A Southern Reader's 75 for 2015

1. All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr. A magical beginning for 2015. I had heard this was one of 2014's best but for some reason, it never made it to the top of the pile. A blind French girl & a young German boy soldier become connected by radio during the horror of WWII. A story of their way too short childhood that was taken away by the war. A simple story but the words, at times, are so profound & beautiful.

Welcome back!

And, as always, thank you. This year, I am intent of reducing my overwhelming stash of books that I own, but have not read. Hopefully, I will make a dent on them but the lure of the library is always out there!

2. The Innocent Man, John Grisham. The popular writer of legal thrillers delved into non-fiction with this tale of a wrongful murder conviction of 2 Oklahoma men in the small town of Ada. While the subject was compelling, the book was laden with torturous trial & evidence detail that ultimately turned this reader away.

3. Guests On Earth, Lee Smith. A long time favorite author (she is delightful in person & so interesting when she gives a reading) writes about Highland Hospital in Asheville NC & all of its inhabitants, including Zelda Fitzgerald. Evalina Toussaint is an orphan from New Orleans that lives a large part of her life at the hospital, under the care of Dr. Carroll & his wife. She observes both staff & patients from this position, & as she does, parts of her life come to the forefront.

4. An Old Fashioned Girl, Louisa May Alcott. A charming story of a 'country mouse' visiting much richer relations that though they have more money, don't have the happiness that little Polly has in her gentile poverty. Polly rescues the family through her kind loving ways & though the family loses their fortune, they are ever so much happier. This seemed like it would have been vey popular back in the day, but it didn't hold my interest. It also drove me crazy that the characters used such poor grammer, though they were supposed to be 'in' society.

5. Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips. Greek gods living in contemporary London have declining power since no one really believes in them anymore. Enter a mortal girl who becomes the object of Apollo's affection & all Hades ensues. Through a series of actions, she is sent to the underworld & the man who loves her turns into a modern day hero, as he descends to retrieve her (with a little help from Artemis). A weird little book.

6. The Mockingbird Next Door, Marja Mills. Life with Alice & Nelle Harper Lee in Monroeville, AL. I read reviews that didn't like the book & were expecting more. I thought this is exactly what the reader should expect; it is subtitled "Life With Harper Lee". An account of extraordinary women born into a unique southern family that shaped them into who they became. Women who are independent, free thinkers, who live for themselves & not how society would like them to live

7. 11/22/63, Stephen King. A departure from his usual horror genre, this novel is several books in one because it involves time travel. Jake, goes back & forth between present time & the late '50's & early '60's with the intent to prevent the assassination of JFK. In the past, he meets the love of his life but how to choose between the two. He suceeds in stopping LHO but loses the girl. When he steps back into present time, he discovers that everything has a price & 2014 is not what he left. Will he go back to reset the past & let events unfold the way history dictates? A very highly readable book-a good thing because it weighs in at about 850 pages.

8. All My Sins Remembered, Rosie Thomas. A multi-generational family saga centering on a pair of twins in pre WWI. As they marry, the story continues onto the children of one of them, whose 'magic circle' includes their first cousin. The girl cousins' jealousy over the other is the driving force of the novel. Very readable with several intriguing story lines that include the build up to Nazi power, a painter who paints the cousins, the male family members in the 'circle', & as always, the self discovery of the 'good' cousin. Very entertaining novel that kept my interest throughout.

9.This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett. A book of her magazine essays that have appeared during her writing career. While we learn some information over again due to the inescapable fact of the essays appearing at different times, in different magazines; this a thoughtful, well edited book. She is such a wonderful writer, that you quickly grasp the bigger picture & enjoy the flow of words. I highly recommend this as a 'reader's read'--especially the essay about the comeback of the independent bookstore!!

10. The Burning Room, Michael Connelly. A Harry Bosch crime novel that seems to have lost its grit. I found the plot very contrived & it did not seem to flow like his other books. Connelly is a great LAPD crime writer but I did not enjoy this one like I have many of his others. Bosch & his new Latina partner are working cold cases. Amazingly, she was a survivor of a long ago fire, & while working another case, they manage to solve the fire too. In fact, they solve a bunch of cases-all while investigating one robbery/homicide.

11. Personal, Lee Child. A quick read that skips along with Jack Reacher as he tries to find the deadliest sniper in the world that is suspected to be planning an attack on the G8. Another in the good series with an unusual hero that travels the world with only his wits & his toothbrush.

12. Natchez Burning, Greg Iles. A be mammoth book with the return of Penn Cage; lawyer, mayor & best selling author. This time it is personal. Penn's father is accused of murder & Penn is out to uncover long-buried secrets that lead to crimes committed in the '60s by a group that makes the KKK look like amateurs. I read the first half of the nearly 800 pages with avid interest but about then, I realized his editor could have taken a stricter hand. It is part one of a planned triology so not everything was wrapped up at the end.

13. Orphan Train, Christina B. Kline. Based on an actual part of American history, this is the tale of two orphans. Their stories occur in 1929-present & the other in 2011. A lost girl finds a 'orphan train' survivor. While cleaning out her attic, she hears Vivian's story & helps her find part of her long lost family. A very quick readable book that was very sad in parts but equally uplifting too.

