Still Life with Chickens: Starting Over in a House by the Sea by Catherine Goldhammer
Memoir
Well-written story of a woman who moves away from her husband and wealthy town to a more rustic life, with her daughter on the cusp of teenage-hood. To please her daughter, and for other reasons unknown, she decides to raise chickens. I really enjoyed the details about the chickens, as well as the heart-warming portrayal of her transition.
Submitted by Judith
Friday, September 26, 2008
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Historical fiction
I found this story of two young Russian men trying to survive during the German siege of Leningrad hard to put down, though at times horrifying. The two meet, under arrest in a prison, where they can save their lives by locating a dozen eggs for a colonel's daughter's wedding cake. Their mission bonds their friendship and takes them through grueling adventures. The story is based on the memories of the author's grandfather.
Submitted by Judith
Historical fiction
I found this story of two young Russian men trying to survive during the German siege of Leningrad hard to put down, though at times horrifying. The two meet, under arrest in a prison, where they can save their lives by locating a dozen eggs for a colonel's daughter's wedding cake. Their mission bonds their friendship and takes them through grueling adventures. The story is based on the memories of the author's grandfather.
Submitted by Judith
Thursday, September 18, 2008
That Summer in Sicily: A Love Story by Marlena DeBlasi
Memoir
The perfect crossover from travelog to fairytale romance, DeBlasi's account of her summer in Sicily tells the story of a great love between a prince and peasant girl that transcended Sicily's medieval social order, enforced to this day by Mafia dons. The sights, sounds and smells of this tale are fleshed out by DeBlasi's daily experience of the harvest and rhythms of life in a country villa. Next best thing to being there.
Submitted by Max
Memoir
The perfect crossover from travelog to fairytale romance, DeBlasi's account of her summer in Sicily tells the story of a great love between a prince and peasant girl that transcended Sicily's medieval social order, enforced to this day by Mafia dons. The sights, sounds and smells of this tale are fleshed out by DeBlasi's daily experience of the harvest and rhythms of life in a country villa. Next best thing to being there.
Submitted by Max
Monday, September 15, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
The Ridiculous Race: 26, 000 Miles, 2 Guys, 1 Globe, No Airplanes by Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran
Travel memoir
The title pretty much sums up this hilarious book. Steve and Vali, both successful TV comedy writers, decide to race against each other around the world hoping to nab the first place prize: a ridiculously expensive bottle of scotch whiskey. Steve's visit to the Beijing opera is one of the funniest scenes that you'll ever read. If you enjoyed Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, you'll love this book, too.
Submitted by PJ
Travel memoir
The title pretty much sums up this hilarious book. Steve and Vali, both successful TV comedy writers, decide to race against each other around the world hoping to nab the first place prize: a ridiculously expensive bottle of scotch whiskey. Steve's visit to the Beijing opera is one of the funniest scenes that you'll ever read. If you enjoyed Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, you'll love this book, too.
Submitted by PJ
The Lieutenant's Lady by Bess Streeter Aldrich
Fiction
An unknown American classic woman's romantic frontier story. Bess Streeter Aldrich has several books of short stories of rural town American life around the turn of the century--very much like Reader's Digest, Ladies' Home Journal or Yankee magazine stories. However, this novel captures the formality of the end of the Victorian age, blended with small-town honesty. The adventures she faces on her journey to tell her best friend's fiance that her best friend did not want to marry absorb readers to find out how the touching romance blooms!
Submitted by Elaine Dreher
Fiction
An unknown American classic woman's romantic frontier story. Bess Streeter Aldrich has several books of short stories of rural town American life around the turn of the century--very much like Reader's Digest, Ladies' Home Journal or Yankee magazine stories. However, this novel captures the formality of the end of the Victorian age, blended with small-town honesty. The adventures she faces on her journey to tell her best friend's fiance that her best friend did not want to marry absorb readers to find out how the touching romance blooms!
Submitted by Elaine Dreher
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Fiction
Written as a series of letters, this book details a friendship created between a London author and the members of an eclectic group of folks during Gurensey's Occupation during WW!!. It's the kind of book that you are sad to see end because the characters have become your friends!
Submitted by Stacey
Fiction
Written as a series of letters, this book details a friendship created between a London author and the members of an eclectic group of folks during Gurensey's Occupation during WW!!. It's the kind of book that you are sad to see end because the characters have become your friends!
Submitted by Stacey
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