A Thousand Splendid Suns/Khaled Hosseini

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book very much. It gave me some perspective on a part of the world I shamefully admit I know little about.



As a reader who infrequently reads male authors, I was happily surprised at how well Hosseini captured his female characters.



I know that sounds discriminatory but with so many books out there, one has to narrow it down somehow. (Other male authors I admire for their ability to write women characters are Wally Lamb -- who could forget She's Come Undone? -- and Chris Bohjalian The Law of Similars and Midwives.)

The Amateur Gourmet/Adam D. Roberts

A young law student ponders his future and food claiming that discovering his inner foodie helped save him.

After admitting he is ill-suited to a career in law, Adam Roberts has an epiphany about life.

The result is this book and his food blog of the same name. He shares his journey and encourages others to embrace their hunger for life as well as food.

Along the way he consults some big names in food writing but overall his musings seem, well I'm sorry to say, rather amateur.

Belong to Me/Marisa de los Santos

I did not like this as much as the author's first book which featured the same protagonist. It seemed like there were too many voices and I would put it down when the voice changed to a character I found less interesting. I really thought I would love this as I had the author's first book, Love Walked In. The main character was just so cool, hip, urban, young, artsy, smart and kind. Here she settles down, moves to the suburbs and starts a family. She is just as likable, just not as interesting. While there was a plot twist that you don't really see coming, it did not have as much of an impact as the same technique did in the first novel. If you've read Love Walked In this is worth taking a look at but as a stand alone I'd pass it up.

And She Was/Cindy Dyson

Bones to Ashes/Kathy Reichs

Love Walked In/Marisa de los Santos

Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant:confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone/edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler

Comfort Food/Kate Jacobs

Time Is a River/Mary Alice Monroe

Publishers Weekly

Monroe delivers another novel of strong Southern women, and though this one has its share of weak moments, the author's love for her characters is palpable throughout. Mia Landan, a cancer survivor, returns to Charleston after a fly-fishing retreat and finds her husband in bed with another woman. Shocked, Mia rushes back to the mountains where she'd been fishing and seeks the help of fly fisherman Belle Carson, who offers her the use of a ramshackle cabin for the summer. Upon Mia's first trip into town, she learns why the cabin looks like it hasn't been opened in years-it's where Kate Watkins, Belle's grandmother, allegedly murdered her lover. But after Mia conveniently finds Kate's diary tucked away in the cabin, she becomes determined to get to the bottom of things, despite Belle's warnings not to stir up the mud. Through a series of occasionally contrived diary entries, flashbacks and folksy recollections from locals, the narrative juxtaposes Kate's story with Mia's self-discovery, and while the predictable ending results from implausibly convenient plot twists, Monroe's fans will still enjoy the author's spin on love, mystery and the power of self-determination. (July 2008)

Also by this author:

The Book Club

Publishers Weekly

Monroe's new novel opens as five friends, all members of a monthly book club, face turning points in their lives. Eve's husband dies suddenly, shattering her comfortable lifestyle, while Midge's mother makes an unannounced and unwelcomed reappearance. Annie finally feels ready to have a child, only to find her health and her marriage in jeopardy. Gabriella strains to make ends meet after her husband is laid off; Doris slides into depression as she tries to deny signs of her husband's infidelity. Sometimes close to and sometimes at odds with each other, the friends struggle to face harsh realities and, in the process, gain new independence. The actual book club of the title plays an oddly small role in this celebration of friendship and growth--the books the club reads are mentioned only briefly and often seem irrelevant to the women's struggles. Still, Monroe offers up believable characters in a well-crafted story.

Songs Without Words/Ann Packer

From www.bn.com:

Synopsis

Liz and Sarabeth were girlhood neighbors in the suburbs of Northern California, brought as close as sisters by the suicide of Sarabeth's mother. In the decades that followed, their relationship remained a source of continuity and strength. But when Liz's adolescent daughter enters dangerous waters, the women's friendship takes a devastating turn, forcing Liz and Sarabeth to question their most deeply held beliefs about their connection. From the bestselling author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier, Songs Without Words is the gripping story of a lifelong friendship pushed to the breaking point.