14. Daughter of Empire:My Life as a Mountbatten, Lady Pamela Hicks. A ring side seat to history is provided to this daughter of impressive lineage. Pamela is the daughter of Lord Mountbatten, first cousin to Prince Phillip & life long friend to Queen Elizabeth. The first part of the book is her childhood, when she was left for extended periods of time as her parents traveled the world. The middle part of the book is her years in India, while her father serves as viceroy, before the country reclaims its independence. The last part of her book concerns her travels with the young Princess as she embarks on her first world tour. Interesting stories about many important historical figures.

15. The Night Circus, Erin Morganstern. I am late to the party on this novel, as it was the book a few years ago. As I read through numerous reviews, it is apparent that it is a very polarizing novel--many, many people thought it was enchanting. I didn't. The visual descriptions were fabulous & they drew quite a picture in your imagination but the characters did not seem to act as themselves; they were merely puppets to advance the rather convoluted ending. I did not find them well developed & as a rule, magic doesn't really work for me.

16. The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters. A romance set in post WWI London. Frances & her mother are forced to accept lodgers to help with their dire financial situation. Leonard & Lilian move into the rooms upstairs, & from there, Frances' life unravels as she becomes immersed in their lives. A murder happens at the house & a trial ensues. Are the guilty really punished? The novel could have used a stronger hand with the last half. The post murder portion of the book could have been condensed. At 560+ pages, it ran on too long.

17. Night, Elie Wiesel. A "terrifying Record" of a teenage Elie Wiesel in German concentration camps. To read about such horror is upsetting, to live through such times, is unimaginable. Elie Wiesel is one of those who speak out every day in defense of those who cannot. Lest we forget....every one should read this book & remember.

18. Every Day By The Sun, Dean Faulkner Wells. A niece's recollection of her famous uncle. Life with the huge Faulkner/Butler extended clan was always unpredictable in a family that suffered with alcoholism & depression. Dean grew up as more than a niece, since her father died before she was born. William cared for her throughout his life & she was close to the entire family, residing at Faulkners' residences at different times in her life. A touching memoir of a more innocent time when the Pulitizer & Nobel Prize winner was just "Pappy".

19. The Woman Upstairs, Claire Messud. Nora Eldridge is a lonely elementary school teacher who feels like she is being passed by in life. Then a new student enters her classroom & Nora falls in love. First, with her student Reza, then with his parents. She attachs herself to Reza's mother, Sirena, a rising artist. Together the women rent a studio to create art & Nora feels alive. As the careless family moves on with their lives, Nora is left behind. Years later, Nora visits the family in Paris & discovers a shocking betrayal which moves her toward a new start. I thought it was good with a twist at the end that I didn't see coming.

20. Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan. This is a story of a normal girl who meets a unbelieveably rich (though unassuming) history professor in NYC. When he takes her to Singapore for a family wedding, the rich close ranks & the mean girls come out. Is Nick worth fighting for? And what about all of his couture-obsessed cousins-what's up with them? A quick read of a different sort of chick lit.

>20 Bookiebeth: I've got to keep this book in mind. I like Faulkner's oeuvre, so challenging to read. Like to learn more about him.

@weird_O, this book shows him more as part of a family than an award winning author. You don't learn much about his writing process but you do learn more about him as a man.

21. The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown. A NF book about the gold medal winning crew team from Seattle in the lead up to their run for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A fascinating story of the political climate in Germany, interspersed with the lives of the working class boys who became men in 'the boat'. A very good read for everyone, not just those who like sports stories. It follows in the vein of 'Unbroken', Eric Larsen's books, "Seabiscuit", etc

22. Hotel du Lac, Anita Brookner. Edith is a writer of romances that is vacationing at a small Swiss hotel at the end of the season. She is there is ride out her indiscretion but we don't find out what that is until the middle of the book. While at the hotel, she gets marginally involved in some fellow visitors' lives, while she nurses her heartache. A very nice ending on this little novella that I enjoyed very much.

23. Attachments, Rainbow Rowell. This was in the recommended section of my local library. I had read her latest book,"Landline", last year. That left me unimpressed though the book got lots of positve press. This novel is the story of a very lonely boy trying to recover from a devestating breakup (from years ago!). His job is internet security & he ends up reading email between 2 friends at his office. He falls for one of them & she falls for him too though she just calls him "cute guy". It is a sweet happy story that reads almost as a YA. I liked it much better than her other book.

24. The Story Hour, Thrity Umrigar. I listened to the excellent audio recording of this novel. A sort of friendship starts between a young Indian immigrant & her psychologist. As they become closer, Maggie begins to draw out why the young woman is so unhappy & an act of anger has severe consequences for Maggie & her husband. For Lakshmi, it leads to great unhappiness because Maggie has helped her find happiness, independence & purpose. for Maggie, it destroys everything she has been taking for granted. Each woman has a compelling story to tell, & as the novel unfolds, you realize that expectations on both their parts led to mistakes.

