Hello! Is anyone reading this months book selection? If so I want to hear what you think! So start leaving some feedback. I put a poll in the upper right corner where you can vote for the next read.
Here's summaries of the books so you can make a better decision:
Atonement, by Ian McEwan:We meet 13-year-old Briony Tallis in the summer of 1935, as she attempts to stage a production of her new drama The Trials of Arabella to welcome home her elder, idolised brother Leon. But she soon discovers that her cousins, the glamorous Lola and the twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, aren't up to the task, and directorial ambitions are abandoned as more interesting preoccupations come onto the scene. The charlady's son Robbie Turner appears to be forcing Briony's sister Cecilia to strip in the Fountain and sends her obscene letters; Leon has brought home a dim chocolate magnate keen for a war to promote his new "Army Amo" bar; and upstairs Briony's migraine-stricken mother Emily keeps tabs on the house from her bed. Soon, secrets emerge that change the lives of everyone present...
Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks:
It's a touching story of young love that lasts a lifetime. The main character, John Tyree, first met the love of his life, Savannah Curtis, on the beach in North Carolina. At the time, John was home visiting his father while on a short leave from the military. Savannah, a college student, was in town with some of her peers working on a Habitat for Humanity project.
The two were an unlikely pair from the beginning. John was somewhat of a rebel who ran off right after high school to join the Army, while Savannah was a pure, hardworking, Southern girl. But, as they say, opposites attract. From the beginning, theirs was a powerful bond that unfortunately was always separated by time and distance. John had his obligations to his military duty and Savannah had her obligations to completing her education.
However, the two remained very committed to each other, despite their distance, until the unexpected events of September 11th changed everything, not only for the world, but also for this young couple's future.
Outside In, by Courtney Thorne-Smith:
On the outside, Kate Keyes-Morgan seems to have it all: a starring role on the hit television series
Generations, a handsome husband who is also her manager, a model-thin figure, and a career that, after an earlier slide, is finally back on track. At the age of thirty, Kate knows what it’s like to have the tabloids turn on you, and she never wants it to happen again. Thank goodness her husband, Hamilton, is there to manage her every move—even if the strict dieting and morning weigh-ins are becoming more than she can manage.
But when Hamilton leaves her for another actress on
Generations, the ruthless diva Sapphire Rose, Kate suddenly finds herself in charge of her own life. Now she must decide whether she’s ready to stop playing by the Hollywood rulebook and discover who she really is. With the help of her wise-cracking friend and tough-love makeup artist, Paige, and Michael, a high-powered film agent who secretly dreams of becoming a novelist, Kate begins to question her role in an industry that venerates appearance, money, and fame above all else, and that applies ceaseless pressure on women to always be thinner, younger, and more beautiful, at any cost.
A Thousand Splendid Sun, by Khaled Hossieni:
The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny—"There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten"—is endorsed by custom and law. Hosseini gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their sole path to social status. His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters.
A Thread of Grace, by Mary Doria Russell:
Chronicles the Italian resistance to the Germans during the last two years of WWII. Three cultures mingle uneasily in Porto Sant'Andrea on the Ligurian coast of northwest Italy—the Italian Jews of the village, headed by the chief rabbi Iacopo Soncini; the Italian Catholics, like Sant'Andrea's priest Don Osvaldo Tomitz, who befriend and shelter the Jews; and the occupying Germans invited by Mussolini's crumbling regime. In the last camp is the drunken, tubercular Nazi deserter, Doktor Schramm, a broken man who confesses to Don Osvaldo that while working in state hospitals and Auschwitz, he was responsible for murdering 91,867 people. Meanwhile, Jewish refugees in southern France, including Albert Blum and his teenage daughter, Claudette, are fleeing across the Alps to Italy, hoping to find sanctuary there. Russell pursues numerous narrative threads, including the Blums' perilous flight over the mountains; Italian Jew Renzo Leoni's personal coming to terms with his participation in the Dolo hospital bombing during the Abyssinian campaign in 1935; the dangerous frenzy of the Italian partisans; and the bloody-mindedness of German officers resolved to carry out Hitler's murderous racial policy despite mounting evidence of its futility. The action moves swiftly, with impressive authority, jostling dialogue, vibrant personalities and meticulous, unexpected historical detail. The intensity and intimacy of Russell's storytelling, her sharp character writing and fierce sense of humor bring fresh immediacy to this riveting WWII saga.
Get your reading glasses on and put that library card to good use. Comment whenever you like but we will start a new book on Nov. 15. Also, you can always comment on a previous month's book, I know some people aren't finished, but we would still love to hear what you think.
