*Note: Any of the books below may be purchased from this site in association with Amazon.com Books. Follow the link.
To discuss:December 16 to December 31st 2001Book Synopsis
| Pride and Prejudiceby Jane Austen
Paperback - 295 pages Bantam Classics; ISBN: 0553213105
Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect Austen heroine: intelligent, generous,
sensible, incapable of jealousy or any other major sin. That makes her
sound like an insufferable goody-goody, but the truth is she's a
completely hip character, who if provoked is not above skewering her
antagonist with a piece of her exceptionally sharp -- but always polite
-- 18th century wit. The point is, you spend the whole book absolutely
fixated on the critical question: will Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy hook up? |
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To discuss: January 1st - 15th 2001Book Synopsis
| The Honk and Holler Opening Soonby Billie Letts
Paperback - 305 pages Warner Books; ISBN: 0446675059
From the award-winning author of "Where the Heart Is" comes the story of
a down-and-out cafe owner, Caney, who opens his restaurant after
returning from Vietnam in a wheelchair. Then one day Vena Takes Horse, a
vibrant young women, enters the cafe, changes the lives of the regulars
forever, and, eventually, captures Caney's heart. | Subject: Fiction-General
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To discuss: January 16th - 31st 2002Book Synopsis
| A Painted Houseby John Grisham
Mass Market Paperback - 496 pages Dell Island Books; ISBN: 044023722X Hardcover - 388 pages Doubleday; ISBN: 038550120X
Lucas Chandler is a seven-year-old boy who lives in an unpainted house
on an Arkansas farm with his parents and grandparents in the early
1950s. He loves Coca-Cola, baseball, and the St. Louis Cardinals, and he
plans on using the money he earns picking cotton to buy a shiny baseball
jacket from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Soon after the hired crews of
Mexicans and "hill people" arrive to help pick the Chandler family's 80
acres of cotton, Lucas sees things that cause him to lose his innocence
much earlier than he should and long for the days when he did not have
to keep secrets or worry about his and his family's safety. Legal
thriller master Grisham changes direction with this lawyer-free
coming-of-age novel, and the results are stunning. Featuring vivid
descriptions, bits of humor, and a thrilling pace, this is a suspenseful
and satisfying read. | Subject: Fiction-General
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To discuss: February 1st - 15th 2002Book Synopsis
| The Cider House Rulesby John Irving
Mass Market Paperback - 598 pages Ballantine Books; ISBN: 0345387651 Hardcover - 571 pagess Modern Library; ISBN: 0679603352
First published in 1985, The Cider House Rules is John Irving's sixth
novel. Set in rural Maine in the first half of this century, it tells
the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch--saint and obstetrician, founder and
director of the orphanage in the town of St. Cloud's, ether addict and
abortionist. It is also the story of Dr. Larch's favorite orphan, Homer
Wells, who is never adopted. |
Subject: Fiction-General
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To discuss: February 16th - 28th 2002Book Synopsis
| Pope Joanby Donna Woolfolk Cross
Paperback - 422 pages Ballantine Books (Trd Pap); ISBN: 0345416260
There are few historical heroines as fascinating and controversial as
Pope Joan, a woman whose hunger for knowledge and independent nature led
her to pass as a man and ultimately to attain the high seat in Rome.
Pope Joan is a spellbinding tale of a woman who gave up everything, even
her very name, for the sake of knowledge. |
Subject: Fiction-Historical
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To discuss: March 1st - 15th 2002Book Synopsis
| Firefly Beachby Luanne Rice
Mass Market Paperback - 378 pagess BBantam Books; ISBN: 0553573209
The daughters of hard-drinking, womanizing, Hemingwayesque artist Hugh
Renwick are traumatized by two bloody deaths. When she was five years
old, Caroline was standing next to the husband of Hugh's mistress when
he shot himself. Intent on protecting his girls, Hugh taught them to
hunt and fish, bringing about the second devastating death when Skye
shot and killed a young man thinking he was a deer. Years later Skye, a
talented sculptor, is an alcoholic and an abused wife. Caroline, who has
never married, runs an inn that caters to an artsy crowd. Her life is
turned upside down when Dr. Joe Conner, a treasure hunting oceanographer
and the son of the man who committed suicide, turns up. As a girl she
had felt a deep connection to him, and now they must struggle to make
peace with the past. Rice, usually published in hardcover, does a
masterful job of telling this powerful story of love and reconciliation. |
Subject: Fiction - General
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To discuss: March 16th - 31st 2002Book Synopsis
| Sister of My Heartby Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Paperback - 322 pages Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub (Trd Pap); ISBN: 038548951X
From the bestselling author of "The Mistress of Spices" comes a
passionate novel about the extraordinary bond between two sisters and
the family secrets, jealousies, and loves that threaten to tear them
apart |
Subject: Fiction-General
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