25. Love In A Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford. A hilarious send-up of post war English snobs. Fanny narrates a story of society obsessed with themselves. Her cousin, Polly, has come out but is indifferent to marrying until she sets her sights on a most inappropriate man. This results in her being disinherited & opens the door for a long lost cousin, Cedric, to gain favor with her mother, a social climber relentlessly concerned with herself. The conversation sparkles in this book & it was very engaging.

26. The Hot Country, Robert Olen Butler. A first for this author is a crime novel featuring a new protagonist, newspaperman Christopher Marlowe Cobb. As he travels to Mexico in the early 20th century, he becomes involved with the civil war there. A beautiful sniper, a young pickpocket & a mercenary all play a part in this novel as Kit is the man to convince Pancho Villa to side with the USA against his potential ally, Germany. There was also a strange thread involving his mother that I thought didn't work at all. Sorry to do this but this seems like more of a guy's book; it was merely meh for me though I did enjoy another of his novels (A Small Hotel).

27. Other People's Marriages, Rosie Thomas. This has been in a cabinet at my house for a long, long time. I pulled it out & must have read it now at this point in my life to help me deal with my own situation. Nina, a rich London widow comes to the village of Grafton to overcome her grief. She is taken in by a circle of five families & from there everyone seems to unravel. She has an affair with one of the husbands & that sets off a chain reaction of marital discord among the group. In the end, four of the five couples are still together while one breaks apart. Nina herself is left with two secrets to contemplate, one of which changes her life & the other which gives her perspective on how vulnerable relationships can be.

28. The First Eagle, Tony Hillerman. This came out of left field! I noticed that he is a very prolific writer so I picked this up. This is evidently part of a series with characters, Jim Chee & Joe Leaphorn. Chee is investigating the murder of a fellow officer, while the retired Leaphorn is investigating the disappearance of a young scientist that works with infectious diseases. Both of these crimes lead deep into Navajo lore at the same time both men are drawn into the world of resistent viruses. There will be those that are huge fans, but it just didn't intrigue me-it sounds like there would be a lot of action but there really wasn't.

29. Crossing To Safety, Wallace Stegner. A beautiful yet slightly disturbing story of marriage & couple friendship that spans decades. Sid & Charity are the big, sparkling couple at the university where Larry & Sally have arrived on the lowest rung of the english department. Immediately the Langs take the Morgans under their wing & both couples begin their careers in academics. One has good success with it & the other doesn't. Despite all of life's circumstances, friendship endures as do the marriages, though each gets to see into the other's most intimate relationship.

>33 Bookiebeth: Sounds interesting. I read Angle of Repose last summer, and it too reminds us that, as you say, despite all of life's circumstances, friendship endures as do...marriages. Stegner is the American Author for June, and in anticipation, I borrowed Joe Hill and The Spectator Bird from a friend (she also offered me a bio of Stegner to read). I might look around for a copy of this book, too.

30. Mad Dash, Patricia Gaffney. Definitely a chick lit book for those in mid-life crisis. Dash is a photographer who has been married to her straight-laced history professor husband, Andrew, for 20 years. After their only child goes off to college & Dash's mother dies, she suddenly realizes they have nothing in common & are complete opposites. She packs up & retreats to their VA cabin where she tries to sort it all out while getting to know the locals & hiring a quirky young assistant for her portrait studio. Will Dash & Andrew find a way to renew their bond, since each makes the other better?

31. Wonder, RJ Palacio. A YA novel full of humor, great character lessons & compassion. Auggie Pullman is no ordinary 5th grader; hs face is 'extraordinary'. As he enters public school for the first time, he deals with all kinds of situations. Told in different voices, this is a highly readable book that is not over-the-top preachy. It has been on several lists of '100 best YA books' so I was anxious to read it & it lived up to my expectations.

32. A Southern Girl, John Warley. The first imprint of Story River Books, edited by Pat Conroy. A Southern couple with two sons adopt a young Korean girl. They eventually move back to his hometown of Charleston where he accepts a law partnership. Prejudice arises when Ali, who is the best & brightest of the 3 children, is not invited to the oldest social event in Charleston because she is not 'blood kin' of the members. A very good book with more than initially meets the eye.

33. A Mercy, Toni Morrison. I didn't love this novel--until the very end. It starts dreary & almost ends that way too. Set in a very hard cruel period in our nation's history; it is the tale of a band of women farmers & how they came to be. None of them have happy lives & not much joy. But the last page is transcendent. Sometimes we don't understand why people act the way they do; but this novella shows us the back story of why this group of women are the way they are.

34. Sarah Conley, Ellen Gilchrist. I was humming right through this little book & the story was getting good. Then at the end, I thought things sort of fell apart. Two childhood friends go to Vanderbilt & marry brothers. Sarah is summoned back to Eugenie's deathbed & into her life. Sarah should have married Jack but Eugenie claimed him first. Will Jack & Sarah be able to reclaim the feelings of their youth before they married others? Will they be able to blend two separate existences? Great lead up but too much of her working problems at the end & not enough closure--but perhaps that's the point?

35. The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' Rescued His Career & Revived Our Holiday Spirits, Les Standiford. A small little volume that is about exactly what the title says. It offers a small slice of Dickens's personal life & a big share of his business life. Dickens was an energetic writer who always needed money. And he cast his small little 'carol' out into the world to solve his monetary problems. I learned quite a bit about him & about his best known work. That was interesting but I found it difficult to plow through the large sections of his business dealings.

36. Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College, Andrew Ferguson. First of all, let me say that both my children are safely into & out (almost) of college. Therefore, this book is really funny! But if I were on the cusp of that daunting task, I probably would not be laughing. Ferguson is extremely funny in relaying his own observations about the truly crazy business of college admissions but you will get very bogged down in the data (though necessary to understand the 'business', it is extremely difficult to stay interested in the long swaths of it). But there were several places in this slim book where I laughed aloud. When he was on a website that has turned from hard information into opinion; he writes that two posters get into a 'virtual' fight about their recommendation letters & sling angry emoticons at one another--priceless!!!

37. The Professor & The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity & the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester. A very interesting little book about the creation of the OED--a truly monumental task that most of us never think about. James Murray, a philologist, is the editor of the dictionary & develops a system of how to catalog the almost impossible store of English language words. By enlisting the public's help, he is aided by Dr. William Minor, an American Civil War surgeon. He is also incarcerated at Broadmoor, a home for the criminally insane. A remarkable story that surely proves that "things happen for a reason"-for without a murder, the incredible feat that is the OED never would have occurred.

38. This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper. I was reading this & thinking I had read it before, when I realized I had seen the movie!
When their Dad dies, 3 brothers & their sister come home to sit shiva with their wacky mother. All their disfunction comes out during the 7 days they are forced to be together. Funny, painful & written in such a true voice. I will definitely look up Mr. Tropper again.

39. The Man of My Dreams, Curtis Sittenfeld. 14 year old Hannah's life blows up when she, her mother & her sister leave her house. She goes to stay with her aunt in Pittsburgh where she reads magazines that show what true love is. From this, the story develops & through the years, Hannah is involved with three men, all the while dealing with a very odd cousin named Fig. All of her relationships with men are skewed & which will turn out to be the 'man of her dreams'? We find out how Hannah is faring as the novel concludes with a long letter to her former therapist where she reveals all she has learned about 'her' men & relationships. I liked it enough but wasn't knocked over.

40. Helen, Maria Edgeworth. Originally published in 1834, this 500-page book examines the consequences of lying. A little fib turns into a major life changer for Cecilia & her friend, Helen. Helen agrees to be the subject of one man's flirtation (or more) in order to save Cecilia's marriage. All sorts of drama occurs in their families & within their circle of friends, as their deception almost ruins Helen's marital prospects. A bunch of English drawing room drama complete with the language of the day (flowery speech that contains lots of words!!) I will probably leave Ms Edgeworth to moulder as I move on to different books.

41. While We Were Watching Downton Abbey, Wendy Wax. After reading the above, I was ready for a light hearted 'chick lit' book. This fun to read summer book, offered characters that were a step beyond what is normally offered up in trade paperbacks. They all seemed real with the exception of Samantha. Any marriage that has lasted 25 years, has surely gotten into somewhat deeper conversation & more self examination than the Davis'. Friendships develop in an Atlanta highrise after the concierge sets up weekly screenings of Downton Abbey. The three main characters are all going through normal life crisis, though they forge a bond with one another & some of the building staff.

42. Sweetgrass, Mary Alice Monroe. Another chick lit book. A couple is fighting to keep their low country spread in the family. And what a family it is-two generations of family mis-steps, mistakes & miscommunication. But when the patriarch falls ill, the family rallies around & comes together to fight off developers. An interesting thread is woven into the novel as the long time family housekeeper/friend weaves sweetgrass baskets. You learn about the ancient low country tradition of these treasures. I'm a sucker for low country tales so I can't really be objective. Pretty formulaic but a couple of pretty passages about that area of the country (which is dear to my heart).

What a lot of good reading! I love your short comments. They give me a great idea about the book. I've had the Faulkner memoir on my shelf for a while. The Messud, Umrigar and Patchett all sound great, too.

>47 Bookiebeth: I really enjoy Mary Alice Monroe's books. I too love the Charleston area. I love the way she incorporates things like the sea turtles, endangered birds, etc. into her plots.

>BLBera. Oh thank you, thank you--I have been wondering if there is anyone out there reading my list. I am trying to "read my shelves" this year so my list is all over the board for sure. I am now a fan of Messud & have been a fan of Patchett's all along (she killed me w/ Bel Canto). Let me know what you are reading!

>thornton37814. I am a sucker for any & all books about the South--particularly the Lowcountry!!

43. The Yiddish Policeman's Union, Michael Chabon. I admire the author but didn't love the book. The Jews are in a section of Alaska, Sitka, that is scheduled to revert to America. Where will the over 2 million emmigrate? As this as a backdrop, Landsman & his cousin, Berko try to solve a murder of a chess genius that may have been annointed the new Messiah. Their trail leads them through the highest level of 'black hat' Jews & American corruption. In a world where Yiddish is the main language, Landsman struggles with his pessemestic outlook on life, his former wife who is now his boss & what it means to be loyal. The author is witty with his descriptors, but by the middle I was tired of them. They were way overdone though I did enjoy the sarcasm of the characters.

44. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins. I was wild to read this book but meh. Rachel rides the train past her old neighborhood. She imagines her neighbors, who she doesn't know, to have a perfect life. Until one day... She becomes involved in the woman's disappearance by virtue of being an alcoholic & being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are no redeemable characters in this novel that unfolds in alternating voices of three women. The mystery barely lasted (for me) until the mid point of the novel & by the end, I wanted it to be over because I was tired of these people.

45. Acts of God, short stories by Ellen Gilchrist. A collection of shorts linked by (mostly) just what the title says. There are stories about floods, hurricanes, old age & dying, terrorism, etc. There is one hilarious story about fighting neighbors titled "The Dogs". There were a couple that I really drew a lesson from: controlling your own life (or the end of it), & developing a sense of empathy in today's world. But most left me with a empty feeling--perhaps just what Ms. Gilchrist was intending.

46. Vinegar Hill, A. Manette Ansay. Oh, a sad sad book. All the characters are deeply unhappy & totally empty of joy. The Grier family has moved in with his parents. His father is a man full of hate & temper; his mother partial to men & so mean to Ellen, the wife. It is a story of Ellen seeking to make sense of how she came to this point--trying to save her husband from his parents, trying to save her children from a lack of love, & ultimately, trying to save herself from a life that was drowning her. A very big downer.

47. City of Women, David R. Gillham. This was a good fast paced story about Berlin during WWII. Women are left behind as Germany sends their armies east to Russia. In a city of fear, shortages & suspicion; there is a wealth of illegal activity-including hiding people from the notorious SS. Sigrid find herself pulled into this world when she takes a lover. Soon, she is smuggling Jews through the hidden network of double agents, resistance fighter & even her own returned-from-the front husband. At the ned of the book, the author asks "what would you do?"-an impossible question to put forth 70+ years later. But the author correctly captures the essence of a very readable book with memorable characters that face very big moral dilemmas. I would put this up as one of my favorites this year.

48. The Wednesday Sisters, Meg Waite Clayton. A group of five Palo Alto young women comes together at the neighborhood park & develops into a writing group. Each of the women have their own personal crisis & burdens but friendship helps them through all these rough situations which are part of life. The setting is the late sixties so as the country changes, so do they. A nice parallel. My copy of the book had a conversation with the author in the back & I enjoyed reading that as much as anything.

49.A Woman in Berlin, Anonymous. A diary kept for 8 weeks in a fallen Berlin. She evidently was a well traveled, well educated journalist of some kind that recorded the ragged end of the war from a civilian point of view. How quickly society falls apart & reforms in some fashion, when mere existence is threatened by sexual violence, starvation, & no shelter. Gritty, dark & full of suffering; the book asks what would you do? We could all hope that we would survive & still find a shred of human kindness to extend to others. This book dovetails nicely with #47 as that is the start of the War & this is how it finishes.

50. Wash, Margaret Wrinkle. Hmm..this is good timing with all of this country's racial unrest of late & on the very day that the new Harper Lee novel is published amidst cries that Finch has turned into a segregationist in his later years. This is the story of Wash, a slave born to an African mother. Mena holds tight to her native culture & passes it all onto Wash. Both are owned by Richardson, by far the most interesting character in the book. He has deeply conflicting feelings about slavery but because of deepening debt, he uses Wash as a way to provide income by hiring him out as a stud. Because of this & a head wound, Wash is unstable & temperamental though Richardson is strangely drawn to him & seeks him out to be his 'listener' as he pours out his life story.

This book is very well written but is slow--very slow. It is written in alternating voices but takes place mostly in people's thoughts. The same thing is expressed over & over, just with different illustrations of how to explain it. Though beautiful & full of big ideals, most of that was hard to get to.

51. The Seven Sisters, Margaret Drabble. The slightly strange story of Candida Wilton who is divorced late in life. Moving to London from a headmaster's wife environment, she finds the city both frightening & intoxicating. To reinvent herself, she takes an adult-ed class on Virgil but somehow ends up as a health club member when the facility converts. The first part is written as a diary, the second as a travelogue when she gathers some stragglers in her life into a trip to see the places that the ancients write about. The third is written as if she had died but it is just her imagination as she slowly re-enters her life, instead of drifting through it.

52.Beach Trip, Cathy Holton. A great cover drew me to this book & I took it on vacation with me (to the beach!). Four women reunite 25 years after college for a beach trip. Altough they had seen one another periodically, it is the first time they all four have spent extended time together. Told in alternating voices, with large sections devoted to college flashbacks, it was a quick read & I became interested in these women's lives. The author foreshadows several events that you can easily guess but it was entertaining & real. Makes me want to go back & reexamine some of my 'past lives'.

53. Gathering Prey, John Sandford. Well, I did it! I went off my resolution & forsook my bookshelves for the library. I can't resist a good offering by Sandford & snapped up his newest. He has returned to his investigator, Lucas Davenport, after writing a few about Virgil Flowers, one of Lucas' investigators. Again, set in the Upper Midwest, this book centers on a group of 'travelers' who drift around murdering & drug dealing, at the command of their Manson-type leader named Pilates. Lettie (Lucas' daughter) meets a couple of them in California, feeds them & gives them her number. The Davenports are drawn in when the young woman calls her with suspicions that her traveling companion has met a bad end. The cult group is coming East to follow the Insane Clown Posse at their gatherings. And the chase is on.

