Category: Books Past

How Much of These Hills is Gold: A Novel by C. Pam Zhang Fiction suggested by Sharon Historical fiction set in the California gold rush. The prose is just spectacular. From Amazon – Newly orphaned Chinese-American children siblings Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of […]

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels Fiction suggested by Romie from Amazon – In 1940 a boy bursts from the mud of a war-torn Polish city, where he has buried himself to hide from the soldiers who murdered his family. He is only seven years old. And although by all rights he should have shared the […]

The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham non-fiction suggested by Janet from Amazon/publishers description – Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature” have repeatedly won the day. […]

Watershed by Mark Barr Fiction suggested by Barbara From Amazon: Amidst construction of a federal dam in rural Tennessee, Nathan, an engineer hiding from his past, meets Claire, a small-town housewife struggling to find her footing in the newly-electrified, job-hungry, post-Depression South. As Nathan wrestles with the burdens of a secret guilt and tangled love, […]

We made the rare decision to not meet this month, because we were too caught up in watching the vice-presidential debate on our regular meeting night. We pushed out all our book selections for a month.

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh Non-fiction suggested by Barbara Amazon – Sarah Smarsh was born a fifth generation Kansas wheat farmer on her paternal side, and the product of generations of teen mothers on her maternal side. Through her experiences growing up […]

The Vexations by Caitlin Horrocks fiction suggested by Shirley From Amazon – A novel about the life of French composer Erik Satie, in the streets and cafes of Montmartre on the cusp of the twentieth century, about family and genius and the toll that genius exacts on family in pursuit of great art. Erik Satie […]

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Fiction suggested by Janet From Amazon – An extraordinary epic of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan. In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore […]

A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death by Dr. BJ Miller and Shoshana Berger Non-Fiction suggested by Terry from Amazon – “There is nothing wrong with you for dying,” hospice physician B.J. Miller and journalist and caregiver Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our […]

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier Fiction suggested by Romie from Amazon – bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement. Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker, moves to Ohio in 1850 only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick […]