Good intro novel for this author who needs to hone his skills a bit to be a great writer. I would not have picked up the book had it not been chosen by another member. However, it was an interesting read which created lots of discussion points.

Our book club enjoyed this story. Two members did not connect with the characters in the book, but most felt the book was so compellingly written that they could not put the book down until finished. This is a descriptive story about family and the love the grows from those ties even during pain and loss.

The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 is reviewed in great and exhaustive detail in this book. This author will really make you consider (in depth) the vulnerability of society to an epidemic (you may find yourself wanting to buy a shelter for your home!). Furthermore, what this book teaches you about scientific thought and the history of modern medicine is so well written and thought provoking it will have you talking about odd facts with friends and even strangers on the street. For example, I had no idea that 100 years ago, it was easier to get certified to be a physician than it was to go to college. This book is one of the best and most informative books I have read in a long time and it was well-researched and easy to read.

I have received many many internet warnings about this book. Most say do not read it or see the movie, because it is against Christianity. In my opinion, (as a Christian) this was a fantasy book nothing more nothing less. The story is about a young girl living in another universe (closely resembling our own but different in important ways), who goes on a journey to save missing children. The writing is very descriptive, full of vocabulary that even I had to look up in the dictionary. I thought the storyline was interesting, but the ending fell flat and inhumane. The author is an avowed atheist and anti-religious sentiment can be found within the storyline. Yet, the book certainly did not affect my faith but was interesting to read (one can find far worse anti-religious statements on TV). If my teenager was reading this book, I would read it with her and use the storyline to discuss our faith in greater depth. I do not see this as a children's book, the storyline is too dark and the ending disturbing.

If you have ever changed your name, or agonized over the process of naming your children, or thought about how a name defines a person and the life it directs; this is the book for you. Lahiri will take you on a magical Indian carpet ride through two generations; immigrant parents who keep one foot planted in India while trying to become Americans and their son with both his feet perplexed and baffled at being planted in America. This journey of self discovery is brilliant, although I felt the ending left some plot lines unfinished. Despite this omission, I highly recommend this book for your book club.

A friend of mine asked me to read this book for her and review it because she could not finish it in time for her book club (and she added... because she tried to read the book, but just could not get past a "talking Gorilla" "who will save the world"). I read the book in a weekend and spent the next few years thinking, mulling, and ruminating about the tenants within. This book, if you let it, will take you outside of your comfort level and allow you to look in our our culture from a new perspective. One reason this book would be a good choice for a book club is that it s full of discussion threads to fill a week, let alone one night. The book will either be loved or absolutely hated. There is no in between! If you like this book, you will adore My Ishmael, which I thought was better written and a much happier tale than Ishmael. I did not care for the Story of B, but as this is a trilogy it is a must read if you start Ishmael.

This book is a bizarre memoir about a harrowing escape from an extreme "religious" FLDS group which treats women like cattle, uses them to breed children and who are bought, sold and traded like so chattel and goods. The FLDS people are isolated and controlled by the doctrines established by a few men. This book drops you in to this degrading and sad existence. It is incredible to think that this type of thinking exists in modern day America and more importantly that this amazing tale is told by a woman who had the wits about her to escape with her children (all eight of them!). Although I found the writing style to be a bit drab, the telling of this tale is one that needed to be told and I am so glad that the author was able to do so. Hopefully her words will inspire men women and children in similar situations that hope is not lost and that they too can change their "proscribed" and "dictated" futures.

My book club enjoyed this story of a man's life and how he responded to misery and happiness. The book vividly introduces the reader to animals with characters that shine; as well as gives the reader a glimpse of what it is like to be old in body but young in heart and spirit. If you like human dramas this book will touch you.

I detested the lead character in this book. The middle of the book seemed to ramble on with no direction. That said, this book has a lot of good topics raised within for a book club discussion. This is not a book to take on vacation but would be fine to raise interesting topics for a group discussion.