54. Luckiest Girl Alive, Jessica Knoll. TifAni FaNelli transfers to the prestigious Bradley school after some trouble at St. Mary's. There she struggles to be perfect & remake herself into one of popular crowd. She is publicly humiliated during her tenure there but goes on to reinvent herself. Now she has a great job, great fiance & a perfect life. Slowly, in flashbacks, the story of high school unfolds & the damage done to the Bradley School population is exposed. Chilling story that is fairly intense throughout.

55. All The Single Ladies, Dorothea Benton Frank. As I have said before, I am a sucker for Southern fiction, especially from the low country. Hence, the newest from DBF. A trio of women of a certain age, band together to live & find love again against the backdrop of aging relatives, wayward daughters & a woman who steals from a dead tenant's estate. A great book for lazing away a hot day on the screened porch when you are not inclined to dip into anything strenuous.

>64 Bookiebeth: I haven't read that one yet. I love Frank and her Lowcountry settings in the Charleston area.

56. Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty. A trio of women meet when their children become students at a private kindergarten. One of the children is accused of bullying. Madeline & Celeste rally around Jane & her son while the school goes into overdrive. Celeste is hiding as much of a secret as Jane, while Madeline is dealing with a teenage daughter pushing the boundaries of home life while she is trying to find her social conscientious. Madeline is the firecracker in this book as she deals with her ex-husband, his yoga-teaching wife, her job & her social group at the school as they square off against 'the bobs'.

57. Bettyville, George Hodgman. I heard Mr. Hodgman interviewed on NPR & took note of his memoir because it is a story of my generation. He returns home to Paris, MO to care for his elderly mother after an adulthood of coming to terms with his sexuality. He examines his relationship with his loving but emotionally distant parents who did not discuss his feelings of not belonging, of struggling to find himself & of the love that endures dispite the difficulties encountered along the way. A tender, poignant but wickedly funny look at aging, dementia & the human condition. He writes with beauty & grace about so much that it makes me just a little less afraid to face that long slide into losing independence. This is one of my year's highlights.

58. The Bone Tree, Greg Iles. The 2nd installment of a trilogy: starring Penn Cage, his father (Dr. Tom Cage), his fiance (Caitlyn Masters) & a huge cast of FBI men, ancient KKKers, anti-Castro mobsters & crooked lawmen. This is large book (800 pages) with at least two main plots running through it--both murders. While one involves Dr. Cage protecting old loves & standing up to the Klan during the turulent Sixties, the other is of a national & international scope. The book is highly entertaining & makes you think a lot about one of our nation's bleakest times, but again, I will say Iles could have used a stronger editing hand as it bogs in the middle before it concludes by racing through the final 125 or so pages.

59. Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee. I have to think about this book further before I say whether I like it or not. On the one hand, you admire the liberal Scout (now Jean Louise) & her inmovable stand on race & politics. On the other hand, you are disappointed when Atticus Finch continues to live within the letter of the law & seems to not want to change Maycomb's way of life. This cannot stand alongside TKAM, it is simply an earlier draft that was made into a gem by further polishing & changing the point of view. For those of us devoted to TKAM, we can imagine the future of Maycomb as we want, & simply set aside GSAW. Though the book makes many important points, it is simply too much to see some of our heros emerge with clay feet.

60. The Truth According To Us, Annie Barrows. Compared to what I read next, none of these characters seemed truly 'bad'! The book set in the '30's, starts with Layla Beck, a spoiled Senator's daughter, being sent to Macedonia , WV to work for the WPA writer's project. She starts the story but when she lodges with the Romeyn family, the narrative is taken over by 12-year-old Willa. As Layla searchs the town's legends, she uncovers the tragedy of the Romeyn family while falling for Willa's father, Felix. Layla finds her independence & true love. Willa finds out hard truths about her father, who is a charmer, but who can't handle a youthful event during which his best friend died. The event leaves Felix's sister Jottie without her beloved & she turns instead to raising Felix's daughters. A charming story that felt very americana.

61. We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver. Oh, so very creepy. An excellent book for fostering discussion of nature vs nurture. Eva is a reluctant mother that tries to have it all. Running her very successful travel company while dealing with a very diffcult child takes it toll. She feels guilt over not bonding with her child, her husband is splitting the family by refusing to see Kevin's dark abnormal side & to add to this stress-they have another child, Celia. Celia suffers the loss of an eye in an accident but was it really? Kevin is sliding into dangerous territory where no one can reach him. What happens from there, it the stuff of our (almost exclusively) American horror story that continues to happen all too frequently.