Almost Moon/Alice Sebold

From www.bn.com:

Synopsis

"When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily."

So begins The Almost Moon, Alice Sebold's astonishing, brilliant, and daring new novel. A woman steps over the line into the unthinkable in this unforgettable work by the author of The Lovely Bones and Lucky.

For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and now grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined.

Unfolding over the next twenty-four hours, this searing, fast-paced novel explores the complex ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers; the meaning of devotion; and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging, moving, gripping story, written with the fluidity and strength of voice that only Alice Sebold can bring to the page.

About the Author
Alice Sebold is the bestselling author of The Lovely Bones and Lucky: A Memoir. She lives in California with her husband, the novelist Glen David Gold.

The Quilter's Apprentice/Jennifer Chiaverini

Predictable. Amateurish. Spawned about twenty sequels and companion books that include volumes with recipes and quilt patterns. This story center's around a quilting group that gathers weekly to share tales of life, love etc. Yada, yada, yada. Similar in format to The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Knitting Circle. The story was good but it was sparsely written. Publisher's Weekly says of Chiaverini "her prose is merely serviceable and the dialogue is stilted." Skip it unless there's nothing else available.

Frog Prince/Jane Porter

Lighter than air. A girl from Fresno gets divorced, moves to San Fransisco and gets a job in event planning.

The Last Summer of You and Me/Ann Brashares

The definition of summer reading. And it takes place on New York's Fire Island.

Garden Spells/Sarah Addison Allen

Publishers Weekly

Two gifted sisters draw on their talents to belatedly forge a bond and find their ways in life in Allen's easygoing debut novel. Thirty-four-year-old Claire Waverley manifests her talent in cooking; using edible flowers, Claire creates dishes that "affect the eater in curious ways." But not all Waverley women embrace their gifts; some, including Claire's mother, escape the family's eccentric reputation by running away. She abandoned Claire and her sister when they were young. Consequently, Claire has remained close to home, unwilling to open up to new people or experiences. Claire's younger sister, Sydney, however, followed in their mother's footsteps 10 years ago and left for New York, and after a string of abusive, roustabout boyfriends, returns to Bascom, N.C., with her five-year-old daughter, Bay. As Sydney reacquaints herself with old friends and rivals, she discovers her own Waverley magic. Claire, in turn, begins to open up to her sister and in the process learns how to welcome other possibilities. Though Allen's prose can lean toward the pedestrian and the romance subplots feel perfunctory, the blending of horticultural folklore, the supernatural and a big dollop of Southern flavor should find favor with a wide swath of readers.

The Birth House/Ami McKay

Publishers Weekly

Canadian radiojournalist McKay was unable to ferret out the life story of late midwife Rebecca Steele, who operated a Nova Scotia birthing center out of McKay's Bay of Fundy house in the early 20th century; the result of her unsatisfied curiousity is this debut novel. McKay writes in the voice of shipbuilder's daughter, Dora Rare, "the only daughter in five generations of Rares," who as a girl befriends the elderly and estranged Marie Babineau, long the local midwife (or traiteur), who claims to have marked Dora out from birth as her successor.

After initial reluctance and increasingly intensive training, 17-year-old Dora moves in with Marie; on the eve of Dora's marriage to Archer Bigelow, Marie disappears, leaving Dora her practice. A difficult marriage, many difficult births, a patient's baby thrust on her to raise without warning and other crises (including WWI and the introduction of "clinical" birthing methods) ensue.

Period advertisments, journal entries and letters to and from various characters give Dora's voice context. The book is more about the texture of Dora's life than plot, and McKay handles the proceedings with winning, unsentimental care. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.