ABC Book Suggestions
Members' Suggestions
Early in 2008, Shirley suggested "Zookeeper's Wife" by Diane Ackerman, Ann suggested "The Penelopiad" by Margaret Atwood, Leslie suggested Quintet - book by Cape Breton author (http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Books/1044050.html), Jess suggested History of Love by NIcole Krauss, and Holly suggested Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. Later in 2008, Leslie suggested Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780375414954.html) ...
Virve suggested "The Film Club" by David Gilmour
In Aug. 2007, suggestions were:
"Elizabeth Costello: Eight Lessons by J.M. Coetzee
"Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (or her Pulitzer Prize winning March)
"Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. I heard this discussed on radio and sounded really interesting;
if you have a minute or 2 see http://www.calamityphysics.com/main.htm it’s cute.
"Peeling an Onion: a memoir by Gunter Grass
"Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
"The Rules of Engagement by Catherine Bush
"Bitter Chocolate" (the movie 'Black Gold' about coffee farmers in Ethiopia & found it very interesting)
"What Could He Be Thinking? How a Man's Mind Really Works" by Michael Gurian
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
The memory keeper’s daughter by Kim Edwards
How to be good by Nick Hornby
Children of My heart by Gabrielle Roy (a 2007 Canada Reads contender)
BTW,the other Canada Rads books are (besides the above)
Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis,
The Song of Kahunsha by Anosh Irani,
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill, AND
Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor
In Feb. 2007, Lesley plans to read "The Cave" by Jose Saramago (winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998)
Suggestions as of Tues., Jan. 30, 2007
- Virve suggested "A Spot of Bother" by "Mark Haddon" (of "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" fame.
- Roxanne suggested "Snow" by "Orhan Pamuk" (2006 Nobel Prize).
- "Wicked" by "Gregory Maguire" was also mentioned; it was recommended by Vicki last Christmas.
- Also, Susan has just read "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal" by "Christopher Moore". I'm reading and enjoying it now.
- Cathy is reading "Lay of the Land" by "Richard Ford" (of "Independence Day" fame).
Halifax-based writer Donna Morrissey, author of Sylvanus Now and Kit?s Law, will be giving a special reading at the Killam Library as part of Dalhousie Open House 2006 and the Canadian Literary Collections Project (CLCP) Public Reading Series. Familiar to millions of Canadians as the winner of the 2005 "Canada Reads" contest, championing the novel Rockbound by Frank Parker Day, Donna is a wildly successful novelist herself, having written three award-winning bestsellers:
- "Kit's Law" (1999),
- "Downhill Chance" (2002), and most recently
- "Sylvanus Now" (2005).
BTW, check out the New York Times list of 100 notable books of the year at "Times Notable 100"
The Ash Garden by Denis Bock;
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf"
'The Secret Life of Bees'
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
2005"A Complicated Kindness"
Here are some suggestions from 2004:
"A Town like Alice""About a Boy" or "How to Be Good" by "In a Sunburned Country" by
"Jessica"
"Morgan's Run"
"Oscar and Lucinda"
"Rabbit Proof Fence"
"The Navigator of New York"
"The Stone Carvers" or "The Underpainter" by Jane Urquhart
"The Vine of Desire"
"Vanishing Points"
"Waiting"
"A Good House"
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"
"Alias Grace" or "" by Atwood
"Blue Trust"
"Candide"
"Crooked Little Heart"
Library Book Club Suggestions
Local libraries have multiple copies of the following books because they were used in their clubs:
2001-2002- A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
- Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards
- Last Orders by Graham Swift (19)
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Burden of Desire by Robert MacNeil
- Whylah Falls by George Elliott Clarke
- The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
- Larry's Party by Carol Shields
- The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (8)
- The Ash Garden by Denis Bock
- The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- The Pearl and The Red Pony both by John Steinbeck.
- Cape Breton Road by D.R. MacDonald
- Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel (CBC Canada Reads)
- Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
- The Atonement by Ian McEwan
- American Pastoral by Philip Roth
- Unless By Carol Shields
- For whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (8)
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories by Alice Munroe
- God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
- Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
- Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
- Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaege
- Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan
- Lost Salt Gift of Blood by Alistair MacLeod (16)
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
- Love by Toni Morrison
- The Radiant Way by Margaret Drabble
- Late in a Slow Time by Carole Langille
- Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
- Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
- The In Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
- Time Lord: The Remarkable Canadian Who Missed His Train and Changed the
- World by Clark Blaise (10)
- Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toewes
- George and Rue by George Elliot Clarke
- Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier (14)
- Door of My Heart by Maxine Tynes
- Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A podcast of Natalie MacLean (wine expert) http://www.nataliemaclean.com/audio/wine_with_books.mp3 recommends wines to drink with books (being given as Christmas presents). Now doesn't THAT open up a whole new world of possibilities for our meetings! We must research this further! ASAP!
Below are Natalie's picks
- Fall on Your Knees, Anne Marie MacDonald: Vineland estates semi-dry Riesling Combination of sweetness and acidity, bittersweet memories
- Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden: Japanese sake, serve warm (though in the movie it seemed revenge was a dish best served cold)
- War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy: Port, fortified and keeps well on a long journey
- The unbearable lightness of being, Milan Kundera: German Riesling, packed with flavour, but low in alcohol so you won't go to sleep. Contradiction of phrases in title of the book. A gem, a discovery like the book
- The devil wears Prada (book or movie) Lauren Wiesburger: A cult, rare, sought after, expensive cabernet from California. Like Dominus Screaming eagle, Bruce family,. Hard to get, but people drink them like badges, $100 +
- Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte: Dark, brooding muscular Heathcliff - robust Australian shiraz or Chilean cabernet