62. Mrs. Lincoln's Rival, Jennifer Chiaverini. Kate Chase, the daughter of Ohio Senator Salmon P. Chase, was an accomplished hostess & back room politician. When Lincoln is nominated for the presidency instead of her father, it sets Kate against Mary Todd, Lincoln's wife. Curiously, there is limited interaction between the two, in spite what the title suggests. Also, although the Civil War is the backdrop, it is fairly removed from these Washingtonians' lives. Instead, the book focuses on the Chase family & their political ups & downs within Lincoln's cabinet. Kate marries the 'boy' governor from Rhode Island, William Sprague, & acquires yet another politician in the family. An interesting take on real people in history.

63. The Magician's Assistant, Ann Patchett. A haunting tale of loss told in dreams & flashbacks. As Sabine, the magician's assistant & wife, tries to deal with dual losses, she discovers that her husband, Parsifal, had a midwestern family that he never mentioned. She journeys to Nebraska to visit & to try to find the hidden core of Parsifal. There she connects with his mother & two sisters while dreaming of him & their life together. A strange tale but the ending let me down--after all of that, this is all there is? Maybe that is the point.

64. Love, Rosie, Cecelia Ahern. Written by the author of "PS, I Love You", this breezy little boy-meets-girl book hums along telling the story of Alex & Rosie. Childhood friends & soulmates, they suffer through bad timing & life events while knowing deep down that each other is 'the one'. Told almost exclusively in correspondence, you know the outcome, but are none the less, entertained by the humor of the characters.

Beth, I should have been following you all along. You're reading such good books, and I appreciate your blurbs about each. *sigh* I'm already behind on the threads, but I'm dropping a star anyway.

Lizzie D, Well thank you kindly for the nice words. Love that someone out there is reading my list!!

65. The Stranger, Harlan Coben. He's back! I read about all of his neatly packaged books. I remember reading his last couple & thinking these weren't up to par but this one had me reading straight through. The internet affords its users privacy & enables us to keep secrets. But does it really? Lawyer Adam Price & his family find out the hard way that secrets can always be uncovered. The 'victims' are offered a choice--go public & admit everything or pay up. This leads to a trail of disasterous circumstances in at least two cases when the victims decide to take matters into their own hands.

66. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty. A large cast of characters centering around St. Angela's School. Cecilia runs the school & has the perfect life until she discovers a letter written by her husband, only to be read in the event of his death. Like Pandora, when she reads the letter, events happen that are everyone's repsonibility though they are all acting from misguided motives. A very good story involving the school secretary, a wife running from a husband's stunning confession that he loves her cousin & a PE teacher trying to live with pent-up guilt from long ago actions. Some really nice writing about marriage & what it takes to hold it together.

67. Dead Wake, Erik Larson. An intermingled story of the hunted & the hunter involving the sinking of the famed liner, the Lusitania. Like other of Larson's books, he delves into the backstories of many involved in the tragedy. We come to know passengers of the liner, German war officials, Woodrow Wilson & many others. In all, the book offers a look into how a certain set of circumstances come together to create an event in history that ultimatley changed the world. Very good but does not compel me to seek out other books about the lead up to WWI for the US.

68. Summer Secrets, Jane Green. I needed a chick lit book after the above so I picked this up. It was indeed a girl-meets-boy story but with alcoholism thrown in. Cat is an alcoholic who can't figure out why she doesn't fit in. She finds out about a part of her family in Nantucket, goes to visit them with disasterous results involving alcohol. Flash forward to her life in London, where she struggles to recover after her husband has left her. I liked the book until the end which is tied up neatly & everyone is happily ever after. An excellent quote in the book that should resonate every day---"Life is where you find it!!!!"

69. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot. The very sad but true story of an African-American woman who died of cervical cancer in the 1950's. Unbeknown to her or her family, doctors took cell samples & made an extraordinary discovery. Her cells were easily duplicated & therefor they were used in research throughout the world. This is the struggle of her family to understand what that means; the book raises numerous medical ethics questions for all of us. Certainly a book every biology student, every medical student, every researcher should read. What is it that makes us human? Is it our cells & DNA or is it it our souls?

70. The Silkworm, Robert Galbraith. The second Cormoran Strike novel by JK Rowling writing as RG. Strike is a PI, ex-British Special Forces amputee. As he moves through London looking for the murderer of the reviled author, Owen Quine, he is aided by his assistant, Robin. The novelist has a manuscript circulating that slanders all of those he has known, most very vilely; which increases the list of suspects exponentially. The novel is overly long with a convoluted plot but I am still waiting for the next Strike chapter to appear because there is a little something about him & Robin...

71. The Rumor, Elin Hilderbrand. Not my favorite of hers but a quick read about 2 best friends on Nantucket. One is a mother of twin girls, a master gardener with a hunky landscaper, & a husband who has big financial troubles. The other has one son, a cute pilot husband & is an author with serious writer's block. An affair by her best friend with the landscaper unblocks her while rumors swirl around the island about the two women, their husbands & their children.

72. Run, Ann Patchett. I only have two more of her books to read. I love the way she writes-I can't explain it but she is technically so good. She has one of the best imaginations of any fiction writer I have come across. 'Run' is the story of family--it all of its forms. A pair of African-American brothers are adopted into an Irish-Catholic Boston family. After their mother Bernadette dies, their father, Doyle, raises them along with their older brother Sullivan. What happens after they have grown up, on a snowy Boston night, leaves a very different definition of family.