This book although intense and wrenching at time uses the most powerful and beautiful prose to transport the reader back in time to the 18th and 19th century slave trade. This book is classic history through fiction; clearly researched well and the narrative so artfully and perfectly written that I could not put down the book. The lead character will inspire you. This book is breathtaking. This book is the best I have read in the past five years!

This was a good book. A true story about one man's journey to make a difference in the world through education of Central Asia's poor. It is an interesting look into the life of those living in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, I recommend it with reservations. The ghost writer skips between time and place and I found the book to be disjointed. Furthermore there is so much history and detail needed to really get a good flavor of the material that some people initially got lost in the details. As one member of our book club said, "do not read this book for the details, read it for the love story". With all that being said I recommend this book to inspire the reader to take the example of Greg Mortenson and make a difference in the world through your persistent and colorful actions.

Fun wacky little read about the lives a several friends. This is a quick read that will make you laugh and cry. If you are looking for a good book to read in the airport or at the beach about friendship and overcoming challenges and abuse, this is your book.

This was one of my favorite books we have read in three years. The story is written in beautiful prose. The topics are so diverse that your club will have hours of interesting discussion. I highly recommend this one.

From Amazon:
"Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication."

This book is a love letter written by a daughter to her father. It is about that place one passes between childhood and married life, the middle place where sometimes you feel as if you fit in and other times you feel like you do not. This is also a story about cancer, and family and how we celebrate life. Our club had plenty to discuss after reading this memoire.

This book was such a fun read. The author is exceptional; weaving the story about the main character, Olive, a retired school teacher, through the eyes and experiences of many other characters all living or passing through Olive's small town. Most of the chapters are about these other characters with small sprinkled clues into the life and perspective of Olive. These stories are compelling short narratives on life. One really gets a unique and different perspective of the main character through this method of writing. It is like reading one of those 3D puzzles my grand mother likes to do on the weekends. One piece at a time, through each chapter the puzzle, Olive comes together in 3D. Another aspect of Strout's writing that I like is the amount of details she imbibes into each character. I finished this book with such a good feeling, I wanted more!

Once you get over the fact that the book is written viz letters back and forth this book really captures the time and age of 1940s.

This first edition, murder mystery was written by Jefferson Bass, a combination of two authors: Dr. Bill Bass, renowned forensic anthropologist with the University of Tennessee and the University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility (otherwise known as the Body Farm), and writer Jon Jefferson. Their writing style while flat in this first edition does get better in subsequent books. I found this first book to be lacking but still enjoyable. It is a murder mystery based in fiction but built upon solid facts taken from Dr. Bass's own experiences blended with Jefferson's fictional narratives.

Summary:
"This installment of the Body Farm series finds Dr. Brockton called to Cooke County, Tennessee by Sheriff Tom Kitchings, where a woman’s corpse lies mummified in a cave. When evidence of murder is revealed, Brockton, with the aid of Arthur Bohanan, criminalist with the Knoxville Police Department, embarks on his own investigation as to who killed the young woman and the unborn child she carried. Brockton soon finds himself stonewalled by the Sheriff and his deputies while someone is stealing evidence from his offices at U.T. The investigation leads Brockton and Bohanan into danger more than once, and forces Brockton to face the grief he has carried over the death of his wife two years earlier." (from Christy Tillery French at: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewArticle.asp?id=31394)

Readers familiar with Knoxville will enjoy the many references to local landmarks and traditions. In fact, I found myself laughing out right many times. Those who appreciate corny jokes and poorly chosen character names (e.g: a love interest is named "Lovelady") will unfortunately not be disappointed. Lastly, those curious about crime scene investigations and the science of decomposition of the body, will enjoy following Dr. Brockton through the Body Farm and his murder mysteries.

Non fiction books usually scare people because they seem to routinely be boring and hard to read. However my book club enjoyed this read. Ms. Skloot does a great job of blending history and science to give an honest and interesting portrayal of the past, present and future of tissue donation as well as current hot topics in medical ethics.

This book read like fiction. It is the true story of three peoples lives and their immigration form the South to the North over a lifetime. History lives in this book. Fascinating.