he needs money, but the marriage doesn’t last long; and she […]
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson Non-Fiction suggested by Janet and Lisa We heard an interview with the author on NPR, and this book sounds like a very interesting discussion of racism and structural impediments.Goodreads says: ‘The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system […]
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton Fiction suggested by Barbara from Julian Fellowes on Wikipedia “Wharton has created an anti-heroine [who] has no values except ambition, greed and desire, and yet through the miracle of Wharton’s writing, you are on her side. That’s what’s so extraordinary about the book …” from Amazon – […]
Real American: A Memoir by Julie Lythcott-Haims Non-Fiction suggested by Romie from Romie – Julie Lythcott-Haims wrote “How To Raise an Adult”, taught at Stanford, and lives in Barron Park. I know her mother. Maybe she’d be willing to join us for discussion. from Amazon – A fearless memoir in which the author pulls no […]
The Giver of Stars: A Novel by JoJo Moyes Fiction suggested by Patti From Patti “very strong female character” “historical fiction about the women’s packhorse library service in backwoods Kentucky in the 1940s (part of the Public Works Program).” From Amazon – Based on a true story, these heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or […]
Ribbons of Scarlet by Quinn Dray Kamoie Knight Perinot Webb Pataki Fiction suggested by Terry Currently reading a rather interestingly collated historical fiction of the French Revolution from the perspective of several women involved. More than six Historical Fiction women authors each researched the life of and then penned a first-person narrative of an actual, […]