2010 Book List

2010 Book List - 57 read – (starred items are recommendations) 

	Title	Author	Comments
	A Million Miles in a Thousand Years	Miller, Donald	uses the analogy of creating a story to create a life
	Abduction	Cook, Robin	Divers and scientist trapped in a civilization below the sea
	All Over but the Shouting	Bragg, Rick	Pulitzer prize wining NY Times journalist tells story of growing up in rural Alabama and his mother's love
	An Echo in the Bone	Gabaldon, Diana	Jamie & Claire navigate American Revolution
*	Anthill	Wilson, E.O.	Harvard myrmecologist first attempt at fiction
	Beatrice & Virgil	Martel, Yann	Attempt a fictionalizing the holocaust
	Broken Paradise	Samarten, Cecilie	Two cousins in Cuba lead different lives after the revolution and demonstrate the power of hope
	Dance Real Slow	Jaffe, Michael Grant	A father raises his small son on his own after his wife leaves them; great portrait of the man's point of view
*	Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn	Radish, Kris	College professor mother and wife breaks free
	Double Down	Barthelme, Fredrick and Steven	Brothers blow a fortune ($250K) playing blackjack after loss of their parents; example of the seduction of gambling
*	Eating Pomegranates	Gabriel, Sarah	A memoir of mothers, daughters and the BRCA gene; haunting realistic story of breast cancer and losing your mother young
*	Einstein's God	Tippett, Krista	Scientist and Theologians discuss perspectives on God
	Every Last One	Qunidlan, Anna	A mother's every day family life is shattered by violence; moving account of dealing with grief and loss
	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Thompson, Hunter	stream of consciousness story of journalistic excess
	Finding It	Bertinelli, Valerie	inspiring story of change
	Flower Children	Swann, Maxine	Odd 1st person/3rd person story of growing up a free spirit as children of hippies in 60's
*	Half-Broke Horses	Walls, Jeannette	Wonderful tender story of author's grandmother growing up & homesteading in AZ in the early 1900's
	Healing from the Heart	Oz, Mehmet	Power of complementary medicine
	I Will Be Cleopatra	Caldwell, Zoe	Theatre actress from Australia tells story of growing up and acting beginning in the 30's
	In Silence	Sidransky, Ruth	Growing up hearing in a deaf world
*	Ines of My Soul	Allende, Isabel	A woman from Peru in 1800's travels to Chile to establish Spanish settlements; wonderful ready good history of country and good portrait of a woman
	Island Beneath the Sea	Allende, Isabel	A mulatto in Haiti goes to New Orleans in 1800's to seek her fortune
**	Just Like Us	Thorpe, Helen	Four Mexican girls, 2 illegal and 2 not, from high school through college in America; great insight on immigration issues and Mexican cultural attitudes
*	Lacuna	Kingsolver, Barbara	American born, Mexico raised young man experiences clash of cultures in 30's; interesting parallel to today in America
	Lipstick Jihad	Moaveni, Azadeh	Insight into growing up Iranian in America and returning to Iran as a journalist
	Living a Life that Matters	Kushner, Harold S	Good advice on living with purpose
	Losing It	Bertinelli, Valerie	Life story and experience of being an emotional and unconscious eater
	Lost	Lichtenstein, Alice	A woman's husband wanders away and other lost people become entwined in his search; good read
	Lost in America	Nuland, Sherwin	Memoir of Jewish father, 1st generation Russian immigrant; disturbingly honest and insight into author of "How We Die"
	Napoleon's Buttons	Le Couteur, Penny
	Paradox of Choice	Schwartz, Barry	read on Kindle
	Re-discovering Values	Wallis, Jim	A case for sharing by the President of Sojourners
	So Long, See you Tomorrow	Maxwell, William	A young boy reflects on the effect of not be-friending another whose father is killed
*	Speaking of Faith	Tippett, Kristen	Thoughts and reflections from those of faith
*	Spooky Little Girl	Notaro, Laurie	Clever story of dead girl taking care of unfinished business; Notaro is laugh out loud funny
	The 19th Wife	Ebershoff, David	Uses facts of Mormon polygamy to tell story of Bringham Young's last wife and her divorce that led to end of practice by LDS
	The Birth of Venus	Dunant, Sarah	A young woman's life in Florence in 1400's
	The Blind Side	Lewis, Michael	Story of Michael Oher and game of football
	The Blue Sweater	Novagratz, Jaqueline	Bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world
	The Few	Kershaw, Alex	Story of the few Americans who fought with RAF when the U.S. was officially neutral
	The Front	Cornwell, Patricia	poorly written, lame plot
	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Larson, Steig	Long, drawn out go nowhere intro with preposterous ending
**	The Glass Castle	Walls, Jeannette	A girl growing up in CA, AZ and WVA desperately poor with irresponsible mother and alcoholic father
	The Happiness Project	Ruben, Gretchen	A year of pursuing what can make you happy
	The Help	Stockett, Kathryn	black household help in the 60's in Jackson, MS
	The Lost Symbol	Brown, Dan	Bible is where we need to turn to advance manhood again; good read
	The Power of Flies	Salvayre, Lydia	A madman's soliloquy. Interesting writing style; authentic craziness
	The Red Tent	Diamont, Anita	Story of the only sister of Joseph, Dinah; well woven tale of women as givers of life and keepers of family history
*	The Spare Room	Garner, Helen	A woman cares for her friend with cancer who is in denial about dying; wonderful touching story
*	The Truth of the Matter	Dwe, Robb Forman	2nd in trilogy; wonderful writing good characters in story of a family
	There's no Jose Here	Thompson, Gabriel	Lives of Mexican immigrants in America
	57	Mortensen, Greg	Story of establishing schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan for children (girls especially) and the impact it can have
	Time Will Darken It	Maxwell, William	Magnificent dialog portraying family relationships and betrayals
	Truth and Beauty	Patchett, Ann	Story of author's friendship with Lucy Greeley, the author of Autobiography of a Face; tragic, insight into life of writers
	Women, Food and God	Roth, Gensen	good insights, worth re-reading to question your own thoughts
	Working in the Shadows	Thompson, Gabriel	Working in "immigrant" jobs; problems of hard physical work, low wages and poor treatment
**	Shack, The	Young, William Paul	made me think