Mary's Recomendations

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Mary K.	The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig October 2008 “Doig follows the WWII exploits of the starting line-up of the "Supreme Team", the surprise NCAA championship team from Montana, through the heart and eyes of Ben "Rhine King" Reinking, the starting left end who was unwillingly chosen to write, not fight. We feel his heartache as his former teammates are one by one killed in action and his conflicted loyalty to his country and his friends. Doig's prose is simply beautiful, although, perhaps, he should have simplified the plot slightly by omitting so many references to the Senator and Ben's parents.”	Fiction
	Rated:


Mary K.	American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum September 2008 “An intriguing tale of America at the beginning of the 20th Century, the clash between workers and owners, the beginning of the Hollywood film industry, and how one man determined to solve bomb attacks across the country."	Fiction
	Rated:


Mary K.	The Black Tower by Louis Bayard September 2008 “This is an incredible tale of royal intrigue!!! Bayard takes us back to post-Napoleonic France where the aristocrats are still not feeling secure about their position in society. Suddenly, someone truly believes that the young dauphin whom all believed died in incarceration is actually still alive. This sets in motion a series of killings with one purpose - to extinguish the potential king. I love Bayard's writing- he does an excellent job of recreating France of the 1818, and I love all the twists and turns of his books!”	Fiction
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Mary K.	A Guide to the Birds of East Africa September 2008 by Nicholas Drayson “Just 4 words should suffice - I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! Drayson is a true storyteller and uses the cadence of a verbal fable - specifically the turtle and the hare - to tell us the story of Mr. Malik, an unattractive, unassuming Kenyan of Indian descent. I love the way that Mr. Malik's goodness and honesty are slowly revealed, making the reader go from pity to admiration. I love the drawings of the birds and what they might signify to the chapters. I love his friends from the club and the way they deliberate over the rules of the contest. A wonderful wonderful book!”	Fiction
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Mary K.	The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent September 2008 “The Salem Witch trials have always fascinated me, so perhaps I am biased, but I loved ....loved.... loved this book. Sarah Carrier is an interesting narrator since she sees the proceedings as a child might, but with a teen's relationship with her unusual mother. I was amazed by how readily the people of Salem were to believe the tales of witchcraft as the net ever expanded wider and wider. How many women were left untouched in the Salem area?? Is this another allegory for our times - how readily people are to believe the most evil tales??”	Fiction
	Rated:


Mary K.	Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay September 2008 “I loved - loved- this book. I was transfixed by the story of Sarah and all that she endured. I couldn't believe what the French did to the Jewish children, and even did some research on the Vel' d'Hiv and what happened there. I totally understood Julia and likewise would have done all I could to find out what happened. A fabulous, wonderful book!”	Fiction
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Mary K.	Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley September 2008 “Buckley is a master of political satire. I haven't laughed this much since Boomsday! In this entirely plausible tale, and I could actually see this occurring, a younger, prettier Judge Judy (scary, but that is who I pictured) is selected for the Supreme Court much to the amazement of those who elected her. All of the egos, the backroom bickering, the spinning, the public opinion seesaw, could, and probably are, happening to every major issue before Congress. A must read for every political junkie!”	Fiction
	Rated:


Mary K.	The Toss of a Lemon by Padma Viswanathan September 2008 “A fascinating look at Indian life based on the life of the author's great-great grandmother Sivakama. I was amazed at the constraints of Indian life continuing into the 1950s. The scene that really stays-with-me was when Sivakama's son Vairum loses his caste, how easily it was done. And how the Brahmin were slowly being squeezed by economic pressures after WWII.”	Fiction
	Rated:


Mary K.	Sweetsmoke by David Fuller August 2008 “A fabulous novel of pre-civil war Virginia through the eyes of Cassius, a slave on a tobacco plantation. We see the lives of slaves, how and why those on Sweetsmoke, his plantation, are better off than others on surrounding areas. How he determines to solve the death of Emoline, a freed slave who had saved him in the past. I loved this novel, and I loved Cassius' voice.”	Fiction
	Rated:


Mary K.	Tethered by Amy MacKinnon August 2008 “This book is riveting. Between the complex characters, the multi-dimensional plot and the wonderful writing with a metaphysical twist, I could not put this book down. I loved the darkness of the book and the solitude of Clara, and Linus' compassion.”	Fiction
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Mary K.	Gone by Michael Grant July 2008 "This is another young adult book that I thoroughly loved. What would happen if everyone over 14 just disappeared? And the world became limited by an energy force surrounding the town? And the rich kids from the private school down the road try to take over? Oh yes, and some people develop unusual abilities? Lord of the Flies meets 1984."	Fiction
	Rated:


Mary K.	The Guernsey Literary and Potato-Peel Pie Society July 2008 by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows "This amazing novel is told entirely through letters to and from Juliet Ashton. She has spent WWII writing a column under the nom de plume of Izzy Bickerstaff, and, now that the war is over, she is searching for an idea for a new book. She receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey which mentions the Literary society and she decides to investigate. This is a wonderfully told tale that I could not put down."	Fiction
	Not Rated:


Mary K.	New England White by Stephen Carter July 2008 "A murder mystery which involves the African-American university president (think Yale) living in a small, mostly which New England town." NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Fiction
	Not Rated:


Mary K.	So Long at the Fair by Christina Schwarz July 2008 "I really enjoyed this book! I just got all caught up in the characters - their stories - their histories. I couldn't put this down!”	Fiction


