2009 Book List Recommendations -- Maureen Corrigan's

1.  The Woman Behind the New Deal (Kirsten Downey)

2. Fordlandia (Greg Grandin)

3.  Dancing in the Dark (Morris Dickstein)

4.  Happens Every Day (Isabel Gillies)

5.  The James Deans (Reed Farrel Coleman)

6.  The Believers (Zoe Heller)

7.  A Gate at the Stairs (Lorrie Moore)

8.  Brookly (Golm Toibin)

9.  The Man in the Wooden Hat (Jane Gardam)

10. The Financial Lives of the Poets (Jess Walter)

Source:  NPR.com Best Books of 2009

The Christmas Clock ....by Kat Martin

This is a little feel good novel -- more like a short story.  There is never any doubt about where the story is headed from the very beginning, but the brevity of the  work makes that bearable.  Very quick read - recommended for a plane ride.

The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs (Book 2 of the Lakeshore Chronicles)

I just finished the 2nd book in the Lakeshore Chronicles series.  This is another piece of sappy chick-lit, but oh-so pleasant to listen to in the car after looking at spreadsheets all day.
Easy and happy -- the guy always gets the girl and vice versa.  :-)

The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

I just finished this book based a  friendship between high school girls who managed to maintain a connection over decades despite geographical challenges, differences in religion, variable socio-economic situations, and different home life philosophies.
I did enjoy reading about how they maintained their connection.  Quite honestly though, while I was reading about their bonding during highschool, I couldn't shake the idea that they were a mean girls clique.  I wonder how a sequel "All the Other Girls from Ames" would read?

READING LIST -- "For Heartbreak"

1.  Anna Karanina by Leo Tolstoy
2.  The Beans of Egypt Maine by Carolyn Chute
3.  The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
4.  Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
5.  The Famished Road by Ben Okri
6.  The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
7.  Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price
8.  Heartburn by Nora Ephron
9.  Middlemarch by George Eliot
10. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Taken from 1001 Books for Every Mood

READING LIST -- "For Intrigue"

1.  All the President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
2.  Brotherhood of Rose by David Morrell
3.  The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
4.  The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
5.  The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson
6.  The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
7.  Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
8.  The Last Spymaster by Gayle Lynds
9.  The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
10. The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
11.  Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy by John Le Carre
12.  The Untouchable by John Banville

I have ready # 3 and # 9.    #9 is one of Grisham's best novels.
Does anyone else have comments on any of these?

Taken from 1001 Books for Every Mood.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

This book was written by the same author as one I previously posted (The Bridge of Sighs) below. 
I thought "The Bridge of Sighs" was okay, but not great -- howeer I frequently read an author in more than one work before I jump to a conclusion.  In this case it was fortuitous.  "Empire Falls" was an excellent character study.  Humor with a bit of an underlying dark side and some surprises toward the end.  

READING LIST -- "To Celebrate the Season"

1.  A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
2.  A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
3.  Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd
4.  Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
5.  An Idiot Girl's Christmas: True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List by Lauri Notaro
6.  Miracle on the 17th Green by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge
7.  The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey by Roger Highfield.
8.  Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
9.  The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore.

Has anyone read any of these?  If so, please review.

1001 Books for Every Mood

I picked this up at the library and have had some fun reading it.  I'll post a few of the book lists here - for fun.  It is an interesting way to create a reading list (by mood), and I was impressed that there is an eclectic selection of books listed.  So there is a little something for everyone, not necessarily pigeon-holed to one style.

Celebutantes -- (really?)

This book was something that any of us (talent or no talent) could write if we had the background smut.  No literary awards here - for sure.  Still -- I didn't stop reading because I was captured by my weakness to gauk at the shallow personalilties & weirdness of the Hollywood-types.  This is fiction, yes -- but one wonders if there is much truth written within those lines....
Don't bother unless you are trapped without anything to do or read -- or unless you are a lurker, like me.