2009 Book List

Title & Author

January- Nicollette

The White Tiger by Arivand Adiga ****

Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life — having nothing but his own wits to help him along. Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village’s wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man’s (very unlucky) son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram’s new world is a revelation. This is a dark and satirical view of modern India. This has been the year of “Slum dog Millionaire” and White Tiger- as this book won the Booker Prize. We all agreed that we were glad we read it and we agreed it was dark.

February- Weekend Getaway Book

The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell  ****

Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the “self-made man,” he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don’t arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, “some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky.” We found the 10,000 hour rule, and the chapter about plane crashes and culture, very interesting. We ended up talking about this one in the car from one city to another on our road trip!

March- Lyn

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson****

An epic tale of serial murder and corporate trickery spanning several continents, the novel takes in complicated international financial fraud and the buried evil past of a wealthy Swedish industrial family. Through its main character, it also references classic forbears of the crime thriller genre while stylistically follows and mixes aspects of the sub-genres. There are mentions of Astrid Lindgren, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers; as well as Sue Grafton, Val McDermid, Elizabeth George, Sara Paretsky and several other key figures in the history of the detective novel. As a journalist and magazine editor in Stockholm until his death, Larsson reveals a knowledge and enjoyment of both English and American crime fiction. He declared that he wrote his opus in the evening after work for his own pleasure. Everyone enjoyed it, and agreed they needed a roadmap for the characters. Many could not wait for the sequel which is now out in the U.S. We had an opportunity to vote for it last month, as Sylvia recommended it, the vote went to Gargoyle.

April- Gina

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen*****

Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn’t a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell.  We were all amazed at the level of research and detail of circus life that the author researched and brought to life for us. We all loved the book and the ending was, well if you have not read it, we won’t ruin it for you. I have yet to meet a soul that could not put this one down.

May- Becky

Honeymoon in Tehran by Azadeh Moaveni ****

The author  decides to return to her parent’s homeland and leave behind the comforts of the west. The costs and risks she inflicted upon herself and her family made most of us uncomfortable. We felt we learned many interesting things about the culture and lifestyle in Iran, the politics and the class structure and the uneasiness which permeates everyday life for the residents. Additionally, we were exposed to these from the perspective of an ambitious young journalist going through traditional rites of passage: marriage and child-birth, which provided more material for discussion. This book was read and discussed by the group prior to the election in Iran, which shed a lot of light on what was going on during those days the world watched.

June- Debbie

Etta by Gerald Kolpar ***

Beautiful, elusive, and refined, Etta Place captivated the nation at the turn of the last century as she dodged the law with the Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Her true identity and fate have remained a mystery that has tantalized historians for decades. Now, for the first time, Gerald Kolpan envisions this remarkable woman’s life in a stunning debut novel. A fun light read, we all agreed it would make a great movie.

August – Kelly

The Help by Kathryn Stoekert *****

…set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing about what disturbs you. If you have read this book, would you like to take a guess what our host served for dessert the evening we discussed this book?

September- Heather

The Unlikely Disciple by Richard Roose ****

We discussed Heather’s recommendation, An Unlikely Disciple: “A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University.” I think we were all struck by how non-controversial the book was. While the subject matter certainly would lend itself to a wide range of viewpoints, we all agreed the young author did an outstanding job of navigating the waters and presenting a fair representation of his experience. The struggles of the author and the students he found at Liberty did not appear to be all that different from one another and he seemed as surprised as anyone to discover this.

October- Sylvia

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson ***

An extraordinary debut novel of love that survives the fires of hell and transcends the boundaries of time.

The narrator of The Gargoyle is a very contemporary cynic, physically beautiful and sexually adept, who dwells in the moral vacuum that is modern life. As the book opens, he is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide—for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul. Our group agreed it was a fantasy love story with many layers.

November- Catherine

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See ***- Let us know what you think! Our group discussion for this book was lively. We all enjoyed the learnings of this period of history (Japan attacking China pre WW2), and the new life Chinese immigrants led in California in arranged marriages. The relationships, and characters in the books were well written. We agreed that the story line was predictable, the reality is Lisa See made it interesting and also left the story open for you to want more, and we later researched and saw that there will be a sequel where the main character follows her daughter back to China to find her father.

December- Book exchange – this is the month we wrap books for our exchange holiday party where we have a grab bag of book club worthy books. We will share the list!

Debbie’s Rating System :

*****  Great Read, and you will learn

****    Good Read, you will learn, or simply enjoy the story

***      Take it to the beach and enjoy for enjoyments sake

**        Over rated

*          Pass