73. Taft, Ann Patchett. The story of John Nickel, a black jazz musician who manages a bar in Memphis. He is mourning the absence of his wife, Marion & their son Franklin who have taken off to Florida. An East Tennessee girl named Taft comes to the bar seeking employment. She & John become enmeshed in each other's lives-she dragging a brother sinking beneath the weight of fatherlessness & drugs, he bringing his loneliness with him. John cares for both of the teenagers & imagines the life they once had when their father (also named Taft) was alive. Then one night, their lives take a different direction, with at least one finding their way home again.

74. Being Mortal, Atul Gawande. Aside from Gawande being a super human & making me feel very unaccomplished; this is an excellent book which ALL of us should read. We are all facing the same thing in the end & the book deals with the questions we need to ask our family members & ourselves. Though no one wants to think of death, no one wants to think of a life impaired either. I think I will buy this book so I can return to it because it makes so many points for us to keep as a daily reminder.

75. The Tilted World, Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly. This husband/wife writing team developed a story about the great flood of 1927 that has largely been forgotten by the American public. Bootleggers, saboteurs, revenuers, lonely wives, ruthless husbands, & war veterans all come together in a quick moving story that, while you may guess the ending, is an energetic read where something happens every chapter.

Congrats! And it sounds like number 75 was a good one.

YAY!! I did It. Thanks for keeping tabs & I look forward to celebrating another great reading year with all the member of "the group". Here's to 2016 though I am still keeping a list for 2015 because there are SO MANY books out there to read & enjoy.

76. The Lavender Garden, Lucinda Riley. Emile the last of the de la Martinieres, inherits her family's chateau, a famous library & a lot of debt. Enter a most dashing Englishman who offers to help & becomes quickly indispensable. With that, comes a story of an earlier generation during WWII. British secret agents & Nazis become entangled with the family during a most dangerous time in France's history. The novel moves back & forth between the two stories as it all unfolds. Certainly, the way the novel was put together, keeps it interesting & I was eager to read to the end.

77. Me Before You, Jojo Moyes. My SIL told me about this book so I have had it kicking around for awhile. Will, a successful businessman with a BIG life, ends up a quadriplegic. Louisa, a small village girl is hired to take care of him. Yes, the formula takes over from there but it is quite a good story. Louisa (Lou or as Will says, Clark) sets out to make Will's life worth living & it ends up being him, who shows her that the world is much bigger than her small family & village. A heartbreak at the end when their plans don't coincide but it was a real page-turner.

78. The Kept, James Scott. I must read another book to close out 2015 so that I can end the year on an upnote. This debut novel is dark, dreary & keeps up a relentless pace of sorrow. The characters are all pretty unlovable; no matter how well-written, I didn't love this book. A young boy, Caleb, sees his family massacred before him. As he hides in his house, he accidentally shoots his mother who has returned from a midwifing stint. After her recovery, they go in search of the killers. The book is about their journey to find the killers & to find their very souls. The killers were sent because of wrongdoing in the family-so really there are no heros here. Just terribly affected people who can't find a life.

79. Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri. This is an author!!! The first half of the book is divided into 5 short stories. They are all richly crafted, dealing with Indian-Americans & their culture but also with universally felt human emotions such as love, alienation, sadness, doubt, etc. The second half of the book is a short novella consisting of three stories about two common characters. There too, are complicated human emotions that we all share. Not until the final pages, is the true meaning of the cover discovered. I can't say this is a cheery book, but oh my-how it will move you.

80. Attachment, isabel Fonseca. Jean finds a "salacious love letter addressed to her husband" & so it begins. She assumes her husband's identity & begins corresponding with the woman. This leads her into extra-martial adventures that turn into a potential disaster. There was also a very scant side plot about endangered birds, that could have been easily left on the editing floor since it did not move the story forward at all. I didn't like this book; none of the characters were at all likable. Their nasty little personalities & daliances left me cold.

81. The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri. Audio Book. The story of an Indian family that ranges across two continents. One of two brothers is involved in rebellion politics in India & his actions deeply affect the brother studying in America. The dutiful brother goes back home to try to mend the family & there he rescues (if that can be possible), his brother's widow. I enjoyed listening to the book so much; it was easy to follow, kept my interest & was evenly paced (no "...& then...& then...) because it jumped between characters & periods of time.

82. The Fixer, Joseph Finder. I had read one of his earlier works when it was free on my kindle (Paranoia). He reminds me of a kind of John Grisham but without the lawyer protagonist. Rick is a down-on-his-luck former investigative journalist living in the ruin of his father's house. He finds a surprise hidden there & it leads him down a rabbit hole of back-room Boston deals, payoffs, threats & bribes. As Rick works to find out his father's true character, he finds some surpises along the way; including a former girlfriend from high school, a contractor neighbor who is too nosy for his own good & a Boston wheelerdealer who is not what he seems. A story that clips right along that is good for an airport read or a travel weekend.

For my Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Holiday image this year (we are so diverse!), I've chosen this photograph by local photographer Mark Lenoce of the pier at Pacific Beach to express my holiday wishes to you: Peace on Earth and Good Will toward All!