Reading Lists

The Dinner: A Novel

By Herman Koch
Two couples are having a companionable dinner together in a posh restaurant in Amsterdam. During the courses of the dinner, we start to see that things are not what they appear. Each couple has a 15 year old son, and we slowly find out that these children have done something truly horrific, and the parents are trying to decide how best to handle the situation. Described as the Dutch “Gone Girl,” as this book progresses, you will find your sympathies swinging from one side to the other right until the last page. You will end up shaking your head in amazement, reeling from the twists and turns in this psychological thriller. Check Our Catalog

The Edge of the Earth

By Christina Schwarz
A young married couple, living in the late nineteenth century, come to live in a lighthouse on Point Lucia, California. Trudy travels with Oskar from Wisconsin to start a life together-but life at the lighthouse is not what Oskar expected, and Oskar is not what Trudy expected, either. Trudy makes the best of it, becoming a teacher to the four children of the other lighthouse keeper, befriending their mother, and satisfying her scientific curiosity by studying the sea life surrounding her. But there is a deep secret on this island, and the tension generated by this secret leads to a dramatic climax which will keep you turning pages right until the end. Check Our Catalog

Good House

By Ann Leary
Hildy Good is a successful real estate broker, loving mother and grandmother-and a secret drinker. Hildy like to think she has been rehabilitated, but after she befriends a woman new to her small town, they become more than drinking buddies-and because of Hildy’s alcoholic behavior, she endangers her new friend and her family. Hildy needs to get back on track before she explodes the lives of the people she knows. Check Our Catalog

History of Love

By Nicole Krauss
Leo Gursky, alone in New York, would like to sure that someone notices when he dies-he feels he knows no one, even though when he was a young man in Poland he had both fallen in love and written a book about his lover, called, “The History of Love.” Leo has never gotten over both the loss of his lover, and the loss of the book. But in another part of New York City, teen-aged Alma, overwhelmed by her dysfunctional family, decides to find out the story behind her name-for she is named for the heroine of Leo’s boo, which, it turns out, was published under a different author in a different country. The next step is to connect Leo and Alma, and confront loneliness, love and the importance of the human connection. Check Our Catalog

House Girl

By Tara Conklin
When lawyer Lena Sparrow is told to find the perfect case for a class action suit that will be on the behalf of the descendants of American slaves, she sets out to find a living descendant of a house girl named Josephine, who was rumored to be the actual painter of paintings which her white slave owner had claimed were painted by the slave owner herself. There is a tie between Lena and Josephine that adds to the connection between the two women, and the two different worlds of modern day New York City and the Old South. Check Our Catalog

The Interestings

By Meg Wolitzer
Six teen-agers meet at a summer art camp and become inseparable. It is the summer of 1974, and Julie cannot believe that she has been asked to join a group that calls itself “the interestings.” The book reveals what happens to the group over 35 years-there are deaths, marriages, and tragedy. Although Julie has never really believed her life was as “interesting” as that of her friends, she begins to come to terms with her own life. Check Our Catalog

Life after Life

By Kate Atkinson
In this novel, the main characters is born dead-and then in the next chapter is immediately born alive on a snowy night in 1910. Ursula’s destiny it the repeatedly die and then be reincarnated in the same life, where she often tries to correct her own mis-steps and the mis-steps of others. A type of alternate time travel, this is a beautifully written novel, which also highlights the history of women during World War II. Check Our Catalog

Love, Water, Memory

By Jennie Shortridge
Lucie wakes up in knee deep water in San Francisco Bay, and has not idea how she has gotten there from her home in Seattle. She has a rare form of amnesia, which is complicated by the fact that she never really told her fiancée that much about her parents and her only living relative, Aunt Helen. The book has to solve the mystery of Lucie’s past, see if she can get at the truth, and find out if she and her fiancée will have a future together. Check Our Catalog

The Movement of Stars

By Amy Brill
This is an historical fiction debut novel, based and a woman who was one of the first women astronomers in the U.S. Hannah Gardner Price would like to discover a new comet and win a gold medal from the King of Denmark. As a young Quaker woman living in Nantucket, she dreams, but realistically believes her chance of doing so is nil. Hannah is alone until a dark skinned sailor turns up on her doorstep looking to learn how to use a seaman’s instrument. Hannah’s dream and her relationship set into motion a chain of events that change her life forever. Check Our Catalog

Tapestry of Fortunes

By Elizabeth Berg
Cecilia Ross’s best friend has died, and this loss starts Cece on a quest to change her life, and right some old wrongs. She takes a leave of absence from her jobs, sells her home and downsizes to live with three interesting female room-mates. After a short time, the ladies embark on a journey to see if the can rectify mistakes they have made in the past. This is a “feel good” kind of book, and we can always use that. Check Our Catalog