Mary K.	America, America by Ethan Canin June 2008 "This is the tale of a young lad working for the 1972 presidential campaign of Senator Henry Bonwiller, a Kennedy-esque figure, as told through flashbacks after current day funeral of the senator. Could this book be a moral for our times???"	Fiction
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Mary K.	Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris June 2008 "An interesting who-done-it set in Saudi Arabia. Nayir, a Palestinian, is asked to help find the missing sister of a wealthy Saudi friend, and ultimately to find her killer. He is aided in his search by Katya, his friend’s fiancée. I loved the way this book illustrated the complexities of the Saudi society – who and what are deemed exceptable and how everyone suffers from the constraints of the social mores."	Fiction


Mary K.	Say You’re One of Them by Uwen Akpan June 2008 "This is an amazing series of short stories about the lives of children in Africa. Akpan is a priest that had ministered in Africa for years, and his stories show an incredible depth of compassion for the smallest victims of the atrocities committed there. There is the 12 year old prostitute supporting her family, the Muslim boy trying to escape war-fare in Nigeria, and the Rwandan nightmare. This is a heartbreaking, deeply disturbing look at man’s inhumanity to children."	Fiction


Mary K.	Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver May 2008 "Non-fiction!! The story of the Kingsolver family’s attempt to become localvores on their farm in the Appalachian Mountains." NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Non-Fiction


Mary K.	The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein May 2008 "This is definitely the most heart-warming book I’ve read in a long, long time. It’s the story of Enzo, a Labrador mix, as he looks back on his life with Denny, the best race car driver who never had a chance. I love Enzo’s philosophy on life, his views on the world, and, ultimately, his dream of having thumbs and a tongue. This book is a MUST READ for everyone, dog lovers or not."	Fiction


Mary K.	The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace May 2008 "This book illustrates that just because someone has money doesn’t mean that they have a lot of sense. Several bottles of wine that were supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson were “found” in the early 1980s and slowly came up for auction. The fact that the auction house (Christies) agreed to sell the wine without checking into it’s antecedents is amazing, but the fact that Malcolm Forbes bought it for more than $150,000 is worse. All of the sudden, all of these older wines were put up for sale first by Christies, followed by other venerated auctioneers. Strangely, I really liked this book, which read like a detective novel."	Non-Fiction


Mary K.	Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezva May 2008 "An amazing story of a how a 17th century Iranian girl with the gift of rug-making tries to survive after her father’s death." NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Fiction


Mary K.	Boomsday by Christopher Buckley May 2008 "A funny political satire of a candidate whose presidential platform is the “transitioning” of senior citizens for tax breaks." NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Fiction


Mary K.	Careless in Red by Elizabeth George May 2008 "George is renown for her intellectual mysteries featuring the dour Sir Thomas Lyndley. This one features Lindley walking the coast of England after the death of his beloved Helen when he sees a body at he bottom of the cliff. He is at first considered a suspect given his outward appearance, but then he begins to help the local constable/detective with the case. This is a much better book than What Came Before He Shot Her."	Fiction


Mary K.	The Outlander by Gil Adamson May 2008 "This is a beautifully written account of a woman fleeing her brothers-in-law in 1903, for, as she says, she was a widow by her own hand. Despite the brothers’ determination, the widow manages to escape with help from some very unlikely characters. FYI – this book is the author’s first novel and was adapted from one of her poems."	Fiction


Mary K.	Septembers of Shiraz by Diana Sofer May 2008 "The Iranian Revolution through the eyes of 4 members of a Jewish family with ties to the Shah. This might be considered a fictionalized memoir." NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Fiction


Mary K.	The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen May 2008 "Josey is a lonely 27 year old who spends her life waiting on her mother, eating her hidden cache of goodies and dreaming of travel until the day that Della, a woman with a wild reputation, shows up in her closet. Della turns Josey’s life upside down and gets her out of her cloistered life. A fun, fun summer read!"	Fiction


Mary K.	Bonk by Mary Roach April 2008 "This is a difficult book to promote without coming off sounding perverted, but I’ll try. Roach, the author of Stiff and Spook, brings her unusual combination of research and humor to review sexual research. This book alternates between being hysterically funny and horrifying, or both. I simply cannot believe what has been done, in fact what Roach did, in the name of science. Nor can I believe the similarities between humans and pigs."	Fiction


Mary K.	Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton April 2008 "A woman leaves her NYC job to ferry books to African villages and how both are changed by her arrival." NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Fiction


Mary K.	Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season by Nick Heil April 2008 “Heil looks follows the 2006 Mt. Everest climbing season, concentrating on 3 men and their tragic attempts on the mountain. Two of which had absolutely no business being on the mountain.”	Non-Fiction


Mary K.	Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen April 2008 "Fun novel of how a wild sister’s return upsets her sister’s orderly life. " NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Fiction


Mary K.	The Geography of Love by Glenda Burgess April 2008 “I usually don't like memoirs, but I couldn't put this one down. Their story is so romantic - meeting at the market, his painful past, their love of travel, the clandestine meetings to their married lives. Beautifully written - poignant - wonderful. A tale of true love that must be read with a box of tissues!”	Fiction
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Mary K.	Loving Frank by Nancy Horan April 2008 "Horan writes about the tragic life of Mamah Cheney, Frank Lloyd Wright’s lover who shocked the world by leaving her family to be with him." NEW IN PAPERBACK!	Fiction


Mary K.	The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid April 2008 "A Pakistani man explains why he left his luxurious life in the states." NEW IN PAPERBACK!