Past Book Lists: Morning and Evening Book Groups
2010 Book Lists
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Escaping family tragedy, Liesel Meminger is take to World War II Germany to live with a colorful cast of characters who help shape her yound life. Death narrates.
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Oscar is a 300-pound self proclaimed 'nerd' with a little problem, a family curse that resurfaces with tragic results.
- The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Thursday Next is in charge of protecting classic literature from modern criminals. When her Uncle discovers a way to enter into the world of Britain's favourite novels, chaose ensues. Only Thursay can save the day.
- The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
Sherlock Holmes, now 89 and beekeeping in WWII England, take on one last case; and it involves a German-speaking parrot.
- Girls of Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith
Mary-Ann Tirone Smith crafts an engrossing memoir about the death of her childood friend at the hands of a serial killer.
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
This heartwarming novel follows the postwar stories of survivors of the German invasion of Guernsey, England during World War II.
- Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
A real-life novel about Lily Casey Smith, a plucky woman who goes from teacher to cattle ranch owner in a fast paced novel of the American west.
- I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
Meet Dominick Birdsay. Dominick's grandmother may have killed someone, his stepfather is a sadist, and his twin brother is a paranoid schizophrenic. From this dark beginning, follow Dominick in his journey towards redemption...and hope.
- The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
British comedy of manners at its best. Find out how one weekend in the country can mean curtains for the bachelorhood of two less-than-honest British aristocrats.
- An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
Welcome to Oxford, England 1663, the height of the Restoration. Dr. Robert Grove has just been murdered. Was it poison? If so, who administered the lethal dose?
- Kepler's Witch by James A. Connor
Johannes Kepler, a contemporary of Galileo, discovered the fundamental laws of motion of the planets. This sigle discovery would catapult Kepler's life into one of constant friction with the reigning religious thought of his time. LEarn how one man tried to live a simple life in the center of chaotic times.
- A Lady's Maid by Margaret Forster
The fictionalized account of the real life love affair between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning as seen through the eyes of Barrett's maid, Elizabeth Wilson.
- Longitude by Dava Sobel
Follow the story of the clockmaker, John Harrison, who solved a problem that had plagued sailors for centuries.
- Lost City of Z by David Grann
The true story of how the renown British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search for the lost city of El Dorado...and then disappeared. Find out what happened to Col. Fawcett in this gripping real life tale.
- The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester
Discover all the comedies and tregedies that befell the men who created the very first Oxford English Dictionary.
- Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
Follow the amazing life of Dr. Paul Farmer, an infectious disease specialist who works tirelessly to heal some of the poorest people on the planet.
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Welcome to Crosby, Maine, home to Olive Kitteridge, a woman who lives her life like a force of nature. Follow thirteen linked Pulitzer Prize winning tales about small town Maine life and discover how you feel about Olive.
- The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Bestselling author, Jodi Picoult, spins an engrossing tale of two families town apart by a suicide pact.
- Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
In this breathtaking thriller, author Erik Larson takes you inside the minds of two brilliant men, Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless communication, and the notorious Rnglishman Dr. H. H. Crippen, a serial murdered. Read how these two lives converge in a shocking real life adventure.
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Rediscover Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Young Scout follos her Father's troubles as he attempts to defend a black man in a segregated town.
- Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
Jake Donaghue is a young London writer who dreams of greatness. He is an overintellectualized young man filled with the anger of one tormented by an unfulfilled love. Jake loves Ann. Ann is currently in love with Jack's best mate Hugo. Hugo, is in turn in love with Sadie..who happens to be head over heels in love with Jake. Will Jake find love? Will his book get published? Find out in Under the Net.
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Explore the court of Hery XIII through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell, his controversial advisor in this 2009 Man Booker Prize award winner for fiction.
- The Woman in the Woods by Ann Joslin Williams
This is a collection of nine 'linked' stories set in northern New Hampshire.
2009 Book Lists
- All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
A testimony to the strength of author Rick Bragg's Mother, who through hard work and a sense of humor,single-handedly kept her Alabama household running.
- Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning author Wallace Stegner crafts a moving story about two couples' intertwining lives during the Great Depression.
- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsona
In this breathtaking thriller author Erik Larson takes you to the streets of Chicago's 1893 World's Fair and into the mind of a madman.
- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Author Elizabeth Gilbert takes a year off to search for peace, love and spirituality.
- The God of War by Marisa Silver
Living in the California desert with his bohemian mother and autistic brother, 12-year-old Ares Ramirez struggles with his conscience as he becomes a man in a world filled with violence.
- Here if You Need Me by Kate Braestrup
The moving and oftentimes funny memoir of how a widow and mother of three becomes a chaplain for the Maine Warden Service.
- I Claudius by Robert Graves
Discover Ancient Rome from the inside out through the fictional autobiography of Claudius, the stuttering crippled man who would one day become the fourth emperor of Rome.
- Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Dalton Trumbo follows the life of a wounded World War I soldier who awakens in a hospital with no face or limbs. A National Book Award winner.
- Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodiguez
Deborah Rodriquez attempts to bring relief to the women of war torn Afghanistan by empowering local Afghan women to become breadwinners for their family as certified beauticians
- Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain's colorful culinary memoir about the days leading up to his time
as executive chef at New York City's acclaimed Les Halles restaurant..
- The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
Learn all about Towner Whitney, who has returned to Salem Massachusettes to locate her lost Aunt Eva... but in Towner's life the truth is never what it appears to be.
- A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
A boy soldier from Sierra Leone finds the courage to break free from his country's cycle of hatred and war.
- Lost Geography by Charlotte Bacon
Local author Charlotte Bacon follows the lives of three generations of women who deal with life's trials and triumphs.
- Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
The fictional account of the real life affair between the celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney, the wife of one of the artist's Patron's.
- March by Geraldine Brooks
The 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning retelling of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women as seen through the eyes of Mr. March,who leaves his happy home to fight for the Union's cause in the Civil War.
- The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Escaping family tragedy, fat, friendless and chain-smoking Smithy Ide gets on his old Raleigh bicycle and begins an adventure that will change his life forever.
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
The true story of how one teacher dares to teach classic western literature to female students in the face of Islamic raids and shooting squads in Tehran, Iran.
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
An unforgettable retelling of the biblical story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, sister to
Joseph (with his many colored coat)..
- Silas Marner by George Eliot
George Eliot's classic novel of a miserly man who learns through a child's love that there are more important things in life than gold.
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
In this follow-up novel to his blockbuster hit The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini grants us an intimate look into the lives of two Afghan women during the rise and fall of the Taliban.
- Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer
John Krakauer explores the history of the Church of Latter-day Saints to give you a vivid understanding of one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States.
- The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Author Arvind Adiga won the 2008 Booker Prize for this novel of one man's quest to overcome hislowly circumstances in life.
- The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
Antonina and Jan Zabinski save hundreds of Jews during German occupation of Warsaw by smuggling refugees to freedom through their home in the Warsaw Zoo.